Chapter 153 – Full 5 Star Review?

Translated by Kitchennovel dot com

 

“Absolutely! Let’s not talk about Top 10, I think he’d easily make it to Top 5!” Bernice said excitedly after properly swallowing her mouthful of meat and bread. Though the irrepressible sigh just now a was little embarrassing, it was less so since everyone had just made similar noises of pleasure In fact, everyone was so engrossed with their food that they were close to ignoring each other.

Though they were all owner chefs, everyone agreed that this [Juicy Burger] was a superb piece of cuisine had reached the pinnacle of its deliciousness. Though 300 copper coins was a bit steep for the amount of food you get, the taste itself was worth every coin.

She had no idea how he had managed to make this pancake into something so plump and soft and yet still maintained a bit chewiness. If he had baked this, how did he made it so that only the outer part of the pancake had that critical crispness that gave this burger that extra texture difference that tied the whole experience together?

Even more curious was this meat. It was clearly the belly meat of a pig that contained streaks of fat, that portion of meat that was usually despised because of the excess fat. Chefs who dealt with belly meat would usually shave off as much of the fat off before working with it.

However, Mike had done no such thing. He had used some mysterious cooking technique, spices, and seasoning on whole pieces of streaky pork to the point that not a trace of the typical greasy mouth feel was left. Several different kinds of spices and seasoning had seeped deeply into the meat. The fat gave the lean meat a more tender texture, lifting the sensation from something that was merely flavourful to astoundingly juicy and delicious.

Thick and pillowy pancake enveloping fragrant juicy meat, this kind of contrasting texture and flavour completely toppled conventional cooking methods.

“Just how did they make this pancake? What kind of spices or seasoning was used in this meat? How was the meat cooked?” questions tumbled around  the minds of the chefs seated together. The desire to question Mike was almost overwhelming.

“From the flavour alone he’d definitely make it to Top 5, but I feel that it’s still too straightforward and this will prevent it from breaking into Top 3.” at Bernice’s word, Miles shook his head and smiled. “The monthly Top Cuisine List depends on customer evaluation. Numbers are also important when it comes to deciding which dish makes it to the Top 3. Since there are limits to how much food a restaurant produces, he probably won’t be able to compete with restaurants that sold their goods by the thousand.”

“What Miles said is true, numbers to contribute greatly to the Top 5, however, I feel that the flavour alone counts for a lot, in fact, I do believe that he’ll probably break records when it comes to evaluation. By the way, it’s been a long time since the last time we have a Full 5 Star Review, ba?” Andrew said a little reservedly as he smoothed the empty packet on the table. He laughed, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had anything that makes me want to have a second helping. Waitress, I’ll have one more [Juicy Burger].”

“I’ll have another too,” Bishop said.

“Very well, please wait.” Abbé Mia said with a smile, she could hardly conceal the pride and happiness she had for her boss. As expected, even chefs from other restaurants could not resist being seduced by Boss Mike’s cooking.

“Tee hee, I knew they would like it.” Amy said happily, she was busily pinching Little Ugly Duckling’s face. The little cat nearly fell off her lap, and she hauled it back by its face.

“This reaction seems a lot more excessive than I had thought.” Mike cast an eye towards the dining hall, and shook his head to himself. He had thought that these people would just creep out silently after eating his food, who would have thought they would conduct an impromptu discussion right within his shop. Even he felt a little embarrassed by their praises. Mike frowned as the discussion progressed, and muttered to himself, “Full 5 Star Review? Just what kind of food review does Aden Square has? It sounded a bit like those mass review things, is it really such a good thing to be selected? These people certainly seem excited about it.”

“Full 5 Star? Surely not, ba. Everyone has their likes and dislikes, even if [Juicy Burger] is ten times more delicious than this, it can’t actually get a Full 5 Star Review, ba?” Bishop shook his head in disbelief.

“Even 4.5 is pretty high, customers’s taste gets more and more tricky nowadays, and their demands are more difficult to meet. This restaurant did not allocate special tables for human, dwarf, orc for examples, just this alone would prevent him from getting full 5 Stars.” Bernice also shook her head, unable to agree with Andrew’s words.

“Boss Mike’s [Juicy Burger] is certainly very delicious, even Madam Bernice had acknowledged it, and her restaurant was said to have the most delicate cooking style”

“Most delicate? Then, she should definitely try Boss Mike’s [Yang Zhou Fried Rice], now that is true delicate cooking.”

“What I really like is seeing these proud owner chefs sitting there as amazed as the rest of us.”

Customers seated nearby chattered to each other in quiet tones, not forgetting to poke fun at the chefs.

The peanut gallery in question exchanged odd glances with each other, they never expected to be so badly teased by the customers around them, however, there was no way for them to retaliate, the customers were speaking the truth after all.

“Flowery Apron Aunty, isn’t daddy’s [Juicy Burger] delicious?” Amy looked up at Bernice with wide questioning eyes.

“En, very delicious.” Bernice said with a smile, this remark came straight from the bottom of her heart.

“The rainbow rice is also super delicious, I’m sure you’ll like it too.” Amy recommended sincerely.

“Here’s your [Yang Zhou Fried Rice], please enjoy.” Abbé Mia appeared bearing two plates of [Yang Zhou Fried rice], and placed them in front of Andrew and Bernice.

Bernice brightened at the wonderful colours made on the plate, upon closer investigation she found that in addition to eggs, she could smell the fragrance of other ingredients within the dish. The golden yellow of the eggs wrapped around each grain of rice without clumping, each piece of grain remained as a single entity.

Aside from the chicken egg wrapped rice, she could clearly see six other ingredients, all finely chopped down to the size of a grain of rice. In certainly looked like someone had taken down a rainbow, chopped to pieces to be stir fried. To have so many ingredients together, and yet none of them sticking or clumping, the delicacy of this dish was incredible. She, who was supposed to be the authority on delicate cooking, could not help but felt inferior before this plate.

“To be able to finely chop beans and river shrimp down to this size, this master’s knife work is certainly amazing. Bernice exclaimed with admiration. She scooped up a generous portion rice onto her spoon and brought it

to her mouth. She chewed her mouthful carefully, and her eyes closed unconsciously.

Deliciousness spread within her mouth, eggs, ham, bamboo shoot… these different ingredients came together in a wondrous harmony. The taste of each ingredient was so clear and bright that it was just too superb.

A warm, gentle feeling enveloped her body from her tummy the moment she swallowed her mouthful. It was a gentle breeze compared to the powerful rush that had sped through her bloodstream just now. It smoothed down the heat from before, gentling down the energy in her body.

Bernice felt so comfortable that a smile bloomed irresistibly across her face. Compared to the powerful, almost crude, heat from the [Juicy Burger], she very much preferred the gentle warmth experienced from the [Yang Zhou Fried Rice]. This, she thought, is what fine cuisine should be.

“How wonderfully elegant, this deliciousness is absolutely superb.” Bernice exclaimed, her eye shining with happiness as she ate another spoonful, and another, and yet another, all the while chewing with almost exaggerated slowness as she tried to prolong these exquisite feelings.

 

[Gumihou: How lovely to see reasonable and wholesome people in a novel.]

 

  ^_^

Translated and edited by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.

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