Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 243: Waiter! Where’s the Waiter?

"... ..."

Lin Chen scratched his cheek, "Alright then, what would you like?"

He really didn't expect his first customer of the day to be a colleague; he hadn't even set up his stall yet when they came over.

"Chef, just recommend something. Oh, and make it for four people."

"Chef, we want to buy too!"

Dais and Elsa popped out from the side, making a "V" sign at him.

"Please wait a moment, the porridge isn't heated yet."

To speed things up, he had to scoop a few ladles of white porridge into a milk pan for quick heating, while taking out two plastic boxes from the fridge and placing them on the counter, opening the lids.

The three of them simultaneously tip-toed to look inside through the window.

First up were a variety of dense seafood soaking in a soy-colored broth, a layer of red oil faintly floating on top. You could see many segments of green and red chili peppers scattered among the seafood, with white sesame sprinkled on the surface, looking quite appetizing.

Soaked since morning, the seafood had absorbed the flavors for about ten hours, with their colors slightly turning brown.

The aroma in the air wasn't strong, almost nonexistent, but the visual impact was striking.

The other box contained halved swimming crabs, with plump semi-transparent crab meat soaked in the sauce, and glimpses of either orange-red or light yellow roe.

This way of treating seafood was the first time the three of them had seen, and they couldn't imagine what it would taste like.

Lin Chen casually grabbed some takeout boxes, glanced over the dazzling array of seafood, and first picked four swimming crabs, placing them into the box, repeating this process three times, drizzling a little marinating sauce over them, and finally sprinkling some fresh green and red chili segments along with white sesame on top.

For the other box, he picked a bit of each type of seafood - chopped abalone, scallop meat, razor clam meat, and so on, lastly packing four boxes of raw green shrimp.

"Each portion of marinated shrimp has six pieces, priced at six euros, the platter is ten euros per box, swimming crab is fifteen euros per box. The total comes to thirty-one euros, but I'll round it down for you, just give me thirty."

"Lucinda, are you sure you want it for four people? I initially packed it for two, let me know if you need more."

He thought it would only be a small box, but it turned out to be six large boxes in the end.

Although it's for two, each person can still have three boxes, which is quite substantial.

Dais and Elsa quickly paid, eagerly opening the boxes right away, each picking up a large shrimp to taste.

These shrimps were peeled by them in the morning, so they were eager to taste them first.

They twisted off the shrimp heads first, instinctively sucking on the remaining shrimp brain and sauce.

The extreme freshness exploded in their mouths, completely masking the fishy taste of the shrimp brains, leaving only a strong seafood aroma.

The sauce's flavor was both complex and simple, seemingly like sweet soy sauce but not as salty when tasted closely, as if it was diluted, with a faint sesame aroma and spicy note from the chili oil.

They hadn't officially started eating yet, just sucked a bit of sauce, and then looked up at each other, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.

Seeing the expressions on their faces, Lucinda swallowed her saliva quietly, opened her box, and casually picked up a small abalone to taste.

When she saw Edward and them eating earlier, she was dying of curiosity, and never expected to see this again here, so of course, she had to try it.

It was springy, crispy, tender, and soft.

Each small grid cut in the abalone was filled with sauce, bursting open with each bite.

Almost immediately, she raised two fingers, "Confirmed! Another two portions, chef!"

Lamia, sitting by the window, accidentally glanced outside, craning her neck in confusion, but couldn't see clearly due to the angle.

"Boss, is that the two female waitresses from earlier hanging around Chef Lin?"

"Hmm?"

Edward turned his head in curiosity, only able to see a piece of clothing peeking around the corner, not getting a clear picture of what was happening.

Scanning the restaurant, he confirmed that a lot of people were missing inside.

Not only was Chef Lin gone, but four waitresses were reduced to one, with the other three missing.

What's going on here??

Something must be up, thought Edward, as he keenly sensed something was amiss, being the astute businessman that he is.

It was work hours, how could they all be slacking off together?

With only half of his tomahawk steak eaten, he couldn't bother with it any longer, getting up and heading outside, with his secretary quickly following suit.

As soon as he reached the door, he saw the three beautiful waitresses standing in front of the big red food truck, each holding a box of food, smiling, shaking their heads as they ate.

He recognized this action, as it's a reaction women have when they eat something delicious that they can't control.

Looking into the food truck, he instantly realized.

"Mr. Lin, what is this?"

The sudden voice scared the three women into a synchronized scream, almost dropping their boxes.

Luckily, the allure of the food forced their bodies to suppress their instincts, holding the boxes steadily without spilling a drop of sauce.

Edward took a few steps forward, glancing at the boxes in their hands, and then looked towards the food truck window.

He thought the food truck was just a prop or something to be used during an event, never expecting Chef Lin to openly start a stall, with his first customers being his own employees.

Logically speaking, these waitresses and the head chef spent every day together and should be very familiar with his cooking, possibly even tired of it. Why would they sneak out during work hours to buy food?