Cui Xinyi: a foodie and a restaurant owner

Cui Xinyi hails from Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

"My name is Cui Xinyi. My hometown is in northeast China. I've lived in Beijing for 21 years. Now, I'm running a small restaurant in Beijing, which offers Guilin rice noodles."

Born in the 1980s, Cui is one of what is known as the post-80s generation in China. Like many others in the same generation, Cui left her hometown in 1998 to come to Beijing for further education. After graduating, she settled down in the city and started her own business. Since she is the only child in her family, her family came to the Chinese capital to support her.

Cui Xinyi and her mum pose for a selfie in her small restaurant in Beijing. [File photo provided for China Plus]

"All the people working here are members of my family, including my mum and aunt. My husband and aunt are in charge of the work back in the kitchen, while my mum, mother-in-law, and I serve in the front. That's how we work together."

This has become a new trend in China in recent years—lured by higher incomes and more job opportunities, millions of young people have been flocking into big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and their parents just follow the young generation. It's especially common when young couples start a family. The older generation has to bid farewell to their familiar surroundings to offer a hand in bringing up their grandchildren.

In Cui's case, things are a little bit different as she and her husband don't have a child. They've put all their time and efforts into running a small restaurant that only offers Guilin rice noodles. In south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the city of Guilin is famous for its beautiful scenery. And rice noodles, which have a strong smell, are a specialty food in Guilin, which might bring to mind another notorious smelly dish— stinky Tofu. Some people love it, and others simply hate it. For those unfamiliar with Guilin rice noodles, it smells terrible. The unique smell comes from an important ingredient— sour bamboo shoots.

How have a couple born and raised in the northernmost part of China dedicated themselves to cook and promote a speciality food from southern China?

"One of our best friends studied in Guilin for years. He got addicted to the rice noodles there. When he came back to Beijing, he would fly back to Guilin about every six months just to eat these noodles, because he couldn't find them in Beijing. He recommended them to us, and we travelled to Guilin to try them. We soon fell in love with the food—it became a must-eat during our stay."

After that trip to Guilin, Cui and her husband opened the restaurant in September, 2017. It has only six tables, but it's needed the family squad that has been mobilized to help them. This is a typical Chinese way of doing business. Once they started, it seemed as if they just couldn't stop. In the first year, the young couple had no time off at all, not even to go to the cinema.

"My husband puts in the most hours work. He usually starts at seven in the morning because he has to go and get the fresh meat and other shopping. He gets to the restaurant at about eight, and works until nine. There's no time to rest. That's what working in the catering business requires – when other people are on their breaks, you have to step up and work harder. So basically, each of us works for about twelve hours a day. Last year we worked right up until Chinese New Year. This year, we took some time off for Spring festival because the whole family was exhausted."

Cui Xinyi's husband works in the kitchen in their small restaurant in Beijing. [Photo: China Plus/Leiying]

Cui's husband is the chef, even though he hasn't had any professional training as a cook before. It's hard to believe that in fact he once worked as a piano tuner. But although the work is exhausting, they are very happy since both of them have a strong interest in and passion for food.

"My husband and I are very happy about the decision to shift into the catering business. Both of us love cuisine. Wherever I go, I love to search and find speciality food; after we've tried new dishes, my husband tries to remake them at home. We're a perfect match. Sometimes I feel selling children's wear was the wrong choice for us. We should have opened a restaurant earlier."

Traditionally, people in northern China mainly eat noodles, pancakes, and buns made from wheat flour; while people in southern China eat rice and rice noodles. So it wasn't easy to introduce the food from the south to people in Beijing.

Cui says it's painful to read online comments that say some buyers open their takeaway boxes and immediately dump the food because they think it must be rotten.

"It's hard to accept it. Even today we see some customers just walk away once they've opened the door and smelt the odour, because not many people get the chance to visit Guilin and taste the noodles there. In the early days, I had to introduce them to everybody. I had to repeat myself many times. At the beginning, I thought I could carry on, but in the end I found myself exhausted in the evening."

Cui says luckily online platforms have helped them a lot.

"The Internet is highly developed. Many people share what they have eaten via online platforms. When other people see their comments, they come to our restaurant. One customer even drove 70 kilometres after finding the information online. They just came to find the flavour they had tasted in Guilin. I thought that was lovely. Take-out websites have also helped us. Some people may have no idea where the restaurant is, but they can order the food on the websites. When they see the dish is available, they can place an order and try it."

Cui Xinyi is happy to see that some customers have become her friends.[File photo provided for China Plus]

Cui says she's glad to see that a lot of customers have become her friends.

"Many frequent customers are those who have memories of Guilin. They have either worked or studied in the city. When they come to our restaurant and open the door, they sigh 'oh, this is a smell I'm familiar with.'"

Hard work pays off. About one year after Cui started the business, they opened their second restaurant, which has been a huge success for the young couple. This is very hard to achieve in a country where fierce competition sees restaurants closing every day.

Cui says she will not expand her business too hastily, because ensuring the best quality will always be the top priority.

"I hope in the future I can introduce genuine Guilin rice noodles to more locals here in Beijing. And I do hope that more and more people will get to know the brand name of our restaurant."

Cui's future plan is more than about business. She also wants to become charitable and donate to society. She mentions some restaurant owners, who offer free meals to homeless people.

"Whenever I see those inspirational stories on the Internet, like helping people in need and responding during an emergency, I am always really touched, and sometimes even moved to tears. So I hope I can be someone like that, when other people need help, I can be the one to offer a hand. And I hope more and more people can join us and do the same thing."