Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 61: Meal Expenses Reimbursed? Then I’ll Buy Another Serving
The icy cool red bean soup, upon entering his throat, was expected to have the refreshing sweetness he’d imagined. But as the increasingly intense floral fragrance bloomed on his tongue, his expression changed, and his face was full of shock.
"This, this, is actually made with flower nectar?"
"Such a strong floral scent, what kind of flower nectar is this? I’ve never tasted it before."
He eagerly rummaged through the bowl, his eyes lit up, scooping up a few tiny flower buds.
Even though the red bean paste covered their original color and shape, the man accurately detected their presence.
"It’s actually honey brewed from flowers? No wonder I felt like I was biting into something strange, turns out it’s the flowers."
"Oh my god, Mr. Nakamura, you must try this jelly, it’s really... incredibly amazing!"
Before he could recover from the shock of such a simple red bean soup, Hanama Ai grabbed his arm and started shaking it, her big, beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.
"Can you believe this jelly is actually made by grinding plant seeds! I shot their promotional footage while waiting in line."
"Upon careful tasting, you can indeed taste a faint plant fragrance in the jelly, with perfect control of sweetness, there’s no immediate sweetness as you take a bite; instead, it slowly comes back to you as you swallow."
"The most amazing is this syrup, such a rich mint flavor, I’ve never tasted anything like this in my life!"
"Is this the legendary authentic Great Xia cuisine? Why can’t we find it in our country?"
"Uh... You ask me, who should I ask?"
Under her exaggerated praise, the man’s curiosity shifted to the iced jelly, taking a taste; sure enough, it had an unprecedented super cool mint sensation just like she described.
The texture of this jelly was somewhat similar to vinegar jelly, but more elastic, not breaking apart easily.
The sweet tomato scrambled eggs suited both their tastes, but the spicy eggplant dish was too heavy for them to handle.
There’s almost no bean paste flavor in Japanese cuisine; it’s mostly light, although there are extremely salty ramen styles, but that’s another type of flavor.
Conversely, Kimchi People’s cuisine often uses bean paste.
"Ding"
The two were holding their meal boxes eating when suddenly the phone screen on the table lit up.
The man hurriedly put down his meal box and picked up the phone.
"What did the boss say?"
The woman curiously leaned over.
The man shook his head, casually putting the phone back.
"The boss said don’t worry, it’s just the most common method of preparing Great Xia folk dishes; he learned them over ten years ago. He just told us to keep an eye out; if any new dishes appear, buy them and shoot photos to send him, and meal expenses will be reimbursed."
"That’s great; can I go buy another bowl of this jelly to take home?"
"Um... Ai, that’s not quite appropriate, right?"
"Mr. Nakamura is really handsome! You’ve worked hard today~"
"Ahem, but don’t make this a habit!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Lin Chen and Lucas were also observing the reactions of Sakura Food Truck’s two staff members.
This place, clearly different from the self-employed Kimchi Food Truck, is agency marketing, merely employees of the restaurant, likely won’t do anything strange.
Unexpectedly, the girl ran back within two minutes to make another purchase, constantly praising how delicious their food was, leaving the two a bit puzzled.
"There’s a lot more material today; I’ll send it to you after editing."
Amber wasn’t idle either, shooting several videos for Lin Chen after lunch, especially the explosive stir-fried shredded potatoes footage. It was so spectacular that not recording it would leave him regretting sleepless tonight.
"Hey!"
Lucas winked at him: "Who was it before holding a box of sushi saying to offer a taste test? How come you’re so proactive now?"
"Ahem..."
Amber blushed deeply, stammering for a while without saying anything, while Jade gave Lucas a big eye-roll.
"That’s about enough, buddy; Western media promotes it this way, and we can’t be blamed for misunderstanding. At least Amber’s now promoting you for free, be careful with such comments lest I punch you!"
"Alright, alright, I was wrong. I won’t bring up old scores anymore, isn’t that alright?"
Lucas raised both hands in surrender, just joking around; without some mischief between men, there’s really no fun.
He glanced at the Sakura girl leisurely walking back with her iced jelly and suddenly remembered something, turning to look at the usual spot of the Kimchi Food Truck, which indeed wasn’t there.
"Hey buddy, I also forgot to ask, how did you know that old lady was going to mess with us? You actually prepared countermeasures in advance, with food truck hygiene perfectly done; that’s simply flawless."
"Ah?"
Lin Chen was serving meals while tilting his head: "I didn’t know; how could I know? I’m not a fortune teller. These are actually the basics necessary for food service; preparing them certainly isn’t wrong."
Regarding hygiene,
It was simply fortunate.
This food truck was given by the system, used only about a week so far, unlikely to have any old grime.
And the food prepared in recent days was all prepped at home and brought here to sell, at most dirtying the countertop, which was cleaned as per his professional habit. Where would grime come from?
The fridge was almost unused before, merely for storing drinks, so it couldn’t be dirty.
This inspection experience also reminded him, frequently cleaning the food truck while it’s still clean, preventing any unnecessary old grime build-up, reducing his future cleaning workload.
"So it’s just that old lady’s pure bad luck, deservedly punished! Harmful intent should not be harbored; a $5000 fine was delightful, dreaming about it makes me laugh!"
"Fine? What fine?"
Seeing his gloating expression, Jade and Amber’s curiosity was piqued, they eagerly leaned in to learn more.
Lina, although staying put, clearly had her ears perked, her attention focused here.
Meng Qi finished his meal box and two desserts, patting his round belly, contentedly exhaling a long breath.
Working the night shift is indeed great!
Maybe he should just apply for night shifts all the time?
"Tap... Tap... Tap-tap... Tap-tap-tap..."
The distinct sound of high heels approached from afar, his years of security experience told him the visitors are definitely two tall women over 1.7 meters.
To verify his guess, he discreetly tilted his head towards the sound’s direction to look.
Recognizing voices became a time-killing hobby during his dull work hours.
What came into view first were delicate silver heels studded with sparkling gemstones, followed by a pair of red rose-patterned high heels.
As waves of fragrant breeze hit his face, he looked up naturally.
"?!"
"An, angel!!"
