ZUIWENGTING, which literally means "old drunkard's pavilion" in English, is a name popular with everyone in Shenzhen who loves Anhui cuisine.

The largest Anhui chain restaurant in the city, Zuiwengting now has three branches, two in Futian District, and the other in Nanshan District.

Established at the beginning of 1997, Zuiwengting was named after a well-known scenic spot in Chuzhou City in Anhui Province, where Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072), one of the greatest writers in the Song Dynasty, created his most popular essay Zuiwengting Ji.

"The main reason we chose such a name is because we want to give our customers a sense of culture and history that accompanies Anhui cuisine," said Song Hongyang, chairman of Shenzhen Zuiwengting Catering Co. Ltd.

According to Song, Anhui cuisine, one of the eight most famous cuisines in China, features the culinary arts of Huizhou.

"With the rise of Huizhou business people during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Anhui cuisine entered its high period of prosperity," Song said.

Anhui Province is situated in the northwest of East China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River.

Anhui cuisine resembles neither Jiangsu cuisine's light and sweet flavor, Hunan's thick and pungent flavor, Sichuan's hot and spicy flavor, nor Shandong's thick and salty flavor.

"Anhui cuisine can be said to be a perfect combination of the five flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty, and especially caters to the tastes of people coming from Anhui and surrounding provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Shandong," Song said.

The highly distinctive characteristic of Anhui cuisine lies not only in the elaborate choice of ingredients but also in the strict control of the cooking process.

Most ingredients in Anhui cuisine, such as stone frog, mushroom and bayberry, come from mountainous areas in Anhui Province.

"To guarantee the original flavor of Auhui cuisine, 60 percent of raw materials in Zuiwengting are transported by air from Anhui Province," Song said.

What is special about Zuiwengting is that its purchasing team comprises the company's chairman, chief chef and purchasing agents.

Three or four times a year, the purchasing team goes to the countryside of Anhui Province to collect aboriginal vegetables and recipes and then recommend them to customers in the city.

"The dishes Zuiwengting offers are made by Anhui chefs with Anhui raw materials and flavorings according to Anhui cooking methods," Song said.

High on the Zuiwengting menu is old hen soup, Hefei braised wild goose, Li Hongzhang hotchpotch, stir-fried eel slices with rice crust and Shexian bamboo shoots.

Of these, Li Hongzhang hotchpotch is a popular dish named after a famous Anhui person.

Li Hongzhang was a top official of the late Qing Dynasty. When he was in office, he paid a visit to the United States and hosted a banquet for his American friends.

As the specially prepared dishes continued to flow, the chefs, with limited resources, began to fret.

Upon Li's order, the remaining kitchen ingredients were thrown together into an impromptu stew, containing sea cucumber, squid, bean curd, ham, mushroom, chicken meat and other less identifiable food materials.

In this way, a dish was created and appetites were satisfied.

 
Editor: Wings