Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 591: Chapter 503: Full Upgrade—Bear With It for Now

"Uh, even the fastest would take more than half an hour before a seat becomes available."

Dais replied with a somewhat apologetic smile, and the man knew well enough that this estimate was definitely optimistic. Those people had just started eating ten minutes ago, so it was unlikely they’d leave anytime soon.

Eating, drinking, chatting, sitting for a while to digest, and then squeezing in more – this is pretty much the universally acknowledged best routine for anyone having a buffet.

"Please rest assured, sir, there’s a high probability that seats will open up within half an hour because many of the buffet guests purchase the first tier."

Dais understood exactly what the customer in front of her was thinking about and patiently explained to him, still wearing her charming smile.

"The first tier?" The man seemed to realize something and quickly looked at the chalkboard on the wall, and sure enough, he saw that both tiers had descriptions next to them.

The second tier is purely buffet, only including the food in the restaurant, while the first tier includes unlimited eating throughout the venue, costing an additional ten euros.

"Yes, among the seventy-four guests who entered earlier, at least twenty of them bought the first tier, which means they will definitely try the food at the food cart; otherwise, those ten euros would be wasted."

"And the buns and savory pancakes sold over there are staple foods that are very filling. Plus, they’re delicious. For guests who’ve never tried them, they can’t stop after just one bite; they have to eat at least two buns or half a box of savory pancakes to be satisfied."

"Two buns are equivalent to the size of a palm-sized hamburger, and half a box of savory pancakes is equivalent to one bun’s worth. With these filling foods and the restaurant’s various meals, desserts, and beverages, twenty minutes is enough to fill up, making it unlikely they’d go for a second round."

"I see."

The many diners behind also perked up their ears to eavesdrop on this conversation. When they heard there was such a tier distinction, they hurriedly looked at their number cards, and those with two-digit numbers quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The customers further back had already queued ten meters away and couldn’t hear the commotion up front, nor understand what the situation was. All they knew was it would be a while before their turn, so everyone was glued to their phones, watching videos, oblivious to the world around them.

The line, initially stretching for dozens of meters, had diminished significantly in just over ten minutes, with people still steadily moving towards the food cart.

After canceling the identity check procedure, the front desk’s workload reduced by ninety percent. Now, Dais only needed to keep the buffet guests calm and handle inquiries from customers.

The sign that used to be posted at the entrance of the isolation zone had also been turned around, from the previous "Restaurant not open yet, please be patient" to today’s menu, with two arrows drawn below.

"Buffet guests, please go left"

"À la carte guests, please go right"

With this directive from the sign, the crowd in the back didn’t need Dais to manually divide them; they automatically formed into two lines. Her only job was to hand out number cards as the à la carte customers passed by on the right.

As people patiently waited, time quietly slipped away.

The once-empty parking lot was now packed with people. The plastic stools, initially placed out there to act as tables and chairs, were disassembled by the customers and turned into stools.

Each person sat on a plastic stool, holding bags or boxes in their hands, eating non-stop, with the entire parking lot saturated with the rich aroma of buns.

The line had now been reduced to a tenth of its original length, with almost all the remaining people waiting for the buffet, while the later arriving guests, after understanding the situation, were forced to choose the food cart to dine.

There was no other option; arriving late for the buffet meant waiting at least an hour for the current batch to finish eating, plus an unknown time for those already inside, essentially hopeless.

Instead of gambling over an hour on the slim chance of catching the remaining few minutes of dining time, and possibly encountering a situation where the dishes were sold out, the later guests weren’t foolish and knew which side to choose.

"Beep beep—"

At that moment, John drove his mud-splattered pickup truck into the parking lot but was quickly blocked at the entrance.

"Holy... What’s happening here? Can someone tell me what’s going on??"

He rolled down his window, disbelief in his sunglasses-covered eyes, as he saw the ordinarily empty parking spaces now filled with scattered figures of customers holding food and dining.

"Isn’t it obvious?"

Gray walked over from the side, leaning his elbow on John’s car window, sighing helplessly.

"It’s the first official day of business, and it’s booming. You wouldn’t believe the line at six-thirty; never have I seen so many people in my life!"

Gray gestured while speaking, "Look, the line stretched from the entrance all the way back to the hotel, then looped back, at least over two hundred people!"

"?????"

John gasped, "Is it really that crazy? What delicious food are they selling today?"

"Buns, and a kind of pancake with a strange shape, you smell it, the air is full of the aroma of these two foods."

Following Gray’s gaze, John quickly saw a few young girls not far away holding paper boxes filled with yellow thin pancakes, but the details were too far to see clearly.

"The menu at the buffet has also undergone a massive overhaul. Just looking at the names makes you want to try them. Unfortunately, we can’t have any."

"Gulp"

John quietly swallowed his saliva. Despite not having seen the menu yet, just hearing Gray’s description made his stomach growl with hunger.

"I’m here to deliver goods to Lin. So where do you think I should park? I can’t possibly push all these supplies through the crowd to get in, right?"

"Definitely not, reverse and take the truck lane next door to the back door. You haven’t taken the back door before, have you?"

"I should...? I’m a bit fuzzy on it. My car hasn’t been that way."

He tilted his head back slightly to recall and finally remembered what the back door looked like. He had indeed been through it once or twice but was always exiting from the restaurant, never entering from the outside.

When he pushed a fully loaded cart of ingredients into the kitchen, he was stunned on the spot.

In the past, whenever he came in, Jonathan was the only one busy, looking a bit frantic yet relaxed.

The scene before him now was entirely different, with five chefs at various stations, countertops covered with a variety of kitchen utensils, several large bowls of green pastes covered in plastic wrap piled at the corner, and two rows of blazing fires on the stove.

The whole kitchen was filled with a completely different aroma from before, an essence called deliciousness.

Jonathan glanced at him briefly, nodded as a greeting, and focused again on the food in the skillet in front of him.

"Hey, this guy, how come he’s like a different person?"

John had been there many times and knew well enough what Jonathan was like. He’d heard gossip and complaints during chats with Lucas and others.

But now seeing him with a face full of seriousness, focused, managing four skillets on the stove, such a unique scene made John click his tongue in wonder.

"Sure enough, having more people around gives you motivation to work, whereas when you’re alone, all you think about is slacking off."

Recalling his state when working on the farm, John quickly understood Jonathan’s mindset.

He didn’t disturb him and skillfully delivered the ingredients into the cold storage, then made a few trips back and forth with an empty cart, stuffing dozens of boxes of ingredients inside.

John didn’t hurry to leave, casually slid the cart towards a shelf, then went to the bathroom to wash his hands, and leisurely wandered around the dining area.

"Hey, no wonder business is so good today, look at all these delicious foods!"

Although the food on the serving table was messed up, the remaining part still showed that the dishes were of a higher quality than before.

Usually, when he came in the morning, he wouldn’t eat in the restaurant; he would settle for breakfast at Lin Chen’s food truck, occasionally coming in for an omelet or salad for a change of taste.

But seeing the tempting-looking delicacies in front of him now, he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva, his body unconsciously moving towards the area where trays were stacked.

"Wait."

Helena promptly came over to block him, picked up an empty dish, and handed it to John, saying, "I apologize in advance, Mr. John, today you might not be able to dine at will."

"You can’t take some of the bakery items because they’re more complicated to make and in limited quantity. We have to prioritize them for our customers. You can help yourself to the less intricately shaped ones."

"You can have this whole grain nut baguette, the blueberry yogurt bagel over there, the smoked sausage pretzel, and today’s bestseller, the avocado potato salad tossed with basil oil, is also in ample supply."

Following Helena’s finger pointing at those foods, John immediately discerned what was considered exquisite and what was ordinary.

The pink and white strawberry cream croissant, just by looking at its design, was clearly the type he couldn’t take.

And probably the green pistachio matcha product couldn’t be taken as well.

"No problem, I’m not that interested in bread anyway, I’ll just try a bit of this and that, I still prefer Old Lin’s buns."

As a farm owner who greets dozens of visitors daily, John surely wouldn’t make things difficult for them, knowing what to do and what not to do.

If there was something he really wanted to eat, he could always tell Lin Chen in advance next time and have the kitchen prepare something special for him. There would be plenty of chances to eat, missing one or two times wouldn’t hurt.