Chapter 7 Recalling Keshilin

Jishilin is located between the Osmanthus shopping mall in the old Dong'an market and the South Garden. The main business store is upstairs, and there is almost no facade downstairs.The downstairs store in the north is very small, and only sells some fast food, sandwiches and cold drinks. There are stairs on the south side of the store leading directly to the upstairs.At the north end of the South Garden, there is a very inconspicuous wooden staircase, so climbing from the south side can also lead directly to the upstairs restaurant.Most of Jishilin's regular customers and regular customers are unwilling to pass through the chaotic hall downstairs, but choose the wooden escalator in the south to climb upstairs.Therefore, from which side of the stairs to climb up, you can judge the familiarity of customers.

Jishilin was opened around the 1940s. The earliest owner was the driver of General Bao Wenyue of the Northeast Army. Bao Wenyue was once the right-hand man of General Zhang Xueliang.It was in the 1930s that this driver drove Bao Wenyue.Jishilin is not the best among western restaurants in Beijing, but its location and surrounding environment make it a very prosperous business.It is located in the middle of Dong'an Market, no matter whether you go from south to north, you have to pass through here, and the positioning of the business objects is also very accurate.Its north is not far from the bookstores in Dong'an Market. Among them, the "Central Plains" and "Chunming" bookstores are specialized in foreign language books, and most of their customers are university professors and intellectuals.There is a dance hall, Huixian billiard hall and Tian Wenqing Dental Hall (the dance hall closed soon after liberation, and the billiard hall is empty).To the south is the South Garden, where entertainment venues such as Shengping Entertainment Club are located.After entertainment, shopping, and buying books, you may stop at Jishilin, so Jishilin has been doing very well since its opening.

The store above Jishilin is very characteristic, so it is still fresh in my memory.Its north-south direction is not wide, but its east-west direction is very long, like a widened train carriage.The most interesting thing is that the tables and chairs in the entire store are all made of two high-backed chairs with a glass dining table in the middle. This form is usually called "train seat". A dining table can seat at most four people facing each other.The original leather-backed chair may not have a high enough back, so a wooden frame was installed on the back of the seat, and frosted glass was installed on the back of the seat, so that even if you stand up, you can't see the true face of the people at the front and back tables.

There is often such a thing: while eating and chatting, I occasionally feel that the voice of the neighbor sitting next to me is familiar, and it is not easy to move to the neighbor.The east end of the restaurant is the accounting counter and wine table, and the west end has a semi-circular high platform, which is about one foot above the ground, forming a very simple small stage. There is always a grand piano on the stage, and there is an old-fashioned one beside it. Phonograph (this phonograph was replaced by a record player in the early 1960s. At that time, it was commonly known as "electric rotation". It has four speeds, 16, 33, 45, and 78 revolutions per minute, and you can listen to records at four different speeds).Few people play the piano on the stage. I have been to Jishilin countless times, and I am the only one who still remembers it clearly. It is a French translation imported from East Germany.In the 1950s and 1960s, Jishilin had no musicians, and the players were all customers. They played a piece or two as they pleased, and anyone could play it. This service was free.As for the old-fashioned phonograph, no one ever cared about it.In the early 1960s, however, the "electric switch" was replaced, and many people used it to listen to records. They had to bring their own records, and as long as they were handed over to the waiter, he would completely act as an agent. It's a bit like ordering songs in today's karaoke halls.At that time, no matter who played the records, most of them were Western classical music, and there were occasional Jiangnan Sizhu, but I never heard music that was bad for the scenery.The service of playing records is also free at Jishilin.When I was in high school, for a while I liked to choose records at the foreign language bookstore in Bamiancao. Once I bought two records and went to Jishilin for snacks. Playing a newly bought record, the first and only time I listened to a record at Keshilin.I still remember very clearly that it was a sum of the French Impressionist composer Debussy imported from East Germany, and it was at 45 rpm. Not many records are turned.

Jishilin's business hours are very long. It opens at ten o'clock in the morning every day and closes at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, without a break at noon.The busiest time for business is noon and afternoon.Jishilin's western food is British and French, but the characteristics are not very obvious. count well.But there are a few snacks in the afternoon that are very distinctive and unforgettable. One is clear soup packets.The so-called xiaobao is something similar in shape to Chinese spring rolls, slightly shorter than spring rolls, but rounder and thicker than spring rolls.The outer skin is made of eggs and flour, and the filling is minced beef, fresh mushrooms and chopped boiled eggs.After being wrapped, it is short cylindrical, dipped in egg white and bread crumbs, fried in not too hot oil, the color is golden, and when you eat it, it is not as crisp as spring rolls, but burnt and soft, and the egg is fragrant.There is butter and white pepper in the stuffing, never Chinese soy sauce.Each clear soup packet is two packets with a cup of beef tea.Jishilin's beef tea is placed in a pair of small porcelain cups, which is fragrant and delicious.

This dim sum has not been inherited by restaurants for a long time, but I have devoted myself to research, and it finally came to fruition, and I can make authentic Jishilin clear soup packets.A few years ago, I had a banquet at home with my old friend, Mr. Tang Wuji, a collector from Shanghai. He was also an old gourmet, and he was full of praise after tasting it. He said that he had eaten it at Shanghai Jin Jiang Hotel decades ago, and he hadn’t enjoyed it for nearly 40 years since then. The second is hot dogs.Hot dogs are the simplest fast food for Americans. To put it bluntly, they are bread with hot sausage.But Jishilin's hot dogs are very distinctive.The bread it uses is homemade, oblong, and two sausages are broken from the middle. After being baked in the oven, it is sandwiched between the bread, and a layer of sauerkraut is added between the sausage and the bread. The taste is quite different.This kind of sauerkraut is homemade by Jishilin. It is made of cabbage, onions, carrots, and bell peppers, cut into very thin strips, stir-fried a little, add a little tomato juice, and add vinegar to enhance the taste and increase its acidity. .Grilled hot sausage and a layer of sauerkraut on a hot dog bun is much more delicious than an American hot dog with ready-made hot dog sauce in the middle.

The third is creamy chestnut powder.This dessert is made of steamed chestnuts as the main raw material. The chestnuts are peeled and crushed by a machine into coarse grains. They are placed on a plate and poured with whipped cream for instant eating.The production of butter chestnut powder is very simple, but it tastes extremely sweet. Although this kind of food is delicious, it should not be eaten too much, or it will be too greasy.When I was very young, I went to eat butter chestnut powder, maybe I ate too much, and came back to vomit and feel uncomfortable. Since then, I have been insulated from cream chestnut powder.

Most of the customers in the afternoon are Jishilin's regular customers, or people who are very familiar with the place. Because they are not food lovers, there are not many people who come here to eat.But during this period of time, 70% to 80% of the seats can be occupied.Want a snack or two, or a cup of coffee, listen to music, meet friends, and rest here after shopping.Many celebrities in Beijing's cultural, artistic and business circles are regular visitors here.On the eve of the liberation of Peking, the underground staff of the underground Party City Industry Department also exchanged information or did joint work here.The special pattern of "train seats" in the store provides convenience for this.In the 1950s and early 1960s, this place was also a small microcosm of the big society. Under the social environment at that time, it seemed that this place was a very special corner, just like no matter where you stand in the restaurant, there is no place to eat. It is possible to see all the people eating at the table, even if you see one side, you can't see who is opposite him.Only after walking back and forth can you see the whole hall.Of course, for me in my teenage years, it was just a place to satisfy my appetite.