Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1339: Xia Mubing Special (Part 4)

Zhao Cheng’an rushed into the Jiankang Restaurant next door with enthusiasm, while Qin Huai quietly repeated the conversation that just happened next door to Xia Mubing at the noodle shop.

The focus was on Master Jiang Weiguo’s scolding, as no one else spoke. Qin Huai guessed that there were only Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Jiankang in the kitchen, and when the father scolded, the son Jiang Jiankang didn’t dare to talk back, only silently enduring the scolding, almost like being scolded into submission as a grandson.

The order from Zhao Cheng’an was undoubtedly a large one, so large that Jiang Weiguo stopped scolding and started supervising his son’s cooking.

After Jiang Weiguo fell silent, Jiang Jiankang let out a wail: "Did the customer order a pork knuckle? Any kind of pork knuckle is okay? Without a prior reservation? I only made one pork knuckle today, my precious pork knuckle! Xiulian, can you tell the customer there are no more pork knuckles today?"

"Slap."

The sound of a crisp slap resounded, and from the sound, Qin Huai guessed it landed on Jiang Jiankang’s shoulder, very forceful.

Jiang Weiguo’s health is indeed robust, even slapping his son could be so powerful.

minutes later, Zhao Cheng’an sent a message to Qin Huai, asking him to bring Xia Mubing back to the hotel so the three could taste Jiang Jiankang’s culinary skills.

After entering the Jiankang Restaurant, inspired by the menu hanging on the wall, Zhao Cheng’an ordered one more dish. The hotel’s small table was filled with stir-fried chili with pork, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried cabbage, mushroom-braised chicken, twice-cooked pork, sweet and sour ribs, sweet and sour tenderloin, braised pork, Dongpo pork knuckle, and seaweed egg soup—there was barely any space left because the portions from Jiankang Restaurant were quite large.

Looking at the dishes on the table, Qin Huai thought that Zhao Cheng’an’s appetite wasn’t quite up to this level yet; he might have overestimated himself, asking: "Why is there seaweed egg soup? What does this dish reveal about Jiang Jiankang’s skills?"

Zhao Cheng’an chuckled: "I felt like drinking it."

After saying that, Zhao Cheng’an took a small plastic bowl from the plastic bag and served himself a bowl of soup, downing it in one go.

Then the three began to taste the dishes on the table.

How should I put it...

After truly tasting Jiang Jiankang’s culinary skills, Qin Huai suddenly felt that Jiang Weiguo’s earlier critique was quite justified; the closure of the State owned Restaurant might really be due to Jiang Weiguo retiring early and handing the head chef position to Jiang Jiankang.

Jiang Jiankang’s current skills, to be fair, aren’t bad, demonstrating the competence of a head chef at an ordinary big restaurant, but just that, an ordinary big restaurant. You must know, Jiang Jiankang is currently at the peak phase for a meat Chef, with experience, physical strength, and a little bit of room for improvement.

Unless Jiang Jiankang gets a culinary system, in his lifetime, his culinary peak might only be just a little bit better than now. From now until the next 5 years is his culinary peak, after which it’s all downhill.

His experience might accumulate, his technique may mature, but the unavoidable decline in physical condition and the degradation of taste are inevitable. Only top-notch chefs can rely on their experience to make up for any lack of physical strength, and clearly, Jiang Jiankang doesn’t meet this standard.

Judging his culinary skills now, compared to when he was young and unmarried...

Qin Huai sighed and put down his chopsticks.

Xia Mubing also sighed and put down her chopsticks.

The two exchanged a glance, both recognizing the same thought in each other’s eyes:

How could the only heir to Jiang Weiguo’s skills be just at this level, how can Taifeng Building be reopened like this?

No one’s asking for him to surpass his father, but is it too much to ask for at least maintaining his father’s level of skill?

Only Zhao Cheng’an, happily slurping the seaweed egg soup, remained optimistic, putting down his bowl and asking: "Do you think, since Jiang Weiguo didn’t inherit Master Jiang’s culinary skills, having a bit of a wild-side approach, learning from various masters and self-learned into success, thus becoming quite specialized in pork dishes—could it be possible that his son didn’t inherit this specialty, that Jiang Jiankang actually specializes not in pork dishes, but in something else?"

"I noticed the first dish on Jiankang Restaurant’s menu on the wall is stir-fried shredded potatoes; how likely do you think it is that his specialty is stir-fried shredded potatoes?"

Qin Huai asked: "How much is the stir-fried shredded potatoes?"

"9 bucks, but it seems that it was raised a dollar from the previous price of 8 bucks."

"What’s the second dish?"

"Cold cucumber salad, 8 bucks, no price increase."

"Forget it, that menu is clearly listed by price."

All three sighed together.

Zhao Cheng’an looked at Qin Huai: "Why don’t you just be honest with Jiang Weiguo? Although I’m not familiar with him, he seemed to be not even 10 years old when I passed away, but what if he, like Xia Mubing, is very accepting?"

"You’ve already met him, you just tell him you’re Qin Huai, and now the Li Family wants to give him Taifeng Building, your only wish is also to reopen Taifeng Building, and you’re willing to help with the reopening as a pastry chef without compensation."

Qin Huai replied earnestly: "First of all, I’m not working without compensation."

"Secondly, Taifeng Building is a meat-focused restaurant."

What Qin Huai implied is that he could help Jiang Weiguo reopen Taifeng Building, but pastry shouldn’t overshadow meat cooking.

Of course, ideally, the Jiang family should be capable of reopening Taifeng Building on their own. If Qin Huai were to work as a pastry chef at Taifeng Building, by the next day, Huang An Yao would probably fly over from Shanghai to Beiping, crying and questioning Qin Huai, who is the biggest shareholder of the Huang Ji, about how he could help the competition. "How many shares did Taifeng Building give you? I’ll transfer all my shares to you!"

All three sighed together once again.

"Let’s go again tonight," Qin Huai suggested, "Zhao Cheng’an, you and Xia Mubing go into the restaurant to order; let Xia Mubing do the ordering, and order the specialty dishes."

"Don’t order that crappy scrambled eggs with tomatoes and seaweed egg soup again."