Gourmet Food Supplier
Chapter 29: Yuan Zhou the fraudster
Under the guidance of the bell boy, Yuan Zhou went to the reception desk first. Hearing that Yuan Zhou was here for a meal, they directly called for an attendant to escort Yuan Zhou to the restaurant on the 4th floor.
“Mister, this way please.” An attendant wearing a red overskirt gracefully gestured with her fair hand. After an “if you please” gesture, she began to show the way to the elevator.
“Ding”
After pressing the button to open the elevator, the attendant stepped aside and invited Yuan Zhou to enter. Inside, there was an elevator attendant who was solely responsible for pressing the elevator floor button. After saying that he’s going to the restaurant, the elevator doors began to close next to the operator’s smiling face.
The facilities and services at a three star hotel were extremely accommodating, down to the finest detail. The moment Yuan Zhou entered the restaurant, a waiter immediately welcomed him. As the time hadn’t reached twelve o’clock, the restaurant still had plenty of empty seats.
“I want a spot near the window.”
After choosing a spot, Yuan Zhou, under the guidance of the waiter, came to the seat he was assigned to and sat down.
A rectangular yellow lacquered table was accompanied by a white crochet tablecloth. A fresh carnation flower decorated the table, and the cups, plates, bowls as well as the chopsticks were placed and stacked in an orderly fashion.
The temperature of the restaurant was appropriate. Even though the floor he was on wasn’t high from his perspective, it had other elements worthy of praise too. Mhm, there were the houses down below that made for a nonexistent scenery to view.
If this was night, there would actually be a city nightscape, but now…he would have to improvise, improvise.
“Here’s your menu, mister.” Two waiters came. One nimbly put away the remaining three sets of tableware and the other handed the menu over to Yuan Zhou in a gentle voice.
“Do you have any recommended dishes for today?”
It was also the first time Yuan Zhou was having a meal at a three star hotel. Even though he had once worked here for 2 years, since he never resided in the living quarters provided by the hotel, with the exception of his back kitchen colleagues, he actually couldn’t even recognize a single waiter.
As for what dishes were available, Yuan Zhou had only made and not actually eaten them before. Hearing their recommendation wasn’t a bad thing either.
“Yes, there’s the nourishing turtle soup that the head chef is preparing this afternoon, would you like to order a portion and give it a try?” The waiter flipped the menu to the colored “nourishing turtle soup” page in a caring manner and recommended with a slight smile.
“In that case, give me a portion. Do you still have others?” Yuan Zhou contemplated for a while. That head chef would indeed brew soup from time to time, however, he had never drunk it once nor did he meet with the head chef often. The chance for a menial worker to meet the head chef was very miniscule.
However, his current culinary skill far surpassed the head chef’s. It was as simple as that.
“These are the head chef’s menu items for today. How about you give our speciality dishes a try?” Saying so, the waiter once again flipped the menu in a gentle motion to the pages where the speciality recommendations were.
“Flip”
Yuan Zhou flipped the three pages where the speciality recommendation were, and finally said: “Give me a portion for these few dishes and make the main course an egg fried rice.”
The waiter saw Yuan Zhou ordering a total of 19 courses, consisting of every speciality dish as well as the chef preparation on top of that and said as a reminder, “Mister, there is only one of you here and the portions of our dishes here are quite generous. Maybe you should reconsider your choices?”
“No problem, I’m a big eater.” Yuan Zhou naturally knew that he wouldn’t be able to finish the amount he’d ordered, but he had come with a wish today — that was to get a taste of three star cuisine in passing, even though it would definitely not be as delicious as what he would have made.
Since he wanted to taste it, he might as well do a proper job of it. If he was to order one or two dishes, he’d have been better off heading back and doing it himself.
“Alright, please wait a moment.” The waiter saw Yuan Zhou’s persistence and no longer attempted to dissuade him. Courteously taking back the menu, he went to the back kitchen to place the order.
The allocation of roles in the kitchen of a large hotel was superb. It merely took seven to eight minutes from the order being placed to the kitchen coming out with the dishes.
“Mister, here are the dishes you ordered: the turtle soup that the head chef prepared, poached bullfrogs, highland mutton, pulled beef..” The young guy, who was serving the dishes, announced every single one of the dishes he put on the table.
Yuan Zhou was simply at a corner waiting for the dishes to be finished serving.
“Mister, your dishes have all arrived. Please enjoy.”
“Thank you.”
Yuan Zhou nodded his head to express his thanks and picked up his chopsticks. He was preparing to do a taste test.
Ever since he had possessed the system, Yuan Zhou’s five senses had long differed from an ordinary person. As such, taste testing was not a problem for him.
Although Yuan Zhou was currently seriously taste testing here at the hotel, his Culinary God restaurant on the other hand, was the site of chaos.
Rumble, it was like a flash of thunder during the spring.
First it was the small moustache guy Wu Hai that checked in everyday. He was prepared to reach the front of the entrance at 10 minutes past 9:00.
However, there was nothing in front of the chilly entrance. A piece of white paper was pasted on the front of the rolled down shutters of the restaurant, on it was: ‘Due to an unexpected matter, the owner must leave. Business will resume later tonight.’
“Night? Is he not going to do business in the afternoon? That mustn’t be. Business in the afternoon gets really good.” Wu Hai muttered to himself and returned to his house once more, not intending to have his breakfast.
After eating such an delicious egg fried rice, how could he have the appetite for some ordinary steamed buns. Under the situation where his economical situation would allow it, he would definitely go for something better.
As for the others that had come to eat their breakfast, they also discovered that slip of paper and thought that it would probably open in the afternoon. After all, there was nobody who would leave their business behind at a time it was booming.
Time passed very quickly and it was now noon. Everyone was getting off work and the entrance of Yuan Zhou’s small restaurant was encircled by people. If someone had just happened on the scene, they might have thought they’d walked into the middle of a gang war. Everybody was clamoring all at once.
“What’s going on? It’s not going to open in the afternoon too? I still have to go to work later.” A big bellied male complained. He was looking at his watch and rubbing his empty stomach.
“Didn’t you see what was written? He has something going on and will open in the night.” Someone had waited to the point of impatience and directly cut into the conversation.
“Boss Yuan was still operating the shop this morning, why did it shut down in the afternoon?” The man with the suit said in a puzzled manner. He was the one that had come to have some soup dumplings in the morning. He had tried his best to rush back in the afternoon, only to see the entrance mercilessly closed up.
“What? He opened his shop in the morning? Why did I not know about this?” Wu Hai immediately asked. He had just arrived and heard that reply.
“That’s right. The soup filled dumplings that the lil’ chef made in the morning were simply too delicious. This old fogey even said that he would come for another serving in the afternoon and had even brought his wife along.” A grandpa whose outfit was in an upright attire had a tone full of regret. He was also explaining something in a low tone to a granny that was dressed up ordinarily and had grizzled hair.
“Soup dumplings? Why am I not aware of this? It was already closed when I came here this morning.” When Wu Hai heard that he had apparently missed out on a new dish, his originally bad mood from not being able to get breakfast grew worse.
“It’s brother Hai. That’s right, boss Yuan had come out with another new variety item, the soup filled dumpling, in this shop. Its taste is truly out of this world.” The man with the suit saw Wu Hai, a fellow regular, and began to describe in an unceasing torrent about the deliciousness of the soup filled dumpling.
No one knew what the man in the suit’s job was. Even though he wasn’t good at arguing, his ability to describe wasn’t too bad. At the very least, those regular customers beside him were already salivating to the point of overflowing and were feeling even more hungry themselves.
Not too long after, of the tens of people that had eaten the soup dumplings in the morning, a third of them arrived not too long after. This time, things were truly heating up. The tens of people that had arrived began to describe the peerless soup dumpling, with everyone interjecting at different times. The frequent visitors that were just sitting around, waiting for the door to open, stopped feeling bored and only felt the painful torment of hunger.
“The rest of you should stop talking. My stomach feels almost like it’s rebelling, it’s growling non-stop.” The big bellied man said in agony. He had already thrown away his image and covered his belly with his hands.
“Exactly. I’m so hungry to the point where my gastric problem is about to act up. I forbid all of you to say that again. This time, it was Yin Ya that spoke up. A beautiful lady’s words were always useful, the few of them had truly stopped discussing that subject.
As for the reason they felt even more hungry? It was probably because of how vividly they recalled the delicious soup dumplings in the morning during their graphic description of it. Only they themselves would know if there were still other reasons.
However, the people standing near the entrance had all begun to condemn Yuan Zhou in unison…