Chapter 515: Chapter 508: Encyclopedia of Rare Dishes
Li Xintong was accompanying the customer in selecting dishes.
At this moment, Feng Hai hurriedly came in and, seeing that it was the front office manager personally serving the customer, felt his heart skip a beat.
Uh-oh, it looks like this customer won’t be easy to deal with!
People are like this; only with high skills can you have courage.
Without strong abilities as a guarantee, there is no confidence.
Seeing Feng Hai coming over, Li Xintong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Chef Feng! Please come over and help take a look."
Li Xintong called Feng Hai over.
As the chef approached, the middle-aged man hurriedly asked, "We are planning to book a table here tonight to host guests. My friend is from Hunan and loves Hunan cuisine, so I wanted to ask if you can make the dish ’Immortal Fish’ here?"
So they actually came specifically for the ’Immortal Fish’ dish.
Feng Hai felt a bit helpless.
But fortunately, having received the news in advance, he was mentally prepared.
Looking at the two customers, Feng Hai explained, "I’m sorry, I can’t cook this ’Immortal Fish.’ This dish is extremely complex to make and has been lost for a long time."
The middle-aged man was taken aback, "Lost? How is that possible! A friend of mine in Hunan has eaten it and even mentioned it to me!"
"Originally, this dish was a private recipe jointly created by the Tan Family and the Cao Family. It has always been kept within the family, not passed outside. Over time, as generations passed, it gradually became lost."
"As for the ’Immortal Fish’ your friend ate, it might have been cooked by descendants of those two families, but outside of Hunan, it’s impossible to find authentic ’Immortal Fish.’"
As Feng Hai finished speaking, Li Xintong’s phone suddenly rang.
She picked up the call, listened for a few sentences, and suddenly her eyes lit up.
After hanging up the phone, she asked excitedly, "Is the method of making ’Immortal Fish’ to cook the whole fish without a single bone when it’s served?"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Li Xintong, not understanding why she asked such a question.
Li Xintong couldn’t contain her inner joy.
The call was from Chef Liu, who told her that Fu Yu could make the ’Immortal Fish.’
If anyone else had claimed they could make this dish, Li Xintong would have been cautious and not believed rashly until the dish was truly served.
But the person who could make this dish was Fu Yu.
As soon as Chef Liu finished speaking, Li Xintong felt a wave of relief, knowing this issue was essentially resolved today.
Feng Hai, hearing Li Xintong’s question, was somewhat surprised but nodded, "That’s right, it’s said that the cooking method for ’Immortal Fish’ is like that."
After answering, he couldn’t help but ask, "Manager Li, do you know about this dish?"
Li Xintong replied honestly, "I don’t know, but someone at our restaurant can make this dish; oh, it’s Chef Fu!"
As soon as she said this, the two customers were delighted.
The middle-aged man quickly said, "That’s great! There was one more dish missing from the order, so let’s add this one!"
Li Xintong, relieved, quickly nodded in agreement, "Of course, I will help you add this dish right away."
Counting the few additional dishes, this table of small banquet immediately upgraded by one level to become a grand banquet, and the private room was upgraded from medium to high standard.
They happily placed their order.
On the side, Feng Hai was somewhat dumbfounded.
This... how did this get related to Fu Yu again?
Feng Hai looked at Li Xintong, whose anxious look had vanished, and slightly frowned.
He felt a bit uncomfortable inside.
After all, he had heard people in the back kitchen discussing Fu Yu before.
Almost everyone praised Fu Yu as if he were a culinary god.
If he hadn’t met Fu Yu in person, he might have been a little curious about him.
But ever since they met, he really hadn’t thought much of him.
Not considering character, but just based on age, how good could his culinary skills really be?
Learning to cook is not like other professions. Although generally, people enter the industry early, no matter what, to truly handle the wok, one must wait for the body to grow and be able to lift the spatula.
A young man in his early twenties, with at most seven or eight years of culinary experience, realistically wouldn’t have more than four years of actual work behind the stove.
Even with talent, time is limited.
Originally, Feng Hai didn’t think much of Fu Yu, but now...
Unexpectedly, Fu Yu could actually make ’Immortal Fish’?
Isn’t Fu Yu not a local person?
He didn’t even have an accent when speaking?
Where did he learn to make this dish?
Moreover, why is it always him?
Feng Hai’s face darkened, feeling his pride had taken a hit.
He was hired by the music restaurant owner personally, for his exceptional skills in Hunan cuisine.
But now he was outdone by a newcomer in the back kitchen.
This made Feng Hai feel like he was being compared with Fu Yu.
...
Li Xintong quickly finished handling the pre-order, then she directly called Chef Liu back.
Chef Liu, after picking up the call, didn’t dare delay, and immediately asked, "Chef Fu, you’re sure you can make ’Immortal Fish,’ right?"
Fu Yu, busy, replied orally, "Yeah, I can make it."
Chef Liu relayed Fu Yu’s word-for-word response to Li Xintong.
Not long after, the front office sent over the pre-order.
While the two were talking, others in the back kitchen couldn’t help but peek over.
After Feng Hai was called away by a waiter, a food runner came to the back kitchen to bring food.
Food runners are always well-informed, and upon coming to the back kitchen, he chatted with Chef Liu like gossiping.
He mentioned that the front office manager was attending to customers who ordered a Hunan dish, calling Feng Hai specifically because no one had heard of this dish before, and it seemed to be a rather unusual one.
Upon hearing it was an unusual dish, Chef Liu became quite interested, and after a few words of chat, he mentioned the ’Immortal Fish’ of Hunan cuisine.
If it were another dish, Chef Liu might not know much, but the ’Immortal Fish,’ being a legendary gourmet dish, stunned Chef Liu as soon as he heard it.
"The customer actually ordered this dish?"
"Yeah, absolutely, I just heard them say it, they’re still in the VIP room waiting to finalize the menu," the food runner said with certainty.
"Then it’s over! This dish has been lost for a long time. Forget about Feng Hai, even locals wanting to taste authentic ’Immortal Fish’ find it quite difficult."
The food runner was taken aback, "Really? This dish is that rare?"
Chef Liu nodded, "Rare things are precious; once lost, how can it not be rare!"
Nearby, Zhou Yesheng, who was assisting Fu Yu, unintentionally overheard the conversation and curiously asked Fu Yu, "Chef Fu, have you heard of ’Immortal Fish’?"
Fu Yu did know about this dish.
He had been studying classic old flavor recipes every night recently.
Whenever something interested him, he couldn’t help but read a few extra pages.
Because he found this set of recipes very intriguing; the rarer the dish, the more detailed the description.
Not only were there specific cooking methods, but each dish also came with a very comprehensive and detailed origin story, like a character biography.
It was practically an encyclopedia of rare dishes.
