Chinese restaurants walk line between tradition and local tastes
Print Edition
“LOCAL Czechs prefer Western-style Chinese food rather than traditional fare because it’s faster and cheaper,” said He Lianping, owner of the Peking Restaurant in Prague.
Like most Chinese restaurants in Prague, He’s establishment offers two menus: one is for Chinese visitors and the other for Czechs.
“We stop serving Western-style Chinese food at 3pm. That’s why at lunchtime Czechs are usually our biggest customers, while during dinner it’s largely Chinese people — mostly Chinese tourists,” He said.
The restaurateur added though that some Czechs do come to try traditional Chinese dishes recommended by Chinese friends.
Kung Pao chicken and Beijing roasted duck are two of the most popular dishes at the Peking Restaurant, according to He.
He decided to open the Peking Restaurant with his partner when he moved to Prague in 1993 from Zhejiang Province in south China.
Other Chinese restaurant owners in Prague gained experience working as cooks and servers before opening their own establishments.
Yao Jianrong, for instance, came to Prague in 1992 and opened the Mei Xin Restaurant nine years later.
Yao, 49, said: “I worked at a restaurant before starting my own business with the money I accumulated.”
The number of Chinese restaurants in the Czech Republic has grown considerably since the early 1990s, yet some owners say business is tough these days, thanks to recent economic malaise in Europe.
Wang Qingwen, the 45-year-old owner of the Xin Tian Hao Restaurant in Prague, estimates that there are now more than 400 Chinese restaurants in the city, most of which are owned by migrants from Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Wang left Wenzhou, in Zhejiang Province, and started working in Prague around 2000. He opened his restaurant soon afterward, and it remains open to this day.
“Business is getting harder and I miss my family in China,” Wang lamented.
“The biggest problem is the lack of suitable employees,” said He, adding that most restaurants staff come from China and Vietnam.
“Chinese people know more about Chinese food, and they are willing to work longer hours.”
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