I got up early the next day, but unfortunately I didn't have a run by the lake, so I could only do activities in the hotel gym, wait for Ding Mengyao to get up, and have breakfast together.

Then go shopping, although Tang Hong is not there, Ding Mengyao also has a good eye, by the way, buy some clothes, check out at night and put them in the new home, which will be more convenient in the future.

At noon, go straight to Tang Pavilion, known as the only Michelin three-star restaurant in mainland China in 2016, with unlimited scenery and commanding scenery.

In fact, the main store of Tang Pavilion is on Hong Kong Island, the first branch in the mainland, located in the Langham Hotel, come early, there are not many people, enter the olive tree private room on the south side, and the window can overlook the bustling crowd of Xintiandi.

The waiter gave the menu to the lady, and Ding Mengyao said while looking at it: "I came twice before last, and the taste is okay, I heard that your chef Tan was poached by Bulgari at a high price of one million?"

The waiter smiled: "That's the chef's personal choice, we can't comment on it, but Tang Ge is still three Michelin stars this year." ”

Ding Mengyao nodded, finished ordering, saw the other party leaving, and said with a smile: "The Langham Hotel began to prepare for Tang Pavilion to pick up stars in 2015, and asked Tan Shiye to go to Hong Kong Island to visit Kwong Weiqiang, a senior three-star chef at the head office, to learn, which can be said to be inevitable." ”

Johnson was stunned for a moment, and asked curiously: "It stands to reason that he has achieved so much now, and he should be inseparable from his old club, why did he choose to leave?"

"It's not a shot yet!" Ding Mengyao explained: "Less than a month after the evaluation that year, Tan Shiye must be the most anxious chef in the country, and many people in the industry are blunt, saying that Tang Ge is not worthy of three stars." ”

"I heard that several senior food critics immediately launched a raid on the night of the award, commenting that it was unpalatable with a capital letter. An article on the Internet can easily get hundreds of thousands of clicks, and if you are the chef of Tang Pavilion, can you resist it?"

"The Michelin Guide is updated once a year, and 365 days a year, no one knows when an undercover visitor will come and secretly rate the restaurant. Chefs need to tense their nerves to make each dish, and if they are demoted, it will be a great shame. ”

SC Johnson empathizes, and has seen reports that for every star dropped, the restaurant reservation rate drops by 25%, and many Michelin chefs are overwhelmed and choose to commit suicide!

In 1966, Alain Zick, a three-Michelin-starred chef, downgraded the restaurant from three to two stars, becoming the first three-star chef to commit suicide.

In 2007, the 41-year-old female chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant died of taking tranquilizers, and wrote in her suicide note: I can't hold it anymore, the pressure is too great......

Ding Mengyao analyzed: "Bulgari obviously wants to do a big job, looking for headhunters to directly poach the three-star chef of Tangge, not only to prepare for the opening of Libaoxuan in 2017, but also to aim for the title of Michelin three-star." ”

"A Michelin star, for a restaurant, is equivalent to a free golden signboard, with infinite glory and rolling wealth, adding a spotlight to Bulgari, it can be said that it kills three birds with one stone. ”

"Three-Michelin-starred chefs are widely regarded as the most valuable and distinguished chefs in the world, such as Gordon Ramsay of Hell's Kitchen, who is known as the most expensive chef at more than £100 million. ”

"The sous chef of any three-Michelin-starred restaurant has an annual salary of at least one million, and the chef is basically the boss, and he is coaxing. ”

SC Johnson picked up the menu, and the price was basically in the hundreds, which is not too expensive for three Michelin stars. If you are in Hong Kong Island three-star French restaurant Hou Buxiong Food Square, Tokyo three-star kaiseki dragon yin, the lowest package is more than 2,000 yuan, and there is a 588 package here?

The most expensive specialty is fried lobster with shallots, but 1500, the waiter serves San Pellegrino with lemon and asks if the dish is eaten one by one, or one after another.

For a treat, business or party, guests want the table to be full of dishes and look lively and hearty. In order to enjoy the food, Johnson must finish eating one dish after another, and each dish has an independent tasting time, and you can also have a discussion with the beautiful woman in the middle.

Looking around, the ordinary decoration, the ordinary furnishings, even some old dining tables and turntables, the spoons are polished silverware, there are no surprises, just passing.

The first impression was not very good, recalling kaiseki cuisine, a piece of tableware worth tens of thousands, as the first Michelin three-star restaurant in the mainland, at least in terms of hardware, it was completely unprepared, and it could not afford the face of a traditional restaurant.

Johnson shook his head, he could only hope that there would be surprises in the dishes, the first dish was siu-mei double-pin, you could choose two of the three, Ding Mengyao chose the combination of roast goose and barbecued pork, give up roast suckling pig, and eat a fresh.

Pick up a piece, the roast goose skin is crispy and the meat is tender, less plump, and the taste is barely passing, no surprises. With such a large and complete restaurant, the roast meat is definitely not as good as the century-old restaurant of Hong Kong Island Ganpai Roast Goose, which is full of 70% of the level.

A six-pound roast goose, the various parts of the body are quite different, to eat the satisfactory piece can only depend on luck, if five points out of the full, Johnson can only give three points.

Then there is the barbecued pork, SC Johnson has never eaten such a fluffy barbecued pork, the entrance is extremely bland, and the taste buds do not react at all, as if this is a plate of Meituan takeaway?

Dissatisfied: "This siu-mei double-pin, maybe the ingredients themselves use good goose and pork, but the segmentation and seasoning obviously do not stand at a sufficient level, you must know that roast meat is one of the skills of Cantonese cuisine!"

Ding Mengyao also frowned and said, "The level has dropped so much, it seems that the chef must have changed!"

There is no way, after all, it has only begun, and we can only hope for a miracle. Today's soup is lotus root pork rib soup, and the waiter said that it was simmered for four hours, so it is highly recommended.

Take a sip, the pork has a sense of presence, and then the lotus root does not add the slightest layer of sweetness to the pork soup like the old partner corn or carrot. To describe it in one of the most popular phrases:

It's as if the body of the ribs has been hollowed out, short and weak!

Ding Mengyao saw that Johnson was becoming more and more dissatisfied, and said helplessly: "Hey, I knew that I should have ordered the fresh blob balls of splendid fish soup, and the soup is really the first delicious dish filtered out of kelp and quick-cast bonito flowers, and some grapefruit is added to taste, which is full of elegance." ”

Johnson rinsed his mouth with water and said disappointedly: "The next dish is crystal shrimp dumplings, right? All the housekeeping dishes in Cantonese restaurants, I hope I won't complain again." ”

Soon on the table, open the steamer, the color is not bad, especially the size, XL type. There are two large prawns in the transparent crystal skin, which is quite arrogant.

The shrimp meat is full of Q bombs, slightly juicy, and the seasoning does not take away the limelight of the ingredients, just right. Johnson finally breathed a sigh of relief, somewhat comforting compared to the previous two water dishes.

The swan quicksand crisp is very tiring, but the sweetheart is good, the egg yolk, cream, and coconut fragrance, after the teeth bite through the puff pastry, the hot sweet filling bursts out, a bit of volcanic eruption.

The fifth course is the main dish, fried lobster with three shallots, two catties of Australian dragon, the flesh is directly chopped into large pieces, the onion, shallots, and dried shallots are stir-fried in the iron pot, and the lobster pieces are put into the lobster pieces and stir-fried, and finally wrapped in sauce and then out of the pot.

I heard that this dish has been made in the Hong Kong Island main store for 38 years, and the golden signature of Chef Kwong Wai Keung of Samsung Chef Kwong Wai Keung has won numerous awards. SC Johnson is looking forward to it, and he looks good at the table.

The so-called three shallots should be onions, shallots and shallots. The lobster meat is cut into pieces, the heat is meticulously controlled, the shrimp meat is tender and springy, and the soy sauce drizzled on it is barely the finishing touch.

Johnson put down his chopsticks, took a deep breath, and said in great disappointment: "Is that all there is to Aolong, which is known as the top fresh product?"

Ding Mengyao was stunned for a moment and asked, "What's wrong?" I think it's okay, it's delicious." ”

"The seasoning is only on the surface of the lobster meat, while the inside of the shrimp meat is bland, without the slightest excess, let alone layering. ”

"To be fair, it's a pretty good dish, but as the most expensive signature dish in a three-star restaurant, I feel that the taste is not as rich as a high-end sushi, which is really disappointing!"

Johnson picked up another piece and savored it carefully: "I can guarantee that this dish is definitely not an iron pot!"

"Only an iron pot can produce pot gas, especially Cantonese cuisine, and the corridor here is long, at least two or three minutes from the kitchen to the private room, and there is no thermal insulation cover for serving, where will there be pot gas?"