Du Jinhua (L) and his son Du Yupeng
For older generations in Huai’an, Shengli Restaurant is a household name. The restaurant was built to celebrate the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and was the largest restaurant in town at that time.
Du Jinhua started to work at Shengli Restaurant when he was 20 years old and he has been working as a pastry chef for more than 40 years. Du is known best for his Laoshengli steamed dumplings.
In order to master the skills of making flour pastries, Du often bought materials at his own expense and practiced making steamed dumplings at home. Du also bought many books on cooking and took notes in several notebooks. Theory and practice in cooking made Du an excellent pastry chef in just a few years.
In 1992, Du left Huai’an to work in restaurants in Nanjing and Beijing.
12 years later, Du came back to his hometown and opened Laoshengli Steamed Dumpling Restaurant to carry forward the delicacy of Shengli Restaurant.
The now 61-year-old Du is very confident about the future. He said that he is determined to carry forward and promote the delicacies of Shengli Restaurant.
To his comfort, his son, 35-year-old Du Yupeng, also came back to Huai’an to manage the restaurant with him. Du Yupeng holds a degree in textile engineering from Donghua University and worked in Hong Kong and Shanghai after studying in France. Du Yupeng said the taste of Loashengli steamed dumplings is the memory of his home and childhood, and the longer he stayed outside his hometown, the more his nostalgia grew.
