Jay Chou (profil)

Jay Chou: please don't play the piano, Ye Xiang Lun is eating right now

by kelvin@multistars - 14th June 2009


Customers who come to Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen restaurant at the Medical University will inevitably rush towards the piano first: "It really is the piano from 'Secret'!" Yes, it is that piano that Jay Chou plays in "Secret".

"In the past Jay opened a antique store, he likes the elements of antique a bit more, after that store closed, he displayed little antiques, things like paintings that are a bit more artistic style, he likes these types of things a bit more." The store manager introduced: "This store opened after 'Secret' finished filming, at the time he wanted to make it into a movie themed restaurant, so Jay said, do you need me to bring that piano over as well, so he brought it over."

Having the props from the movie displayed, naturally fans come in their droves, they come to the store and surround the piano taking pictures left and right, sometimes they even have to play it a bit to satisfy their cravings, "Because this is an antique piano, so Jay treasures it a lot, he was still a bit scared of people breaking it, so he wrote a note, and told us to put it on the piano." On the piano was a printed note, but the contents of the note was written by Jay Chou - "Please do not play, so as not to be sent back 20 years into the past - Ye Xiang Lun (Jay's character in Secret)".

It seems like Jay Chou's has a great interest in the food and drink business, after the Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen, he has opened a dessert house, he is also planning in opening branches of Mr. J in Gaoxiang, southern parts of Taiwan and other cities.

"Actually he has a lot of ideas, the people by his side also have a lot of ideas" The store manager is a good friend of Jay Chou's, even though he described his collaboration with Jay Chou this time as "coincident", yet he doesn't deny opening restaurants is something is likes and is good at. "At the time we were together with a couple of friends, we were discussing what style we wanted, then we had this idea of opening a themed restaurant."

Within the "few friends" was of course Jay Chou, he is the investor, and his "few friends" were all people with ideas, so Jay Chou was responsible for investing to help everyone realise their ideas. "For instance, Huang Jun Lang, he helps Jay write lyrics, at the same time he is the art head supervisor at Chinapublishing, so it's evident he is a very talented designer. When we were discussing the restaurant, he had a lot of feelings on the menu and dishes, so at the end he was responsible for this bit, finally he designed one that looked like a piano score."

Confronted with a restaurant so full of his own style, Jay Chou feels very satisfied, before he set himself the plan of going there to eat once a month, but in reality he often broke this "quota": "Jay himself often comes, he's very much a common man, when he comes he eats here, of course for a majority of the time he is at that box upstairs, the whole restaurant only has that box, but if there aren't too many customers downstairs, he will come down to eat, sometimes if he feels in the mood he will even play the piano, he would definitely get recognised like that, so often fans want to take pictures with him, he's more than willing to, if there isn't anything important he will take pictures with them."

Jay Chou is very proud of this restaurant, when he accepted an interview from CNN he especially arranged the interview to be done at this restaurant, it was him playing this antique piano at the end of the interview.

Jay Chou has two "hard" rules on the restaurant: firstly, he background music can only be his songs, secondly, there must be Spaghetti Mentaiko, this is a must dish Jay Chou has at every restaurant he has opened. Besides this, veal steak, crab noodles and pizza are his favourites.

Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen is Jay Chou's first success outside the arts, at the very beginning he opened an antique store, the prices were too high and as a result it wasn't making enough to balance the books and so it closed down. Afterwards he opened Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen, this was smooth and has continued so. After "Secret" went on at cinemas, Jay Chou had the idea of opening a movie themed restaurant, this is how the Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen at the Medical University came about.

Since it is a movie themed restaurant, everything had to go according to the movie. Apart from that piano, the entire restaurant was furnished with a very movie style. Inside the restaurant is a big photo from the movie, it is the picture of Jay Chou and Guai Lun Mei, the gramophone is also a prop from the movie, the menu is made to look like a piano score, everything is very much in the style of "Secret". And because of the OST to "Secret", Jay Chou won the Best Original Movie Song Golden Horse Awards, he placed this award at the entrance of the restaurant, he takes a lot of pride in it.

The most surprising thing is the waiters and waitresses in the store, they wear the uniforms from "Secret". "When designing the clothes, Jay said, the uniforms from the movie are there, why not use those as working clothes" The store manager said, thus, when you come to Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen to eat it really feels like you're in the movie.

Besides students, fans, movie fans, tourists, the most that come here is unexpectedly Jay Chou's family. "Because this restaurant is very big, also it is 6 meters tall, it's very comfortable, so Jay's mother, little aunt, cousin and also Jay's piano teacher often come, mainly because the surroundings are so comfortable", the store manager said. The restaurant can contain a maximum of 60 people, it's most suited for holding small gatherings so often fans will book for the whole restaurant and hold a birthday party, the restaurant often matches Jay Chou's artistry with events.

sumber :http://jaychoustudio.com/archives/jay-chou-please-dont-play-the-piano-ye-xiang-lun-is-eating-right-now/1044