Wudaoying: hipper by the day
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3. The shy chef
"Our restaurant used to be in Fangjia hutong, but since our boss bought this place instead of continuing to rent, we moved to Wudaoying last July,"Saffron's manager Zhou Yue told the Global Times. The reason behind the restaurant's name is simple: "our special Spanish traditional paella, made by the boss, has saffron in it, and our restaurant is named after this."
From the dining hall, people can see directly into the kitchen, the font of mixed cheese plates, Italian beef carpaccio and homemade desserts. The words starting the owner/chef's blog explains the restaurant's style best when it quotes a famous French chef, Bocuse: "I believe that in cook-ing like in music, one doesn't invent much. One makes interpretations."
Like Dong Liang, Saffron has another floor to impress people, but it's not above the head, it's underground, like a wine cellar. The room holds shelves of Sangria, Argento Torrontes and Carpineto Dogajolo, a refectory dining table and, at the time of visit, an entire wedding reception. Accord-ing to Zhou, 50 guests is the perfect number of people to have in Saffron.
The tango band people may have once heard at Saffron no longer plays, but a casually-dressed college student was tuning his guitar and playing beautiful music all the time Zhou spoke. Later, Zhou explained, "That's our boss, the restaurant owner, Yao Yang. He is also the chef making the specials, but he is shy and never takes interviews. It's always his wife or me who does the talking."
Heads up, next time you see a person sitting quietly and playing the guitar like a student, you should know better that this person may be saying, "I love the kitchen just like I love my home."
Saffron
Address: No. 64, Wudaoying Hutong
Tel: 8404-4909
Hours: 12 pm- 11 pm (closed Monday)
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