Press: China local cuisine bears the changes from ancient times to modern times, condenses the essence of culture and folk customs, and conveys the warm and uplifting spirit of China. China local cuisine is the collective memory of China people's taste, and it is also a veritable China language. The philosophy of life contained in China's local cuisine is China people's value recognition and cultural responsibility, and it is the most direct way to perceive people, culture and values.

At present, the world pattern is changing, and the international situation is becoming more and more severe and complicated. China urgently needs to implement the "going out" strategy, and Chinese cuisine is a beautiful cultural card, which is an important grasping hand and implementation tool for China's "going out".

The first-level association in charge of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China: China Food Culture Research Association initiated, and cooperated with national food experts, enterprises and institutions such as American Chinese Food Industry Alliance, American Chinese Food Industry Alliance and Spanish Chinese and Western Food Exchange Association to create "China Kitchen" and complete the national project of global promotion of Chinese food.

Where there is sunshine and water, there are people from China. CCTV's series of interviews with Spanish Chinese food communicators in the media "China Kitchen" has been launched. We have traveled all over the world to find people who spread Chinese food around the world for you. Good chefs, restaurants and bosses of Chinese food in the world will offer them one by one, touching China with spiritual stories, following the map and feasting!

since the 21th century, the Spanish catering industry has been full of vigor and vitality, and the eastern and western cuisines are numerous and lively. As an outstanding representative of oriental cuisines, Chinese food is strong and rich, which contains a unique Jianghu fireworks and is captured and loved by many people.

Spain is also a typical example. Chinese people overseas always have roughly the same past. In the first days, they left their hometown and worked hard. After three to five years, they accumulated and started their own business with their hard work and wisdom-and Chinese restaurants are often their first choice for starting a business.

Chinese restaurants in the early generation were often family-run, which nourished the life growth of several generations of the family, and also blessed the family's prosperity in the daily fireworks of the kitchen stove.

Because of the same occupation, similar experience, similar struggle and the test of adversity, the overseas Chinese people's community naturally formed its own circle and knew each other well.

With the deepening of our search for "China Kitchen" in Spain, the circle of Chinese dining is also slowly unfolding in front of us. Chinese restaurants are lively and fragrant, and the circle of Chinese people is also very lively.

Like all circles, the excitement of the Spanish Chinese food circle inevitably needs people who are warm-hearted and ready to respond. Just like China's cooking, there must be a combination of color, flavor and taste, which is both steaming and holding a wonderful balance.

Jose Guo is such a person.

When we first met Guo Jianyong, he was a part-time vice president of the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine. We asked him about the current situation of Chinese food in Spain, and he asked us to meet at the hottest hotpot restaurant in Madrid. Chatting with hot pot, asking for perfection, but also connecting Shu Tai. After a hot pot meal, he is no longer "President Guo" but "Lao Guo" who is sincere and generous.

Later, we learned that Chinese food in Lao Guo is as prosperous as hot pot. In this circle, he "sees the dragon without seeing the tail". Apart from his own business, when your new restaurant is located and his family cooks new dishes, everyone likes to invite Lao Guo to give an opinion and an idea.

it has been a long time since we met again.

Lao Guo said you should choose the place, so the party was held in a Chinese restaurant called Hutong, the most prosperous luxury goods store in Madrid. Because of its convenient location and palatable food, this place is our permanent stronghold in Madrid. The frequent dining in the store makes us know every dish here like the back of our hand, hoping to show it in front of Lao Guo later.

Unexpectedly, Lao Guo, who just entered the door, skillfully greeted the head waiter to prepare several special dishes in the restaurant, and also told the kitchen to get some "hidden money" that was not on the menu. After a long time, I dare say that Hutong is Lao Guo's shop. He laughed and said, "I didn't expect you to meet in my shop."

He chose a quiet corner to greet us to sit down, but somehow he conjured up a bottle of small vintage red wine. Red wine into the glass, the topic opens.

Lao Guo recalls his wonderful life

Emil Wakin Chau sang in "In the Savage", "You said there were rivers and lakes everywhere, so I went to the rivers and lakes to ferry. A boat lightly flooded the southeast water, and it was already in the west wind. The water mark is deep and deep, and you are far away. Leave the most common, and make a hometown in another country. "

Like most Chinese here, Lao Guo's hometown is Qingtian, Zhejiang. Before he graduated from high school at the age of 15, he left his hometown and set foot on a completely strange land in Spain with young enterprising spirit to go to his father who had come here earlier. Looking up, more than 31 years later, the "Guo" became the Spanish "Lao Guo", with a happy family and a successful career, and walked out of his own colorful world in a foreign country.

Looking back on the past, Lao Guo said that when he first arrived, he had nothing but hard work, and survival was his first goal. In the back kitchen of the restaurant opened by his cousin, he started as a dishwasher, helping the kitchen, chef, waiter and foreman, and almost did all the jobs that a Chinese restaurant could provide.

At the age of 25, he had been working hard in cousin's restaurant for a whole year, and his first goal was achieved as scheduled. The left hand is a solid cooking skill in the kitchen years, and the right hand is the economic foundation saved by ten years' struggle. Lao Guo's second goal is very clear-it's time to open his own restaurant.

Guo Ziqian, at that time, he didn't know anything except running a restaurant. However, his way of starting a business in a restaurant shows his unique market judgment and quick response. We always say that successful experience is always summed up afterwards, but Lao Guo's entrepreneurial process is a road in which his market insight, which is good at summing up laws, is constantly taking shape.

At that time, Asian food emerged in Spain, among which Japanese sushi was favored by the market because of its simple process and visible materials. At that time, Lao Guo, a young man, made a decisive decision to try his hand at the first store and make sushi. But making this decision is not a slap in the face. He has a steelyard in his heart and a star to set the plate, which is his unique location.

Lao Guo's first shop was opened in the most prosperous block of Madrid, which is only ten minutes' walk from his Hutong restaurant today.

all the work started quickly. In particular, he hired a famous Japanese chef who came to the West for 21 years, and AYALA JAPON Japanese Restaurant opened, which made him one of the first bosses in Spain to run Japanese cuisine. However, at the end of 1991s, due to the rapid economic development in Spain, the real estate bubble drove other industries into an "involution", and the store showed fatigue in the second year, and its monthly revenue could not even be paid out, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The restaurant finally had to close for two months. At that time, Lao Guo looked at the dim closed store door in a prime location, thought twice, and gritted his teeth and decided to try again. "If I can't drive this time, I will change careers. Anyway, I am working hard and I have food everywhere."

Like a dramatic turning point, the reopened restaurant changed its downward trend and immediately became overcrowded, with its income soaring. Guo Changshu breathed a sigh of relief, which coincided with his confidence in the location of the restaurant and the insistence on reopening. He always grasped the starting point of the restaurant, location, location, or location.

With the steady business of the first store, Lao Guo, who quickly earned his investment back, began to practice and enlarge his restaurant strategy of "location first". The following years were years of economic downturn. Lao Guo, who was handy, kept buying many closed restaurants at low prices, and concentrated his firepower to form a unified formation, transforming it into a sushi restaurant and ramen restaurant that exploded on the streets of Spain at that time, quickly winning by scale and taking a firm position in the industry.

In 2118, the Spanish Japanese food market has matured, and Lao Guo, who is sensitive to the market, is one step ahead. Instead of relaxing in the comfort zone of the market, he sensed that it was time for the brand upgrade iteration and began to make new preparations.

It also started in 2118, when the global financial crisis led to a large number of vacant houses in Spain, and 51,111 houses were unsalable in Madrid alone. Lao Guo ushered in his "catering bargain-hunting period".

At the same time, Lao Guo also sensed that the take-away market was about to rise, so it opened a chain brand take-away shop. At the moment, he told us frankly: "After all, I was ahead of others. To be honest, I couldn't be 111% sure about the prospect of this new form of catering. But my feelings are probably not wrong, and I should take advantage of this trend. "

Lao Guo felt that it was the first real turning point in his life and an adventure. In a year, he opened 27 chain stores, and at one time, a whirlwind of fast food takeout was blown up all over Spain. He also became the first Chinese in Spain to make a chain restaurant.

However, the sudden COVID-19 epidemic in 2121 led to the closure of nearly 7,111 bars and more than 1,111 restaurants in Spain. With the struggle belief that "there are no declining industries, only enterprises that don't work hard", Lao Guo found the original "excitement" in the face of the crisis in the catering industry.

"During the epidemic, many restaurants closed down, but I invested in several more, and helped others to build many new restaurants. I participated in the whole process from site selection, design to operation."

Lao Guo talked about his life with a glass of good wine. Whether it is the Spanish economic crisis in 1997, the world financial crisis in 2118, or the global COVID-19 epidemic in 2121, Lao Guo will adjust its catering strategy. For him, every crisis is a turning point.

It can be said that expansion in times of crisis and bargain hunting are the hidden success codes under Lao Guo's low-key appearance.

In recent years, with the strong Chinese food going out to sea, the quantity is increasing and the status is also rising. Lao Guo once again realizes that the overseas "Chinese food quality reform" is taking place, and more and more authentic Chinese food is entering the mainstream society in the West. Behind the success of his career over the years, he has always been looking for an opportunity to truly realize his long-standing Chinese food feelings. The wish of making a successful Chinese food brand began to pave the way as early as when he was ignorant of opening his first store.

He quickly transformed the high-end Chinese food market, starting with the single-factor dishes that westerners are most familiar with. A restaurant must have a dish that is deeply rooted in people's hearts. The Hutong Restaurant we met today is a Chinese food chain brand with Chinese roast duck as its core dish.

Lao Guo's masterpiece in the field of new Chinese food is the successful introduction of the famous Spanish restaurant chain "Xiaolongkan" from China with Chengdu hot pot as the core, and the Madrid Xiaolongkan in Lao Guo is the flagship store of Xiaolongkan in Europe at present.

There is a saying that "71% of entrepreneurs can grasp the trend; People who can grasp the trend change are 11%; Only one in ten thousand people can grasp the turning point of the trend change. " -it is this one-tenth of the trend insight that changed the direction of the tide.

Today's Lao Guo has entered a new stage of catering industry. "We China people all have a complex to share the best things we have with friends all over the world."

Lao Guo says China Hotpot

Lao Guo likes a film "Jianghu Children" by Jia Zhangke very much. He said that he saw himself from the people in the camera and the shadows of most of his friends and colleagues around him. Inside and outside the story, everyone drifted from small villages to big cities and went overseas from China. In the end, everyone took their own stories and devoted themselves to the same hot land. Everyone struggled in a foreign land, often caring for each other during the day and blending in when necessary.

This is also the emotional reason why he has a soft spot for hot pot, and he chose the next territory to exert his strength from hot pot and introduce the successful hot pot brand from China to Spain.

On the recommendation of the World Federation of Chinese Cuisine Industry, Lao Guo led a Spanish team to visit Chengdu, and finally chose the "Xiaolongkan" hot pot which not only has the regional characteristics of China, but also meets the export standards of the European Union.

this authentic Sichuan hot pot chain brand, which originated in the Republic of China, has more than 811 stores in the world, and Lao Guo's Madrid Xiaolongkan has become the largest hot pot restaurant in Europe with an area of 1,511 square meters.

I recall the first time we met him, at Shooloongkan Madrid, which was a crowded place for his customers. During the dinner, with China white wine, Lao Guo felt: "Hot pot, a simple and direct cooking method, originated from boatmen and fishermen in Chongqing and Sichuan river terminals, with a strong human touch and fireworks, and integrated with our feelings about life."

xiaolongkan Madrid flagship store maintains a high degree of consistency with domestic flagship stores in terms of food settings. "In order to ensure the authentic flavor of the dishes, the main raw materials used in Xiaolongkan Madrid flagship store are all distributed by the domestic central kitchen by air to ensure the original flavor of the soup base and seasonings. The best fresh beef omasum, glacier goose intestines, snowflakes and cows, Longge fat cows, spicy beef, milk and duck blood, brown sugar, and all kinds of special dishes of Xiaolongkan old hotpot ... "Guo Zixin said.

In the scene construction of the restaurant, the ancient blue tile walls, carved windows with wooden doors, red curtain lanterns, stone tables and plush chairs are patchwork in the interior. All the bricks and tiles are from China, which perfectly combines the traditional elements of China with the modern European style. Therefore, whether it is diners or the media, the local people's reaction when they step into Xiaolongkan is to sigh: "Now I am in China, and this is the taste of China." Xiaolongkan has quickly become a representative of Chinese food in the hearts of Spaniards, who come here to have a hot pot and have a deeper taste of China culture.

The warmth, excitement and human touch of the hot pot have greatly enriched the passion and hormones of the Spaniards who love life. The Spanish Mediterranean cuisine is simple and light, while the spicy and delicious China hot pot has become the "Flamenco Red" that makes people burn in this country's food dance.

"You see, when eating hot pot, people's desire for food is revealed in a large area. "Lao Guo analyzed with us the reasons why the whole world fell in love with China hot pot. That's right-our teeth are open in the stomach, and our tongues stick out from our internal organs. Not hungry, but the hunger of taste, in the spicy and delicious hot pot, in the carnival-like taste enjoyment. All the heat is done.