Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
What Wu Jun said was only heard by Wu Hai. Though Wu Hai hadn’t known Wu Jun for long, he also knew this person liked saying inexplicable things.
Therefore, he only took a look at him and continued to concentrate on the food in front.
“Dahe, do you see it? It’ surprisingly an ice blade?” Xiao Jing grabbed the arm of her boyfriend excitedly.
“Yeah. Let’s have a try.” Dahe immediately made a decision and said.
“Of course. Let’s go.” Xiao Jing nodded and agreed with him very much.
“Hey, here. We want a serving of the sashimi cut with the ice blade.” Dahe took out his wallet and shouted at the Zheng Jiawei who was collecting money.
Of course, Dahe directly spoke Chinese as there were too many people waiting in line.
He wasn’t stupid at all. He heard from others outside that these few people were Chinese and thus, it was naturally faster to attract their attention by speaking Chinese.
He did attract their attention. However, Yuan Zhou took a look at him and said nothing. He just focused on the knife in his hand while Zheng Jiawei continued collecting money one by one in sequence without any reaction.
“Let’s line up.” Xiaojing was a little embarrassed, so she stopped Dahe from shouting and said to him.
“I know. We are lining up, aren’t we? I’m just in a hurry.” Dahe laughed and then said.
“Which part of the fish is this?” Xiaojing pointed at the piece of fish flesh in front of Yuan Zhou and asked in a low voice.
“Judging from its appearance, I guess it’s the back.” Dahe wasn’t quite sure, because he had never seen such a way to split the bluefin tuna either.
“There is only one plate of the Akami left now. The price is 800. Do you need it?” When Dahe and Xiaojing got to their turn, Zheng Jiawei didn’t treat them differently, but he did speak Chinese.
The two people were really lucky. When it was their turn, there was coincidentally only one plate left. Of course, it was Yuan Zhou who decided how many plates they would sell. With an average weight of 250g of the fish flesh, it wasn’t a problem for Yuan Zhou to calculate how many plates he could serve.
“Is it JPY?” Xiaojing asked tentatively.
“No, the equivalent amount of 800 RMB. And only JPY is accepted today. Thank you.” Zheng Jiawei was quite serious when he started to work.
“It’s really expensive.” Xiao Jing was a bit stunned.
“Forget it. For the sake of the ice blade and the so-called ancient Chinese-style raw fish slice, let’s try it first.” Dahe gnashed his teeth and prepared to pay.
“Wait, didn’t you say it’s the raw fish slice? Why does it look so much like the sashimi?” Xiaojing still felt her heartache at price. Moreover, Yuan Zhou was actually making sashimi rather than the so-called ancient Chinese-style raw fish slice.
“You’ll know why when you eat.” Zheng Jiawei said with a certain look.
“Okay. If you lie to us, you must refund the money. We are all Chinese and you can’t do that to us.” Xiaojing emphasized.
“Of course. Don’t worry.” Zheng Jiawei nodded and promised.
Having gotten the guarantee, the two people paid the money and went behind to wait. The raw fish slice prepared just now were not for them as it was all prepared according to the sequence of the payment.
Those who waited behind them to pay nevertheless began to pester Zheng Jiawei and asked what they would do with the rest of the fish.
“Since this part of the fish is gone, what about the rest? When will you start to sell it?”
“He’s right. We have been waiting here for so long. Why don’t you receive the money for the other parts of the fish first?”
“Yeah. We also want to have a try.”
“Sorry, it’s the chef who decides to sell how many plates of fish flesh. Please wait patiently, everybody.” Zheng Jiawei waited until everyone asked one by one and then answered.
Nonetheless, Yuan Zhou was totally free from the disturbance of these people at the azure stone countertop. With an ice blade in his hand, he located the right place and cut it precisely. Then, a complete piece of fish flesh was sliced off immediately.
He repeated the action again after that. Every time, Yuan Zhou chose a slightly different place to cut. And of course, he wasn’t discovered by anyone around.
They could only see that the entire back of the fish in front of Yuan Zhou was made into raw fish slices.
This time, the fish slices were slightly thicker than those of the Otoro part. Just when they thought the fish flesh was about to be served, Yuan Zhou started to cut again. He cut the pieces, making them into shredded fish, the very thin kind.
It was then the onlookers became astounded.
“What is he doing? Can the fish also be shredded?”
“That is really strange, What’s the taste of the shredded tuna like?”
“Definitely good, I am guessing. After all, those who ate the flesh of the Otoro part just now revealed this information with their expression and actions. It’s simply super delicious.”
“They are not the same. That is the Otoro part of the bluefin tuna. It’s delicious even if nothing is done to it, but the Akami is different. The flesh at this part is the toughest among the whole fish and besides that, there is less fat there. Therefore, the taste naturally isn’t so good. If it’s not prepared well, it will definitely taste bad.”
The onlookers discussed heatedly why Yuan Zhou shredded the fish slices.
“That makes sense. But shredded fish slices sound really weird.”
“Never mind. We’ll know the taste when we eat it later.
“Yeah, you are right. However it’s processed, it’s still bluefin tuna. Let’s just taste it.”
“Yes. It doesn’t necessarily have to taste bad.”
These people were those who had paid and were waiting to eat. They were considered to be optimistic.
Nevertheless, Dahe and Xiaojing were quite nervous.
“With the price of 800 RMB per plate, what exactly is this shredded fish?” Xiaojing liked grabbing Dahe’s arm once she was nervous. Now, she did it once again.
After all, it was really not cheap for students to spend 800 RMB on a plate of fish flesh.
“According to the information I looked up through internet, some fishes do need to be shredded. The specific information isn’t mentioned though. Anyway, let’s eat it first.” Dahe comforted her.
“Alright.” Xiaojing nodded her head.
After Yuan Zhou shredded the fish, he didn’t serve them immediately. Instead, he started to cut the gold orange, which came from Sembikiya.
The fruits from Sembikiya were the freshest in this season. The buyers were asked how many people would be served and the time they would be consumed. Then, they would select the fruits of which the degree of ripeness and sweetness was the best at the date of consumption for the customers.
And these gold oranges were no exception. Today was exactly the day when their sweetness and degree of ripeness were the highest. However, Yuan Zhou straightforwardly circled the oranges in the middle with the knife.
Then, he peeled away the fruit skin, leaving the fruit flesh aside.
After that, Yuan Zhou switched to another knife. The knife was smaller than ordinary ones and was similar to a fruit knife. Next, he started to scrape off the white fibers on the inner surface of the fruit skin.
Only when the golden fruit skin was left did he cut it into extremely thin shreds.
“Tsk tsk. It can almost pass through the needle hole.” Wu Jun praised shamelessly.
Once Yuan Zhou cut up all the gold oranges, he started to serve the fish on the azure stone countertop.
Yuan Zhou held up a pair of long bamboo chopsticks in his right hand, then he picked the fish flesh and the gold orange shreds once after another swiftly before waving them slightly and placing them on the leaves of the purple perilla which lay on the plate in his left hand.
The bright red fish flesh mingled with the golden orange shreds and was placed on the white plates covered with the leaves of purple perilla in small clusters.
It looked great and would whet one’s appetite.
“This chef is so skillful with his hands. He has finished all the work even before we could even see clearly. This shredded Akami also looks perfect.”
“Yeah. The small clusters are placed on the purple leaves and are mixed with the golden shreds. How beautiful it is!”
As Yuan Zhou served the fish one by one, the outstanding appearance instantly captured the hearts of most onlookers. Even their concerns about the taste had somewhat lessened.
After all, since the plate presentation was prepared so well and the knife skills were so impressive, whatever the taste would be, it was unlikely to be bad.
…
