Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 64: Lunard’s Request: Learning Great Xia Cuisine
Originally, I moved my stall next to Lin Chen to use my years of accumulated customer flow to give him a boost. After all, the stuff that kid makes is truly delicious to him.
The Brasil People are not as fussy as Westerners; they’re bold and willing to try any food. Only regions that dare to try can give birth to a prosperous food culture.
But now, it’s gone wrong. All my old customers have run over to him, and every time I look over, I see familiar faces in the line.
"Hey Aristotle, haven’t seen you for days. Want to get a beef and avocado taco?"
"What are they selling over there? Why is there such a long line?"
"Uh, it’s a new guy from Great Xia. His skills are pretty good. Maybe it’s because the food he’s selling hasn’t been tasted by people here, and everyone wants to try it."
"Great Xia Cuisine, huh? If it’s getting your praise, it’s not easy. I’ll go try it too. I’ll eat your taco another day."
"... Alright."
Each time he saw an old customer coming over, he would proactively greet them, trying to salvage his lonely night business, only to see them run next door out of curiosity.
"Boss, what can we do? It’s not that I want to slack off, but really, nobody’s buying."
Neo had been standing in front of the iron griddle for half an hour already, his feet nearly numb.
Lunard, feeling downcast, lit another cigarette, waved his hand: "Forget it, forget it. You can clock off. People are always curious about new things, it’s inevitable. I remember when I first started, I stole some business too."
"Alright!"
Upon hearing he could clock off early, even though his pay was reduced by ten or twenty euros, the joy was incomparable to earning money.
Neo immediately tossed aside his apron, jumped off the side of the food truck, and stood firmly at the back of the line.
Lunard: "?"
Neo grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head: "Been working for so long, I’m hungry, ha-ha. Aren’t there only three food trucks here?"
They had eaten Sakura People’s sushi more times than they could count; the menu barely updated, and even if it did, the taste was pretty much the same, mainly focused on various fish sushi.
Their own food wasn’t even worth mentioning; making it every day was enough to make them feel like vomiting, not to mention eating it themselves.
Lunard rolled his eyes, threw away his cigarette, crushed it forcefully a few times, and walked over to Lucas.
"You brat, give me a cup of the new product to try!"
He started considering whether to simply take a break at night recently.
After all, in the daytime they don’t operate, and he sells enough throughout the day not to miss those two hours at night, better to take a holiday for himself.
Most importantly, although the area was safe, it couldn’t offset the potential safety risks on the way home, especially for someone like him operating a food truck, practically a conspicuous moving piggy bank.
If they really encounter a motorbike robbery, they can only accept their bad luck.
It’s good that foreigners know more than anyone about how unsafe it is at night abroad, and robbers are no exception; if they act, it certainly wouldn’t be during the late night, because there are too few targets. Basically, it’s the time for petty thieves.
"Alright!"
Lucas and Lin Chen are certainly grateful to the old brother who contributed his old customer flow to them and have never charged him. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Initially, Lunard insisted on paying, but later found that all his customers went over there, so he no longer persisted.
Taking a few sips of cool and refreshing red bean soup, Lunard nodded secretly.
This stuff is really comfortable to drink, not too sweet, with the right sugar proportion.
What’s in the brains of Great Xia People, how do they come up with so many variations?
Beans, in their Brasil and Western cuisine, basically come in various forms of paste, or roasted crispy with seasoning, or stirred as salad dressing, as well as cooked in meat and vegetable soups, never thought of making drinks from it.
And that translucent ice jelly next to it, it’s delicious too; seems like it’s made from plant seeds.
Maybe... learn how to make Great Xia Cuisine?
Lunard actually had long been thinking about updating the menu, but tacos and grilled wraps could be flipped in just those few flavors, he really couldn’t find any new and tasty combination.
Seeing Lin Chen sell different foods next door every single day, the innovative DNA suppressed deep inside him stirred.
Perhaps, he could find the right inspiration through Great Xia Cuisine?
"Huh? You want to learn to make Great Xia Cuisine?"
It’s not just Lucas, even Lin Chen was a bit dumbfounded facing Lunard’s request.
"Yes, I can pay tuition!"
Lunard nodded vigorously, "I remember a few days ago when you made those hand-pulled noodles and hamburgers, you used a type of chili oil which I think will pair well with our tacos."
"Besides, there’s the sauce in Mapo Tofu and the crispy beef cubes; that crispy and numb texture would be explosive if put into a taco!"
"And about those ribs, I smelled the aroma in the car; they’re sweet and sour with a plum fragrance. Could this flavor of meat match with tacos too?"
Lin Chen actually never thought of it that way but brightened at Lunard’s prompt.
"Great idea!"
After all, the foreigners who like authentic Great Xia Cuisine are in the minority as seen from the number of repeat customers.
Don’t be fooled by the seemingly good business every day; in reality, regulars account for less than 10%, with the most frequent being Sister Haofang’s family, followed by Amber Jade and the supermodel ladies who appeared in the last two days.
In the short term, the business certainly won’t be affected, but over time, if the locals have all tasted his skills, business might plummet.
This has always been his concern, which is why he chose to keep ice jelly as a regular option to attract repeat customers.
Don’t be fooled by his seemingly daily menu changes, which are actually a form of trial.
Great Xia Cuisine out in the open has eight major cuisines, and countless regional ones; foreigners can’t even possibly accept them all, nor can Great Xia People. To make money while building reputation, one must find the most suitable flavors.
The one cuisine not worth trying amongst the eight is Cantonese cuisine, which has spread overseas prolifically, countless Cantonese restaurants and dim sum tea houses everywhere, long familiar to Westerners as a type of Great Xia Cuisine.
Cantonese cuisine requires high skills, something he, an outsider, was not ready to challenge formally yet. If it ends up lackluster compared to restaurant standard, it would be unprofitable.
If a blind box opens a Cantonese menu, though, he might try it.
"How about this, I teach you Great Xia Cuisine, you teach me Brasil Cuisine; let’s not talk about tuition fees, but rather earn money together!"
"There’s an old saying in Great Xia, cooperation leads to mutual benefit. We’re from internationally known culinary nations, if we can develop a new fusion dish..."
