Chapter 11 Wisteria Cake in Zhongshan Park

Outside the west gate of Sheji Altar, along the west wall of Zhongshan Park, there was a row of teahouses in the 1950s and 1960s.Since the 1930s and 1940s, several restaurants and refreshment clubs such as Chunming Pavilion, Changmeixuan and Bosixin have been opened here.The restaurants are indoors, and the cafes are outdoors.Later, these restaurants closed down one after another, while the open-air cafes continued until the eve of the "Cultural Revolution". There are three places for teahouses in Zhongshan Park, one is the open space in front of "Laijin Yuxuan". "Laijin Yuxuan" has a long history. There are both restaurants and teahouses. The plaque was written by Xu Shichang and signed by a person from Shuizhu Village. The word "Jinyu" refers to new friends. It is taken from Du Fu's "Autumn Shu" in the Tang Dynasty: "In the old days, the rain came; today, the rain will not come". There is a well-known saying that increasing the number of years in the old environment is decreasing the number of years". From then on, "Jinyu" refers to new friends. This restaurant uses this as its name, but it is also elegant and unique. "Laijin Yuxuan" has gone through vicissitudes and has a history of more than 70 years.The teahouse here is the "Three Seasons" teahouse.Why three seasons?Because spring and autumn are naturally comfortable and comfortable, and in summer there is always a high mat shed, and it is very cool and comfortable in summer whether it is sunny or rainy, so the tea here can be sold in three seasons.And Houhe teahouses can only be "one season teahouses", and they are not set up every year. They are some scattered seats along the river in the pine and cypress forest beside Houhe (referring to the Tongzi River next to the Forbidden City). Iron tables and iron chairs are temporary. , only sold in the summer season.In addition, tea was also sold in the water pavilion, which was indoors and around the railings, and it opened and stopped from time to time, so it is not included in this list.

The teahouses along the west wall mentioned earlier should be called "Two Seasons Teahouses".There is no mat tent here in summer, neither shade nor rain. Although there are tables and chairs in summer, there are few customers.Therefore, the teahouses on West Road are the best in spring and autumn, and among the two seasons, spring is the best.This is because peonies and peonies in Zhongshan Park are in full bloom in April every year, attracting tourists the most.After admiring the flowers, people take a rest in a nearby teahouse, brew a pot of incense, bathe in the warm spring breeze in March, and look at the clumps of Yao Huang Wei Zi in the flower garden not far away. It is really a very leisurely enjoyment. .

In the 1950s, all the cafes in this area were made of rattan tables and chairs, which was very harmonious with the atmosphere of the whole park.In the middle of the teahouse, there are two or three luxuriant wisteria flower racks, covered with wisterias, and strings of lavender wisteria flowers hang down unevenly, forming a colorful contrast with the peonies and peonies in the surrounding gardens.The flowering period of wisteria is much longer than that of peony and peony. When peony and peony are gone, wisteria will still bloom for a while. Wisteria can be eaten, but not many people know it now.At that time, the teahouses on Zhongshan Park West Road used wisteria flowers to make wisteria cakes, which is said to be the tradition of Changmeixuan.This kind of wisteria cake can be said to be made from local materials. The raw material is the wisteria flowers blooming in front of the door. After picking them, they are marinated with sugar to make the filling, and the skin is made like rose cakes.At that time, many bakery shops in Beijing also made wisteria pancakes, and they only sold wisteria pancakes for a season in spring. For example, the famous Juqingzhai in Dongsi Pailou, Ruifangzhai in Dongsi Batiao, Baolanzhai in Wangfujing, etc., always sell wisteria pancakes for a while in spring. But compared with the wisteria cake in Zhongshan Park, it is still inferior.The wisteria cake in Zhongshan Park has two major characteristics. One is that the raw materials used, that is, the wisteria flowers are freshly picked and made, which maintains the color and fragrance of the flowers.The second is to make and sell it now, it is hot out of the oven, it is crispy and fragrant, which is incomparable to the wisteria cakes sold in the pastry shop.

The teahouse sells wisteria cakes mostly at two or three o'clock in the afternoon. At this time, the tourists who enjoy the flowers have rested in the teahouse for a while, and the pot of fragrant slices has been refilled two or three times, and the four fruit dishes have also been used a little. It just so happened that the wisteria pancakes were out of the oven, so I had to serve one or two plates and taste them while they were hot. They were so delicious.From two o'clock until the teahouse closes, some wisteria cakes are sold, but if you go to the teahouse the next morning, you won't be able to eat the leftover wisteria cakes from the previous day. .In addition to eating at teahouses, you can also buy them in boxes and take them home. This is a very attractive business for teahouses in Zhongshan Park.

The wisteria pancakes at the teahouse on West Road and the Dongcai Baozi at “Laijin Yuxuan” on the east side are two of the most famous desserts at the teahouses in Zhongshan Park, and they have enjoyed a long-standing reputation.Dongcai Bao has been sold until today, but the quality is far from that of "Laijin Yuxuan" in the past.As for wisteria pancakes, they were no longer made in the early 1960s.A few years ago, Beijing Dongzhimen Waishizipo opened a collection garden that concentrated the flavor of Beijing’s traditional pastry shop. In the spring of the first two years of its opening, it sold wisteria pancakes. It was gone again in the spring of the third year. The salesperson said it was because of wisteria. The reason why the flowers cannot be purchased.I passed by by chance last year and asked again, but the store was very deserted. When I asked the young saleswoman, she said that she had never heard of this kind of dim sum.