Fan Jiyong Dumpling Restaurant When Harbin people mention dumpling restaurants, they all know that there is an "Lao Du Yi Chu", but they don't know that the earliest three-fresh dumpling restaurant in Harbin is "Fan Ji Du Yi Chu", which is the "Fan Ji Yong" that is still in business today. We visited Zhang Baosheng (Fan Ji Du Yi Chu noodle counter), Feng Tingzhi (Manager of the neighboring store of Fan Ji Du Yi Chu), Wang Fengqi (Investor of Fan Ji Yong), and Wang Ruizhi (Manager of Fan Ji Yong after the public-private partnership), and they introduced us to the inside story of Fan Ji Du Yi Chu and Fan Ji Yong. Now it is organized into a text, so that people can learn something from it more or less. Fan Ji Du Yi Chu Dumpling Restaurant, which started as a dumpling restaurant selling dumplings on the street, was founded in the first year of the Republic of China (1912) and is the earliest three-fresh dumpling restaurant in Harbin. The founder's name is Fan Xiangeng, known as "Old Fantou". Old Fantou was originally from Liaoning Province. He first built a mud shed at the east end of Kudang Street (now Tianyi Street) in Fujiadian (now Daowai District), and cooked and sold dumplings on the side of the road. Because Fan's three-fresh dumplings were genuine and delicious, they were praised by customers, so they were well-known at the time. Although Old Fantou sold dumplings on the side of Kudang Street, he made a lot of profit because of many customers. After saving some money, Old Fantou rebuilt a two-story gray building on the west side of the water tower at the north end of Kudang Street (now No. 66 Tianyi Street, north of Songmei Hotel) and opened Fan Ji Du Yi Chu Dumpling Restaurant. The downstairs was open for business, and the upstairs was Fan Xiangeng's residence. It was across the road from Tianfeng Yongshanhai Miscellaneous Store. From then on, Fan Ji Du Yi Chu Dumpling Restaurant began to operate in the street where businessmen and travelers gathered and the market was prosperous. Management and operation methods Fan Ji Du Yi Chu business room has 6 dining tables and 24 seats. Although the store was not big at that time, the furnishings and tableware were very exquisite: the table was paved with tiles, the seats were porcelain "dragon squats", and the tableware was silver plates and ivory chopsticks, which were antique. The varieties sold included three-fresh dumplings, braised pork elbows, fried peanuts, white wine, and sausages imported from Zhengyanglou. In addition to Lao Fan, there were 5 other employees. Among them: 3 noodle counters, 1 person who cooked a big pot, and 1 waiter. The store opened at 6 am and closed at 6 pm. From morning to night, it was full of customers every day. When the market was depressed and the sales of dumplings were not good, other dumplings were sold at a lower price, but Lao Fan not only did not lower the price, but added various condiments to the dumpling fillings and raised the price to sell them, and still had many customers. Other stores hung signs, but Fan's was the only one that did not. Lao Fan wore an apron and solicited customers at the door. He said: I am the best sign. Fan Ji is the only restaurant that sells three-fresh dumplings. Fan Xiangeng personally buys the ingredients and mixes the stuffing. The ingredients used by Mr. Fan are carefully selected and his requirements are very strict. The pork used must be fresh and fat from the front trough. No one with inferior quality will be accepted. At that time, most restaurants bought meat on credit and settled the bills during the three festivals (Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival). But Mr. Fan paid cash for the meat, and the butchers were willing to keep the good meat for him. The ingredients and techniques for making the stuffing are kept strictly confidential by Mr. Fan. They are never passed on to others. The waiters only know that the stuffing contains sea cucumbers, scallops, shrimp roe, crab roe, etc. The secret of Mr. Fan's management of the restaurant is: less waste, high quality, fewer staff, and high efficiency. He requires the waiters to strictly adhere to their posts after entering the restaurant and work hard. Even if they have some free time, they are not allowed to leave their posts or do other things. They are not even allowed to read the theater newspapers. If they violate this rule, they will be warned for the first time and fired for the second time. The food for the waiters was very good. If the store sold three-fresh dumplings, they would eat three-fresh dumplings every day. No one could eat too much. In 1932 (the first year of Datong in the puppet Manchukuo), the monthly salary of the waiters on the noodle counter of Fan Ji Du Chu was 8 yuan, but they could get tips of 70 cents to 1 yuan every day, which was much higher than the salary. Therefore, the waiters were afraid of being fired, so they worked hard and did not dare to be lazy. Fan Xiangeng, the successor of Fan Xiangeng, had no son. There was a Shandong man named Wang Fengkui who worked as a waiter in Fan Ji Du Chu during the Kangde period of the puppet Manchukuo. He was smart and capable, and was trusted by the old man Fan. In the spring of the seventh year of Kangde in the puppet Manchukuo (1940), Fan Xiangeng invested in buying a low bungalow at No. 11, Beierdao Street, Daowai (south of the east end of Zhangbaopu Hutong), and asked one of his relatives and Wang Fengkui to open a dumpling restaurant together. They added a "Yong" after "Fan Ji" and named it "Fan Ji Yong", which means to inherit "Fan Ji Du Chu" forever. Old Fantou passed all his skills to Wang Fengkui. From then on, Fan Jiyong became a sub-colon of Fan Jiduchu, and Wang Fengkui became the only inheritor of Old Fantou's three-fresh dumplings craft. Not long after Fan Jiyong Three-fresh Dumpling Restaurant opened, the Japanese puppet government implemented an economic "rule" policy, which became even more cruel. Old Fantou was in trouble and had to close Fan Jiduchu to maintain Fan Jiyong Dumpling Restaurant. At the same time, Fan Xiangeng's relatives also withdrew funds from Fan Jiyong and left Fan Jiyong Dumpling Restaurant. Afterwards, Wang Fengkui and Wang Fengqi (Fan Jiyong's investor) each invested 8,000 yuan in puppet Manchurian currency to exchange for Fan Jiyong and jointly operated it. They not only inherited the flavor characteristics of Fan Jiduchu Three-fresh Dumplings, but also gradually formed the unique flavor of Fan Jiyong Three-fresh Dumplings-delicious, fragrant and not greasy. Fan Jiyong's business characteristics Fan Jiyong's store is not big, with 5 tables. In addition to selling three-fresh dumplings, it also sells homemade smoked chicken and sauced meat. There are 10 employees, including 4 dough counters, 1 mincer, 1 pot cooker, 1 smoked chicken and marinated meat, 1 waiter, 1 handyman, and 1 shopkeeper who is also a purchaser. The shop opens at 8 am and closes at 7 pm. During the puppet Manchukuo period, it could sell 100 to 200 yuan a day. Wang Fengkui inherited the management method of the old Fantou. Careful selection of materials, fine craftsmanship, high quality, and thoughtful service are the operating characteristics of Fan Jiyong Three Fresh Dumpling Restaurant. Careful selection of materials: Wang Fengkui, the shopkeeper, personally serves as a purchaser. He knows the varieties, origins, and characteristics of the raw materials. In order to maintain and create a reputation, he is very meticulous in selecting materials and never makes ambiguous compromises. He personally looks at the small samples of the purchased sea cucumbers, scallops, crab legs, prawns, and other fresh materials, and then looks at the large samples before deciding whether to take them or not. If the quality is not high, he will definitely not take them, and even a little bit worse will not do. The best-flavored set of stuffing (20 jin of pork) for Fan Jiyong's three-fresh dumplings is made of sea cucumber (self-raised): 1 jin of crab legs: 1/2 jin of dried scallops: 1/2 jin of seaweed: 3 liang of shrimp roe: 3 liang of shrimp: 2 jin of dried shrimp: 1/2 jin of sesame oil: 1 jin of braised shrimp oil: 1/2 liang of MSG: 2 liang of leek (or zucchini, winter melon) 1 jin of pepper noodles: 1/2 box of ginger: a small amount of chicken soup to mix the stuffing. Fine craftsmanship: Fan Jiyong's three-fresh dumplings are very particular about the craftsmanship. They must be made into "three in one" of dough, stuffing, and pot watching. Each of the three has its own effort. The dough should be mixed with moderate hardness and the dumpling skin should be thin and even. The stuffing should be mixed with chicken soup and braised shrimp oil according to the proportion and sequence. The soup for cooking dumplings should always be clear, and the dumplings should not break or stick. High quality: Fan Jiyong's three-fresh dumplings have thin skin and large stuffing, are delicious and tasty, and are made like this every year and every day, and everyone is amazing. If the number of dumplings is not enough, the dumpling skin is broken and the filling is exposed, or the dumplings are overcooked and the dumpling skin is sticky, they are not allowed to be served. Thoughtful service: Fan Jiyong has very strict requirements for waiters. They have to undergo a long period of training, understand the psychology and temper of customers, and treat different customers in different ways. They must be patient and considerate, so that customers come happily and leave satisfied. The new look of the old store After the public-private partnership in 1956, Fan Jiyong's three-fresh dumplings also prospered for a while. Many foreign visitors came to the store to taste it and praised it. Some people came here in the cold winter to order a few kilograms of frozen dumplings to take back to their hometown. But later, Fan Jiyong went through several divisions and reorganizations, and there were great changes. Because the raw materials were not easy to match and the craftsmanship could not keep up, it was impossible to maintain the traditional flavor of the three-fresh dumplings in the store for a long time. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Party in 1978, the new economic policy was implemented, and the three-fresh dumplings with the flavor of Fan Jiyong gradually recovered. In recent years, some Japanese tourists who came to Harbin for sightseeing have also come here to enjoy the feast. It can be said that "being located in a humble alley is not a problem, but being famous attracts customers." In 1986, Daowai District Service Company invested another 10,000 yuan to renovate this old store, doubling the size of the store, increasing the number of tables to 12, strengthening management, and restoring the traditional Fan Ji three-fresh dumplings. This three-fresh dumpling restaurant with a history of more than 70 years has absorbed modern nutrition theories on the original basis and is developing in the direction of combining flavor and nutrition. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)