Yueyanglou Restaurant

Yueyanglou Restaurant

　　Yueyanglou Restaurant was established in 1946. Over the course of 40 years, it grew from a small snack shop into a fairly large-scale comprehensive restaurant. Little did people know that Yueyanglou actually started out by selling steamed buns.

　　Recently, I ran into an old regular customer who brought up the peach buns of Yueyanglou back in the day. He still remembers how the peach buns from Yueyanglou were famous far and wide, attracting visitors from all directions... That encounter with the old customer unavoidably brought back memories of the days when I was involved in the early days of Yueyanglou, as well as the process of developing the peach bun. I worked at Yueyanglou for 16 years, and even though I am now 74 years old, my memories of Yueyanglou remain vivid.

　　Creating the Unparalleled Peach Bun

　　My husband, Yang Shangqing, once co-founded a steamed bun shop with Yang Xinzhi, Yang Yongwu, Yang Zhilin, and Li Xinzhou at the site where Kuaiyuan Pavilion now stands. However, due to poor management, business was sluggish, and they had no choice but to close up shop. In October 1946, our family rented a storefront at the current location of Yueyanglou to operate a snack business, naming it Yueyanglou Starch Shop. The following year, we renamed it "Yueyanglou." At the beginning, besides Shangqing and me, his younger brothers Yang Yongyue and Yang Yongdian also invested shares. At that time, Shangqing was already 50 years old, but the setbacks in business only made him more ambitious. He was determined to establish a unique skill in his later years, compete in the market, and achieve prosperity.

　　Guided by this mindset, we introduced the peach bun as our signature staple. The peach bun quickly became popular upon its debut, drawing crowds of customers daily, with supply unable to meet demand. Even residents from the eastern and western Fujia districts came to buy peach buns. From then on, the reputation of the peach bun grew larger and larger, eventually spreading beyond Shanhaiguan to both north and south of the Yangtze River. In 1956, the Shanghai Food and Beverage Service Company even sent a special study group to learn about this distinctive food item, hoping to introduce the peach bun to southern China. Later, Shanghai even published books to promote it. But that’s another story. At the time, travelers passing through Harbin would also make a special trip to Yueyanglou to buy some peach buns to take home. Due to their resemblance to longevity peaches, peach buns gradually became a gift for celebrating the birthdays of elders in Harbin. As a result, we began custom-making peach buns for birthday celebrations according to customer requests—size and quantity were entirely tailored to their needs. From then on, the peach bun became a standout among Harbin’s staple foods.

　　The production technique of the peach bun draws on the strengths of similar varieties. Its characteristics include: a peach-like shape, pleasant texture, soft and chewy consistency, and a rich sweet flavor. They do not dry out even after several days, and even if kept longer, they remain easy on the teeth—suitable for all ages.

　　The production technique of the peach bun is now known only to me, and I hope that peach buns can soon be restored to production and return to the staple food market. To prevent the craft of making peach buns from being lost, I will briefly describe the production process.

　　Making the Starter: First, take hops from Yimianpo, add an appropriate amount of water, and boil them in a pot for half an hour. Then, use a strainer to remove and discard the hops, and filter the resulting starter liquid to cool in a cool place for later use. Be sure to preserve the starter water properly—it should not be kept for more than three or four days in summer or more than half a month in winter, otherwise it will spoil and become unusable.

　　Preparing the Starter: Take an appropriate amount of flour, mix it with water until smooth, then pour in a cup of starter water and continue stirring with a dough whisk until it becomes paste-like. Then add an appropriate amount of starter root (i.e., old starter—the first starter root was obtained from a bread factory).

　　Fermenting the Starter: Add an appropriate amount of flour to the starter, stir well, and let it ferment at room temperature. The fermentation time depends on the ambient temperature—generally three to four hours in summer, five to six hours in spring and autumn, and seven to eight hours in winter.

　　Kneading the Dough: First, place the fermented starter along with flour on the dough board, add an appropriate amount of edible alkali, and knead evenly to remove the sour taste and further expand the dough. The amount of alkali used should be flexibly adjusted based on the quality of the flour, degree of fermentation, and ambient temperature—too much alkali will yellow the dough, while too little will leave a strong sour taste. Then, for every half bag of flour, add 4 liang (approximately 200g) of white sugar and 4 liang (approximately 200g) of lard, mix well, and press the dough using a large rolling pin, followed by a small rolling pin, until it is evenly pressed.

　　Shaping: Cut the evenly pressed dough into portions equivalent to 2 jin (approximately 1kg) of dry flour (enough for ten buns). Before cutting, check the alkali effect: if the cut surface of the dough shows uniformly sized pinhole bubbles, the alkali is just right; if the holes are too large, the alkali is insufficient. Uneven hole sizes indicate inadequate kneading. After letting the dough rest slightly, divide it into 10 small pieces, shape them by hand, and roll them until the surface is shiny, forming a peach shape that is small at the bottom, large in the middle, and pointed at the top. Then place them in a square wooden box and move it to a heated brick bed to rise. Once the shaped dough has expanded, gently tap it—if it makes a “peng teng, peng teng” sound, it is ready.

　　Steaming: Once the shaped dough has risen, immediately steam it over high heat for 20 minutes. After removing from the steamer, dot the buns with a red spot.

　　A Variety of Exquisite Snacks

　　Yueyanglou is not only famous for its peach buns, but also offers more than 10 kinds of home-style side dishes. Popular ones include pheasant feet, crispy crucian carp, dry-braised fish, spiced tofu, spiced soybeans, stir-fried peas, stir-fried diced eggplant, stir-fried diced green peppers, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, and spicy kimchi. These home-style dishes also emphasize appealing color, flavor, and presentation, and are affordably priced at one jiao (0.1 RMB) per dish. They sell by the basinful daily, with high volume.

　　Tofu pudding is a snack offered by many establishments, but we never underestimate it—we craft it meticulously to ensure it is better than the competition. Take the sauce, for example: it includes diced pork, chicken, mushrooms, and dried tofu, seasoned with broad bean paste, scallion oil, roasted sesame oil, premium MSG, and thickened with pure potato starch. A bowl of tofu pudding is delicate and snow-white, with the perfect tender texture, smooth and delicious. The sauce is neither murky nor separated, offering both chicken and mushroom flavors—a truly satisfying experience.

　　Operating a popular snack business has allowed us to win over many loyal customers. This is because we adopted a relatively open-minded business philosophy. To be honest, everyone in business wants to make money, but one shouldn’t make ill-gotten gains or profit at others’ expense. Our priority in running the business was simply to make a living. In the early days, Yueyanglou didn’t make much money—we focused on building a reputation first, taking customer trust as our greatest joy.

　　Looking back on Yueyanglou’s journey, I believe: without a brand name, there is no reputation, no customers, and no thriving business. Back then, it was very difficult for our humble snack shop to build a good reputation, so we started by understanding the dietary habits of the Han Chinese and studying customer psychology. The Han Chinese have a wide variety of staple foods, but those that remain ever-popular, suitable for all social classes, and showcase culinary craftsmanship are none other than steamed buns. That’s why we introduced the peach bun. Even when the peach bun was in high demand, we maintained cost pricing and thin profit margins with high sales volume. The same applied to other main and side dishes—though slightly lower in price, the biggest gain was retaining loyal customers, attracting new ones, and expanding our influence.

　　Yueyanglou never neglected food quality just because we served snacks. On the contrary, we paid close attention to improving quality in every aspect. Peach buns had to be made using flour from Shuanghesheng and Chengtaiyi, and the starter hops had to come exclusively from Yimianpo. The pork in the tofu pudding sauce had to come from freshly slaughtered pigs, and the chicken used to season the sauce had to be carefully selected live poultry. Crispy crucian carp and dry-braised fish were made with live fish caught that day—and all of uniform size. For egg noodles, eggs were mixed into the flour, and we sent someone to personally supervise the process at the noodle shop. Some of the most important ingredients were purchased personally by Shangqing, without any compromise.

　　While the raw materials used by various restaurants are largely the same, Yueyanglou managed to stand out. Making peach buns required pressing the dough with a rolling pin, applying just the right amount of force, and letting the rolled dough rest for a long time—otherwise, the unparalleled peach bun could not be created. My hands also suffered from overuse during those years of making peach buns, but I never regretted it because I was able to offer the people of Harbin the peach buns they loved. Yueyanglou emphasized excellent color, flavor, and presentation in every dish: various side dishes required precise knife skills, and the meat cubes in tofu pudding were all cut into dice shapes. Scallion oil was fried to a light yellow—neither too dark nor too light. If a baked pancake had even a slightly burnt spot, it was set aside for our own consumption—we would never deceive our customers.

　　Yueyanglou also focused on learning from the strengths of others in terms of technique. The peach bun was created by incorporating the craftsmanship of blooming buns, rolling-pin buns, and bread. Yang Shangqing once sought advice from his aunt, who made rolling-pin buns, to refine certain techniques for making peach buns. Yang Shangqing’s sister, who once ran a restaurant in South Korea, also shared tips and taught us, leading to the addition of popular spicy kimchi to our menu. By drawing on the best of others, a variety of beloved snacks emerged.

　　We also continuously adjusted and added items based on customer eating habits and modified our operating hours. At customers’ request, we added offerings such as rice and mung bean porridge and egg noodles. Since we operated as a snack shop, we opened and closed three times a day in accordance with breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedules. This not only accommodated customers’ three meals a day but also gave the restaurant intervals for rest, allowing staff to greet customers with full energy after reopening.

　　Times have moved forward, and the food industry continues to evolve through reform. Today’s Yueyanglou is vastly different from the past, but its peach buns and diverse flavorful snacks are still worth reminiscing about. Some of Yueyanglou’s early business characteristics may still offer insights to people today.