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French cuisine making inroads onto Chinese palates
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-08 09:07
A steak at Flo, foie gras at Maxim's, a Gratin Dauphinois at "La Cite;" when
it comes to food, the Chinese and the French share a passion likely to be at
center stage during the Year of France in Beijing.
Georges Mompezat, the doyen of foreign chefs
in Beijing poses at the doorway of his restaurant "La Cite" near Beijing's
Forbidden City. [AFP] | There are over a dozen
French restaurants in the Chinese capital, not including a growing number of
"Western" and "fusion" eateries that also offer French cuisine.
Although the menus and dishes are different, the number of establishments
underscores a growing attraction of the Chinese middle class for Western food,
and in particularly French cuisine.
With the Year of France in China set to officially begin Sunday, the
infatuation is expected to grow, especially as the media focuses on a series of
political, economic and cultural events for the upcoming the year.
"Seventy-five to 80 percent of our clientele are Chinese and the numbers are
getting bigger," said Denis Fasquelle, director of development for the Group
Flo, which opened its first restaurant in Beijing in 1999 and is planning a
second.
"Chinese like the dishes and they also like the ambience of a brasserie.
Sometimes they will mix and share the portions like they do in Chinese cuisine."
At Flo, the average bill comes to around 300 yuan (36 dollars) per person,
about one third of the monthly salary earned by an average worker.
At Maxim's, one of Beijing's oldest French restaurants, the bill is even
more. The 80 to 85 percent of the clientele that is Chinese pays about 400 yuan
per person.
"Generally speaking, we have three types of client, those who have lived
overseas, those who are used to paying a lot of money and those who bring their
children to the restaurant as a gift," said Maxim's chef Alain Le Meur.
The "little emperors," or the only child, are not unique to the plush maroon
seats of Maxim's, he said.
"One time I saw a mother come with her son, who was very young. The boy
ordered foie gras, lobster and cheese, the mother didn't have anything. She only
watched him eat!," Le Meur said.
The future for quality French cuisine in both Beijing and Shanghai has
appeared promising so long as the plates are full and meet the Chinese criteria
that the meal should be big and the food plenty.
"A very delicate, light meal, may not go well with the Chinese taste," said
Georges Mompezat, the chef at "La Cite," which is located near the Forbidden
City and is the most expensive of the French restaurants here.
"My clients know what they want to order. They like a lot of meat and good
sauces, like a pepper sauce," said the doyen of foreign chefs in Beijing.
Mompezat is offering a refined local French cuisine that is developed with
the traditions of the French catering business and made out for a Chinese middle
class clientele that is increasingly on the move and continually finding its
purchasing power growing.
With regards to the potential and the local supply situation, Western
restaurants in China are still a small niche market.
"For many, foreign cuisine is still a mystery, so there is still a lot that
needs to be done to demystify it," Denis Fasquelle said, explaining that some
Chinese still have a phobia about using knives and forks.
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