Famous restaurants evolve or die

Spring Festival saw the close of once-beloved old-brand restaurant Xin Lu Chun and the opening of a new branch of E'mei Restaurant, another well-known classic, on the original site of Xin Lu Chun. Thus, the once-famous eight "Chun" restaurants (referring to eight restaurants all with "chun" in their names, which once thrived on West Chang'an Avenue before Mao's liberation. Xin Lu Chun was relocated to Di'anmen, Xicheng District in 1980) now number just two: Huai Yang Chun and Tong Chun Yuan.

Changing faces

Xin Lu Chun and E'mei Restaurants are both affiliated to the Judehuatian Holdings Group, which owns dozens of old restaurant brands in Beijing. Xin Lu Chun features Shandong cuisine and Tianjin steamed buns. "Customers of the original Xin Lu Chun are fewer, and most consist of senior local residents. During peak meal times, less than half the seats are filled," Liu Shaoliang, manager of the current E'mei Restaurant in Di'anmen told Lifestyle. "And often those senior customers only order some cheap snacks like steamed stuffed buns," he added.

According to data on the official Judehuatian website, the profits of E'mei in 2006 totaled 2,550,000 yuan and Xin Lu Chun 1,000,000 yuan. "Due to an inadequate technique heritage and undistinguished dishes, the operation of Xin Lu Chun has not kept up with the market development. Meanwhile, E'mei has gained momentum in recent years with its reputation becoming more and more influential," explained Zhu Yuling, general manager of Judehuatian Group. To ensure more customers enjoy the unique Sichuan cuisine and constrained by limited resources, they decided to convert the original Xin Lu Chun to an E'mei, according to Zhu.

A burgeoning brand

E'mei Restaurant opened in 1950. It is a "time-honored" brand, as the Chinese are fond of saying of anything that survived the 1970s, featuring Sichuan cuisine with the partial supplement of Guangdong cuisine, which veers towards a Cantonese style. The restaurant is headquartered in North Lishi Road, Xicheng District and in its early days, mainly served high officials of central government. Later it gradually gained a reputation among ordinary Beijingers with distinctive dishes integrating Sichuan cuisine and local Beijing tastes. The Di'anmen E'mei was the first branch of the E'mei Restaurant.

Spicy diced chicken with peanuts (Gongbao chicken, often known as Kung Pao chicken in the West) is the signature dish of E'mei and its most famed. Although priced at 33 yuan (most restaurants only charge about 15 yuan for the dish), many customers come here especially to try it. "At least 100 dishes will be ordered every day in this branch of the restaurant," Liu told Lifestyle.

"Our Gongbao chicken is an improved one in order to cater to the Beijingers' palate. It is a mixed flavor, proper spicy, sour and sweet, without the strong spicy flavor of Sichuan cuisine," Hou Xiuqin, general manager of E'mei, told Lifestyle. Indeed, their Gongbao recently won an online poll conducted by the Beijing Cuisine Association and Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce with about over 18,000 votes placing E'mei's dish first in the "Classic historical dishes" category.

Chicken leg and breast meat, along with the peanuts, are selected and peeled by hand, according to Hou, which all contribute to the high price. If you enter the restaurant at non-meal times, you will surely be struck by the sight of all the staff, including the manager, sitting at a table peeling peanuts, to cope with the high demand.

To ensure the flavor consistency of Gongbao chicken in the two E'mei restaurants, "We have a special chef to concoct the sauce," Hou told Lifestyle. "Like some Western chain restaurants, we've quantified the proportion of ingredients of some of our signature dishes, meeting the franchise development of this old brand," Hou said.

Although the recent popularity of Sichuan cuisine in Beijing has contributed to the prosperity of this old brand to some degree, the way its distinctive flavors have adapted to Beijingers' taste count for much. "I come here specially for its Zhangcha roast duck. I like the special pickled flavor," Wang Li, a customer, told Lifestyle. Distinct from Peking roast duck, it is first preserved in a special sauce, and then smoked camphor leaf before being roasted. "The Zhangcha roast duck has been patented," Hou told us. "What we stick to is innovation, but on the basis of traditional dishes," he explained. Their Zhangcha roast duck is priced at 110 yuan, similar to most high-end Peking ducks.

Other signature dishes in E'mei include spicy cod fish sticks (48 yuan), and dry braised fish at about 100 yuan.

Vanishing history

Li Qiang, a local resident of Di'anmen, still has a vivid memory of the old Xin Lu Chun. "It was the first restaurant in Beijing to introduce the Tianjin Goubuli steamed stuffed bun [in 1980 target=_blank>. People often used to line up outside to buy the bun."

"Although it's still convenient for us to eat the authentic Sichuan cuisine brought to us by E'mei, I still miss Xin Lu Chun somewhat. After all, it is a time-honored old brand and served traditional dishes," another elderly local resident, surnamed Zhang, toldLifestyle.

However, "Considering the long-time special demand for Xin Lu Chun, we have retain its popular Tianjin Goubuli steamed stuffed bun and some of the "classic" dishes, like deep-fried meat balls and fried fish slices with wine," Liu reassured locals via the Global Times.

Despite the placatory stance, some people still can't help wandering if the time-honored Xin Lu Chun name will disappear forever. For them, the Judehuatian group has an answer. "Our group has saved many old restaurant brands in Beijing and we'll not give up Xin Lu Chun. (The name change) is just a strategic move to change the restaurant," offered Kong Xiangxin, a marketing executive. For all his reassaruances, however, Kong couldn't give a clear, specific indication of when and in what guise Xin Lu Chun will reappear. Until then, residents cannot be blamed for wondering if the change is truly yet another part of their past being erased by big business.