Chapter 32 The Only Signature Dish, Display It!
Xingfu Residential Area on Dedong Street. It was only two streets away from the business district where the Royal Court Banquet Restaurant was, but it was a twelve-year-old district. The old eight-story buildings formed a sharp contrast with the high and bustling office buildings as if they were two different worlds.
To make it convenient to take care of the restaurant, Zhan Long rented a small house with two bedrooms and a living room here. He had spent his whole life focusing on the restaurant and had sparsely taken care of his family.
After his daughter had gotten married and formed a family, his wife moved in with his daughter to take care of their little grandson. Since then, he had lived alone in Xingfu Residential Area. When he had nothing to do, he would go to the restaurant to clean. Anywhere his arms could reach was cleaned to the point there wasn’t a single speck of dust. It seemed that doing so would make him feel better.
To make the follow-up work easier, Xu Yuan simply moved into Zhan Long’s rented house.
Wei Heji felt a headache when he saw that the two were on good terms, but he was also reluctant to empty a room in his new house for Xu Yuan to live in. So between the two options, Wei Heji chose the new house and went home early.
Xu Yuan followed Zhan Long back to the rental house. The two had brought the rest of the roasted pork back home and had also bought some cold dishes downstairs. Then, they started drinking beer as they ate.
In the beginning, Zhan Long had felt that he had wronged Xu Yuan and insisted on buying materials back home to cook at least three dishes and a bowl of soup for him. However, when he saw Xu Yuan downing a bottle of beer with his sleeves rolled up, Xu Yuan looked so unlike the heir of the hotel that he let go of the idea.
“Young master has really changed,” Zhan Long picked up a piece of roasted pork and said as he ate.
“How so?” Xu Yuan was very curious about what he was like in the parallel world.
Zhan Long looked up at the light as if he was looking at the moon and reminiscing about the past, “I remember that before you went abroad, you wore a pair of black-framed glasses and always had a book in your arms. Back then, I had told Master that you might be more suitable to be a scholar than a chef.”
Under the effects of the roasted pork, tears welled up in Zhan Long’s eyes. He covered his face and said, “Master was extremely worried. He had been very sad after sending you abroad. He was worried that he had helped you choose a path that you didn’t like, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Fortunately, you did your best and studied very hard.”
Speaking of Grandpa Xu, Zhan Long couldn’t help but cry. Xu Yuan hadn’t expected that a piece of meat would be so powerful, and he could only pat Zhan Long on the shoulder.
Zhan Long cried for a while and Xu Yuan waited at the side for him to calm down. Suddenly, he said, “Uncle Zhan, I’ve decided to build the restaurant into a three-star Michelin restaurant.”
To get a Michelin star rating, the restaurant needed a complete set menu that included nine courses, namely the appetizer, main dish, soup, fish, meat, carbs, cold dish, dessert, and drinks.
Now, the main dish of the restaurant, the Beside-yourself rice, was available. As for the other courses, they were a piece of cake for Xu Yuan. With four years of overseas study experience and talent, wasn’t all just easy to come by?
The only problem was that the star rating still needed to be famous enough to attract the attention of gourmets.
The Royal Court Banquet Restaurant had fallen from its peak, and it would be a hundred times harder to rebuild its glory.
“But we only have the roasted pork… The Beside-yourself Rice now. Young master, do you have any ideas about the other dishes?” Zhan Long asked.
Zhan Long was in full agreement with the revitalization of the restaurant. He could not wait to prepare the dishes that Xu Yuan had in mind.
Xu Yuan raised his hand and said, “There’s no rush for the new dishes. We can’t bite off more than we can chew. Tomorrow, we’ll display the Beside-yourself Rice first to attract some returning customers. Then, we’ll introduce the new dishes one by one to maintain a sense of freshness. Once we’re the hot topic, we won’t have to worry about fame.”
Xu Yuan already had in mind a comprehensive plan for the future development of the restaurant. His goal was for the restaurant to return to the three-star Michelin standard, and not just bring it back to life after almost going bankrupt. Therefore, he had to think about the road ahead from the very beginning.
“I see!” Zhan Long let out words of admiration as he sized up Xu Yuan with an appreciative gaze.
To think the rigid young man had been reborn after a trip abroad. He seemed to have changed into a different person. The maturity in Xu Yuan’s eyes even made him, a middle-aged man in his fifties, full of admiration. Zhan Long could not help but start fantasizing about the beautiful future that Xu Yuan had in his vision!
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“If the restaurant can successfully obtain the star, then young master, you will be qualified to participate in the Bogus International Cooking Competition! With your strength, young master, you can definitely obtain good results!”
The Bogus Cooking Competition was known as the “Culinary Olympics”. To be able to participate in this competition was the dream of the world’s top chefs, and it was the highest honor.
Xu Yuan had heard of this competition, but he hadn’t thought that far ahead. Facing Zhan Long’s admiring gaze, he raised his head and looked at the clock on the wall.
The hour hand was about to overlap at the position of 12. After toiling for half a day, Xu Yuan was already exhausted. He finished his beer and said, “Uncle Zhan, let’s rest early. We have to open the restaurant tomorrow.”
“Okay! I’ll go clean up your room right away!”
In less than ten minutes, Zhan Long tidied up a room for Xu Yuan. Being already very sleepy, Xu Yuan fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next morning, Wei Heji waited for them at the entrance of the restaurant on time.
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Since he had gotten off the plane, Xu Yuan had seen Wei Heji’s bitchy actions. He was somewhat afraid of the latter, but Xu Yuan had to admit that such people would sometimes help him out.
So he pretended not to know anything and maintained a friendly relationship with Wei Heji.
In the morning, the three cleaned up the restaurant and grilled the meat, waiting for customers to come.
Unexpectedly, the first customer was Shan Zicai! He was like the little match girl as he stood at the door shyly, “Are you open today? Give me a bowl of Beside-yourself Rice!”
Then he sat in the corner with his small casserole of rice and ate while crying. It seemed that he had really fallen in love with Xu Yuan’s roasted pork rice.
To think the first customer was Shan Zicai, Zhan Long simply couldn’t be happy. “We’ve been waiting all morning, so why did it have to be him? If only it were other customers. Young master, should I go and advertise now?”
“No need,” Xu Yuan stopped him, “Uncle Wei has already done the advertising yesterday. We can just wait.”
When they had come to pick him up from the airport yesterday, Wei Heiji had put up a banner at the airport. Not only was he trying to destroy Xu Yuan by overpraising him, but he also wanted to make Xu Yuan make a fool of himself before their former customers, thus completely defeating Xu Yuan.
Just as Wei Heji had expected, while Shan Zicai was eating, old customers did come and stood at the door of the restaurant.
“Oh? The restaurant is really open. I thought it was going to close down!”
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“What’s wrong with this menu? There’s only one dish, roasted pork rice, on it. Is it competing with the roasted pork restaurant across the street?”
“388 yuan per serving? Are they crazy?”
More and more people gathered at the entrance of the Royal Court Banquet Restaurant to watch the show, but it was as if the door was a barrier. They simply stood at the door and refused to enter.
Looking at this, Zhan Long took it to heart, and worried, “If the guests don’t come in, what should we do?”
Wang Yun smiled calmly and said, “Don’t worry, they will come in eventually!”