DB最近采访了广州The Eating Table餐厅的老板兼创始人Nicole Chen。 在访谈中，她回忆起在澳大利亚的生活是如何促使她萌生拥有属于自己的咖啡馆的梦想，以及她对家庭式餐饮的热爱。
DB recently spoke to Nicole Chen, the owner and creator of The Eating Table restaurant in Guangzhou. She talks about how her time in Australia made her dream of owning her own cafe, and her passion for family-style dining.
DB：您对服务行业的了解有多少？ What is your background in hospitality?
我在墨尔本学习和工作了七年。在那里，我获得了学士和硕士学位。我曾在墨尔本的一家跨国多媒体网络会议公司工作了两年。那是我的第一份工作，然后我回到了广州。
I studied and worked in Melbourne, Australia for seven years. I did my Bachelors and Masters degree in Melbourne. I worked in a conferencing company in Melbourne for two years. It was a multimedia and teleconferencing company. That was my first job, then I came back to Guangzhou.
在创建The Eating Table之前，我经营了一家小小的西餐咖啡厅两年。那是我拥有的第一家餐馆。事实上，当我在墨尔本的时候，我就一直希望有自己的咖啡馆，因为我真的很喜欢咖啡。墨尔本的天气总是那么爽朗和舒适，在咖啡馆点一杯咖啡，在阳光下享用它真的是再惬意不过。所以在我回来工作的两年，我一直想开个咖啡馆。最后我辞掉了工作，开了一家叫Tapas Cafe的小西餐咖啡厅。
Before The Eating Table I had a very small cafe for two years. That was my first restaurant. When I was in Melbourne I always hoped to have my own cafe, because at the time I really liked coffee. I always liked to enjoy a coffee in a cafe under the sun. Melbourne’s weather is so nice and clean. After I came back I worked for two years, but I always wanted to open a cafe. I quit my last job and I started a very small cafe called Tapas Cafe.
DB：您在墨尔本的经历对您决定开餐馆有什么样的影响？How did your time in Melbourne influence the restaurant?
在墨尔本，很多餐馆都是家庭式餐饮。这样的餐馆让人很放松 – 它不是那种严肃，正式的餐厅。回到广州后，我一直想知道“我们怎么没有这种休闲，家庭式的西餐厅？”在经营Tapas Cafe两年后，我决定开一家可以接待朋友和家庭的餐厅 — 他们可以一起吃饭，在轻松的环境分享菜肴。在这里你不用像对待正式的西式晚餐一样（尽管在过去广州只有这种很正式的西餐馆）–只吃自己的面食或者自己点的牛排。你几乎找不到一个休闲轻松，同时可以带上孩子和家人一起吃饭的餐馆。
When I was in Melbourne I went to the restaurants and they were always family style. It was relaxed – not really fine dining, not a serious, formal dinner. After I came back to Guangzhou I wondered, “how come we don’t have any of this kind of casual dining, family-style western restaurants?” After the two years in Tapas Cafe I decided to open a restaurant that can host friends and families – they can eat together and share the dishes in a relaxing place. No need to only eat your own portion like in a formal western dinner. In the past, Guangzhou only had this style of Western restaurant. You eat your own pasta, you eat your own steak. You wouldn’t find a place that is very casual and relaxed, that can also have kids and families.
DB：您能介绍一下您的餐馆供应的美食吗？How would you describe the type of cuisine served here?
这里的食物都是可以供人们分享的家庭式菜肴。对于很多菜式，我们提供两种选择 – 一个是单人餐，另一个是多人分享。我们尽量使每样食物的摆盘更好看，但是是以一种相对比较随意的方式，而不是很规矩的用餐方式。这里大部分是西式菜肴，但有时我们会调味一下，使之更适合广东人的口味。
The food here is family-style dishes for people to share. For many of the dishes, we have two sizes – one is for a single person, and the other is a big portion to share. We try to make it have a nice presentation, but in a casual way, not in a fine dining way. Most of our dishes are western-style, sometimes we adjust the taste a little bit to make it more suitable for Cantonese people.
我最喜欢的是我们的招牌菜，新西兰绿贻贝。他们都是从新西兰新鲜进口。大部分西餐馆都会用牛排作为招牌菜，但我们不一样。
My favourite is our signature dish, the New Zealand green-shelled mussels. They are freshly imported from New Zealand. Most of the other western restaurants will use the steak as their signature dish. I wanted to use something different.
DB: 您能否介绍一下厨师长？Could you tell us a bit about your head chef?
我们的主厨是东师傅。他是很年轻但是相当有才华。在我经营小餐馆的时候，他就一直跟我合作。那时候我便发现他对烹饪西餐菜肴很有天赋，并且他摆盘很出色。对西方菜肴，他总有自己独特的见解。所以这家大的餐馆开业后，我继续聘用他。当时他只是一名主管，然后被提拔为第二厨师，直到现在成为主厨。在来我经营的小餐馆工作之前，他在深圳接受一位西方厨师的培训，然后在香格里拉饭店工作。这两年他进步很大，我也总是带他去不同的餐厅，尝试新的菜肴，希望他更多地了解目前流行的食材。
The head chef has worked for me since the last small restaurant. Chef Dong is a very young guy, very talented. When we worked in the small cafe I found he was very talented with western food, and he was very good at presentation. He has good sense about western food. After I closed the small restaurant I opened this big one, I continued to use him. At the time he was only a supervisor, and then he was promoted to the second chef. Now he’s the head chef. Before the small restaurant, he worked at a Shangri La Hotel, and before that he trained under a western chef in Shenzhen. These last two years he’s made lots of progress. I always try to take him around to try new restaurants, new dishes, and to learn more about what ingredients are popular at the moment.
DB：您怎么在广州向当地人推广这样的餐饮？How have you marketed this type of dining to the locals here in Guangzhou?
在开这家餐馆之前，我在餐饮市场上做过调研。其中一个原因就是在以前广州没有这种西餐厅。过去，广州只有正式讲究的传统餐厅，只提供给人们商业谈话或约会。那时我觉得广州需要一个可以聚会的地方 – 一个专门提供聚会场所的西餐厅。 “朋友和家人在这里吃饭”成了我们的标语。
Before opening this restaurant I did research on this market. One of the reasons is that before, you didn’t have this type of western restaurant in Guangzhou. In the past they only had the formal, traditional restaurants, which only provided for business or dating. At that time I found Guangzhou needed a place for gathering – a western restaurant for gathering. ‘Friends and families eat here.’ That became our slogan.
另一个原因是我希望人们多吃西餐。不只是一个月一次，或者两个月一次。过去人们不会选择西餐作为日常食物。所以我决定让他们意识到他们可以经常到西餐厅吃饭。这就是为什么我试图让食物看起来更寻常，更贴近家庭菜肴，这样他们会更愿意来这里吃饭和分享食物。
The other reason is that I want people to eat more western food. Not just once a month, or once every two months. In the past, people wouldn’t choose western cuisine as their daily food. I decided I wanted them to know they can always come to western restaurants to eat. That’s why I try to make food that looks more easy-going, and more family-style, to eat and share.
