Served With Passion
By Francisco Chia
The author ( first back left) take a group photo with his families and employees in his restaurant on March 3 in Beijing
A couple of years ago, when I was in London, I took my friend to the best Peruvian restaurant that had a Michelin star and a chef who was acknowledged to be among the best in the world. During the meal I told her the history of each dish we ate, the ingredients used and the way it was cooked. At the end, she was amazed by the whole experience.
Sometime later, when I was back in Beijing, she gave me a call. She told me she had gone back to the restaurant with some friends and while she had ordered the same dishes, they found nothing magical about the experience. “I realized then that the food had tasted so delicious because of your stories,” she told me. “They gave it that magic fl avor.”
21世纪，农业的可持续发展和保障粮食安全是全球的主要关注点。2010年，全球饥饿总人数增长到了10亿，随后联合国、G20和APEC都把农业发展作为了重要讨论议题。在国际方面，对农业的国际合作也展开讨论，将农业发展作为主要发展目标。农业发展速度较快时，农业合作便成为了当前国家和国家外交的重要主题[1]。
That shared joy is exactly what my team and I are trying to recreate in Beijing through the charm of Peruvian food and drink. But actually, my story goes back further than that to 2011, when I quit my job as the manager of a 24-hour restaurant in Atlanta in the U.S., and came to China to do my MBA and learn Chinese. While studying at Tsinghua University, a classmate started pushing me to start a food business. I loved cooking and making cocktails and he thought it would be a great combination with Peruvian food.Initially, I refused, thinking I didn't want to return to the exhausting life of a fulltime restaurant manager. But there was a big difference, according to my friend, “You won't be a manager working under a boss. You'll be the boss.”
The idea took root and along with my sister and brother, we started by running a temporary restaurant, popping up every night at a café in Beijing's Sanlitun Soho to offer customers a unique experience.While doing my MBA, I learned about the word localization. Basically, it means to adapt products to the target customers in an area. In other words, if I wanted to serve Peruvian food in China, the flavors needed to be changed to please the Chinese palate.However, my experience in China told me something different; Chinese customers who dare to try something as unheard of as Peruvian cuisine would prefer to taste the real deal. Besides, Peruvian cuisine and its restaurants are becoming famous in key cities of the world and so, we decided to offer genuine Peruvian food.
People come to the OASIS for all the things they can do. But they stay because of all the things they can be. Tall, beautiful, scary and different sex, and different 17)species, live actions, cartoon. It’s all your call.
But the experience had to be more than just eating good food. We wanted people to feel like they were in Peru through the food,atmosphere and vibes put all together. So we decided to close the pop-up and find our own venue. People kept asking for the launch date and I told everyone it would be right after the 2018 Chinese New Year, then I changed it to March, April, May, untilat some point, I decided to avoid giving any specific month. I had no idea when it would happen.But, finally an ideal space became available at the Jinshang complex near Sanlitun and our Peruvian restaurant opened.
Led by a Peruvian chef, we bring to China what we call the Chicha culture, that is, the new face of Peru, where the working class is shaping our new society and making our country a much better place to live in. It is very satisfying to have people learn that and more about Peru while enjoying mouth-watering cuisine, perfectly mixed with unique pisco drinks that in my opinion are like margaritas but better. The most popular Peruvian dish we serve is ceviche,seafood with marinated fish in different sauces, which is perfect for Beijing's hot summer. With the food, my siblings and I like to share its history, thus in that way we share our culture.
I never imagined that I would be using all the lessons learned at my old job again, but there is a new ingredient, which is that along with all my experience, there is also passion. Customers' positive feedback and a full house every weekend motivate me to start drafting the next phase of this story. Perhaps it's time to let more people in Beijing learn about Peruvian food and eventually, more people throughout China.
The author is a Peruvian living in Beijing
Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
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