Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 38: Did We Order the Wrong Food?

When Lin Chen and Lucas headed to Chinatown to explore new places, Marian’s family began another family meeting.

There was no choice; the fifty servings of ice jelly they brought back were devoured in just one day.

This stuff isn’t as filling as a main course; it’s more like a drink or snack. You take a few sips from the fridge, and before you know it, you’ve finished one and still want more.

All nine family members didn’t eat anything else all day; they all went for the ice jelly.

At the dining table.

Each person had their last serving of ice jelly in front of them, and everyone wore a serious expression.

"Today is Sunday, and we should be resting, but that young owner is from Great Xia. In the eyes of people from Great Xia, there are no holidays or rest days, so it’s likely they’re operating."

George raised his hand, "I agree. The wholesalers who pick up goods from my farm are also from Great Xia, always available and never take a break."

"So here’s the question." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Marian took a sip of her ice jelly, glancing over her family members one by one.

"What time do they open on rest days? We can’t just go there and wait around, right?"

"Indeed, it sounds exhausting. We old folks can’t handle it."

Richard: "Why didn’t we get their contact information earlier? It would’ve solved everything with just one question... huh?"

He was scrolling through his phone when he accidentally saw his old primary school teacher had posted some photos, clearly showing scenes from a sports event.

The last three photos showed a red food truck at the school gate, a crowd of people each holding a serving of marinated food, and a close-up of the marinated delicacies.

The caption said something about the success of a Great Xia cuisine offal challenge.

"???"

He clicked on the photo in disbelief and zoomed in.

"Mom! Look, doesn’t this food truck look a bit familiar?"

Marian glanced and then grabbed her son’s hand excitedly, "Where is it?"

"East District’s Saint Joalia Primary School. If I remember right, Teacher Paul is working there now."

The location was very close, about ten minutes by car.

The few of them couldn’t sit still, and hurriedly got into two cars and headed over.

When they arrived, there was no food truck to be found, and the school grounds were quiet, except for the trash bins by the roadside, which hinted at a past bustling scene.

Richard couldn’t contain his curiosity and picked up an empty stack of food containers from on top of a trash bin, bringing it to his nose to sniff.

The boxes had a strong aroma of spices and sauce, and just a sniff made his mouth water uncontrollably.

"Hey dear! Put that trash down, you can’t do that!"

Marian never expected her son to pick up trash and quickly walked over to take the containers from his hand, preparing to throw them away.

As her arm swung, the scent of marinade wafted into her nostrils.

(Sniff sniff)

"Gulp..."

The aroma was so intense that she couldn’t help but swallow.

Just from smelling it, she could imagine how delicious it must be, surely even tastier than the Great Xia burgers and noodles they had before!

Glancing sideways, she seemed to see some unfamiliar food fragments left in one of the containers, as if they were tossed without being finished.

With her son nearby, she couldn’t bring herself to take the box out for a closer look, so she reluctantly placed it back on top of the trash bin and turned away.

"Looks like they’re already closed for the day. Oh well, we’ll have to get their contact info when we go buy tomorrow night."

Ever since they brought home those Great Xia burgers, the kitchen at home was practically unused.

The one time they cooked at home, the unanimous conclusion was that it was better not to cook at all.

Having tasted the delicious food, it was hard to return to their decades-old daily cuisine. Even a cheesy macaroni seemed hard to stomach after more than a few bites.

Eating a salad didn’t give any satisfaction either.

The worst part was cleaning up the kitchen!

But running to the city every night to bring back dozens of servings wasn’t realistic; the round trip took four hours, and they wouldn’t be home until after one in the morning.

After a brief two-minute discussion, the adults came up with a compromise.

"Let’s go, find a Chinese restaurant for dinner."

If they couldn’t find the food truck, they could at least find a Chinese restaurant, right?

They could just order more to take home!

Following the navigation, they arrived at the nearest Chinese restaurant. Without knowing which cuisine, they sat down and started ordering.

"Huh?"

Richard suddenly pointed at a picture on the menu excitedly, "Burgers!! And noodles too!"

"Where? Hey, you’re right!"

Seeing the familiar food, their eyes lit up, and George proudly lifted his chin, praising himself for finding a good spot.

About ten minutes later, as the food arrived at the table, everyone eagerly reached for the warm sandwiches, even the little ones clamored to try them.

Having never tasted Roujiamo before, Richard couldn’t help but take a big bite.

The soft bun had a slightly firm texture, and the meat inside was rather greasy as if drinking oil.

After just one bite, he furrowed his brow and looked at Marian in confusion.

"Is this what it should taste like?"

Marian, George, and the old couple also took a bite and silently exchanged glances.

"I remember that young guy said that Great Xia cuisine has millions of varieties, and each region is different. Maybe this style is not the same as what he makes?"

"Yeah, that must be it."

"Let’s try the noodles."

The oil-splashed noodles looked almost similar to what they bought from the food truck, except the toppings were different.

With skill, Marian mixed them with chopsticks and took a bite.

The unique chewiness of the noodles made her eyes shine with excitement; the texture was quite similar.

But after a few more bites, she gradually noticed something wasn’t quite right.

It lacked the slight tangy sweetness and the savory red oil flavor they had before. It was like noodles with some soy sauce, salt, chili powder, and oil.

If she hadn’t tasted Lin Chen’s before, she probably would have thought this was quite good.

But after experiencing the authentic version, eating this modified one just became less appealing.

Setting aside the main course, the stir-fried dishes from this place were quite to their liking.

Sour and sweet fried shrimp balls, black pepper beef on an iron plate, stir-fried minced meat with green beans, mapo tofu...

They ordered seven or eight dishes, and the flavors were surprisingly good, comforting their wounded souls a bit.

"Marian, let’s order more dishes to go with the pasta back home. I feel like the sauces from these dishes would be great to mix with pasta, so we’d have both a main dish and meat and veggies too."

"True, especially this mapo tofu. It’s sweet, with lots of sauce; it would definitely be great tossed with thin noodles."

While the adults were ordering more food to take away, Richard, having nothing better to do, observed the surrounding Asian faces and the dishes on their tables.

After a look around, he elbowed Marian in confusion.

"Mom, I noticed something."

"What is it, dear?"

"It seems... none of these Great Xia people are ordering mapo tofu?"