The small shop located at 166 Via Fersilio in Rome, Italy, has a beige exterior wall and warm-colored wall lamps, which looks very warm. At the entrance of the shop, the signboard of "Changjixing Noodle Restaurant (Xin Noodles)", with a white background and bronzing letters. The owner, Sun Xi, told reporters that this noodle restaurant, which was born in the south of the Yangtze River, has been in Rome for a year and a half.
On April 6, 2022, in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, customers dine at a smart noodle restaurant. (*From China News Service).
Rome is also lively in winter, and at night, the market selling all kinds of haberdashery outside the door brings a lot of traffic to the store. This small shop at the intersection of the pedestrian street is only a 5-minute walk from the subway station. The shop is located on the corner of the first floor of a residential building, with two signboards facing the street, and the location is very conspicuous. The interior of the store, from the window to the choice of tables and chairs, is in a traditional Chinese style.
Let the "foreigners" also taste the "Su's noodles".
For many people in Changshu, Jiangsu, every day starts with a steaming bowl of fried noodles.
Born in 1984, Sun Xi is the second-generation helmsman of Changjixing Noodle Restaurant. In September 2023, he became the intangible inheritor of Changshu fried topping skills.
Stir-fried noodles are "exquisite". Sun Xi said, don't underestimate a bowl of fried noodles, there is a lot of stuff in it.
In addition to the basic requirements of "wide soup, medium soup, tight soup" and "hard noodles, soft noodles, and rotten noodles", there are also "heavy green, free fresh, light salt, and bridge ......Sun Xi said that if a person can report "eel steak double-poured wide soup heavy green and free fresh light hard noodles" in one breath, it must be an old diner.
Among the diners, Xu Xudong is a frequent customer of the noodle restaurant, and he travels back and forth between Changshu and Rome all year round.
One day in June 2022, Xu Xudong came to the store to eat noodles as usual. After eating the noodles, he told Sun Xi about one of his thoughts.
There is no "Soviet-style noodle restaurant" in Rome, Italy, can you open a branch of "Changjixing Noodle Restaurant" in Rome, so that "foreigners" can also taste this kind of Chinese noodles?
A few simple words, but Sun Xi was very excited, because Sun Xi at that time was trying to expand the noodle shop. It's your chance to bring "Soviet-style noodles" to the world! The two hit it off.
However, how to gain a foothold in Italy, which is famous for its fast food "pizza" and "hollow noodles", with a bowl of fried noodles with "thick oil red sauce"?
Many friends around Sun Xi are not optimistic at all, thinking that he is "getting a big axe in front of Luban". And Sun Xi said that he wanted to be this "axe maker".
Sun Xi said that many people's work is to "do one line and hate one line", but he is more and more in love with the business of fried noodles, and wants to one day promote the culture of fried noodles.
Eventually, they chose to open their shop in a residential area close to the subway station, surrounded by many universities, and where many Chinese people live.
The store covers an area of about 150 square meters, and the decoration is unified with the domestic "Changjixing Noodle Restaurant". The tables, chairs, and tableware in the store were all customized from Suzhou, and then shipped to Rome, and they were renovated for a total of 3 months.
Next, they recruited two Chinese chefs and four waiters, and Sun Xi trained them himself.
Due to Sun Xi's busy business in China, he could not communicate with them face-to-face, so he could only choose to "teach" his skills in the form of ** connection every night.
"Soviet-style noodles" went viral.
On October 1, 2022, when the whole country was celebrating, 9,000 kilometers away on the streets of Rome, the "Changjixing Noodle Restaurant" Rome store officially opened.
For Sun Xi, choosing this special day to open is also a way to celebrate the festival of the motherland.
Some Chinese in Rome rushed to check in after hearing that a "Soviet-style noodle restaurant" had opened in the local area. Some Chinese in other cities also drove a few hours to "try the new".
As Sun Xi's partner, Xu Xudong arranged his cousin Fu Haiwei as the store manager and was responsible for taking care of the noodle shop.
As early as 2007, Fu Haiwei came to Italy in the form of labor. Now, she communicates with customers confidently and fluently in Italian and Chinese.
Fu Haiwei said that unlike in China, which opens at 5 o'clock in the morning to pick up customers, in Rome, noodles generally do not do morning markets, and business hours start at 12 noon.
In the eyes of the locals, eating "Chinese noodles" is a ritual thing, and they are all treated as a formal meal.
Locals eat dim sum, such as spring rolls and dumplings, before eating noodles, and also order some Chinese food to taste. Fu Haiwei said.
In addition to Changshu's characteristic fried pork ribs, Xiangyou eel paste, and Suzhou-style fried fish, the store also launched many Chinese dim sum.
Since some spices and ingredients were not available locally, she would make a "shortage list" every few days for domestic stocking and courier airlift.
Over the years, the locals of Rome have become more and more receptive to animal offal, such as the large intestine and liver, and today, the pork liver noodles in the store are widely acclaimed.
The yellow eel, known as the "Chinese-style eel", has also been on the "must-eat list" of local "gourmets".
There is a small blackboard in front of the store, with menus in Chinese and Italian respectively, beef noodles **12 euros, large noodles**10 euros......
Before the "Tokishixing Noodle Restaurant" landed in Rome, most of the locals preferred to eat "Japanese ramen".
As more and more locals checked out Changjixing Noodle Restaurant, they were quickly attracted by this bowl of delicious food from the East.
Over the past year, many locals have become "repeat customers", and some "loyal fans" visit the noodle restaurant more than 3 times a week.
Fu Haiwei said that previously, the proportion of customers in the noodle restaurant was equal to that of Chinese and locals. This year, she's seen an increasing proportion of local diners.
Now, in order to keep the ingredients fresh, the snacks and snacks in the store are made on the same day with local "local ingredients", such as spring rolls, dumplings, vegetarian chicken, shutters, Suzhou-style pastries, etc.
In the shop, there is a set of chopsticks on each square table.
Interestingly, many locals have also begun to learn how to use chopsticks to eat Chinese food while tasting noodles.
Many new customers are also eager to try, tilting their heads to learn how to "use two wooden sticks to pick up noodles", although their way of using chopsticks is not standard, but after a few exercises, it is not difficult to pick up noodles.
80% of foreigners use chopsticks. Fu Haiwei said. For those who don't know how to use chopsticks, the store will still prepare forks for them.
Different from most of the piano music in other small shops, the noodle restaurant is perennial ** Guzheng song, "Taihu Lake Beauty", "Jasmine" and other Jiangnan folk songs.
Let these folk music linger in the ears of diners, combine ** with food, and give them a chic romantic style, which is also one of the "signatures" of the noodle restaurant.
Move closer to the "century-old store".
In Changshu, which is more than 9,000 kilometers away from Rome, Sun Xi has 5 "Changjixing" directly operated noodle restaurants.
Now he not only visits five local stores every day, but also learns about the Rome branch in the evening.
Due to the seven-hour time difference between Italy and China, the Rome branch only began to serve noon guests when the night market in Changshu was already bustling.
In 1993, Sun Xi's father, Sun Junliang, opened a "Changji Noodle Restaurant" in Changshu, specializing in Changshu fried noodles.
For this brand, Sun Xi's father said: "Chang" is "often come", "Ji" is "auspicious", and hopes that diners "often come to Changjixing and can be auspicious".
Since then, the "mom-and-pop" noodle restaurant has gradually become prosperous, and its scale has become larger and larger.
When 21-year-old Sun Xi graduated from college in 2005, he was not interested in this "mom-and-pop" shop, and he wanted to look for another job.
After some time, Sun Xi changed his mind. He said that he often hears compliments from customers, "and I feel a sense of pride in my heart!" ”
From then on, he was determined to make the store bigger and stronger.
For more than 10 years, Sun Xi has been running a noodle restaurant with his father, while seeking a "breakthrough" opportunity in the development of the noodle restaurant. By 2018, Sun Xi officially took over the "Changji Noodle Restaurant".
He found that there are many "century-old shops" in Suzhou, and they all end with the word "Xing", which means that business is prosperous and prosperous for a long time.
Later, this "good word" was added by him to the end of "Changji". "Upgrading the file" starts from the "door".
Sun Xi said that he hoped that "Chang Jixing" could move closer to the "century-old store".
In reality, many local noodle restaurants in Changshu are "mom-and-pop" shops, with an outdated environment, old-fashioned styles, and menus that are not changed all year round, making it difficult to attract more people.
And Sun Xi's store must be "competitive", and the environment of the store must be different.
As a result, he began the "mighty" road of store decoration and upgrading. From furnishings, tables and chairs to tableware, he asked for "branding".
He asked the designer to carefully design the store's classical-style decoration, which contains a deep meaning of Soviet-style culture, including Soviet-style scenery and architecture, as well as Taihu stone, traditional lanterns, Ming-style mahogany furniture ......These decorations make the noodle restaurant full of ancient Jiangnan charm.
The second is the upgrading of ingredients. Sun Xi said that in addition to the basic marinated toppings, other dishes of Changshu fried noodles are freshly fried, which is locally known as "one bowl of stir-fried, one bowl of one taste". Locals pay attention to "not eating from time to time", so he incorporates seasonal dishes into the toppings of fried noodles, such as winter bamboo shoots, river prawns, hairy crabs and ......
Sun Xi said that "Changjixing" will launch seasonal toppings every season to give customers more choices.
The first interval of the store is large, which can cover all levels of consumer groups. From 100 yuan of "Jiugongge**" to more than 10 yuan of single-topping noodles, customers can "eat well".
Today, this 30-year-old "husband and wife" noodle restaurant has gone abroad. "All roads lead to Rome, and now my store is in Rome as well. Sun Xi is proud of this, and has his own small shop in this place known as the "Eternal City", and "Changjixing" is closer to the signboard of "Century-old Store". (ENDS).
Written by Li Chao.