SHANGHAI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- As the catering industry resumes business amid the subdued COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, foreign restaurants are finding ways back into people's lives in the gastronomic capital.
The Shanghai Global Cuisine Festival was officially launched Saturday. More than 2,000 foreign restaurants of over 300 catering brands from 42 different countries joined in the three-day event.
A series of on-site activities were held during the gourmet festival, while discounts and promotions offered by participating restaurants will last until the end of June.
Consumers could taste delicacies from around the globe without leaving Shanghai, helping boost food consumption in the city with regular measures in place for the pandemic prevention and control, according to the organizers.
Shanghai has about 12,000 restaurants specializing in foreign cuisines, accounting for about 20 percent of the city's total restaurants.
"Shanghai residents are very enthusiastic about exotic food. The city is full of foreign restaurants," said Yuan Lijun, director of the Shanghai Business Information Centre.
Yuji Suzuki, head chef of the Japanese restaurant Tsukiji Umisachi Sandaime in Shanghai, said the restaurant's business resumed in May and the turnover has increased by about 20 percent compared with the same period last year.
For many years, the restaurant has held a tuna dissection show every month. At the show, a chef uses traditional Japanese techniques to dissect a fresh bluefin tuna of more than 100 kg.
"We suspended the show for four months because of the pandemic, but we restarted it on June 1 as the restaurant business is picking up," said Suzuki.
Foreign food brands are also developing new cuisines by integrating Chinese ingredients to cater to local customers.
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra coordinated with China's Shen Da Cheng, a catering brand with more than 100 years of history, and launched an innovative dim sum with cheese and salted egg yolk.
Wassim Othman, head chef of Dubai restaurant Makan in Shanghai, said the restaurant's dishes blended Arabic and Chinese cuisines to better meet the tastes of local customers.
"Shanghai customers have good taste in food. Our fusion food is very popular," said Othman. Enditem
