im not saying you need 6-8 burners, its just from my experence something that kicks out literally 10x the power of a domestic stove is needed to use those spun steel woks properly.
im not a chinese cook though, so if you say its not a problem then thats that.
Surely you've been round long enough to know that the vast majority of regulars in General Chat will never be your target market and will always be quick to decry anything that isn't to their taste - now if you'd offered to come round and flip some burgers at £3.99 a head you may have got a more enthusiastic welcome data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Pffffftttt gwailo data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 thin cast iron woks are the way to go.Round bottomed of course, no one likes a flat bottom data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Yea, I know data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
We do throw in some Prawn Crackers tho, real ones, not the msg ones!data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I think the issue is that you would be targetting people who are well into dinner parties and personally I don't think that's the mass market.
Then the people need to see the value in the experience of having a cook at home with possibly a waiter and entertainement to impress the guests (it's the posh factor isn't it) as well as value a freshly made authentic meal rather than a warmed up pre-prepared dish made of the cheapest ingredients available.
I am sure there are people who will see £40-50 as reasonable but it won't be the mass market who are quite happy with informal get togethers with a couple of large pizzas from the local.
There's nothing wrong with the local take away but it's a totally different thing.
Would I do it? I might for an occasion but it wouldn't be a regular occurence mainly because I'm not that generous that I would treat people outside my family to such a meal very often.
Sorry about the late response - I ended up chatting to my wife about this last night.....
We sort of agreed it would be the sort of thing we would do, though as Jenn above, not that often. We both thought Ian J's pricing structure earlier, was more realistic: a basic cost per head cost.
Our local Thai Chef used to provide a similar service, though without the lion dance data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 - he targeted both meals and service at peoples homes and in clubs/pubs etc. We ended up booking him for an excellent Thai meal in the local cricket club - which because of numbers worked out around £30 a head. These days he runs the local take away - still great, but not up to his previous standard.
Our local Chinese, very authentic, charge £38.00 per head for their most expensive banquet menu...appetisers followed by duck & pancakes and then 5 main dishes with rice or noodles (for 4 people) and a bottle of wine.
...and no washing up!
Make it £35 to £40 per head and it would be something I would consider and probably something many others would consider too.
Yep I forgot to add that I agreed with the price decrease when there are more guests.
Your overheads won't be massively different whether you have 4 people or 10 at the dinner party, only the cost of ingredients will change. So while it would be reasonable to expect 4 people to pay £50/head, for 10 it could be more towards say £35-40 per head.
True, as I bet most other places are the same.
Duck and pancakes, we don't even put that on menu list. in fact we stay well clear of your normal/usual takeaway/restaurant food, Crispy duck is a UK invention, unless if its Peking duck, which I very much doubt - but i could be wrong.
My honest opinion.... no Chinese restaurant in UK is truly authentic..
You won't see the chefs eating stuff off the menu for their dinner, same goes for Indian restaurant - its all to please our western taste!
Not mentioned what our menu range is so...
My parents choice of dishes range from Congee, steamed egg, stir fried gailan and fish fillet, crispy roast belly pork, fermented beancurd with vegatibles, mapo tofu, coca cola braised spare ribs, stuffed green peppers with minced fish (this is a fav every time we do it!), soy sauce chicken, stewed brisket in chu hou sauce, steamed rice with lap cheung and preserved pork - to name a few.
Its the same dishes we would eat when we are at home, so I would call this authentic data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7