PARIS: As Tang Zhongqiu knows, there often comes a time in an Asian person’s trip to France when one grows weary of the endless parade of bread and seeks respite in a simple bowl of rice.
This is true of backpackers and businesspeople and, it turns out, Olympic table tennis champions.
So while Tang assumed there would be an uptick in customers at his Chinese restaurant in the 15th arrondissement of Paris after a nearby convention hall was converted into the table tennis arena for the Summer Olympics, he had no idea it would be like this.
For the past two weeks, his narrow restaurant, Yang Xiao Chu, has become a bustling, unofficial clubhouse for table tennis, a sport followed most fervently and practised most successfully in China.
His establishment – one of the closest Chinese restaurants to the arena, but far enough that you would need to have sought it out – has been practically bursting at the seams with current Olympians, former gold medallists, team staff members, journalists and countless hungry fans.
“I didn’t expect we would get this busy during the Olympics,” Tang, 49, said one recent morning, before the lunch rush. “I just look after them as if they were my family members.”
Much to his disbelief, he has now served luminaries of the game in China, like Ding Ning, a three-time Olympic gold medallist; Liu Guozheng, a former player and popular commentator; and Zhang Yining, a four-time gold medallist considered one of the best players in the sport’s history.
He has also fed a carousel of current Olympians like Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong, Hiroto Shinozuka of Japan and Yuan Jia Nan of France, among others. All have wandered over between events or workouts in search of a comforting meal.
Yuan, the 19th-ranked player in the world, enjoyed her first visit so much that she returned days later for a second meal.
“It was good because I like spicy food,” said Yuan, 39, who was born in Zhengzhou, China, and moved to France when she was 18.
Tang, a father of two girls, knows these people are not famous in France, where he has lived for two decades.
But they are celebrities in China, where he was born.
And, together, they have helped make these Olympics one of the more remarkable experiences of his life.
“I’m very happy about it,” said Tang, who was from Xiamen in Fujian province.
“Having all these people come here to eat meals shows that my dishes are good.”
Some days, the line of waiting customers has spilled out the restaurant’s front door and filled the sidewalk.
Customers, often carrying flags and homemade banners, have learnt of the restaurant by word-of-mouth and Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu.
Inside, the restaurant has the warmth of a living room – albeit one with an uncommonly large television set.
In preparation for the Olympics, Tang bought a 98-inch screen, and the space now periodically swells with cheers from diners keeping an eye on the Games during their meals.
This being France, the restaurant’s one waiter has left the city for a month-long vacation.
Short-staffed and now perpetually busy, Tang has turned to his two young daughters – Chloe, 11, and Anna, 10 – for help waiting tables and folding napkins.
But the stress, he said, has been worth it. He has had menus signed by some players.
He has taken photos with many of them too, and eagerly scrolls through them on his mobile phone.
He wants to frame the shots for the walls of his restaurant, which for now are mostly decorated with colourful drawings by his daughters.
“It’s very tiring when things get busy,” he said. “But I’m still happy even when I’m tired.
"I get to meet all kinds of different customers. I get to make many new friends.” - NYTIMES
