Beijing is the city where Lu Xun lived for a long time after he came back from Japan. From 19 12 to 1926, he lived for 15 years. Only from Lu Xun's diary during this period, we found that he had been to 65 famous restaurants!
Lu Xun likes Beijing cuisine and northern cuisine very much. Xiao Jun, a famous writer, recalled that Lu Xun liked northern pasta and dishes very much, and he still remembered them when he returned to Shanghai. Xu Guangping even wanted to invite a northern chef to Shanghai for him, but the idea was dismissed because the chef's salary was too high.
The 65 Beijing restaurants recorded by Lu Xun include: Guangheju, Zhimei Building, Cheap Square, Jixian Building, Lanweizhai, Tongheju, Dongxing Building, Xinghua Village, Sichuan Hotel, Central Hotel, Guangfulou Building, Taifeng Building, Xinfeng Building, Xi 'an Hotel and German Hotel. This is still incomplete statistics. Lu Xun should have been to 100 restaurants. As a great writer, Lu Xun attached great importance to eating and occupied an important space in his diary. This is a new fashion in the Republic of China, which is different from the habit of "gentlemen cook far away" in ancient times.
There are also records about diet in the written records of ancient literati, such as Dream of Tokyo by Mr. Meng Lao in Song Dynasty, Dream of Liang by Wu, and detailed Biography of Wulin. But the name of the restaurant was hardly mentioned. Lu Xun's diary records the list of restaurants in detail, which is very valuable information.
Among many restaurants, Lu Xun went the most and liked living in peace and harmony the most. Guangheju is the first of the "eight famous residences" in Beijing. Its store is located on the east side of Nankou Road, Beiban Hutong near Caishikou outside Xuanwu Gate, and closed at 1932. This is a place where scholars and officials in Beijing often get together. It was very prosperous and famous during the Republic of China. Someone once wrote a couplet: people who live in the ordinary forget that they are prime ministers.
An important reason why Lu Xun often goes to this store is that it is close. Lu Xun lived in the Hall of Charity (the predecessor of Shaoxing Guild Hall), and the hutong he lived in was diagonally opposite the gate of Guangheju. If a guest comes to visit, Lu Xun will even directly ask Guangheju to deliver "takeaway" to his home.
Guangheju is a quadrangle layout. The courtyard is divided into rooms of different sizes, including rooms for individuals to drink alone, rooms for three or five people to drink, and rooms for more than a dozen people to drink. This is in line with Lu Xun's habit of eating with friends. He often calls his friends, and most of them eat with three or five people.
Of course, the most important thing is that there are Lu Xun's favorite dishes in Guanghe. The dishes here are basically transformed from court dishes. For example, fried fish, fried kidney flowers, fried meatballs, Sichuan spicy fish skin, casserole tofu, steamed scallops, hot and sour soup and so on. , can be regarded as the representative dish of the Republic of China.
Guangheju can attract so many celebrities and officials, not only because the dishes are delicious, but also because its dishes are full of allusions and cultural connotations. For example, one of its signature dishes, "Pan Fish", was created by Hanlin Pan Zuyin in the late Qing Dynasty and used to be called steamed fish in Pan Shi. There is also a "Zeng Yu", which was created by Zeng Guofan. This naturally aroused the interest of officials and literati, and will attract many arty people.
One of Lu Xun's favorite dishes is called "three non-sticky", which is made of egg yolk, starch, sugar and water. This dish pays attention to quick cooking, and the finished product is like cake instead of cake, like soup instead of soup. When scooping food with a spoon, one does not touch the spoon, and the other does not touch the plate. It is refreshing and convenient, hence the name "airball", which has the effect of relieving alcoholism.
Love to eat "three non-sticky" is probably related to Lu Xun's love of drinking. Lu Xun belongs to the kind of person who must drink at every meal. According to historical records, he and Yu Dafu drank the most. Lu Xun doesn't drink much. He often gets as drunk as a fiddler and never leaves his hand when drinking. Yu Dafu wrote a poem to Lu Xun in 1933, two of which were written like this: "I went to the restaurant drunk and hesitated to shout for two hours."
Lu Xun's good wine is often attacked and satirized by the enemy. Someone once published a cartoon in the newspaper, drawing a big jar of Shaoxing wine, and there was a little Lu Xun next to it.