บท 41: A New Diner (2-in-1)
Stewed noodles.
Hand-pulled noodles.
Beef noodle soup.
Xiao mian.
Hot dry noodles.
These are all famous noodle dishes in the country.
So the taste of the stewed noodles is undoubtedly good, but the other types of noodles are also highly renowned, some even gaining international recognition.
The impression left by the stewed noodles, however, is relatively mild, perhaps because it doesn't have a nearly uniform method of preparation like Lanzhou beef noodle soup.
But no matter what, for people who have been busy the whole day.
A bowl of aromatic stewed noodles is the most worth looking forward to!
...
To make the stewed noodles, you start by kneading the dough to make the noodle dough. The requirements for the stewed noodles are even more stringent, as being too soft can make it difficult to shape, and being too hard can make it difficult to stretch after fermentation!
As the saying goes: "Those skilled in painting are plentiful, but truly exceptional stewed noodle chefs are also incredible at it."
They not only excel in noodle dishes but also in methods like cold mixing, deep frying, and stir-frying, making them truly versatile.
First, an adequate amount of alkaline salt.
Mix with warm water to make a dough and make it elastic.
After resting for about 20 minutes, Zane then uses a rolling pin to roll the dough into four-finger wide pieces.
Next, each piece is evenly coated with vegetable oil, placed in a porcelain bowl in a crosswise and orderly manner, covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.
Clack!
Clack!
Clack!
At this moment.
Having finished kneading the dough, Zane begins preparing the ingredients.
He takes out a slicing knife and quickly shreds the soaked black fungus and tofu skin into threads, then dices the lamb!
At this moment, the atmosphere in the entire tavern is still relatively quiet.
Only the sound of Zane's kitchen knife hitting the cutting board echoes in the ears of the diners.
After that, the lamb soup is brought to a boil in the pot.
A piece of stewed noodle sheet is stretched and pulled into thin noodles.
Then, the noodles are put into the lamb soup pot, and once the soup boils again.
A portion of diced lamb, shredded kelp, shredded tofu skin, yellow chives, shredded black fungus, and other ingredients are added, and then cooked until done together with the noodles.
Finally, it's scooped from the pot into a bowl, the soup is ladled over the noodles, and a sprinkle of the aromatic "soul" cilantro.
In this way, a steaming bowl of stewed noodles is finally completed in Zane's hands!
...
Green vegetables!
White noodles!
Red oil!
As the freshly made stewed noodles are served to the diners.
The combination of the three colors red, white, and green shines especially and looks very inviting.
Immediately, the hungry diner uses chopsticks to pick up the long, thin noodles, and after a few "slurps", they appear extremely delighted!
When tasting the first bite, you can feel the richness and deliciousness of the soup base.
The combination of lamb and bone gives the soup a rich nutritional taste, and the addition of over ten types of spices adds more layers and mystery to the soup.
Of course, the star of the stewed noodles is always the noodles!
These noodles, made with high-quality high-gluten flour and eggs, are finely kneaded and rolled, making them delicate and chewy.
During the cooking process, the noodles absorb the richness of the soup base and the aroma of other ingredients, making them very flavorful.
Just biting into them, you can instantly feel the soft and smooth texture of the noodles, each mouthful filled with flavor.
At the same time, the side dishes also have their uniqueness.
The addition of shredded kelp, shredded tofu skin, yellow chives, shredded black fungus, and other side dishes adds rich colors to the stewed noodles!
The crispness of the kelp.
The chewiness of the tofu skin.
The deliciousness of the yellow chives.
The firmness of the black fungus.
All blend with the noodles and the soup, creating a complex and ever-changing flavor!
"I'm really moved!"
"Indeed, it's only the stewed noodles from a tavern that I really love!"
"Owner, another bowl, I want to eat more."
The diner eating the stewed noodles couldn't help but show a happy and contented expression on her face.
After that, she hurriedly asked Zane for another bowl of stewed noodles.
...
For many people.
In their memories, there is always one important dish.
And this dish might evoke deep emotions due to the story behind it!
This kind of emotion undoubtedly exceeds the flavors of the dish itself.
Maybe? What people love isn't just tasty dishes, but the emotions behind the food!
The tavern, although only open from 7 pm to midnight, is a place where one can always avoid worrying about performance and customers, where they don't have to think about other things, and even escape from the nagging of their wives at home!
All you need is a glass of alcohol, just a dish.
You can quietly spend time that belongs only to you.
And if you can eat the dish you want, it's an even greater pleasure!
At this moment, Sonoka, who has not yet left, fell silent for a long time as she watched the diner next to her frequently showing a satisfied and happy expression after eating the stewed noodles.
At that moment, she had a bit of understanding of the meaning behind the existence of this tavern.
And gradually, she began to understand what Zane had just said!
...
"What's wrong?"
"Are you surprised to see me making stewed noodles?"
Placing another bowl of stewed noodles in front of the diner.
Then Zane turned to Sonoka, seeing her deep but empty gaze, as if she was contemplating something alone, he couldn't help but ask.
"Nothing!"
"I was just thinking."
"The rule here in the tavern, where the customers can order whatever they want, feels really nice!"
Sonoka regained her senses, smiling awkwardly a few times.
Undeniably, this rule of "if you want to eat something, and we have it, we can make it" is definitely the tavern's best marketing strategy.
At nightfall, most people have experienced that kind of hesitance, as if there are still some unfinished things, and they don't know how to bid farewell to the day!
So even if they're not hungry, they still want a place to go.
And Zane's tavern is a place that can soothe the emotions of these diners!
You see, the rule of ordering whatever you want has one essential requirement.
That is, it requires the chef's culinary skills to be versatile, where the chef can make anything.
Otherwise, if the diners often order what they like to eat, but you don't know how to make anything, then this rule of ordering whatever you want is as useless as a fart.
So, seeing Zane putting his heart into making each dish, and using food as a way to convey his emotions and love for the diners!
This really made Sonoka deeply admire him!
Perhaps, she is also managing the Shunkatei.
That's why she deeply understands the hardships of wanting a restaurant to bring the same happy smiles to the diners as a tavern does!
—-----------
The night gradually falls.
As the stars twinkle incessantly, the entire brightly lit city quietly blends into a warm night.
At this moment, it's 22:00, and there are still two hours until the tavern closes.
A woman with long dark green hair has arrived at the tavern.
When Sonoka glanced at her, she was immediately shocked, because she was Anne, the first-class executive of WGO, who had inspected the Shunkatei restaurant today!
"Phew, I'm exhausted! Owner, bring me a bottle of sake first!"
Anne seemed to notice Sonoka but didn't pay her any attention. She set aside the heavy "THE·BOOK" book of food reviews, and then sat down, carefully scrutinizing the tavern.
Finally, she retracted her gaze, nodded slightly, apparently satisfied with the tavern's interior.
...
Fresh!
Fragrant!
And a faint aroma of fermented rice.
As Anne drank the sake, she couldn't help but close her eyes and savor it.
And this sake seemed to have a magical quality, slowly easing her fatigue and stress, gradually putting her in a better mood.
"Nice!"
"This sake is good."
"Its taste is quite delicate, making it perfect to pair with sashimi and lightly flavored grilled fish!"
Finally, Anne couldn't help but open her eyes.
As a first-class executive, others envied her status in the culinary world.
But little did they know, her work was very busy every day, often having to visit restaurants and hotels incognito for meals.
Every year, she had to eat hundreds of meals at restaurants and stay at hotels for over a hundred nights.
Just from travel alone, she could traverse nearly 30,000 kilometers in a year, often taking flights to visit famous restaurants around the world.
All in all, it seemed leisurely, but in reality, it was really tiring, and exhausting!
After setting down the sake cup, she gazed at Zane for a while and asked, "Are you the owner and also the chef here?"
"Yes, the tavern currently only has me."
Zane nodded in response.
"That's not easy."
"The length of this food street is only 800 meters, but including the small and large eateries on both sides of the street, the total number exceeds a hundred."
"Moreover, next to your tavern is the one-star Shunkatei restaurant. And for you being so young and daring to establish yourself here, I must say I am quite impressed!"
Anne couldn't help but show an appreciative look upon learning that Zane was single-handedly busy inside and outside the tavern.
"Ability has nothing to do with age!"
Zane responded matter-of-factly.
"I quite agree with that," Anne blinked, becoming more interested in this young owner.
Afterward, she continued, "I heard that here in your tavern, diners can freely choose their dishes according to their desires, as long as you have the ingredients or the ability to make them?"
"That's the rule."
"Well, directly making dishes according to the diners' needs is a good marketing strategy."
Anne seemed a bit surprised by this rule of freely choosing dishes.
After all, a tavern itself is not a buffet-style restaurant, and you'd think that despite the buffet format allowing diners to choose freely, it's still limited by the ingredients.
So, the willingness to establish this rule was enough to show that the young owner in front of her had a strong sense of confidence and believed that he could make dishes that satisfied the diners!
"At the moment, I don't know what I want to eat. Owner, could you recommend a dish to me?"
"The classic tofu."
"I recommend this dish."
"What? A classic Huaiyang dish from the Celestial Empire?"
Kebabs, tempura, sushi, oden, Japanese-style grilled chicken... She naively thought that the owner would recommend these common Japanese dishes.
Instead, she was recommended a classic tofu dish that requires extremely high knife skills?
You see, the preparation of classic tofu often deters many chefs. Just cutting a fragile block of tofu into fine as hair strands using a kitchen knife is a great test of the chef's knife skills!
Therefore, unless it's a very important occasion, most people won't see this dish on the menu.
"How about it? Don't like it?"
"No, no, no, let's go with the classic tofu as you suggested."
After Anne came to her senses, she shook her head quickly and chose a classic tofu at Zane's recommendation.
Seeing this first-class executive agree, Zane just smiled lightly, then turned and continued to busily work at the kitchen counter.
...
In the world, there are chefs aplenty!
All sorts of eateries can be found everywhere in the streets and alleys.
Up until now, there are only 72 restaurants worldwide that have been awarded three-star by WGO certification.
Moreover, these restaurants are often quite luxurious, and the dishes they serve are outrageously expensive, definitely not like Zane's affordable tavern!
In simple terms, the reason behind this phenomenon.
Ultimately lies in the fact that regardless of how WGO food organization sets evaluation criteria, it all ends up as a rich people's lavish feast!
By definition, the evaluation of the first star mainly relies on the restaurant's food quality, purely based on the chef's culinary skills.
So at this stage, there are some straightforward restaurants that easily meet WGO's approval based on the chef's abilities!
However, starting from the two-star level, the evaluation criteria become more diverse.
Service quality, decor, serving order, nutritional balance, ingredient selection, even table settings, and the elegance of the utensils, and so on.
These minute and detailed aspects are often the criteria for WGO evaluations.
Therefore, after achieving one star, if a restaurant aims for two or three stars, it needs to invest heavily in staff training, utensil arrangements, ingredient procurement, and more.
This leads to restaurants without substantial funds quickly falling behind.
So, tonight, someone like Anne, a first-class executive, coming to the tavern, is definitely not for an evaluation.
Because according to WGO's standards, only restaurants open for over half a year qualify for a one-star evaluation!
And this tavern has only been open for just over a month.
So, that's why when she first entered the tavern, Sonoka was quite shocked.
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This was a 2-in-1 chapter, meaning there is 2 different chapters in this 1 chapter. Make sure to give more power stones!
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