Although Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is still a
month away, many people in Shanghai are starting to make
preparations to welcome the Spring Festival Eve.
Most hotels in Shanghai are already fully booked now for the
feast at the Spring Festival Eve and many people are thinking about
where to eat on the Eve and how. Some people choose to go home and
dine with family members. So it might be a good idea to pay for a
chef to cook at home or order some half-finished food in
advance.
At the Shanghai Jiayan Catering Service Center, customers keep
calling in arranging a chef that would come to their house to cook
the dinner at Spring Festival Eve.
A staff member in the center told the reporter that all the
chefs in their center had been "booked" for the Spring Festival Eve
feast. However, there were still many customers who called in to
"place their orders". In a website, the reporter saw that although
the price for a feast at home was by no means cheap, reservations
had already been arranged for the second, or even the third day of
the Spring Festival season.
"All chefs in our center will have to cook dinner for at least
two families at the Spring Festival Eve. The early dinner will
start at 4:30 in the afternoon and the second dinner usually begins
at 7:30 in the evening. Some chefs will have to work even later
than that," said Yang Haiying, deputy general manager at the
Shanghai Jiayan Catering Service Center.
In case they cannot find chefs to cook for them, some residents
also plan to order some half-finished food and cook at home to make
a large feast on the Eve. Although the half-finished food will not
be made until a week before the Spring Festival, reservations have
already started now.
(Chinanews January 18, 2007)