Chapter 188: Steamed Assorted Vegetable Buns
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Why does this picture look so fake?" After taking a bath, with a little water still dripping from his hair, Yuan Zhou went to the computer directly and grumbled while checking it.
On the webpage in front of him were contents about his restaurant, from forums, webpages, Wechat moments and microblogs. Yuan Zhou read each of them one by one with an earnest manner.
Yuan Zhou liked Meng Meng’s recommendation more.
[This is the Lotus Root Starch from Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Don’t you guys find it crystal clear and translucent? Besides, it also has a very nice taste. It is definitely the authentic Lotus Root Starch produced in Sanjia Village and has effects on maintaining beauty and staying youthful. I have decided to order one bowl of this dish every two days from now on so that I can live off my face.]
The pictures under the comment were naturally group photos of Meng Meng herself and the dish Lotus Root Starch, in various poses.
The replies following that were also compliments. For example, [Meng Meng, you originally lived off your cute face.]
Yuan Zhou turned over another two pages filled with the comments and basically, it was all about compliments like these.
"These are sure loyal, anyhow," Yuan Zhou said with a serious and seemingly just manner.
On this side, Yuan Zhou was reading the comments quite earnestly. He believed the complimentary comments could help him get more inspiration and cook better.
On the other side, Lee Yanyi was looking for tasty dishes everywhere as he wanted a change.
Although he loved eating and was a reserved person, he looked for dishes casually. He liked to go with the flow and didn’t appear to be incisive like when he commented on the dishes.
"Yan Jia, do you have any recommendation?" Having failed in finding an attractive restaurant, he decided to directly ask a person. That was his assistant.
"Professor, what about Century? You said it was nice last time," On Yan Jia’s mild face revealed a habitual smile.
"Change another one," Lee Yanyi refused straightforwardly.
"Then let’s go to Yi Mu Restaurant in Zhonghe Street. What do you think?" Yan Jia was already used to the personality of his professor and thus recommended again.
"Choose a restaurant that I haven’t been to." Lee Yanyi frowned discontentedly, with some vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows.
"There was a really nice restaurant recently, which the teacher Wang Shuyuan has been to once and recommended to you. Do you want to go for a try?" Yan Jia looked at the notebook in his phone and recommended Yuan Zhou’s restaurant first.
"If Wang Shuyuan has been there, we can go and have a taste," Lee Yanyi considered for 3 seconds and then agreed readily.
"Ok, professor. Do you need me to arrange the visit?" Yan Jia asked meticulously.
He knew well of his professor’s habits. The professor didn’t like to be accompanied when he went to such small restaurants.
"No need. I’m gonna hang up." After that, Lee Yanyi hung off the phone before Yan Jia had time to say good-bye.
At the other end of the phone, Yan Jia put down his phone naturally. He appeared to be accustomed to his professor’s style. Then he added a schedule in the notebook in his phone.
He checked the notebook roughly, which was all about the schedules of Lee Yanyi. He crossed out those matters that had been completed and left the unfinished schedules in red font, appearing extraordinarily conspicuous.
"It seems I truly ought to go and have a look," Lee Yanyi knew well of the internet. He especially liked to surf through gourmet websites and forums.
He easily caught sight of the post that Sun Ming had released previously. Currently, the post was still marked as a pinned post and was set to the very top of the page. One could imagine how popular it was among the visitors.
Wang Shuyuan’s recommendation was something that could be relied on. Plus with the seemingly wonderful reputation, he felt it indeed deserved a try.
On the other side, Yuan Zhou was very satisfied with the compliments and thus decided to serve another new dish in the morning.
As the fourth one of the Eight Unique of the Qinhuai Snacks, Duck Oil Sesame Seed Cake had been irresistible to the customers. As another of the unique dishes, the Steamed Assorted Vegetable Buns were no worse than the fourth one.
"There are so many meat dishes. So this time I made a vegetable dish." While stroking the forehead with one hand, Yuan Zhou looked to be quite considerate towards his customers based on his expressions.
After considering for quite a while, Yuan Zhou felt this idea made sense; therefore he decided to make a different dish.
After that, he received the reward of steamed buns. However, there was a surprise waiting for Yuan Zhou.
Moreover, the surprise came from the system.
As a proud gourmet reviewer with a bad temper, Lee Yanyi certainly wouldn’t run to wait outside Yuan Zhou’s restaurant as per the instructions of Sun Ming in his posting.
Consequently, there had already been a very long line of customers waiting in front of him when he arrived at No.14 of Taoxi Road.
"Are you here to have breakfast? Come here and line up, please." The nimble but short man out of the four guys came to in front of Lee Yanyi quickly.
"Wait, wait. Is this place Yuan Zhou’s restaurant?" Looking at the long line of customers, Lee Yanyi had wished that the man could answer "No", but the short man’s answer let him down.
"It’s indeed Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. There’s still one hour before the opening hours start. According to the usual speed, there should be no problem for you to get a seat."
"Good," Lee Yanyi took a look at the sun overhead and got a little depressed. The vertical wrinkles between his eyebrows became tighter.
"Please wait patiently. Let me go to greet other customers first," the short man turned around and ran away quickly to continue maintaining order.
Actually, customers of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant were quite well-behaved and seldom cut in line. The exception was those who came for the very first time and needed to inquire about the dining hours and the rules.
"A small restaurant, yet so many people!" Unable to tolerate the heat, the aged man Lee Yanyi raised his head again and looked at the sky.
The burning sun made the city, Chengdu, seem like a baking tray. The people walking in streets were nevertheless like streaky pork that ran about and was well roasted in color, fragrance, and taste.
Fortunately, the side street where Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was located couldn’t get direct sunshine. It could only reach the door. The remaining areas were all sheltered by the tall buildings at the back and in front.
It was one of the reasons, since the side street couldn’t get direct sunlight, that the lighting was not good. Although it was not so hot in summer, it was very gloomy and cold in winter. Nonetheless, ever since Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was opened, the side street became much noisier than before.
Following the sound of "Shua", Lee Yanyi flipped open a big folding fan brought along with him and started to wave. Immediately, a content expression revealed on his skinny face. He was quite satisfied with his foresight of bringing the fan.
"Hello, what do you eat?" Mu Xiaoyun said to Lee Yanyi who had just entered the restaurant.
"Um?" Lee Yanyi looked at Mu Xiaoyun with puzzlement and then started to order dishes.
"Little girl, are you taking care of the orders?" Lee Yanyi rarely asked about that.
"Yes. What do you eat?" When Mu Xiaoyun realized that Lee Yanyi was an aged man, she used a more respectful way of address.
"One serving of Egg Fried Rice Set and Phoenix-Tail Prawns," after checking the menu, Lee Yanyi bluntly ordered the dishes that his old friend Wang Shuyuan had eaten.
"Ok, please wait for a moment," Mu Xiaoyun then reported the name of the dishes to Yuan Zhou.
Yuan Zhou turned the head and took a look before starting to prepare the dishes.
Seven minutes later, Yuan Zhou carried the two dishes to Lee Yanyi.
"Please take your time and enjoy," Yuan Zhou signaled to him that he could start now.
"It indeed has the artistic conception of a phoenix inhabiting the phoenix tree," Lee Yanyi had strict requirements of this chef that was said to be awesome
Furthermore, Yuan Zhou happened to be recommended by his old friend, therefore he was pickier towards him.
"Thank you," Yuan Zhou looked more solemn than Lee Yanyi.
In response to Yuan Zhou’s gratitude, Lee Yanyi only let out a "Humph". After that, he started to eat.
Despite his high requirements and standards, Lee Yanyi was quite satisfied this time.
He had a very sensitive tongue. Even if the chef had touched any other taste that did not belong to this particular dish while cooking, he could likewise distinguish it.
Nevertheless, the two dishes he had ordered were free from these concerns as they had only the intrinsic taste of the food.
However…