บท 62: An Organic Meal Experience

Neither Amber nor Mara commented on what had transpired earlier so I decided not to say anything either, at least not yet.

Thomas guided us to one of the rooms and the door slid open as soon as he approached it, allowing us to enter after him.

The room itself wasn't really anything special where a large, round table stood in the centre of the room with three high backed chairs around it. On the other end of the room was a window that took the place of the wall and offered us a full, unobstructed view of the city below us.

Well, the view was definitely great, and I'm not just saying that because of the two girls in front of me which, I have to say, was definitely also a great view by itself.

We sat down on the table and Thomas moved to one side before straightening himself, "Once again, welcome to The Violet Avenue, ladies. You have reserved a table for the premium course for tonight where everything has been organically made to perfection. Please sit back, relax and allow me to serve you this fine evening. For starters, may I know your wine selection for this course?"

Mara answered almost immediately, "Peugar Mior, seventh series."

"Very fine selection, my lady. I shall prepare that for you in a moment. And the others?"

Amber simply waved her hand, "Just beer."

Mara scowled at her, "You came all the way here to drink beer? Stop embarrassing yourself. Get a proper wine or even a cocktail would do."

"Hey, don't diss my drink choices!"

"I will when you're in front of Tera. At least try to fit the atmosphere, won't you?"

"Pffft, I'm fitting the atmosphere just fine. I would say that it's the atmosphere that needs to fit to me."

The doctor rolled her eyes at her, "It's your dinner."

Thomas waited until the both of them were done before speaking up, "Shall I confirm your selection for the night to be beer, my lady?"

Amber turned to the android and opened her mouth for a moment before shutting it.

She then sighed before gesturing towards Mara, "I'll have whatever she's having. I'm so going to regret this."

"Very well, that shall be two Peugar Mior seventh series. And for you, Miss?"

Err… I doubt I know any of the wines here at all but I'm just going to try my luck to see if they have something that's familiar to me.

"Do you have any Dom Peri?"

Thomas paused for a while and I could see words scroll past his eyes for a second before he regained his normal eyes again.

"I apologise miss, it seems that we do not have this wine that you speak of."

I figured… I would have been surprised if they actually have any of the brands I know from my old World.

I waved my hand casually, "In that case, I'll just have what is recommended to go with the course."

"Very well, that can be arranged, my lady. Your appetisers shall be served in a moment."

He then left through the door after a bow, leaving us alone inside the room.

Amber rubbed her hands together, "Alright~ So this is what supposedly 'real' food taste like, huh?"

Mara leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, "I would say to temper your expectations a little. When we're all the way out here at the edge of civilised space, the skills of the chefs and the quality of the food isn't as comparable to those found in the inner circles."

"Now you're just making us want to go and try the food there instead. What do you think, Tera? Should we go on a food trip?"

I chuckled, "Ahaha, I actually wouldn't mind that. That sounds like a good idea if I were to be honest. Just flying from system to system and trying out different foods… It'll be nice."

Amber grinned, "Oh now you've done it, let's set off from this place tomorrow and leave this forsaken place behind!"

I peeked at Mara, "What about you?"

She smiled at me, "If you're asking if I would come with you, I'm afraid that as much as I would like to, I will have to decline. I have too many things here for me to just up and leave like that. Besides, there are still some things I want to do here so I can't leave."

Aww… That's a little sad but I suppose expecting her to just give up everything to fly out into space with us was quite unreasonable in the first place.

Mara then giggled, "Fufu, you're welcome to visit me whenever you want though. I was serious when I said that my home is open to you whenever, Tera."

I was just about to thank her when the door slid open again, revealing our android server carrying a tray on his palm.

He moved into the room almost as if he was gliding and started placing the dish in front of us.

"To start off with, we have the mushroom and clam chowder with white bread."

I looked down at the bowl he placed in front of me.

It… Looked like a normal mushroom and clam chowder I suppose? The soup looks rather thick as well. The bread on the side platter also looks like a normal piece of bread.

I dipped my spoon into it and brought a spoonful of it up to my lips to taste it.

And…

It tastes like normal clam chowder.

Like… Yeah, it's clam chowder for sure I guess? It's not like it's mind blowing good or anything…

"Oh my gosh! This is so good!! How is someone even able to make this?!" Amber gasped, scarfing down the soup spoon after spoon.

Mara was dipping her bread into the soup and biting into it. It might look like she felt nothing from eating it, but the fact that she was smiling quietly while eating it told me that she was most definitely enjoying it.

I first tried to take a bite out of the bread and I realised it was… Just a normal white bread… Like the kind that you might find packed in those plastic packaging and sold in supermarkets.

I then dipped it into the soup before bringing it up to taste.

Mmm… Well… It just tastes like what I expected I suppose?

I mean it's nice and certainly way better than the synthfood themselves for sure, but I'm definitely not going to start gushing over it anytime soon.

Thomas then came back carrying another platter which made me realise that I didn't notice him going out before this.

He served us the wine that we requested and I received what looks like sparkling wine in a champagne glass.

Mara went ahead to start teaching Amber how exactly to taste the wine while I simply did it myself.

Hmm… Smells good… How about the taste?

…

Oh, it's actually pretty good. But that's coming from someone who doesn't usually drink in the first place. But I suppose I can give the wines a pass at the very least.

"Next is your main course. Sirloin steak from the cows reared on Xvatus VII."

Maybe the meats will be better?

He placed the plate in front of me.

It err… Looks and smells just like steak I suppose? And the wine I received for this was a red wine.

Amber was practically salivating at the smell and even Mara was dabbing the sides of her lips delicately with a towel before digging in.

I cut a piece of the meat and placed it in my mouth.

…

Not gonna lie, this tastes like the kind of steak you might find in those family restaurants and definitely not the high end ones…

I'm guessing it's because I've already tasted the real thing before, this wasn't really as special to me as it was for them.

It still tastes good at least so I could still appreciate the food, but the thing was that I could clearly tell this food only tasted good because of the ingredients and not because of the chef's skill in preparing them.

Like… Even I could prepare something like this if you gave me the ingredients I need.

Of course, I tactfully kept my mouth shut about it since Mara and Amber were both enjoying it like it was the best thing they ever tasted. Although I would take the fact that they also look like this when eating my food as a compliment.

But the wine was good and it did taste nice I suppose. They seem to be doing really well in the wine department.

"And for dessert, we have the vanilla pudding."

A small bowl was placed in front of me and I confirmed that it was indeed pudding.

I will have to say that this was the most disappointing one out of everything by far because this literally tastes like convenience store pudding.

I also got another wine to pair with the dessert and it was a sweet, bubbly wine that tastes way better than the dessert itself. I would even rather just have the wine as the dessert instead.

And that was it. That's the entire meal.

My verdict? I would give it my seal of 'not worth the money'.

Seriously…