Chinese cuisine has a woman's name

Gastronomy

From left

right: María Li Bao, Nieves Ye and Paloma Fang.

With traditional Chinese cuisine as the flagship, the hotel companies María Li Bao, from China Crown;

Nieves Ye, from Don Lay, and Paloma Fang, from Hong Kong 70, stomp in Madrid's restaurants

It is not that these three women have led equal lives, but at some point they have run in parallel: Chinese parents who came to Spain in search of a better existence and who, without being hoteliers, understood that there was the way to achieve it and a

".

Two of them are well known in Madrid gastronomy (their premises revolutionized the concept of the Chinese restaurant several decades ago): María Li Bao and her China Crown, whose doors reopened this summer after three years of absence, and Nieves Ye and her Don Lay that, closed in 2015, was

last year in the Salamanca district.

The third is Paloma Fang, owner of Hong Kong 70, a young businesswoman who despite not wanting to dedicate herself to the hospitality industry has fallen head over heels for her.

They are not the only ones

, but they are a good representation of those women who have taken the

and who think that with work and positivism they can even overcome the pandemic.

"You have to face it, not fear it; change your habits and work even better. But you have to try to live normally," say Bao, Ye and Fang.

Three decades

With that (new) normality,

opens her restaurants every day.

Born in Zhejiang in the 70s, she feels

.

That is,

.

"When I speak with a Chinese, I am Chinese; when I speak with a Spanish, I am Spanish" ... Now it is time to be Spanish, since regardless of who the interlocutor is, his growth as a person (he arrived in Madrid with 10 years) and as a businesswoman "has developed in Spain".

With 30 years of career, today she is devoted,

(Don Ramón de la Cruz, 6).

To María Li, the hotel business comes

.

"My parents did not dedicate themselves to it, but when they arrived here, they began to work in my uncles' restaurant, where they learned a lot. In a short time they opened their own premises, forty-odd years ago," he recalls.

Maria Li Bao, owner of the China Crown restaurant.

And the Bao grew up among the stoves.

"We would come home from school, put down our backpacks and help out. As we got older, we got more involved."

And there is, according to her, the key to success: "

. My parents taught us from how to maintain the quality of the kitchen and the products - you can have a

, but the essential thing is to eat well - to take the room and people, "he points out.

He soon realized that he had a hand in managing teams.

At 16 or 17 years old, she and her sister Paula fought "for everything to go forward; we talked with suppliers and waiters."

At first, it was a

: "I said, 'my father wants you to do this like this'. But I realized that I was in charge" and that the cuisine they served was "standard, we all made the same dishes" .

He continues: "After much insistence, we convinced our parents and began to serve recipes from our town out of the menu: steamed dumplings, Chinese pancakes stuffed with macerated vegetables ... The customer's response was so good that we were encouraged to get more

".

The renewal

The

came when 24-year-old Maria

the restaurant.

"I renewed the space and the gastronomic proposal" with Cantonese and Shanghai dishes and that China Crown by Infanta Mercedes became a mandatory destination for

until, at the end of 2016, it closed.

"The place needed a big change and I was wondering whether to look for another one. At that time I had the project of the first

(today it has three), so I decided to open it there and find another site for China Crown."

It took her three years to find it, among other things, because she had lived in Shanghai since 2010 and, although she regularly came to Spain, she wanted to

.

He is accompanied on the adventure by his brother Felipe Bao (born in Madrid).

"He is the key to the new China Crown. He has learned in

, at Sichuan University ... and has traveled more world than we have, so he comes up with some impressive ideas. His kitchen has the feeling of my mother's. It's just more haute cuisine. "

María,

, has always wanted to be a bridge between Chinese and Spanish culture.

And he proselytizes both.

In Shanghai he organized the

congress

to publicize Spanish gastronomy and in Madrid, he co-chairs the Institute of Hispanic-Chinese Gastronomic Culture.

Although he likes to be on the

, he has decided to stay here.

"I always say that

", adds María as she remembers that city of her childhood with chestnut stalls, the first house in which the building's caretaker lived, who decided to call her María so as not to get involved with her name.

Nieves Ye, alma mater of Don Lay (Madrid).

Books on the counter

To that same Madrid and a few years later, Shichang arrived, a child who hid a Spanish book under the counter while she helped her father in the restaurant.

"He

, but I saw him work so many hours that I had to give him a hand."

That 14-year-old Shichang is today

(Zhejiang, 1973),

alma mater

closed its doors on the Paseo de Extremadura in 2015 and reopened them last year in the Salamanca district (Castelló, 117) without losing the essence with which it was born in 2002: "Show the Chinese cuisine of That was the dream with which my father, Suiyou Ye, decided to mount it. However, he passed away before seeing it working, "Nieves qualifies.

Suiyou's dream began earlier, in 1979, when she came to the Netherlands to work at her sister's restaurant, where she learned to cook.

Six years later and with savings in hand, he went to Madrid and

a small dining room

.

Half of five siblings, Nieves

.

"Although they were hard times, we also had fun times. At six months I was already defending myself with the language," he recalls.

Before long, his father opened another store and the rest of the Ye began to arrive.

"My mother was the last, she had to take care of my grandparents, who were still living. My family is very traditional, especially my mother, so at home we maintain

."

However, "my father was not so classic. He said that we were the

and that no woman has anything to envy a man, not even in business."

And he adds: "It was a bit weird to be from China."

Weird and with an entrepreneurial eye

.

So, when some clients told him that all Chinese served the same, he opted to open Don Lay and that "the Spanish would know how rich and varied Chinese cuisine is. He said we had to

. I saw him with such enthusiasm. , which convinced me. "

Dim sum factory

And he convinced her again when, after falling ill, he asked her to move on.

"I was very lost,

. But I managed and I succeeded."

With Nieves at the helm, Don Lay became - "thanks to the people who helped me during those years and how much I learned" - into a boom.

But in 2015 a normal renovation turned into a cursed one and ended with the closure of the restaurant.

Still, people kept calling.

"It hurt me not to attend her and I decided to start Wanrun,

."

It is clear that Nieves carries, as she says, "food in his blood."

At Wanrun they make between 40,000 and 45,000 pieces a day, which they use for the national hospitality industry, and now "we are looking at the

to introduce the brand in

" ...

Paloma Fang, from Hong Kong 70

For her, dedicating herself to the hospitality industry is fortunate.

"When I hear that they have eaten phenomenally, I feel happy; just as I suffer when a

. When the customers return to Don Lay I feel very proud."

The key to your success?

the key with which his father gave it almost 20 years ago (to Caesar what belongs to Caesar);

his repertoire of traditional cuisine (every year he

to learn new dishes);

the raw material;

Chinese techniques and spices;

take care of the

and a lot of work.

"My son, 20 years old and a Marketing student, says that he has never seen me rest. But I am happy and lead the life that I like," concludes Nieves, who has not been able to convince his offspring to dedicate himself to hostelry.

Nor were the parents of Paloma Fang (Madrid, 1985) able to convince her.

She belongs to that generation that was born in Spain.

- "I was born five days after the Virgen de la Paloma" - this

businesswoman

always said that "she would never have a restaurant."

Today, at just 35 years old, she has three: the Japanese izakaya Ninja Ramen;

the Cantonese Hong Hong 70 and the recently opened Running Sushi in Osaka.

Paloma castiza, yes, and looking at her origin and her gastronomic concepts, also Chinese and Japanese: her parents were born in

-that island off the Chinese coast that was a colony of Japan and where the cultures of both countries intermingle- and there she raised her her grandmother.

"My mother studied Fashion Design and my father, Economics, both in Madrid, but they met working in a

".

And, although they did not come from the hospitality industry, they opened their first restaurant in 1980, Shaolin, and later Thousand Buddhas.

Recover the roots

And one day, fearful that the girl would lose her roots, at the age of 3 they

to Taiwan.

When he returned to Madrid at the age of 14, it was difficult for him to adapt.

"Little by little I picked up the rhythm and made friends. I went to high school and on weekends I would help out at the restaurant," recalls Paloma, who at that time did not understand why her classmates went out and she had to help the family.

"I told

that when I was older

."

She studied Fashion Design and focused on footwear.

At the end of the degree, he went to Elche, the shoemaker city par excellence, where he set up an

.

"When my parents retired, they offered me their restaurants, but I turned them down."

However, Paloma liked gastronomy.

"When I went to a dining room I looked at the menu, the service, the details, the concept ...".

And it is that genes pull ... After closing his business in Elche, he returned to the capital.

"Madrid was experiencing a boom in Asian-Spanish fusion food, and the idea of ​​opening a restaurant with

began to haunt me

."

"And in front of the Tribunal subway, where I was meeting my friends when I was 16 years old, I set up

(Barceló, 1), in 2015",

, the famous Japanese dish of Chinese origin that is a kind of stew with everything together.

From left

Right: María Li Bao, Paloma Fang and Nieves Ye.

The beginnings were hard, "an Asian stew place in the cradle of Madrid stew? Most of the customers were foreigners ... Until Spaniards began to arrive."

Four years later,

(Toledo, 28), a seventies restaurant serving Cantonese street food.

And what did her parents say when they saw her with two locals?

"Well, what they offered me was easier, the traditional Chinese, spring roll and fried rice. My businesses are very different," he adds.

In the midst of the pandemic, Paloma has launched Running Sushi in Osaka, a

the style of the Japanese city.

"It is a

packaged in small bites

, which allows you to try more things. It is a fun and very popular format in Japan, as well as hygienic, fundamental in these times."

Today he likes to see how people enjoy his restaurants.

"In the end, this was my destination," concludes this innkeeper who did not want to be.

"You don't want broth, well, have three cups," as a typical would say.

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