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Buffet opened by a seafood supplier scores few points for its decor but is a delicious bargain
The other day a friend mentioned a restaurant that had just opened near her home and said she was skeptical if it could make money because when she dined there she was given an incredibly generous run for hers.
This is a seafood buffet restaurant in a shopping mall amid the hustle and bustle of the swanky shopping area of Wangfujing in Beijing.
In looks, it is not what you would call up-market. The interior is very basic, with a decor that might even be classed as mediocre. But Long Xia Hui manages to compensate for this with its top-quality food.
The buffet spread includes unlimited Boston lobsters, sashimi, scallops, steaks, lamb and many other global cuisines, and a free flow of drinks -
all for just 298 yuan ($48) per person.
We came here keen to find out the secret behind this incredible bargain.
Wang Qiao, a former lawyer, and general manger of the restaurant, said: "We have our own seafood processing factories in the US and Thailand. So there are no intermediaries at all in the process."
Wang said he is the part-owner of a seafood import and export trading company. "Instead of being just food suppliers, why not have a restaurant of our own? Lobsters come directly from our US factory. Not only are they fresh, but they are also a lot cheaper than the ones you get from market suppliers."
Diners can help themselves to the lobsters from what the restaurant calls a "lobster mountain" and take them to the chefs for cooking, with different flavors to choose from: numbing spicy "ma la" flavor, or grilled with cheese, or steamed with shredded garlic and vermicelli or just the original flavor.
Shrimps are ready to eat. We were impressed by their sweetness and the extremely springy, firm meat in what otherwise looked like regular shrimps. They were far superior to the ones I usually find in supermarkets.
Wang said the shrimps are from the company's shrimp farm in Thailand that boasts of having a good feeding environment with slightly salty water. They are cooked in Thailand when freshly caught, then transported to China, are cooled, and ready to eat.
"It's a better way to retain the texture and sweetness when they are cooked in their freshest state instead of being brought to China raw and then cooked," Wang said. There is also unlimited big-eye tuna sashimi. The big-eye is a sought-after tuna variety, and different from yellow-fin tuna. Bigeye's extra fat provides a buttery flavor and supple texture.
Instead of having a bright cherry-red flesh, it is lighter, a kind of lollipop-pink. But color is not necessarily a sure-fire way of gauging freshness because some tunais said to be artificially colored by pumping it with carbon monoxide.
Yet its pleasant smell, firm texture, and good taste all testified to the freshness.
Salmon was also substantial, and sliced about one centimeter thick, which is uncommon, especially at an unlimited buffet at such a price. Wang said that to run a good restaurant one must have a certain attitude, returning to the base of his culinary philosophy again and again.
"I believe chefs have a divine task. The raw material they are dealing with is akin to flora and fauna. Their ability to restore it to its original state determines whether what ends up on the plate is an exquisite delicacy or merely junk food."
dongfangyu@chinadaily.com.cn
