See how Michelin chefs find gold in China.

Li Wei/Kloc-8, the owner of Shanghai Martin Restaurant, went to Spain at the age of 0/8, and was introduced by a friend to the local cooking magician Martin Belsatji. Martin/Kloc-started his career as a chef at the age of 0/3 and became a household name in Spain. 1993, the restaurant named after it was rated as a Michelin three-star restaurant and once ranked among the 50 dream restaurants in the world. At the same time, he is also the winner of the "Great Chef Award", the highest award given to the world chefs by the International Culinary Society. Li Wei once went to Martin's restaurant for dinner, and the kitchen where nearly 80 people worked at the same time opened his eyes. Li Wei is not an amateur in the catering industry-he once opened a Japanese restaurant called "First Class" in Madrid, which was quite famous in the local area and attracted real Madrid superstars such as Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul. In 2008, Li Wei returned to China for a holiday, and his friends invited him to the famous Shanghai "Little Red House"-the former site of EMI. This is an old colonial building with a red tile roof and red brick walls. The most distinctive part is the roof. The top of the slope is divided into two folds, steep on the top and gentle on the bottom, supported by brackets under the eaves, which is full of unique decorative feeling. Li Wei fell in love with it at first sight. 1930s, Xiaohonglou was acquired by EMI until the Japanese invaded Shanghai. At that time, Nie Er and Tian Han created and recorded March of the Volunteers there, and Zhou Xuan also sang here. Almost all the heavyweights in the history of modern art in China have left their footprints here. Back in Spain, Li Wei contacted Martin and invited him to open a shop in China. But Martin turned him down because he knew little about China. The Martins were invited to China for a week-long investigation-all expenses were paid by Li Wei himself. Surprisingly, Martin said to Li Wei the morning after he arrived in Shanghai, "I love Shanghai too much. Let's stay here." Immediately, he sent his favorite disciple Maxime Fanton and a carefully selected team of chefs to Shanghai. In the future, it was called "the best Spanish restaurant in Shanghai" by former Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero. Michelin chef Martin is an adventurer-in France, Michelin Guide is like a Bible for European restaurants, but it is still a new thing for Chinese mainland. Chefs who can be illuminated by Michelin stars can't wait to put China on their plates. With the rapid development of China's economy and the rise of the rich overnight class, the whole high-end catering industry is full of vitality. At the beginning of 20 12, seven or eight top restaurants opened on the small bund in Shanghai. Michelin chef Umberto Bombana is one of them. He has made great achievements in Hongkong from 65438 to 0993. The one he made was called 8? 0? 5Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA's boutique restaurant has just opened for half a year, setting a good story for booking two weeks in advance. "I have to admit that it has potential because it is still in the wild. Whether it is an opportunity or a challenge depends on the skills of Michelin chefs. " Ronan. J.Henaff, chief operating officer of Bund 3, told Global Entrepreneur. The joining of the world's top Michelin chefs has had a heavy impact on the whole high-end catering market, food supply chain and China people's eating habits. Ten years ago, Jean Georges Vongerichten came to Shanghai at the invitation of the head of No.3 Bund in Shanghai. This Michelin chef, born in Alsace, France, is a wonder in the culinary world. * * * owns more than 30 restaurants and earns hundreds of millions of dollars. In Manhattan, new york alone, Von Grice Teng owns four three-star Michelin restaurants. The chef used rare jade to quickly stand out in the top catering industry in a way similar to Gucci's expansion in the fashion industry-Starwood Hotels and private equity fund Catterton Partners are also shareholders. When Von Grice Teng first arrived in Shanghai, his mood was exactly the same as when he first entered new york. Fascinated by the fire and scaffolding here, he decided to fire the only top restaurant named after him outside new york on the Bund. However, problems such as mixed ingredients, scheming suppliers and tricky employee recruitment have plagued Von Grice Teng for three years. At that time, the Bund did not form a mixed life service area, and the business was very depressed. Three years later, Jean George's restaurant was on the right track. Von Gristen is not an exception. Michelin-starred chefs Jacques Pourcel and Laurent Pourcel entered China in early 2004 and worked in Sens &; The Bund restaurant was finally forced to quit in 2009 because of its inconsistent investment philosophy. 20 10 unwilling to fail, the two brothers once opened the "sixth sense" restaurant in the French National Pavilion of the World Expo and decided to make a comeback. After the World Expo, the two brothers reopened Maison Pourcel restaurant in the former French Concession in downtown Shanghai. But for these famous chefs, it is not easy to win local customers. The first problem of Michelin standard is how to find pure ingredients. For a long time, 80% of Michelin chefs' efforts have been to find the best ingredients in the world. These experts in a million believe in the following creed: the best ingredients and the simplest cooking are equal to the perfect dishes. Its kitchen stores food comparable to the World Expo, including beef and mutton from Australia, salmon from Japan, flour from Italy and lobster from Spain. Carefully collected ingredients are placed in neat and clean fresh-keeping boxes in Yudu, and each fresh-keeping box has clear labels and labels. Vegetables will also be sliced, sorted and carefully stored. In Jacques Red House Restaurant, usually, fruits and vegetables are mostly collected locally, and there are also some seafood, such as prawns, crayfish, asparagus, purple potatoes, soybeans and pumpkins. Chefs Jacques Pourcel and Laurent Pourcel go to the local market twice a week for careful selection. But the smallest thing can be nerve-racking. For example, garlic tortured 8? 0? Chef Tsen Bai Tao. In the mainland, he can't find a supplier of Italian garlic for you at all. In Hongkong, you can find everything you want by phone, but in Chinese mainland, it's another story. In order to cater to the most discerning diners, staff training is essential. With 8? 0? Take 5Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA as an example, the daily meeting will be held half an hour before the meal. Alan Y. Yu, the executive chef, will provide targeted guidance according to the booking order of the day. If you are an old customer, the record of your order has already been entered into the restaurant system in detail. What are the customer's preferences, allergies and forms of banquets? After half an hour, the waiters are all familiar with it. In addition, these employees need to take exams every month. There's a lot in the exam-what's the main course this month? What ingredients are used in this dish? What wine goes best with it? How to introduce to customers and so on. Cen Baitao believes that only in this way can the service quality of employees be guaranteed. You can also find the secret of winning in restaurant recipes. "If you print out the recipes, you can pile them up to one meter high and the number is as high as 4,000." Maxime Fanton, executive chef of Shanghai Martin Restaurant, told Global Entrepreneur. Each recipe will have detailed instructions. Jean George pays more attention to people. The star chef von Grice Teng knows the background of every employee in the team like the back of his hand, and he can even accurately report the specific time when everyone cooperates with him-you know, he manages more than 3,000 employees. In order to meet the highest standards, every time a new restaurant is opened, Jean George usually lets new york's team stay there for five weeks to give guidance. As for the executive chef, Jean Georges asked for frequent video recording of cooking for him to check. Another Michelin chef, Cen Baitao, keeps the habit of coming to Shanghai once a month to discuss new dishes with the executive chef and evaluate the service level. One of the practices of Michelin restaurants is to pursue openness. For example, in another Italian restaurant called Mercato owned by Jean George, the pizza oven was moved to the center of the restaurant. Diners can have a panoramic view of every step of kneading dough, adding materials, baking and making pizza, and they can also enjoy the treatment that the freshly baked pizza falls into the plate within five seconds. All the fruit trees are burned in the oven, and the oven from Italy can keep the best baking temperature of pizza at 273 degrees for a long time. If you think that all the above restaurants are blindly pursuing luxury, you are all wet. In mercato, all its tables, chairs and floors were reconstructed from the waste materials demolished during the renovation of Shanghai Farm, Industrial Zone and Bund No.3, and even the big and red word "earth" written by the construction workers at that time was retained on the wall. Tableware is also all earth-scented frosted pottery, and the decoration also pursues a pure and simple style. The secret of winning customers lies in first-class service. If you reserve four seats in Martin's restaurant by phone, you will reserve four seats indoors and outdoors without asking the waiter. After arrival, if the customer chooses to eat indoors, will the table outside be invalid or given to other guests? The answer is no, even if the new customers are full and have nowhere to sit, the extra four seats will always belong to the reservation until they leave. In this regard, bolgia M. otero, director of operations of Martin Restaurant, explained, "If guests want to change seats in the open air, we must satisfy them. This is Michelin's standard. " Oppose "China's national conditions" However, in China, Michelin chefs sometimes have to oppose "China's national conditions". For a long time, if you want to be a catering practitioner abroad, working as a waiter in a Michelin-starred restaurant is almost the fastest way. In order to get this job, some people can even take nothing-in foreign countries, 80% Michelin employees are freelancers. In China, this is impossible. Michelin chefs say that diners in China are too impatient. The influence of fast food culture makes it difficult for most people in China to adapt to the slow pace of pure western food. In high-end restaurants abroad, one dish after another is served elegantly and people are used to drinking red wine slowly. In his opinion, to be romantic, you have to be slow. But in China, diners usually like to serve food quickly. Chefs always hear the voice of urging food, "hurry up, hurry up." These are the most common complaints in restaurants. At first, foreign chefs and waiters could not understand it, but gradually they began to accept it. The quality of customers coming in and out is also uneven, and it is not uncommon to talk loudly and swear. Martin's restaurant invited many such customers. In their view, these people are definitely not their target customers even if they spend a lot of money. Another common requirement of China diners is "serving together". "You bring the dishes together." The guests arrive at eight o'clock? 0? 5Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA restaurant usually asks for this. They like to eat steak and salad at the same time. At the beginning of the opening, Allen, the executive chef of the restaurant, will also explain that "the specifications of the table can't hold so many dishes." But the guests will still insist. In the end, he had to silently change all the plates into small ones, and all the dishes on the table were good. Besides, China people also like seasonal ingredients. Affected by this, Martin's restaurant will change the menu about once a quarter and cook according to the ingredients produced in the season. In foreign western restaurants, the frequency of menu change is extremely low. The longer you go into China, the more Michelin chefs will adapt to local conditions. Michelin chefs Jacques Pourcel and Laurent Pourcel sometimes buy whatever they see. Crayfish, for example, is just a cheap street food in China. They saw it in the market and bought a batch to bring back. After tasting it, they found that it was no different from French crayfish. In France, crayfish are also produced from rivers, but they are expensive. Therefore, Jacques Pourcel and Laurent Pourcel put crayfish in the menu and cooked them according to French methods, such as chicken and crayfish with wine and mango sauce, which had a special taste. If you go to Jacques Red House restaurant and order a pure French fried Duobao fish, you will find that Xiaolv is the favorite edamame of Shanghai locals. In the most typical French feast foie gras, you will also find Chinese cabbage and even steamed bread-shaped food. What is the biggest enemy of Michelin restaurant? The transient curiosity of the diners. "I found that many restaurants closed within six months. This market looks very active, but it is the most difficult to repeat customers. The real market is far more fragile than you think. " He Nanfeng told Global Entrepreneur. In its view, customers usually have the psychology of eating fresh food in the first six months of opening. The longer the time, the greater the test the restaurant faces.