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在深圳，每逢节假日和周末，我常吃西餐，但感觉它离我有些遥远。出国留学后，在学校每天吃西餐，很多食材和味道并不熟悉，慢慢习惯后，西餐时常给我带来惊喜。我渐渐地发现，和中餐一样，西餐也蕴含着无穷的奥秘。带着心中无限的好奇，2015年暑假完成第一本中餐美食书后，开启了我的西餐美食之旅。
我翻阅了大量的书籍，在网上查找资料，了解西餐的历史、特点、礼仪等，它们像电影的画面出现在我的眼前，让我慢慢走进了西餐美好的世界，与我的距离不再遥不可及。在多伦多的日子，我锁定要采访的餐厅后，给餐厅负责人发了很多封邮件，结果没有任何回应，这让我有些沮丧。一个偶然的机会，我得知一位华人经营着一家有60多年历史的著名牛扒店，我立刻电话预约，然后登门拜访，向他讲述我想了解西餐、采访餐厅和大厨、出书的计划。也许是一个胖胖的少年正在做疯狂的事情，也许是我的真诚打动了他，我们从素不相识变成朋友，开始了我的西餐之旅的第一站。
置身在国外，地域不同，语言不同，我想采访餐厅和大厨，并进入餐厅的厨房向大厨学做菜，这是一件非常难的事情。餐厅的主厨，特别是米其林餐厅的大厨，他们如明星一样，游走在世界各地的餐厅，不是权威的媒体是不可能预约见面的。我在网上查找加拿大多伦多、美国纽约、法国巴黎、中国深圳著名的餐厅，提前两个月以邮件方式预约，讲清楚我要采访的内容。经过努力，我终于完成了走进餐厅的厨房、学习西餐制作和与大厨共同烹制美食的愿望。
在美国和法国，我以采访和体验的方式完成了美食之旅。带着期望和对新事物的好奇心，我走进了拥有世界优秀烹饪技术的米其林餐厅、百年牛扒店、著名的甜品店和咖啡店、特色餐厅、农贸集市等，寻找美食、品尝美食。我向侍者和主厨请教每道菜的食材和制作方法，尽可能地学习和理解让人“惊艳”的摆盘和烹饪技巧；我很荣幸地参观了米其林三星餐厅的厨房，里面分工明确，整洁有序；最开心的是见到了法国著名的米其林三星餐厅大厨乔斯林·赫兰德（Jocelyn Herland），送给他《小眼睛看美食·中餐篇》，请他在菜单上为我签名。在纽约的喧嚣、巴黎的寒风中，我乘坐地铁从一家餐厅到另一家餐厅，甚至为了一碗日本拉面，在周六凌晨一点默默等待，找到我要品尝的味道，寻觅美食和品尝美食的过程是快乐而难忘的！
好的料理是对食材的尊重和正确的处理方式，用传统与创新的烹饪方法，传递出单纯的、自然的信息，给食客留下很多痕迹。在我的西餐之旅中，我深深地感受到：法国烹饪技术与现代感的完美结合，精雕细琢出许多新颖的艺术品；多种味道刺激我的味蕾，准确的口感和温度，唇齿间的极美享受；美食和烹饪，更像一种语言，谱写出美丽的篇章；舒缓的音乐、巴洛克建筑风格、水晶和银器的触觉创造出一个和谐的氛围。笔记本记录了我享受美食的快乐，相机和手机拍下的两万多张照片记录了我与美食的瞬间。在美国和法国的餐厅，为了不影响客人用餐，不方便使用照相机和闪光灯，室内灯光很暗，用手机拍的图片效果不太理想。但我觉得这并不重要，真实的感受和经历已经超越了一切。
在一年半的时间里，我采访和体验了近百家餐厅，品尝了精美的菜肴；拜访了米其林大厨，向其请教西餐的制作过程；与大厨共同烹制美食，尝试制作家庭西餐。我从不认识西餐的食材，到慢慢了解西餐的特点、饮食文化和烹饪技巧，最后自己也会做西餐了，对西餐烹饪有了无限的热情和丰富的想象，这其中的过程非常有趣，有太多的故事和美好的回忆，让我终生难忘。
《小眼睛看美食·西餐篇》以时间为顺序，以游记的形式，分为加拿大多伦多、美国纽约、法国巴黎、中国深圳、家庭西餐五个篇章。其中有西餐的特点、历史、礼仪和餐厅、主厨、菜式的详细介绍，我对西餐的感受和点评，我自己制作的家庭西餐。美食是我的爱好和追求的生活方式，我并不是烹饪技艺高超或是有天赋的大厨，而是一名喜欢寻找美食、品尝美食、烹制美食的少年。
寻找美食、品尝美食、烹制美食是快乐的，我一直在追逐我的梦想。感谢刘奇量哥哥、万博姐姐陪我走过纽约和巴黎的美食之路，感谢绍菲姐姐、马丁老师、蔡佳颖姐姐在英文翻译中给予我的帮助，感谢丁艳姐姐和徐彦波叔叔在摄影方面对我的指导，感谢给我采访机会的餐厅，感谢爸爸妈妈让我完成了我的美食梦！一路走来，要感谢的人很多很多。
我将带着我的美食梦继续前行……
Before studying abroad, I had previously dined at restaurants serving Western cuisine inShenzhen for Christmas or birthdays. Yet I always felt there was a gap between the food and myunderstanding of Western cuisine. It was only after I studied in Canada and had meals at schoolthat I got accustomed to the flavors of Western cuisine. I found that like Chinese cuisine, Westerncuisine also has its own elements of captivation and this realization made me curious aboutWestern cuisine. So, with my thirst for knowledge, I continued my gourmet journey this time intoWestern cuisine after my first publication on Chinese cuisine written in the summer of 2015.
As I started my journey, I gathered an enormous amount of information from books and theinternet to learn about the history, culture, characteristics and the traditions of Western cuisine.The findings were like the scenes of an old movie, the opening of a magical door to Westerncuisine. I aimed to discover the delicacies of some of the top restaurants in Toronto. And soI contacted them by email in order to begin my journey, but their silence frustrated me at firstand seemed to derail the journey that I had just started. But, I was not discouraged, through myresearch, I knew of a popular local steak restaurant with over 60 years’ history that was run by aChinese chef. I made an appointment with him and told him how much I was interested in Westerncuisine and to my surprise he graciously allowed me to interview and learn at his restaurant.Perhaps it was my love of food, or the Chef’s curiosity about a teenager asking for an interview orthe mutual recognition of another food lover, but we eventually became friends and his restaurantbecame the first stop on my gourmet Western journey. For this book, I decided on in-depthinterviews with notable chefs, recipes and my own reflections as I introduce Western cuisine tofellow food lovers like myself.
It was a big challenge to contact restaurants, to get into their kitchens and learn differentrecipes from the chefs because of the change in ingredients, language barriers, and the busynessof chefs. Michelin chefs are always busy – they have a full schedule and travel around the worldto look for ingredients and inspiration. It was incredibly hard to make an appointment with them,unless you were from a notable newspaper or social media platform. So here is what I did: Iresearched many popular restaurants in Toronto, New York, Paris and Shenzhen on the internetand made appointments with them by email two months prior to the interview. I explained to themwhat I wanted to do with my book and requested their approval for the interview and recipes. Afterall my efforts, my wish of walking into the kitchen of popular restaurants, learning and makingworld-class cuisine with the top chefs in their fields came true and this is my journe.
Although my journey started out in Toronto, it would lead me to the United States andeventually France. My curiosity led me into Michelin restaurants with state-of-the-art cookingskills, steak restaurants with a long history, patisseries, cafés and markets. I looked for unique anddelicious food, and tasted them. I interviewed servers and chefs about the ingredients and cookingmethods and even learned the art of plating. In my journey, I was lucky enough to be invited tovisit the kitchen of a Michelin Three-Star Restaurant, where everything was very organized. Themost surprising and happy experience during the journey was that I got to meet the well-knownMichelin Three-Star Restaurant chef, Jocelyn Herland. I gave him my first book My Gourmet Journey: Chinese Cuisine as a present and asked him for a signed menu. The bustling pace ofNew York and Paris could not stop my steps – I took the subway and travelled from one stop tothe next. Once I even lined up for ramen at one in the morning to find the flavors that I wanted texplore. It was an unforgettable to find and taste these gourmet meals from the chefs who are atthe top of their field.
A good cuisine with sophisticated skills pays respect to the ingredients – it is a way toinject new inspiration into traditional cuisine and to convey a simple and pure message to foodlovers. During my journey, I was moved by the perfect combination of French cooking skills andthe modern design, which was like a delicate art piece. The complex flavors, smooth taste andaccurate temperature control to bring a superb enjoyment to my mouth. Gourmet cuisine is like alanguage, a beautiful article, a piece of gentle music, the Baroque architecture, the crystal and thesilver metal, all of which leave a harmonious impression on the audience. My food notebook andmy 20,000 photos are the record of these sharable moments to document my journey. Some ofthe photos may be a bit dim because we were not allowed to use the flash in some restaurants inNew York and Paris.
During this one and a half year journey, I visited nearly a hundred restaurants. I tasted theirdishes, met with Michelin chefs, and learned how to make Western food from them. At first, I knewvery little about the ingredients . I then learned about the characteristics, culture and cooking skillsof Western cuisine. Step by step, I started to make Western dishes by myself. The process wasfilled with touching stories and beautiful memories and I feel a surge of passion and creativity forfood now more than ever before. I know this experience would be my treasure.
My Gourmet Journey: Western Cuisine is written in chronological order and divided infive parts according to different locations such as Toronto, New York, Paris, Shenzhen and atmy home. It contains contents on the characteristics, culture and traditions of Western cuisine;introduces restaurants, chefs and their dishes; my comments on dishes and the dishes that Imade at home. I love food: it is my hobby and way of living. Even though I am not a talented chefmyself, I am always in search of new tastes, new cooking methods the newest ideas and amazingdishes to sample.
I wish to thank the people who helped me along the way and whose help made this journeyand book possible: Qiliang Liu and Wanbo, who accompanied me to New York and Paris; Shaofei,Martin and Karan Cai for the English translation and Dina Ding and Yanbo Xu for valuable photographylessons. Special thanks to the restaurants in Toronto and Shenzhen, which gave me the opportunityto interview their restaurant. Last but not least, I want to send the biggest thanks to my dear parents,who have helped me make my foodie dreams come true. This book would also not have been possiblewithout the countless help of many others, and I would like to thank them for spending their time andexpertise in helping me along this journey. A heart felt thank you to all of you.
I will continue to endeavor to pursue my gourmet dreams...