Discover the Shangri La of Sweet Mandarin, and experience the authentic tastes of the Far East with Lisa and Helen Tse. Book Sweet Mandarin for an amazing Food Technology lesson that will leave your pupils inspired cooks who will revel in learning new cooking techniques.

Discover too the thrilling tale of three generations of Chinese women behind Sweet Mandarin, and their courageous battle against the most overwhelming odds to bring their dreams to fruition. Travelling from East to West and beyond, Sweet Mandarin combines an authentic gourmand’s journey with all the intrigue of a thrilling narrative.

Lisa and Helen Tse have been visiting primary and secondary schools around the United Kingdom, USA, Asia and Caribbean teaching Years 5 – 12 the art of making dim sum and the history of dim sum during the food technology classes.

Lisa Tse is the head chef of the award winning restaurant and cookery school, Sweet Mandarin.
Helen Tse is an outstanding teacher and has the PGCE qualification.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

These master classes will have long term value for the class and will:

• Ignite the passion in students for food technology
• Improve communication and co-operation in the team
• Encourage collaborative working
• Helps build trust and encourage supportive behaviour/sharing
• Teaches pupils how to operate more effectively and efficiently (project and time management, planning, operational, organisational skills)
• Inspires innovative and creative thinking and resourcefulness
• Cross-curricular aspects – Geography, History, Mathematics, English and ICT.

OUTLINE OF COURSES – SCHOOLS CAN PICK ONE COURSE OR MORE

COURSE 1: DIM SUM MASTERCLASS
Learn the art of dim sum – create 2-3 authentic dim sums
Learn Chinese Culture and food
Learn about Healthy Eating

COURSE 2: CHINESE NEW YEAR FOOD AND TRADITIONS
Learn how to cook Chinese New Year food and traditions
Learn about matching Yin and Yang foods

COURSE 3: FRUIT ORIGAMI MASTER CLASS
Learn how to carve beautiful fruit sculptures
Learn about Healthy Eating – Five a Day fruit and vegetable

COURSE 4: F WORD CHALLENGE
Design, create and cook your course
Learn about budgeting and portion control and timing
Learn to be the best

COURSE 5: TASTE OF CHINA: SHANGHAI
Learn how to make Shanghai style food
Understand the history of Shanghai
Understand the geography aspects

COURSE 6: TASTE OF CHINA: Beijing
Learn how to make Beijing food
Understand the history of Beijing
Understand the geography aspects

COURSE 7: TASTE OF CHINA: Sichuan
Learn how to make Sichuan food
Understand the history of Sichuan and their chilies
Understand the geography aspects

COURSE 8: TASTE OF CHINA: Hong Kong and Guangzhou
Learn how to make Cantonese food
Understand the history of Guangzhou and Hong Kong
Understand the geography aspects

GUEST SPEAKER
We are available for Assembly or Prize Giving as a guest speaker and motivate the pupils with our story and how we made it.

COSTS FOR MANCHESTER /OLDHAM/ROCHDALE /TRAFFORD SCHOOLS
Each course costs £250 plus VAT (if the school wishes to provide the ingredients) or £295 plus VAT (includes the ingredients). To book, please email lisa@sweetmandarin.com with your preferred date, time and number of classes. Full payment must be made two weeks before the lesson date. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Lisa Tse’ and sent to Sweet Mandarin 19 Copperas Street, Manchester, M4 1HS.

Lisa and Helen will provide the necessary handouts, aprons and personal tuition. Maximum class size is 20. Each course has been tailored for lessons lasting no more than 1 hour. We can cater for primary or secondary school classes.

I believe in the Secret. The Secret is the most powerful law in the universe and how I live my life.  The knowledge of this law has run like a golden thread through the lives and the teachings of all the prophets, seers, sages and saviors in the world’s history, and through the lives of all truly great men and women. All that they have ever accomplished or attained has been done in full accordance with this most powerful law.

Without exception, the Secret believes that every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance.  This is the secret to prosperity, health, relationships and happiness. This is the secret to life. Ask and ye shall receive.

My Secret Wish

Today my friends, I have some good news to share. Sweet Mandarin has been shortlisted by Tsingtao for their prestigious Best Chinese Restaurant Competition. They are asking the public to vote and the top four restaurants will go through to the final.  I am going to ask you for your help - please vote for Sweet Mandarin in the Tsingtao Best Chinese Competition. It means a lot to me and my team and would be the best birthday present ever. To vote click here .

About Tsingtao Beer

We’ve tried a lot of the Chinese and Asian beers and have decided to only stock Tsingtao at Sweet Mandarin. We go through about 100 cases a week because the beer is so crisp and pairs so well with Chinese food. Tsingtao has a nutty sweet malt like flavour that works well against the spicies of our Sichuan King Prawns or the Manchurian Fillet of Beef in black pepper sauce.

How do you pronouce Tsingtao?

It is pronounced ‘Ching Dao’ after the place where it is brewed, QingDao. If you join me for our Tours of China, we visit the Tsingtao brewery in the seaside town of QingDao and see how this delicious beverage is made.

The history of QingDao

In 1900  German troops occupied the city for a few years and left behind their legacy of European style architecture and love of beer. When I take people to here, we walk around the quaint church and railway station and forget we’re in China. It could be Morecombe beach!

The Germans actually imported all the brewing machinery and raw ingredients from Germany and when they left China, the Chinese began to brew Tsingtao. The rest is history as they say as Tsingtao is now China’s top export beer worldwide.  This little seaside town has been transformed into Beer world where every corner shop or corner trolley sells fresh beer by the jin (half kilo) in bag containers! Crazy but true.  Join me on my next tour of China here

I love taking photographs and have joined Flickr where photographers (professional to amateur i.e. me) upload their photos and share in techniques on how to take the best photos. I also hold Flickr meet ups where everyone comes to Sweet Mandarin armed with the latest kit and big lenses. Wow there are some powerful beasts roaming the streets of Manchester. The king of the pack is Tootdood. Check out his profile and his pictures – click here . The guy puts so much passion and energy and love into each photo that he inspires me and makes it onto my Sweet Nothing List as #965. Go Toot Go!

Reminder. We are holding the next Flickr Meet Up – keep in touch with us by joining us on Flickr.

Christmas Menus 2010

We wish all our clients a very Happy Christmas in 2010. If you fancy a Christmas party with a twist, then welcome to Sweet Mandarin. We can seat 60 people per sitting and have three sittings – one at 12noon , one at 5pm-6.00pm and one at 8.30pm. The below special menus will be offered from Mid-October till 31st December 2010 to celebrate Christmas. Group bookings are welcome – a security deposit of £10 per head will be required to secure your table (this deposit is non refundable and non transferrable if the party does not turn up on the booked date). To book email lisa@sweetmandarin.com . We warmly welcome you to our establishment and thank you for your custom. Book before 30th September 2010 for your free bottle of wine.  We can also do a roast dinner with all the trimmings if members of your party want a traditional English dinner.

Menu A  – £19.50 per head (for the additional course of Aromatic Crispy Duck add £4 per head)

First course: Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup or Sweetcorn Soup (V)

Second Course: Christmas Platter of Seaweed, Sesame Prawn Toast, Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls, Salt and Chilli Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay Sticks (vegetarian option is Seaweed, Vegetable Tempura and Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls (V)

Optional Additional Course of Aromatic Crispy Duck (add £4 per head). The vegetarian option will be salt and pepper mushrooms (V)

Third Course – Choose one from below (served with egg fried rice):

• General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Chicken
• General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Vegetables (V)
• Crispy Sichuan Beef
• Beef with Sweet Pepper and Blackbean sauce
• Malaysian Satay King Prawns
• Cantonese Style Pork Chops
• Crunchy Mix (V) 

Menu B – £21.50 per head (add £4 per head for additional duck course)

First Course: Hot and Sour Soup or Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup (V)

Second Course: Christmas Platter of Seaweed, Sesame Prawn Toast, Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls, Salt and Chilli Spare Ribs, Chicken Satay Sticks (vegetarian option is Seaweed, Vegetable Tempura and Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls (V)

Optional additional course (add £4 per person): Aromatic Crispy Duck with pancakes, spring onions, leeks and hoisin sauce or Salt and Pepper Mushroom wraps (V)

Third course: Choose one from the below – served with egg fried rice:

• Snowflake Broccoli King Prawn
• Red style cooked chicken and chestnuts
• Pan fried seabass fillets with a soy drizzle on a bed of bak choy
• Fillet steak in black pepper sauce
• Buddha’s Golden Picnic Basket (V)
• Thai Green Vegetable Curry (V)
• XO King Prawn (spicy sauce)
• Spicy Chicken from Hunan Province

BOOKING FORM CLICK CHRISTMAS 2010 BOOKING FORM

The above image was designed by Clear Marketing (Hannah Leaf) and won a Bronze award in the Roses Advertising Awards 2009.

Sweet Mandarin Cookery School teaches a Dim Sum Masterclass. Its been so busy that we’re full till October 2010 and I’ve had to add an extra date for the people who really really really want to learn. So here’s a date for your diary: 8th August. Its first come, first served. For more information, go to www.sweetmandarin.com To book your place on the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School click here or email lisa@sweetmandarin.com

As a British Born Chinese, I have lived a very British way of life being educated in Manchester and Australia. However, throughout my life, I grew up with the backdrop of serving and cooking in the family restaurant and continue my involvement in the catering empire as a co-owner of Sweet Mandarin Restaurant (www.sweetmandarin.com).

(Illustration by Lisa Tse “To The Ruler, the People are Heaven, to the People Food is Heaven”)

Chinese food has had an overwhelming presence in my life and been the catalyst for my hunger for understanding China and the significance of food in its culture. This series explores the cities where I stayed, the lives that crossed my path and the amazing food with a story to tell. China is a captivating and vivacious collection of diverse cities, provinces and regions. In the south, Guangdong, the Cantonese speaking region is renowned for its steaming, boiling and stir frying and dim sum feasts which we have become accustomed to and love in the western world. Beijing in the coldest area of China boasts the Emperor’s banquet, the world famous Peking Duck and hot pot. In the east, Shanghai offers its famous Shanghai Dumplings, whilst the Sichuan provinces easily provide the hottest and spiciest cuisine.

I finally arrived at Guangzhou which is famous for its “dim sum”. Literally translated, “dim sum” means “to touch your heart”. Guangzhou is north of the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Hong Kong and holds a special place in my heart as the place where my family originates from. The nickname for this province is “Flower City” because flowers keep blossoming all year round.

(Five Ram Statute in Guangzhou)

It also holds the myth that there were five celestials riding five rams with rice in their mouth. The celestials gave the rice to the residents of Guangzhou and blessed the province with good harvests and an abundance of food. Today, the celestials have flown away but the five rams have been turned into stone sculptures in the Yuexiu Park area. The blessings have seemingly been fulfilled and the city is brimming with masses of people, bicycles and restaurants.

To date, there are over 10,000 restaurants in the city, with seats for over 500,000. The people of Guangzhou are natural born gourmets. Food in Guangzhou is famous worldwide. Indeed in 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the nationalist party responsible for unifying China, set up his headquarters in Guangzhou and enjoyed dining at the many restaurants serving dim sum.

(Dim Sum Mania on Sunday Mornings)

Dim sum is often referred to as “yum cha” (??) which means “drinking tea”. This interchangeable expression originated from the teahouses which set up along the Silk Road. The Silk Road linked China to Syria and was travelled by merchants and farmers trading their silk, gold, ivory, spices, exotic animals and plants. Travellers and rural farmers, exhausted after working hard, would also go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. However, people later discovered that tea can aid in digestion. Therefore, teahouse owners began adding more variety of snacks, so the tradition of dim sum evolved.

(Dim Sum Restaurant – Old Hong Kong)

Dim sum mania spread to Hong Kong as the Guangzhou population immigrated to Hong Kong in the 1920s. Chinese restaurants grew exponentially in Hong Kong and soon dim sum was available from 6am through to late afternoon. Restaurants in Hong Kong and Guangzhou became filled mainly with the elderly population who often gathered to eat after the morning session of tai chi exercises, often enjoying the morning newspapers.

In the west, dim sum came about as a natural result of Chinese immigrants moving to the western world. When Europe started trading with the Orient, the seaport of Guangzhou became the gateway to the West. The Chinese readily absorbed these cosmopolitan influences, and being great travellers themselves, emigrated to the United States of America and the United Kingdom. They were the first to make Chinese cooking known to the Western world and as a result dim sum has become the firm favourite of the Western world.

(A Packed Dim Sum Session)

Go to a Chinese restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and you will be greeted by a sea of Chinese families spanning three generations. Dim sum is the Chinese equivalent of French hors d’oeuvres or Spanish tapas. It’s a colourful and loud dining experience starting with the rush for vacant seats and the hustle and bustle of the gesticulating waiters selling their dim sum specials from their trolleys. Bamboo containers filled with steamed dim sum are stacked high and quickly snapped up. Waiting on staff ask what kind of tea we want to drink offering a vast array of jasmine tea, oolong tea, pu-er tea and green tea which helps to wash down the dim sum. The noise of the chatter of the diners is deafening. It’s a busy, frantic affair and there is an air of organized panic in the restaurants, which adds to the excitement and entertainment. Dim sum is an overwhelming introduction to the Chinese nation’s love of food, gregariousness and cheerful chatter.

I love dim sum. There are over 200 dishes to choose from. One Cantonese saying goes that anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies is edible. Another says that the only four-legged things that Cantonese people won’t eat are tables and chairs.

The range of cooking skills required to make dim sum is vast. There is usually a dim sum master overseeing his section of the kitchen and there is a real art involved in making the dishes. Some dishes are steamed, others are fried. Some are baked. The variety of tastes is also mind boggling – sweet, sour, savoury and chilli.

(Left: Har Gow, Right: Siu Mi)

There are firm favourites such as “har gow” (prawn dumplings wrapped in translucent rice paper), “siu mi” (pork dumplings) and “char siu bow” (pork buns in a white fluffy dough). If you are feeling more adventurous, an eye opening experience with a stronger flavour is “fung jow” (chickens feet in yellow bean sauce and chillis). One caveat – this particular dish is not for the faint hearted. The sweet dishes for dessert range from the egg custard tarts which are extremely delicious to sago pudding or mango pudding which are refreshing and a great ending to the dim sum experience.

(Me (Left) learning how to make dim sum with my sister (centre) and mother, Mabel (Right))

A meal in a restaurant opens the taste buds, but cooking dim sum for my friends and family widens all the senses. I learnt the authentic recipes from Guangzhou and used them at Sweet Mandarin. Together with my sisters, Helen and Janet we made every dim sum from fresh. Stuffing and shaping wontons was the real family enterprise. We made the stuffing from a light prawn mince and wrapped the teaspoon of filling with a fine egg based pastry. We all left our individual stamp on the won tons in the way we crimped the edges. I added a flamboyant tail on these wontons, which can then be dipped in the sweet and sour dip. My everyday rituals of properly selecting produce, cooking and presenting a meal, which I have inherited from my family, have given me an insight to see the meaning of my own cooking as a metaphor for life.

I would love to share with you our recipe on making this exquisite dim sum.

Ingredients
For the Prawn Filling
250g pack shrimps
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp potato starch
1 egg white
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Hot vegetable oil to lightly fry the wontons
Ingredients for the Wonton Wrappers
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 tsp potato starch
1/4 cup of water
2 cups of plain flour
Dressing for the wontons
Serve with Sweet Mandarin’s The General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Sauce
Method to make the wonton pastry
1. Kneed the ingredients together into a ball. The consistency is dough like.
2. Leave in the fridge for half an hour.
3. Roll out into a very thin sheet (as thick as a piece of paper) with a rolling pin ensuring there is plenty of flour to avoid sticking.
4. Cut into squares 3inches squared.
Method to make delicious and easy wontons
1. Put all the prawn mixture into a food processor and mix thoroughly.
2. Shape into balls the size of walnuts.
3. Place the filling balls into the centre of the wonton wrappers. To make the tail, gather the four edges and twist together.
4. Heat oil
5. Place wontons in hot oil for 5-6 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Drain from oil.
7. Serve the wontons with the Sweet Mandarin’s General Tse’s Sweet and Sour Sauce.

Sweet Mandarin Cookery School teaches a Dim Sum Masterclass. Its been so busy that we’re full till October 2010 and I’ve had to add an extra date for the people who really really really want to learn. So here’s a date for your diary: 8th August. Its first come, first served. For more information, go to www.sweetmandarin.com To book your place on the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School click here or email lisa@sweetmandarin.com

Twitterers (T) (photo 1) Meet the Flickrs (F) (photo 2) could be come Jazz Hands Extravaganza (photo 3)

I Tweet (a lot), I Flickr (quite a lot), I Eat (all the time). I host Tweet Up meetings for Twitterers and Flickr Up meetings for Flickr, so I’ve decide to link up these two groups. It could be a smash hit with splattering of photographic evidence (check out the third photo with the aptly named Jazz hands effect lol). Or it could be a bit like the first school disco where each group cliches to their own – the Ts verses the Fs. Its worth the experiment. So here is its my friends, I’m hosting the first ever Twitter Meets the Flickr Tweet Up @sweetmandarin.

Have you ever wondered who is that person you’ve been tweeting to morning, noon and night? Well pop in on 18th July (starting from 5pm) and you’re gonna meet your tweeters at Sweet Mandarin.  I have a confession to make. I aka (@sweetmandarin) am a ”certified twitterholic” and I cook n tweet, serve n tweet and can’t wait to meet you in person. I’ve already got butterflies as I’m preparing the dim sum extravaganza.  It is customary for the Chinese to offer small gifts, so please enjoy our complimentary dim sum (literally translated means from the heart). My dream is to meet all the tweeters and flickrs in the Manchester area.

Twitter is such an amazing discovery. Not only is it fun, but its a way to help our fellow Mancunians. Through tweets with fellow tweeters, I know Manchester folk are suffering with the downturn. Everyone can do their bit and we’re going to hold events to match people with jobs.  To my Manchester friends - its the Year of the Ox -  Be strong. Turning up is half the battle and I know that networking helps boost the spirits, if not create an opportunity. Follow us @sweetmandarin.

Date: Sunday 18th July
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: Free
Bring: Blackberry/Phone/Iphone/Camera/Your own sweet self
RSVP: lisa@sweetmandarin.com or DM me on Twitter @sweetmandarin (oh and please follow me)
Food: I’ll sort out the dim sum
Drinks: Pay as you go
Reminder: There is a Threewitter party beforehand from 1-5pm at Madlabs. Have your cake and eat it! Here’s the Threewitter link http://threewitter.eventbrite.com/

Its finally back by popular demand. Our Rich Dad, Poor Dad Cashflow Game is back tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd June and Tuesday 29th June 2010). It starts at 6pm and is limited to 8 players (please email me to book your free place lisa@sweetmandarin.com).

The game arose out of my interest in the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki which taught me how to ‘Get Out of the Rat Race. Learn the secrets of cash flow and how to never worry about money again. This board game will transform the “money mind-set” of anyone who plays, whether they are new to financial information, or seasoned investors’. Ok it might not get you debt free immediately, but its always good to educate oneself and meet likeminded people.

Where: Sweet Mandarin 19 Copperas Street, Manchester M4 1HS
When: Tuesday 13th July Time: 6pm – 9pm
Cost: Free
Numbers: 8 maximium. Beginners welcome
Contact: lisa@sweetmandarin.com

As I was serving these wonderful folk, my heart twinged with sadness and longing. Unlike my grandma’s and mum’s businesses who have loyal regulars every single week – on the same day, at the same time – ordering the same dishes (‘Usual please’) for the last 50 years – being located in the Manchester city centre area – the population is far more transient.

Nonetheless, I value my regular customers and corporate clients and set myself a personal challenge to get to know my regulars with a view to build a lasting legacy for Sweet Mandarin and future generations. Helen, Janet and I want to invite you to my very exciting events see below. Who knows, maybe after my 50 years, our grandchildren can invite you, our regular customers to a wonderful event like the above.

July Events

13th July 6-8/9pm Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Game (free)

18th July 6-8pm Twitter v Flickr Meet Up (free)

10th August 6-8/9pm Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Game (free)

Congratulations to all the Graduates.

We see new friends coming in and old friends are about to leave. Graduates now have a big decision to make in their life track. Some of them will start their career next summer while others will plan for their further study. Time flies. Three years at university transform a person from a high school student to a professional ready to serve society. We at Sweet Mandarin congratulate you on your hard earned degrees and give you our best wishes.

But before you start to fly high, please slow down and spend a quiet moment on your university campus, where you have been studying, working and making friends for three years. Give sincere thanks to every road you went through, every book you read, and every friend you made. Because once you begin to work, you will see how different it is from university life.

At university, all moments, happy or sad, have been treasures from heaven. Pack them up in your mind, and embark on a new journey. Plenty more such moments are waiting for you in the years to come. Whether these moments are good or bad, you will understand life through experiencing them.

Years later, when you are in another part of the world, the moment you think of your youth, you will realise that part of your heart is still at university and Manchester will always be your home!

To celebrate, join us at Sweet Mandarin for a graduation banquet. To book a table email Lisa@sweetmandarin.com or book here

Today, there are so many incredibly delicious brands of chocolate to indulge in but there is one that is dear to my heart and which my sweet tooth craves, and that is Ferrero Rocher.

As a kid growing up in the backstreets of Manchester, I was mesmerized by the adverts that surrounded Ferrero Rocher – the tray filled to the brim and eventually the last one was distributed around a room filled with impossibly glamorous people and an even more dazzling chandelier.

Every Christmas, Chinese takeaway owners visit neighbouring Chinese takeway owners and usually bring chocolates and oranges. Well the oranges were usually discarded to the kitchen, but the chocolates were inspected and given a shake through the wrapping paper to try to distinguish what kind they were. Most were recycled by way of gifting them to another visitor but when it came to receiving boxes of Ferrero Rocher, I ensured those boxes of chocolates never left our premises.

There is an art to eating a Ferrero Rocher. The way I have always always always insisted upon to my siblings (after all I am the oldest by 2 minutes), is to eat layer by layer but DO NOT break the wafer shell. When one has nibbled away at the chocolate encrusted nutty layer, the wafer shell should be opened and the hazelnut Nutella goo should be scooped out (with the tongue of course) and the whole hazelnut hidden inside the hazelnut Nutella goo eaten as best possible without it getting stuck in the teeth. At the very end, that is when one can pop the two wafer shells into the mouth to melt. It takes so much better than just crunching into one of these beauties. Try it and let me know the difference. You’ll thank me for the advice above and that is why Ferrero Rocher makes #970 Sweet Nothing.

When I hang out with my sister, she cracks me up. She sometimes just looks at me and we’re laughing our head off. You know, properly ROFLMAO (Rolling On Floor Laughing My Ass Off). These belly laughs are almost in an involuntary reaction because once you start laughing its really hard to stop. I tell you its great to laugh and just let it out – I call them belly laughs – because the laughter bubbles up from the belly and effervesces up tickling the nose. What a great way to just release any tension. It sure makes the day much sweeter. That’s why belly laughs make my #971 Sweet Nothing.

Happy Independence Day. Today on the 4th July 1776 America celebrated its independence from Great Britain. The funny fact I learnt was that the legal separation of the countries actually occured on the 2nd July rather than the 4th July. However, on the 4th July fireworks, banquet and parties were scheduled. So the entire USA adopted 4th July as the official celebratory day. That means food trumps legal papers! Hey I’m cool with that!
Thank you to America for embracing our book, Sweet Mandarin – which is used in schools in America and has been endorsed by Amy Tan and Oprah’s chef, Art Smith (click here) .

I headed back to Manchester, set up Sweet Mandarin and never looked back.  Now, I’m the boss. However, my way of working is that I always jump in, I’m one of the crew. There is no hierarchy at Sweet Mandarin. That’s the way I like it and I hope it will always remain. But it hit me today, that my team look to me for their lifelines, to support their families, to pay their bills and to feel useful, to feel part of something meaningful. The words of Spiderman ring true,

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Ok, I run a restaurant, not a PLC, and no, I don’t have any superpowers except the power to cook exceptionally super duper food, but I realise that I have to be strong. Not just for my customers. But for my team. My loyal and faithful team that has helped me build Sweet Mandarin and I dedicate this blog entry to them.  I promise I will try my best to be the sweetest boss I can be and will always be grateful for your service and commitment to me and to Sweet Mandarin.

Yours, Lisa.

When we received the news that we had made it to the Final of the F Word’s Best Chinese Restaurant Competition we were estatic. Thanks to our wonderful customers who nominated us, we were on the map a la Gordon. However, before Gordon,  we were and still are are the third generation of women restaurateurs and have always had great families follow us generation after generation. Their gran knew our gran (who set up her restaurant before Chinatown was established), their mum knows our mum and now the third generation visit Sweet Mandarin.

Nothing had quite sunk in even when a black car picked us up at our home to drive us to the studios in London. Having not slept the night before didn’t help when we were faced with 50 chicken breasts and about 100 pieces of squid to cut in the F Word kitchen – and we had an hour’s prep time to get through the mountains of ingredients.

I was cutting away in my own little world when suddenly this voice said ‘Hello Lisa!’ It was Gordon Ramsay. He was so tall and I was so shocked that it was the man himself that I nearly cut my hand.  It was at that moment that it finally sunk – I was in the competition headed up by Gordon Ramsay to find the UK’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant and after three generations who have endured rollercoaster after rollercoaster it was a chance for me to restore the family name.  Then I got nervous.   I finally realised that this competition was real and was shocked that Gordon knew my name. I’ve seen him on the TV, but for him to know and praise me was a chef’s dream come true.  It was a true honour to cook with him and a huge accolade to get 82/100 mark for the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken (my mother’s recipe which we serve at Sweet Mandarin). When we won the Best Local Chinese Restaurant Award 2009-2010 I had tears in my eyes.  To my dear customers and to all of Manchester, this trophy is for you.

If you want to pop over for my mum’s claypot chicken, please book a table here

Virgin Trains now have regular trains every twenty minutes from Manchester to London and vice versa. Travelling down on the Pendolino faster-than-a-bullet trains  takes a record 2 hours and 10 minutes rather than the previous 6 hour zombified journeys one used to have to endure.  So technically I could be in London faster than getting from one side of Manchester to the other side.

Whilst London offers incredible opportunity and a zillion potential customers from all regions of the world I’m happy to dip in and out of London rather than pitch up Sweet Mandarin in the capital.

I find it sometimes so busy that the zillions of people that are tripping me up left, right and centre that I can’t do everything I want to do in London. Travelling on the tube for instance is my biggest nightmare. Its claustrophobic and I’m breathing in this hot rancid air that makes me faint. Even after a super super shopping spree, getting back to Euston and then getting a seat on the train back to Manchester is that little bit more stressful. That’s because everything is faster and rather than 10 to 1 person buying that sweater or train ticket, its more like 100 to 1 in London.

Personally, after I’ve collapsed in my train seat there is no sweeter image and sound than seeing the Manchester skyline and hearing the words now arriving at Manchester Piccadilly. That’s why this royal welcome home makes #975 Sweet Nothing.

For me, the family table is the heart of the house, where all the highs and lows of the day are celebrated or commiserated. It’s a sanctuary which rejuvenates me not only physically but spiritually and emotionally. In this day and age where there are more and more people living alone, the family table is replaced by a table at their favourite restaurant, Sweet Mandarin.

Dining together allows us to better understand who we are, regardless of our social status. The food does not have to be elegant, complicated or fancy. I find that busy people like simple food- the busier they are, the simpler the food. The food at Sweet Mandarin is straightforward home cooking with a few contemporary dishes.

Getting back to the table allows us to love and nurture each other and renew connections to our families – however they are configured in this diverse and ever-changing society. Such connections are crucial in a fast-paced world where we feel more disconnected every day.

One of the best ways I know to restore that daily balance is to sit down at the table. As a child, growing up in Manchester, UK, I learned the importance of the family table or eating together in a restaurant. It was there that I felt love matched only by my family’s appreciation for fresh, wholesome food, a love of good cooking, and a fellowship just not possible if you are eating on the go or if you are whizzing through the drive-in window of a fast food outlet.

These early experiences started me on my life’s journey of cooking for families. It is around the family table that there are times of celebration and times of great sadness, and always we came together to embrace the food and each other. The table is a place of communion for life’s large and small events: holiday meals, weddings, birthdays, and everyday get-togethers. We welcome you to our family table at Sweet Mandarin. Don’t be a stranger, you’re home from home at Sweet Mandarin.

Try our wonderful banquets – to be shared with friends and families. To download the menus go to www.sweetmandarin.com

Do you need to book out Sweet Mandarin for your special event – call Lisa 0161 832 8848 to discuss your event and how we can make it extra extra sweet.

Best wishes and sweet dishes to you and your family.

Lisa

www.sweetmandarin.com

Tel: 0161 832 8848

Twitter: www.twitter.com/sweetmandarin

Facebook: Sweet Mandarin Appreciation Group http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Mandarin/26658875016

Myspace: www.myspace.com/sweetmandarin

In the 1980s we were the proud owner of the wide screen tv (black and white), swirly brown carpets with matching hideous wall paper and dungarees. We were also highly protective of our stash of flying saucers in industrial sized containers. That was the beauty of growing up above a chippy. We got the chance to go to Bernard’s cash and carry behind Asdas and there was a sweet display that would make Willy Wonka proud.

Its great to see flying saucers making a comeback as they were my favourite sweet. Two pastel coloured wafers containing fizzy powdered sherbert that zizzled the tongue.

Let me share with you my way of eating these beauties:

1. Nibble the edge and open up the saucers.
2. Eat the first saucer.
3. Then lick the sherbet. Shiver.
4. Finally in huge satisfaction, rest the second saucer on tongue and let it melt.
5. Repeat.

That’s why Flying Saucers are #977 Sweet Nothing . If you are visiting Sweet Mandarin you are always welcome to bring a packet or two of flying saucers!

At Sweet Mandarin, we love and welcome birthdays. If you are celebrating your birthday at Sweet Mandarin, let us know and we’ll arrange to surprise the birthday girl or boy with a cake on the house. You can even eat the whole thing with your hands if you must.

We can cater for parties of 2 to 80. If you need balloons, table decorations, banners or special requests, let us know and we’ll try our best to make your birthday party a most memorable night. If you are looking for a perfect gift, don’t forget our memoir, Sweet Mandarin. And we’ll sing Happy Birthday to you. That’s why Birthdays are my #978 Sweet Nothing.

About Happy Birthday To You
“Happy Birthday to You”, also known more simply as “Happy Birthday”, is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person’s birth. According to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, “Happy Birthday to You” is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and “Auld Lang Syne”. The song’s base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages.

Here’s a picture of Janet’s third birthday.
Front row L to R: Helen, Janet, Lisa
Back row Jimmy and Mum

Twitterers (T) (photo 1) Meet the Flickrs (F) (photo 2) could be come Jazz Hands Extravaganza (photo 3)

I Tweet (a lot), I Flickr (quite a lot), I Eat (all the time). I host Tweet Up meetings for Twitterers and Flickr Up meetings for Flickr, so I’ve decide to link up these two groups. It could be a smash hit with splattering of photographic evidence (check out the third photo with the aptly named Jazz hands effect lol). Or it could be a bit like the first school disco where each group cliches to their own – the Ts verses the Fs. Its worth the experiment. So here is its my friends, I’m hosting the first ever Twitter Meets the Flickr Tweet Up @sweetmandarin.

Date: Sunday 18th July
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: Free
Bring: Blackberry/Phone/Iphone/Camera/Your own sweet self
RSVP: lisa@sweetmandarin.com or DM me on Twitter @sweetmandarin (oh and please follow me)
Food: I’ll sort out the dim sum
Drinks: Pay as you go
Reminder: There is a Threewitter party beforehand from 1-5pm at Madlabs. Have your cake and eat it! Here’s the Threewitter link http://threewitter.eventbrite.com/