The culinary culture is the epitome of urban culture. In Qingdao there is a restaurant of almost the same age as the city. It witnesses the beautiful vicissitudes of this city, carries on the citizens’ everlasting pursuit for gourmet and inherits the profound Chinese culinary culture. It has many distinguishable honorable titles including Top 3 Famous Restaurants in Qingdao, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Shandong Province and Top 10 Time-honored Catering Enterprise. It is called Chun He Lou.

    In the course of time and city vicissitudes, this time-honored restaurants spanning three centuries still remains here.

    Make reservations or wait in line

    On 11: 30 am of August 11th, the hall on the first floor of Chun He Lou located in the intersection of Road Tianjin and Zhongshan, was filled up with guests having lunch. As the staffs guided the guests to wait in line, they also told the cuisine stories of Chun He Lou.

    A staff said: “ You need to book a few days in advance if you taste the food here. Otherwise you have to wait in queue. Now it is the prime tourism season in Qingdao. Guests need to wait in line at lunch or dinnertime.”

    Shen Jianji, the president of Chun He Lou Restaurant Group Co., Ltd., said: “Although many time-honored culinary enterprises have shut down, Chun He Lou maintains a good momentum of development and the operation revenues is on the path of steady growth.”

    How could Chun He Lou remain prosperous and vigorous for hundreds of years?

    Invariability, the same flavor as 100 years old

    What is invariable is the inheritance of traditional Shandong Cuisine by Chun He Lou. As the 18th person in charge of Chun He Lou, Shen Jianji thinks that as one of top 10 time-honored Chinese restaurants, Chun Helou has its own unique techniques and profound culture while its opponents do not possess these. It can stay undefeated only by inheriting and taking full advantages of its own strengths.

    Old native Qingdao citizens often say: “wear the clothes from Qian Xiang Yi, wear the hats made by Sheng Xifu, eat in Chun He Lou, go and see operas in Zhong He and see the doctor in Hong Ren Tang.” Eating in Chun He Lou can reflect the identity and taste.

    Decorous historic feelings embrace our faces upon entering Chun He Lou. Enshi Hall where Xu Teli ate before, Wei Xin Hall where Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao had food before, Gen Yun Hall where Xiao Jun and Xiao Hong ate food before and Jiao Jun Hall where General Lyons from America ate before, and so on. With the antique architectural style and old pictures with a history of hundreds of years, we taste not only classical gourmet but also vicissitudes. Shen Jianji said that the catering business is also the business of culture. Success can be half obtained when the culture is right.

    The other half of the success is delicate cooking skills of Shangdong cuisine.

    Since its birth in 1891, in the past 125 years Chun He Lou has never forgotten its original intention, is dedicated and determined to mainly cook Shandong cuisine. The cooking skills have been passed from generation to generation and from master to apprentice. Nearly 400 chefs have been trained in the past 7 generations, the only phenomenon in Shandong and also a rare case in China. Chun He Lou attaches great importance to professional talents and many famous culinary masters including Liu Jinglun, Ren Quan, Wang Haiping and Guo Jingwei have come from Chun He Lou.

    With his desperate pursuit of the Shangdong cuisine cooking techniques, Wang Haiping, who is nearly 70 years old, started as an apprentice, learned modestly and took 22 years to become the head chef of Chun He Lou. He has received delegations from over 30 countries. Crisp Fried Chicken, Braised Shark's Fin with Crab Yolk, Dragon and Phoenix Slices made by him are exquisite, mouth pleasant and suit everyone’s taste. Moreover, the Crisp Fried Chicken has listed the Shandong provincial intangible cultural heritage and the annual sales volume can reach 460,000.

    Chun He Lou has already become the Huangpu Military Academy in Qingdao culinary industry. Since the 1980s, the great masters trained by Chun He Lou have become the cuisine directors of Qingdao Hotel, Haitian Grand Hotel, Huiquan Wangchao Grand Hotel, and Huanghai Hotel. Chun He Lou has made tremendous contributions to promote the development of Qingdao culinary industry.

    The training of many cooking maters can make the traditional cooking techniques pass from generation to generation. The flavor of authentic Shandong cuisine at the time of our ancestors can remain the same as the era changes.

    Being good at changing -advance with the times and embrace the internet

    From 1891 to 2016, Chun He Lou is 125 years old, spans over three centuries and remains undefeated. Being good at changing is one important reason.

    According to Shen Jianji, all the hotel environments, cuisine varieties, and operation philosophy vary according to the different eras. Only by changing appropriately can it never be discarded by the era.

    Since the 1990s, the business of Chun He Lou confronted serious decline. At the time of dilemma, Chun He Lou actively sought changes. After adequate market research, the company has rebuilt its image to serve the mass civilians. After totally turning its back against the previous image of “stand high above the masses,” the company gets closer to closer to ordinary consumers and therefore attracts many new customers.

    In the constantly changing era of the Internet, Chun He Lou actively embraces the Internet. Shen Jianji said: “The internet has expanded the influence and radiation range of Chun He Lou. It has become an important or indispensable stop for Qingdao travel strategy enjoying an extremely high click rating on the Internet. In addition, we has actively applied the third party e-commerce platform to develop products that are suitable to be sold on the Internet, which has accumulated a lot of popularity and brought handsome income for us.”

    With the “tongue codes” in the hands, Chun He Lou is on the road of expansion. In the past few years, Chun He Lou has continuously expanded. Besides the headquarters on Road Zhongshan, now Chun He Lou has three branches, three steamed dumpling shops, and 2 shops of crisp fried chicken.