英國的炸魚薯條雖被譽為國民美食，但國內(nèi)不少人都將其稱為“黑暗料理”，已經(jīng)吐槽了好多年。不過，最近外媒報道稱，英國一家普通的炸魚薯條店因為很多中國游客的到訪，生意突然火爆了起來。難道是受了什么高人指點了？我們來看看英國《衛(wèi)報》的報道：

As a meal choice it is on the decline, losing ground to seitan burgers and poké bowls as millennials run scared of the humble spud. But one fish and chip shop near York has hit on a novel way of attracting customers: translating its menu into Mandarin.

作為一種餐食選擇，薯條正在走下坡路，輸給了素肉漢堡和“沖浪碗”（夏威夷的特色主食），也因為太不起眼而令千禧一代望而卻步。但是，英國約克郡附近的一家炸魚薯條店偶然間發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種招攬顧客的新途徑：將菜單翻譯成中文。

這家小店名叫斯科茨炸魚薯條店，位于英國約克郡附近的一條A64公路上，雖然店面的位置比較偏僻，但好就好在它處于旅行團游覽路線的途經(jīng)地，門前位置足夠?qū)挸ǎ昀锏沫h(huán)境、菜品及價格都挺合適，滿足了旅行團的需求。

Scotts Fish and Chips near York now serves more than 100 Chinese holidaymakers a week after launching a Mandarin website and promoting its deep-fried delicacies on Weibo and WeChat, China’s answer to Twitter and WhatsApp.

約克郡附近的斯科茨炸魚薯條店推出中文網(wǎng)站并在微博和微信上宣傳店內(nèi)的油炸美食后，現(xiàn)在每周光顧該店的中國游客人數(shù)已經(jīng)超過100人。

炸魚薯條作為英國國菜之一，是一道可以高大上也可以很親民的美食，英國前首相卡梅倫和貝克漢姆都狂愛它，即使是鐵娘子撒切爾也愛不釋手！炸魚薯條的魅力簡直無人能敵呀！

During the busy lunchtime rush on Thursday, Scotts’ manager, Roxy Vasai, said they were experiencing a Chinese boom. “We look out for a coach and, when they’re coming, we shout ‘they’re here, there are 20, 30, 40, let’s make it ready for them’,” she said.

上周四，在繁忙的午餐高峰時間，斯科茨炸魚薯條店的經(jīng)理羅克茜·瓦賽說，他們正在經(jīng)歷一場“中國熱”。她說：“我們張望著旅游大巴的蹤影。他們到來時，我們會喊‘他們來了，有20、30或40人，我們給他們準備好吧’?！?/p>

"We are very impressed by the Chinese tourists. They are very friendly, smiley and happy."

“中國游客給我們留下了深刻的印象。他們非常友好，臉上掛著笑容和快樂?！?/p>

店內(nèi)工作人員表示，這些游客不但在此用餐，還有許多人在酒店頂層的餐廳內(nèi)外與員工合影。

Staff want to make dining at the restaurant a real occasion for visitors, she said, with chefs and waiters regularly posing for selfies with their Chinese diners. “We have fun, we make them feel welcome. They like to take pictures so it’s something to share with family and friends.”

她說，員工們希望讓在該餐廳用餐成為游客真正特別的經(jīng)歷，廚師和服務員經(jīng)常擺好姿勢與中國食客自拍留念。她說：“我們很開心，我們讓他們感到賓至如歸。他們喜歡拍照，這些照片可以拿去給家人和朋友看。”

The restaurant's location is also thought to be one of the reasons for the influx because it is on the main route for tour groups visiting York from London.

據(jù)稱，餐廳的位置也成為其火爆的原因之一，因為這里位于旅行團從倫敦到訪約克郡的主路。

約克郡游客信息中心Make It York的大使Will Zhuang稱，“大多數(shù)中國旅行團都會在游訪倫敦及劍橋后前往約克。他們在途中就將經(jīng)過這家店，這是一個讓旅行團停下來休息的理想位置?！?/p>

而且2015年周杰倫和昆凌的婚禮舉行地點霍華德城堡就離這家小店不遠！

享用完美食，再步行過去霍華德城堡那邊逛拍一下，簡直完美～

Vasai said staff had been surprised by its burgeoning popularity and that some were swapping the traditional Yorkshire “ta, love” for Mandarin. “We’ve started learning a little bit, things like ‘thank you’ and ‘bye bye’,” Vasai said. “In the future we will know how to say more - we just ask the Chinese and they tell us.”

員工們對該店暴漲的受歡迎程度感到驚訝，一些人改用漢語說出約克郡的傳統(tǒng)方言“ta，love”（“謝謝，親愛的”）。瓦賽說：“我們已經(jīng)開始學習一點點中文，比如‘謝謝’和‘再見’。以后我們還要多學中文——我們只要問中國人就行，他們會告訴我們?！?/p>

“The word is spreading,” he said. “The Chinese are very active word-of-mouth marketeers themselves, so by embracing their language and social media platforms, that’s the thing that really seems to be working for us.”

“我們的口碑都是口口相傳。中國人本身就是非?；钴S的口碑營銷員，因此借助他們的語言和社交媒體平臺似乎才是真正對我們有效的方法?！?/p>

一些聽說過英國“黑暗料理”的游客，只是抱著嘗試一下當?shù)貍鹘y(tǒng)特色菜品的想法吃進嘴里，卻沒想到味道出乎意料地合胃口，甚至很快就把菜品一掃而光，好比這位在店里被BBC采訪的中國老奶奶游客，她就對炸魚和薯條十分滿意：

“如果滿分是十分，您會給這道菜打幾分呢？”

“那我肯定是給它打滿分的～”

Visits to the UK from China have increased 89% in the past five years, to 337,000 last year, according to Visit Britain. The north of England has seen an influx of Chinese visitors since the introduction of a direct flight between Manchester and Beijing in June 2016 and from Hong Kong to Manchester in December 2014.

根據(jù)英國旅游局的統(tǒng)計，過去五年中，造訪英國的中國游客人數(shù)增加了89%，去年達到了33.7萬人。自曼徹斯特與北京在2016年6月開通直航、香港與曼徹斯特在2014年12月開通直航以來，中國游客大量涌入英格蘭北部。

The tourism boom has been good news for British business: Chinese visitors are some of the UK’s highest spenders, spending on average ￡2,059 during their visit, more than three times the all-market average.

旅游熱對英國企業(yè)來說是好消息：中國游客是消費最多的赴英游客群體之一，他們赴英期間的平均消費為2059英鎊（約合1.8萬元人民幣），是市場平均水平的三倍以上。

Andrew Speke, who leads Chinese language food tours in London for BeiWei 55, said fish and chips was top of the must-try list for a new breed of middle class Chinese tourists.

北緯55度旅行有限公司的中國游客倫敦美食旅行團導游朱海林說，炸魚薯條在新一代中國中產(chǎn)階層游客的必嘗清單上位居榜首。

“We’ve moved on from the days where all Chinese people went around Europe on a coach and had all their meals in suburban Chinese restaurants,” said Speke. “Our customers are the Chinese middle classes from first or second-tier Chinese cities. They watch Downton Abbey and Sherlock and they want the classic British experience.”

朱海林說：“我們已經(jīng)告別了所有中國人都坐旅游大巴周游歐洲、在郊區(qū)的中餐館用餐的時代。我們的客戶是來自中國一、二線城市的中國中產(chǎn)階層。他們看《唐頓莊園》和《神探夏洛克》等英劇，他們希望獲得經(jīng)典的英國體驗?！?/p>

Unlike other foreign visitors, the Chinese don’t flinch at the suggestion they douse their chips with vinegar, said Speke. “Vinegar is more popular than soy sauce in northern China, so in cities such as Beijing and Shijiazhuang. It’s in the south of China and Hong Kong where people dip their dumplings in soy.”

朱海林說，與其他外國游客不同，中國游客樂于嘗試薯條蘸醋的建議?！按自谥袊狈奖柔u油更受歡迎，在北京和石家莊等城市也是如此。在中國南方和香港，人們吃餃子的時候才會蘸醬油?！?/p>

There is a common misconception among the Chinese that Britons eat fish and chips every day. “Sometimes they ask how we are not all very fat eating like this,” said Speke.

中國人有一個普遍的誤解，認為英國人每天都吃炸魚薯條。朱海林說：“有時候他們會問，為什么英國人這么吃還會有人不胖。”

Chinese tourists also find it difficult to understand why so many British meals are cold. “They think it’s strange that we might have cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. It’s not unusual for them to have noodles for breakfast and then a big cooked lunch. The cold things they do eat tend to be strongly flavoured, such as pickles, or side dishes with a lot of chilli. A cold pork pie tends not to go down too well.”

中國游客也很難理解為什么這么多英國餐食都是冷的。“英國人早餐吃麥片，午餐吃三明治，中國游客覺得這很奇怪。中國人早餐經(jīng)常吃面條，然后午餐大吃一頓。他們吃的冷食都是一些味道濃烈的風味小吃，比如腌菜，或者超辣的配菜。冰冷的豬肉餡餅普遍不太被接受?！?/p>

Andrew Crook, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, which works to protect and promote the interests of fish and chip businesses throughout the UK and beyond, said he had not heard of any other dedicated chippies offering a Chinese language menu. “It’s a great idea though,” he said.

英國炸魚業(yè)者聯(lián)合會會長安德魯·克魯克負責在全英和全球各地保護和推廣人們對炸魚薯條的興趣。他說，他沒聽說還有哪家薯條店提供中文菜單，“不過，這是個好主意”。

He has advised aspiring chippy owners in China, Japan and Vietnam on how to run an authentic establishment and says China is a fast growing market. He said: “Chinese people saw on TV this very English scene of a pub and a pint and some fish and chips and wanted to try it themselves.”

他已經(jīng)向一些中國、日本和越南炸魚薯條店主提供了建議，教他們?nèi)绾伪Ａ粲L味。他說：“中國人在電視上看到極具英國風格的一幕，人們在酒吧喝啤酒，吃炸魚薯條，他們自己也想體驗一下?！?/p>

其實，這幾年來，像這樣因為中國游客而神奇爆火的“景點”，早就不止這家炸魚店了...

曾在2016年時，牛津郡北部一個叫Kidlington的村莊突然來了一批又一批的中國游客。

事情發(fā)生得毫無預兆，不知道是哪一天起，每逢周四就會有一些旅游大巴在這里放下一大批游客，他們在村子里到處游覽觀光及拍照留念。

就連垃圾桶都沒放過...

要說的是，Kidlington只是一個有著一萬多人口的平淡無奇的村莊，這里既沒有歷史遺跡也不是度假勝地，在英國像這樣的村子實在是多得數(shù)不勝數(shù)，所以這莫名出現(xiàn)的一大批游客，自然是把當?shù)鼐用駛兏愕靡荒樸?..

BBC還專門派了記者來調(diào)查這件事兒...

結果在聽完游客們的回答過后，記者和居民們變得更懵了...

游客們表示只是過來感受一下英國最本土的鄉(xiāng)村環(huán)境，順便就拍拍照留個念，就這么簡單，沒有別的...

誰說中國游客出國只會買買買，這樣跑道村里拍照的游客是不是也感覺有點萌萌噠...

來源：衛(wèi)報、參考消息網(wǎng)、英國英鳥企鵝號、instagram精選企鵝號

翻譯&編輯：yaning