【New Year Chronicle】Chengdu: Small shop does not close to provide New Year’s Eve dinner to satisfy families with few people
[Explanation] In the 2020 100 Chengdu characteristic small shops evaluation conducted by the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the small shops in Chengdu on the list in 2020 show a trend of becoming more international and more diversified than last year.
On February 7, Israeli "Rongpiao" Avi Bazlay used Qingcheng mountain bacon, spicy sausage, cheese, bean sprouts, garlic sprouts and other ingredients to cook the "Sichuan Bacon Sausage Pizza" with Chinese New Year flavor at his pizza shop.
It is reported that this pizza, which will be launched on the third day of the first month of the lunar calendar, is a special limited dish for the Spring Festival of the Year of the Ox. The couple have been preparing for this for several months.
[Concurrent] Israeli chef Avi Bazlay
The secret of the sauce comes from chili, oyster sauce, smoked beef, which is our secret weapon.
We live here, just like the locals, and like heavy flavors.
[Explanation] This year is the ninth Spring Festival that Avi Bazlai spent in Chengdu.
He recalled that ten days before the Spring Festival in previous years, this small shop that could only accommodate seven or eight tables and chairs would gradually be left in the cold, but this year, the number of people in the city during the New Year will increase, and the flow of shoppers will increase instead of decreasing.
Recently, the small restaurant has also welcomed many family gatherings. More and more people are willing to try exotic flavors other than hot pot and Sichuan cuisine during the reunion.
[Concurrent] Avi Bazlay’s wife Ren Qing
The dinner party year is no longer limited to Sichuan cuisine or hot pot. He may be more tolerant to try some exotic dishes, or pizza. This is our feeling.
[Explanation] In a small Japanese food shop near Sichuan University, Japanese uncle Sakamoto Fujimoto posted a New Year’s Eve dinner menu for this year’s Spring Festival.
The message board next to the menu is full of post-it notes left by diners, including students’ expectations for life during the winter vacation, as well as office workers’ greetings for the New Year of the Ox to relatives far away.
During the more than ten years of living in Chengdu, Fujimoto has become accustomed to bringing his wife back to Japan to visit relatives every Spring Festival.
For his first Spring Festival in Chengdu, Fujimoto plans to continue to open business and provide a warm resting place for the New Year in this city.
[Concurrent] Japanese Uncle Shoichi Fujimoto
I can cook Japanese food, and my wife can cook Japanese food and Sichuan food.
So for the first time this year, I spent the Chinese New Year in Chengdu. I asked my wife to cook delicious Sichuan food and I cook delicious Japanese food.
[Explanation] In fact, after the launch of the "Chinese New Year in Place" initiative, a large number of small restaurants have made business decisions during the Spring Festival to convey the “tip of the tongue” temperature during this special Spring Festival.
Only in the "List of Stores Supplying New Year's Eve Dinner and Family Meal Packages during the Spring Festival in Chengdu in 2021" issued by the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Commerce, more than half of the stores are small restaurants.
Long Chaoshou, Lai Tangyuan, Chen Mapo Tofu, Husband and Wife Pian, and other long-established Chinese catering outlets have launched various types of takeaway packages for New Year’s Eve dinners.
Among them, the cheapest package only costs more than 100 yuan, and consumers can pick it up in the store, or choose to flash it home.
[Concurrent] Luo Yanzi, Director of Planning Department of Chengdu Catering Company
Nowadays, some families have only two or three people. For example, some people who stay in Chengdu for the New Year may have only one or two people. Therefore, our set meals have different meals from 100, 200, 300, 400, 288, and 800 (yuan). Can meet the needs of a small number or many people.
[Explanation] In the opinion of Hu Jiafeng, the president of Chengdu Cuisine Association, although the small restaurants are small, it is precisely because of these thousands of small shops that they can piece together a "food map" of Chengdu's well-gas and international standards.
The small star-like restaurants are the expression of the city’s personality "on the tip of the tongue" and make the Spring Festival of the Ox under the epidemic unique.
[Concurrent] Hu Jiafeng, President of Chengdu Cuisine Association
I think in accordance with the creation of our characteristic shops, we hope that there will be more delicacies that represent Chengdu, and more small shops and characteristic shops can be presented in our streets.
The first is to be able to show the charm of our gastronomic capital, while also allowing our community to experience more of Chengdu's traditional cuisine.
Reporter He Xi from Chengdu
Editor in charge: 【Luo Pan】