Of the many different owners of Chinese restaurants in Europe, a large portion of them come from Wenzhou. Similarities thus abound: many of the dishes, much of the service and even the decoration of Europe’s Chinese eateries show little variation. Expect hot and sour soup as well as saut’d broccoli and fried pork in sweet and sour sauce. Expect egg rolls and chicken balls. And expect to see sour expressions on the faces of the Chinese clients that choose to dine there. All accounts suggest that it tastes like Chinese food, but in fact it’s something quite different. For a culture that has culinary traditions extending beyond its over 5,000 years of culture, the prospect of eating sub-par look-alike meals is akin to torture. Thus, if a lean and hungry looking Chinese mentions a desire to return and serve the country for the sake of patriotism, don’t buy it. It’s very likely they are being led by their stomachs. The truth is, after all, a matter of taste.
Fortunately, there are some “up-to-standard” Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in Paris. Although they aren’t the city’s most aesthetically pleasing, the cuisine is genuine. But many other European cities aren’t as privileged. While Chinese restaurants can be found in every European country or town, no matter how off the beaten track they are. Patronage of such clamorous kitchens requires lowered expectations - so low, in fact, that even the slightest hope that any of the food will be authentic is wasted.
When asked why they don’t update their menus, owners explain that the dishes are local favorites and cite the possibility that the majority of their non-Chinese clients will refuse to accept the change. This makes sense. Unfortunately, a meal at the Chinese restaurant is always much cheaper than that in a neighboring restaurant, say, a Japanese restaurant. So, many overseas Chinese begin to open Japanese restaurants instead, which is a “level up” to some extent.
Overseas Chinese find dishes in almost every Chinese restaurant on their motherland gourmet foods when they’re just back to China. But things are going to be different when they stay longer, since they can hardly find any restaurant that can keep providing gourmet foods and quality service for even a couple of years. Once in a while places will open that offer the real deal. They are extremely successful for a time but then, as if planned, the quality and authenticity starts to wane. Usually in the second year of operation, carpets become dirty, waiters put on pounds, dishes turn tasteless, and customers evaporate.
Let’s take “South Beauty”, one of the most popular restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai, as an example. In the beginning, chains opened one after another, and each turned out to be a success. To my surprise, I noticed that their open kitchens, rather than the usual greasy and dirty ones, were clean and well organized. I had thought that the way it resolved the consistency and repetition problems that plague Chinese restaurants - a hard nut to crack, globally speaking - might be a proper subject for research. But later, their cooking and service deteriorated, to my disappointment. The open kitchens remain, but it’s best to avoid looking into them if you want to keep your appetite.
Cuisine is not the only thing that restaurant offers - ideally, it should also provide a sense of consistency. Gourmet foods are valuable; persistent gourmet foods also share the same attribute. Restaurant owners may argue that the rise and fall of eating establishments is the law of the hospitality industry. But, as restaurant owners, have they made painstaking efforts to maintain consistent quality and service? If not, success is at best fleeting. Placing emphasis on employees’ professional competence and ability to perform basic tasks without error is of the utmost importance. And it’s all about management.
High quality often conflicts with consistency: the more delicious the food is, the more difficult it is to keep it always tasting that way. As we know, the influential “Michelin Guide”, the classic guide to exceptional restaurants, is the staple of most food critics and, indeed, many travelers. It also provides a system of symbols to identify the best restaurants. One star means “a very good restaurant in its category,” two stars “excellent cooking and worth a detour”, and three stars is “exceptional cuisine and worth the journey.” A restaurant awarded with one Michelin star ordinarily maintains its rating if general food quality holds. But restaurants with two or three stars will be downgraded with even the slightest fault. And only those with outstanding performance during the strict evaluation, which often lasts for quite a few years, by anonymous Michelin inspectors will be given three stars. Thus, not surprisingly, people tend to take the Michelin Guide very seriously and make special trips just for a meal at a legendary three star restaurant.
In the same way, international fast food chains like KFC and McDonald’s prefer persistence over quality. Their tastes and services are always consistent in every chain restaurant. Extra efforts on coding and programming problems are a must if consistency becomes your emphasis. The interesting thing is that, as many of my friends have pointed out, KFC and McDonald’s chains are of better quality in China. The possibility is that as global brands, their market orientations are higher than their peers in China. Of course, the Chinese employees’ intelligence, diligence, sense of honor and China’s heritage of thousands of years of culinary traditions are also important elements.
Perhaps, the persistence of providing sweet and sour fried pork in overseas Chinese restaurants is a survival mechanism. I have noticed that France and China share two common features: both are rich in bicycles and gourmet foods. To our disappointment, China is a big country in terms of bicycles, but not a powerful country in bicycle sports. In this sense, if we can’t offer a real taste of the foods in which we are so proud, it’s really a disgrace!
