Eternal food paradise

Two days passed like this.

Today is Wednesday, Sunday, which is the day when the streets are allowed to throw away garbage. Xia Yan set the alarm clock, got up at about seven o'clock, washed up before eight o'clock, and quickly took out the smelly garbage that had accumulated for several days and disposed of it.

Returning to the store is the daily routine of morning cleaning.

Wipe the table and mop the floor.

Especially the kitchen and worktop, because they are open-plan, every corner must be carefully cleaned.

Keeping the kitchen tidy is not to say that Xia Yan cares very much about the customers' opinions on the hygiene of the restaurant, but that if hygiene is done casually and perfunctorily, he, as the owner of the shop, will not respond.

The old house in Shitamachi is always infested with rats and cockroaches. If you have slovenly living habits, you will find cockroaches nesting in the refrigerator within a few days.

In addition to dealing with the accumulated kitchen waste, I have something special to do today.

I found a wooden sign from the utility room.

There was also a writing brush and ink. Xia Yan compared the traditional Chinese characters displayed on the phone and wrote stroke by stroke: bitter melon stuffed with bean paste.

On the personal panel, the recipe information is displayed like this:

"Bitter Melon Stuffed with Doubanjiang"

one star.

A whimsical snack with a ‘dark quality’.

Index upper limit - Mild.

"I didn't expect that my first star-rated recipe would be a snack, not an appetizer or a staple, let alone soup or dessert." Xia Yan hung the wooden sign on the menu wall.

One star is about the limit for this recipe.

There are many factors that restrict the star rating of a recipe, but the most important reason why a recipe is different from home cooking and ordinary recipes is——

Has a soul.

What injects the soul into "Bitter Melon Stuffed with Doubanjiang" is undoubtedly the 'Super Grade Doubanjiang'.

"But for special materials, the theoretical upper limit should be as high as nine stars. Am I only using one-tenth of the power of 'Super Doubanjiang'?"

Xia Yan was speechless and helpless.

At any rate, the cooking skills were a little off, all focused on the spicy specialty, but in the end, using the super-grade doubanjiang still gave me the familiar feeling of a primary school student tossing around with an adult-level weapon.

After all, my cooking skills are terrible.

"Forget it, don't worry about it for now. Since the recipe record is successful, it's time to do it with 100% concentration and perfect performance. After completing the task, you will get 2 skill points and improve your poor cooking skills."

Perfect performance, the task's "darkness index meets the [light] requirement" should not be too simple.

In the morning, Shitamachi Food Street was as quiet as ever.

When the sound of cooking came from the Chinese restaurant.

A girl with a ponytail, full of youthful vitality, trotted past several old men and women who were slowly doing morning exercises and ran to the door of the store.

"Manager Xia, oh hello!" He greeted loudly with a lively voice.

"It's Sumiko-chan."

Xia Yan was kneading stuffing at the bar and watched the girl enter the store with a smile.

In the past two months of operation, he has accumulated a lot of bad reviews, but at least he has retained some regular customers and got to know each other well.

Aono Sumiko is a regular customer who often visits his restaurant. She is only 18 years old this year. She is a female college student. The private school she studied in, in terms of popularity and world ranking, should be similar to the Waseda that Xia Yan is familiar with. Anyway, there is no Waseda in this world line. Yes, there is nothing wrong with Waseda describing it as parallel time and space.

"Eh eh eh——"

Just a minute or two after entering the store, Aono Sumiko exclaimed and pointed at the menu wall where the brand had just been changed.

"It's different. I remember when I came here a few days ago, there was no "Bitter Melon Stuffed with Doubanjiang" dish."

As expected of a college student from a prestigious university, she has a very good memory, and it can be seen from this that Aono Sumiko is very familiar with restaurants, and she will quickly understand any small changes.

Xia Yan smiled and replied: "I am making this dish."

"That's great!"

Hearing the sound of people sitting down behind him, Xia Yan was secretly amused. Aono Sumiko, a girl, had a weird taste, otherwise she wouldn't have become a loyal customer of his restaurant, or even a fan.

"How about the spiciness? It's several times spicier than other dishes. Are you sure there's no problem with the Chengzi sauce?" He asked in a familiar tone.

As a result, I only heard a long exclamation of "Eh" from behind.

There was no fear or fear at all, but full of curiosity and excitement.

"Only at Manager Xia's can you eat such authentic Chinese cuisine." Aono Sumiko praised.

"Why did the Neon People produce such a weirdo like you?"

Xia Yan couldn't help but complain.

"Ah, Manager Xia, this is how stereotyped you are." Aono Sumiko poured a glass of water for herself and drank it all in one gulp. There were traces of moisture on her moist lips. She sipped it, patted her chest and continued with a smile. explain:

"Didn't you complain about our local 'Japanese food'? For example, most ramen noodles are extremely salty. In fact, in a sense, we Neon people have hidden heavy tastes."

Hearing this, Xia Yan couldn't help but nod.

It’s hard to hear the truth, but it’s true. Most Japanese food is either bland or too salty.

In the world of pure 'Japanese cuisine', these two flavors seem to be the only ones.

"That's why we love Chinese food."

Aono Sumiko said in a matter-of-fact tone: "Otherwise, why would so many Neon people go to the mainland every year to travel to the Land of Abundance in pursuit of authentic Chinese food? It can be said that every Neon person has a dream of eating Chinese cuisine. "

“When it comes to ‘spicy’ food, it’s true that your taste buds can’t adapt to it, but that doesn’t mean you are absolutely against it.”

Aono Sumiko clasped her palms together: "Please, Manager Xia, I really want to eat authentic spicy food today, so I came here directly after my morning run."

Xia Yan put the plate into the steamer: "It'll be ready soon. This plate is the new dish 'Bitter Melon Stuffed with Bean Paste'. Wait for 10 minutes."

"Long live! I'm going to wash my hands first. I just fed some stray cats in the park during my morning run and they were a little dirty." Aono Sumiko stood up happily, but as soon as she stood up, she suddenly pointed at the store door, "Manager Xia, you We have guests again~”

A tall figure in blue overalls stood at the door, looking hesitantly.

Seeing this, Qingye Chengzi turned her head and snickered at Xia Yan: "It must be your cooking, Manager Xia, that has caused harm to this uncle. No one else dares to come in."

After saying that, he suddenly changed his route to the bathroom and headed towards the store door.

"welcome."

Aono Sumiko had a faultless waiter-like smile on her face.

"Ahem." The man in work clothes looked embarrassed. He wanted to retreat and then go in. In the end, he overcame some fear, coughed, walked into the store with steady steps, and sat down on a chair at the bar.

"Sumi-chan, go wash your hands quickly, your cooking will be ready."

Xia Yan shouted before turning his eyes to the guests in front of the bar and raising his eyebrows: "Uncle, he looks familiar."

In fact, Xia Yan recognized him when he saw the work clothes and uniforms he was wearing.

He had just gone to take out the garbage half an hour ago. If you pay attention on the road, it is not difficult to find garbage recycling trucks shuttling through the streets of Shitamachi. Both the driver and the co-pilot are wearing blue uniforms.

The uncle concealed his rudeness and said: "I'm so annoyed, give me a beer first! A full cup!"

"Here, your cold beer, is it still 'twice-cooked pork' today?"

Twice cooked pork...

There seemed to be a bit of burning sensation coming from the anus, so the uncle asked bravely: "Is there really no discussion on the degree of spiciness?"

A naughty female voice answered on her behalf: "Uncle, give up. There are only authentic Chinese food here. If you want to eat modified Japanese-style Chinese food with a very sweet taste, turn left when you go out, walk straight for a hundred meters, cross the bridge, and then walk Fifty meters away, there is a Chinese restaurant owned by Neon Man.”

Xia Yan didn't even raise his head. He stared at the stove where the steam was starting to make a sound. A line of words appeared in his field of vision:

【Cooking is complete. 】

[Dish completion degree - good (80 points)]

[Darkness Index (Trait) - Mild]

Immediately after the "ding" sound, the tasks I took on in the previous two days were automatically completed, and 2 skill points were received.