Let’s take a look at this article by travel writer, food critic, and photographer Zhao Tony. He will tell you
Thank you for the invitation. In fact, the general public always has a Pygmalion-like illusion about the position of a food critic. They think that apart from writing articles for various newspapers and magazines all day long, we are just talking about food. He continued to sneer while commenting on all kinds of fine wines and delicacies, then pulled the hotel chef out and scolded him, then flipped his hand and overturned the table, then strode out of the door with his head held high, got into a special car, and sneered at the tall female secretary. He said in one voice: With this poor level, you still want me to recommend you? There are no doors!
Dear, this is our food critic, this domineering CEO falls in love with the girl who works in the kitchen. In fact, food critics serve more as a middleman to help the catering industry and public media negotiate and communicate better. On the one hand, they have relatively high quality knowledge of ingredients, cooking techniques and dish evaluations. Food critics can help restaurants improve the quality of their dishes. On the other hand, critics with a certain level of writing and camera skills can also better communicate with the media for marketing and publicity.
However, the most difficult thing about the job of a food critic is that there are no recognized industry standards, codes of conduct or qualifications to restrain these foodies. Some people are born with a good tongue and have made a huge name while eating, such as Cai Lam, Tang Lusun, or Yuan Mei (who brings their own chef bonus). Some people are daughters-in-law who came from the catering industry and spent half their lives in charge of cooking. Become a mother-in-law, or be like Liang Wentao or Gordon Ramsay. So after many years of wandering in the world, people in the industry on both sides finally changed into yellow robes and said in unison: "Teacher The gap is huge. However, what ultimately enables this group of gourmets to transcend the realm of mere foodies and reach the realm of food critics are the following three ultimate questions:
1. What kind of dish is this?
2 . How this dish is made
3. How can it be made better.
Don’t think that you can automatically be promoted to a food critic by silently reciting the above three questions 500 times when you eat in the future. The so-called magic of application lies in one intention. Now that the theoretical class is over, let’s talk about the specific applications in action. Recently, due to the busy schedule of the company, I rarely do food reviews. The rare time I recently went to Shanghai Waldorf Astoria to help test dishes.
A corner of the old hotel building
Waldorf Astoria is the top luxury hotel brand of the Hilton Hotel Group. The 10-year-old Waldorf Astoria Shanghai has just opened at No. 2 on the Bund as the first Waldorf Astoria in Asia. Opening, one end of the hotel is the old Shanghai Club with a history of nearly 150 years, and the other end is a new building that cost more than 300 million yuan to build. Even at present, the only hotel brand in Shanghai that can compete with it is the Bund. On the other side is the peninsula (No. 12 Hengshan Road, Sinan Mansion and Rongyuezhuang have more boutique hotels). And as far as the hotel itself is concerned, the overall quality of the several restaurants it is equipped with is not bad, including Wei Jingge and Baiweiyuan for Chinese food, Pelham's for French food, and of course Long Bar, which is known as the longest bar in Asia. .
Baiwei Garden is where guests usually have breakfast.
When it comes to food tasting in hotel restaurants, there are generally two types. One is that every time the hotel changes a new chef or when the season changes, the hotel will invite some hotel executives and chefs from other restaurants. Come and try the dishes. This type of tasting is generally more rigorous and academic. In addition to setting the main tone of the next season's menu, you also need to consider more such as raw material procurement and storage, dish costs, division of labor in the kitchen, and preparation. Regarding a series of issues such as wine and marketing, this kind of food tasting is relatively routine, usually once every three months, and it is difficult for outsiders to know about it. The other type is when there are major event arrangements. After finalizing the menu, you need to invite the person in charge of the special event and relevant industry professionals to test the dishes before the event. This kind of tasting is easier than the previous one. And the quality is generally guaranteed. Firstly, everyone takes the opportunity to come out to relax and socialize. After all, the industry is so big that people look up but never look down. Secondly, after the food tasting, the chef himself has to come to answer questions from the guests, so The chefs from sous-chefs on down will perform as well as chicken blood, so the dishes generally taste good.
This is the private room for the food tasting that day, and next to it are the three hotel staff in charge that day. The blond Dutch girl is the sommelier specially transferred from the Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam, on the left The boy on the right is in charge of the dishes, and the one on the right is the event manager of the hotel.
This is the menu of the day. Waldorf Astoria’s classic WA logo is clearly printed on it. The reason why it is called Waldorf Astoria is because the original founder, William Walsdorf Astor, opened it on 33rd Street, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York. Waldorf Hotel, and then his cousin Jacob Astor opened the more magnificent Astoria Hotel opposite the hotel just for fun, but no zuo no die, this Jacob Astor died in the sinking of the Titanic, and since then The two hotels merged and a lounge called Peacock Alley was erected above it to facilitate passage. Although the hotel was later moved to Park Avenue further east, the name Waldorf Astoria and the logo were preserved, and they stayed in New York City later. Waldorf Astoria was acquired by Conrad Hilton in 1932 and became the top luxury hotel brand under the Hilton Group.
This is a pen with a hotel logo on it, so the question arises
Which company has the best excavator technology?
Oh, no, I’m trying a dish. Why do I need to put a pen in there?
After the menu is opened, you can see that the left side is the Chinese and English names of all today's dishes and the ingredient list, while the blank space on the right is reserved for each guest to write down his comments about each dish. Commentary, just in case you are so drunk that you forget how you ate.
The appetizers served at the beginning are called Hors d'oeuvres in French. They are usually snacks used to satisfy everyone's cravings during the cocktail reception before the formal seating. The four types of dishes that day were Truffle Scones with Foie Gras Mousse (truffle scones with foie gras mousse), Tofu Skin wraps with daikon and jelly fish salad (Japanese beancurd radish and jellyfish salad), Chicken Tortilla Cumin Peppers, Guacemole (chicken tortillas with cumin, guacamole sauce) , and Deep-fried Yellow Croaker in soy sauce (Old Shanghai smoked yellow croaker).
The first thing that was served was champagne. I guess it was because we hadn’t drunk enough wine yet. Everyone seemed so unfamiliar with each other that everyone put all their energy into trying the dishes and hadn’t eaten a few. For mouth, the Japanese-style tofu skin, radish and jellyfish salad was immediately rejected by the organizer from New York. The reason was that the tofu skin tasted too rough, and the jellyfish had a fishy smell when paired with champagne. The presentation of the dish was also very poor. As soon as these words were spoken, the scene became cold. The person in charge of the hotel immediately said hello to the blond sommelier next to him, and then saw the girl immediately turned around with a sullen face and walked out, probably into the kitchen. Five minutes later, the waiter brought a plate of Shanghai-style pan-fried buns as an emergency. As a result, the organizer put down the knife and fork, pointed directly at the blonde and asked: Do you know what canapé is? Do you think it looks good at my dinner party to have guests holding a champagne glass in one hand and a bun in the other? As soon as the words were finished, everyone was very embarrassed. This rhythm was not in line with the promised plot. Fortunately, someone who smoothed things over finally came out, carrying the freshly poured white wine and said: Today's dry white wine goes very well. Try it. , where is the 2001 Chardonnay! After another toast, the organizer finally smiled drunkenly.
Fortunately, the next main dishes were pretty good. The pasta was al dente enough and the taste of saffron did not overwhelm the taste of the sauce itself. Although the fish was a bit old, it was still acceptable. The lamb The steak is considered to be the best dish. The sauce is Fonds de Mouton cooked with the original juice of the lamb chops. The meat is then covered with olive puree and lightly fried. It is very good. At this time, everyone had started drinking and started chatting about various jokes.
I used it to practice the huge food delivery team at the banquet that day. What the young man is holding is already a dessert. In fact, for a general banquet, the quality of the dishes is not required to be outstanding. On the contrary, what is more important is the consistency of the speed of the dishes and the quality of the dishes. After all, everyone does not ask for a banquet. How good the food was, but it was more embarrassing that some people were even served desserts and some were still eating salads.
One of the desserts that day was chocolate cake with cranberry sauce, seasonal fruits and vanilla ice cream, and the other was mango sorbet with dried mango and nut sponge cake. The chocolate cake was okay, but the mango Sorbet is really boring. Since you are called Sorbet, it is ridiculous to put so much milk and sugar. As expected, it was canceled in the end. But the Petit Fours at the end, which are the after-dinner snacks, were quite amazing. The macarons had a very delicate texture, and it looked like the original almond paste had been beaten for a long time.
On the last messy table, when the last dessert was served, the chef appeared in front of everyone with a very honest smile, came over with a wine glass, said hello to everyone, and then naturally started to enjoy the meal. They all mingled with each other... and when everyone had finished drinking and eating, the food tasting ended successfully in a peaceful atmosphere.
What about me? Silently picking up the menu that had just been revised according to the organizer's opinions, he handed it to the blond sommelier beside him, waved his sleeves, and did not take away a single cloud...
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