Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A variety show, or even if it was a reality show, would first finish all arrangements with the filming location. In management studies, it was believed that a human could manage six other humans at most. But how could a filming crew only have six people in it? Furthermore, anything might change during filming. Therefore, all the arrangements needed to be completed beforehand.
Roll, Dear Beef had already signed the contract, the guy with the slickback being the one to finish the negotiation. About a dozen days later, he led the way and brought Tom, the logistic supervisor of the crew to check the filming location again. After all, all the lighting and cameras needed to be set up at specific locations during the filming. All these were the job of the logistics department. Therefore, they had to come here no matter what.
Tom sounded like the name of a foreigner, but he was, in fact, Chinese. His original name was Tang Dong, but he eventually changed his name. Although he was a Chinese, he went to study in America for a few years and now thought that he was a foreigner. From how he named himself, this was clear.
“Mr. Tom, it’s going to be ten thirty soon. We will take about 40 minutes to reach Taoxi Road from the airport. If we don’t move faster, we will be stuck in a long queue,” the guy with the slickback said. He addressed Tom as Mr. Tom because this was his request. personally, he preferred to call him Supervisor Tang instead.
“Even with the 40-minute trip, we can still easily reach before 11:30 am. Why are you panicking?” Tom frowned. Flying was very tiring. Therefore, he wanted to first sit down and have a cup of coffee to rest.
“Mr. Tom, since the food Yuan Zhou’s restaurant is very deli… I mean since Yuan Zhou’s restaurant has been covered in the news and the TV, there are many customers queuing every day. He wanted to say that because the food at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was very delicious. But he suddenly recalled that this Tom had always believed that Chinese cuisines never cared about nutrition, food decoration, and so on. He would always have a lot of criticism for Chinese cuisine. Simply put, Tom did not like Chinese meals and believed that French cuisine was the best.
The guy with the slickback had good EQ. He knew what to say. Although this Tom was not his direct superior, and was not even from the same department as him, he was not the type of person that would offend someone with a higher position than him just for the sake of it.
Therefore, from Yuan Zhou’s restaurant having delicious food, he switched his words into Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was popular.
“I really don’t understand how they choose their filming location. Both Wellington and Piburger are quite good. Why must they choose a Chinese restaurant? Just because the restaurant is popular?” Although Tom believed that Chinese food was not comparable to French food, he had become a supervisor with his own ability.
Today, apart from finalizing the details with the boss of the restaurant, they needed to finish the negotiations with the nearby shops as well. And on the same night, he had to fly back to the TV station. There were many things to be done and so little time. Therefore, Tom gave up on having a coffee. Of course, he did not stop complaining.
“In terms of popularity, both Wellington and Piburger have good popularity as well. I really can’t understand how the director come to this decision.”
The Wellington and Piburger mentioned by Tom were two Western food restaurants in Chengdu. Both these restaurants had gone on TV before as well, and the chefs there were French. The guy with the slickback did not respond and focused on calling for a taxi instead. Since they had to line up for an airport taxi, the guy with the slickback used his mobile phone to get a taxi instead.
After they got onto the taxi, it sped off toward Taoxi Road.
Tom was bored in the taxi and came up with a conversation topic as he asked, “Do you like steaks?”
“I’m alright with steaks. I have eaten them quite a number of times.” Of course, the guy with the slickback did not complete his sentence. In fact, he had only ever eaten steaks in fast food restaurants when he was busy with work.
Tom shook his head and said, “Pan frying is the best method to fully display the flavor of the meat. When I studied abroad, I was lucky enough to book a seat at Mike’s restaurant. Mr. Mike himself cooked the steak, and that was the best steak I had ever had. The steak was incredibly juicy.”
While he spoke, Tom sank into his recollection and started swallowing his saliva as he recalled the taste.
“I later found out from Mr. Mike that the beef used in his restaurant all came from Burgundy, the Charolais cattle which was one of the top four breeds of cattle in the world. This cattle’s entire body is white and the taste of its meat is one that can’t be forgotten.”
The guy with the slickback had never eaten it before. Therefore, he only listened on and nodded every now and then.
“After coming to China, I found out that apart from restaurants opened by French chefs, no other restaurants can make proper steaks here.” Tom seemed filled with resentment, “Not to mention the quality of the beef used here, even the grasp on the timing when cooking the steak is too lacking. If there’s no good steak, fine. I tried some sauteed beef and some soybean beef as well. They have completely ruined the original flavor of the beef. I found that in Chinese cuisine, the original flavor of the ingredients are always being ruined and are extremely unhealthy on top of that.”
The guy with the slickback twitched his eyes. What did he mean by coming to China? Was he a foreigner? The guy with the slickback wanted to ask him if he had gone crazy. Thankfully, his reason told him to hold his tongue.
Around 11:20 am, they reached the intersection of Taoxi Road.
“We’re here, Mr. Tom,” said the guy with the slickback as he led the way.
“This place looks quite traditional,” Tom said as he scanned the area after getting out of the taxi.
“Yeah, this is a quiet place hidden amid the bustle of the city. Mr. Tom, it is lunchtime. Should we line up and eat first before proceeding with the discussion?” the guy with the slickback tactfully asked.
“There’s quite a lot of people here. Since the boss is personally cooking, I doubt he has much free time. Let us have our lunch first,” Tom frowned when he saw that the front of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was packed with people.
“Let us go now then. At this restaurant, everyone needs to personally wait in line,” the guy with the slickback was looking forward to eating the food here.
He had long wanted to try the food at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Unfortunately, the food here was truly not cheap. It would be too expensive if he paid for it himself. Now that he was eating with the logistics supervisor, things would be different as the meal could be claimed from the company.
The guy with the slickback earnestly planned to have a free meal. Soon, he would be able to taste the legendary delicious food of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
“Don’t bother. The Western restaurant next door looks nice. Let’s go eat there. We can have a cup of coffee there as well,” Tom said when he saw a Western restaurant two shops away from Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
That was Li Li’s restaurant.
“Oh, ok.” The guy with the slickback froze before he nodded in agreement and headed towards the Western restaurant.
He walked like his entire body was drained of energy.
“The head chef today is Li Li? It’s him? The Western cuisine he cooked is still quite good. So he has actually opened a restaurant here.” In a well-practiced manner, Tom started reading the introduction of the head chef.
“Well, looks like there is still some pleasure to be obtained from this miserable work trip. It’s your lucky day today. I will let you try how authentic steak tastes like,” Tom said happily.
“Thank you, Mr. Tom,” the guy with the slickback thanked with a grateful look on his face. However, he was inwardly cursing.
“Damn you, you fake foreigner. There go my delicacies…” the guy with the slickback howled in his heart.
