Shortly after, the dishes Ma Zhida ordered to celebrate his half-year bonus arrived.
He ate very slowly. Bit by bit, he ate seriously, fully enjoying the food.
“Mmmm, delicious, too delicious. Worthy of being my favorite food,” exclaimed Ma Zhida while he ate.
These dishes were something he ordered after half a year of hard work. Of course, Ma Zhida would feel like they were even tastier than usual.
Ma Zhida greatly enjoyed his meal even though he was eating so slowly. He finished everything.
Each time Ma Zhida ordered a new dish, he would also order one of the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine rice to go with it. This time was no exception. However, he had an odd request.
This was an odd yet simple request. Thus, Zhou Jia nodded in agreement. After the time she spent working at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, she was already able to make her own decisions for many things and no longer needed to bother Yuan Zhou with everything.
Taro Chicken was a dish where two theories were being argued intensively. One theory argued that the chicken was the important part of the dish while the other argued that the taro was the important part.
Many people said that they only ordered Taro Chicken for the soft and sticky taro. The rest argued that the chicken was the core while the taro was only there to improve the flavor.
Each side seemed to have their merits. As for Yuan Zhou’s Taro Chicken, he took a fair approach against the taro and the chicken. One could claim that the taro had helped improve the chicken’s taste, yet at the same time, one could also claim the chicken’s flavor had seeped into the taro. And because of that, the argument between the two sides became even more intense.
That was because both the taro and chicken made by Yuan Zhou were extremely delicious.
Naturally, there were also heretics, such as those claiming that the sauce mattered more instead, and these people would only order Taro Chicken so they could mix the sauce with the rice.
Ma Zhida was one of the heretics. He poured all the sauce of the Taro Chicken into the rice. The sauce was very thick and starchy after being cooked with the taro. When mixed with rice, the rice became extremely aromatic.
Ma Zhida’s eyes seemed to be burning when he mixed the two. The reddish-brown sauce was now blended with the rice, giving the rice a glossy look. At the same time, an amazing aroma emitted out of it, stimulating one’s appetite.
“Aummm.” Ma Zhida stuffed a mouthful of rice into his mouth. The 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine made by Yuan Zhou were extremely chewy, and after mixing with the aroma of the Taro Chicken, the rice became so delicious he even felt like he shouldn’t chew on it.
Ma Zhida alternated between a mouthful of rice and a mouthful of the dish, his expression one of bliss.
This evening, many customers ordered new dishes. During the latter half of dinner time, even Zhang Yan arrived. More importantly, he was in the middle of a meeting and had to cut the meeting short just to come.
“President, look at the number of people waiting in line. I don’t think we’ll get to eat anything today,” said the assistant.
“Yeah, that seems to be the case,” Zhang Yan sighed when he saw the long line.
“I have always appreciated restaurants with rules. Everyone needs to follow the rules as before a delicacy, everyone is equal,” said Zhang Yan suddenly. “But when it is my turn to follow the rules today, I only have one thing to say…”
Zhang Yan stopped abruptly and turned to leave.
Not finishing one’s words was an extremely annoying habit. Thus, when they reached the intersection, the assistant couldn’t hold himself and asked.
Zhang Yan shook his head, indicating that he did not want to talk about it. He had a sad look on his face.
To change the mood, the assistant said, “President, you mentioned earlier that Head Chef Yuan is now a Sichuan Cuisine grandmaster. What is that about? I thought he has always been good in Sichuan Cuisine and is even the exemplary restaurant.”
“Previously, in the menu of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, there were only Shanghebang dishes, while Xiahebang and Xiaohebang dishes were nowhere to be seen,” Zhang Yan said.
Since this person could be Zhang Yan’s assistant, he was naturally aware of the classification of Sichuan Cuisine. But after hearing Zhang Yan’s words, the assistant grew doubtful.
“President, you mean to say that Head Chef Yuan isn’t too good at Xiahebang and Xiaohebang dishes?” the assistant asked doubtfully.
Zhang Yan shook his head and said, “Three types of Sichuan Cuisine, Shanghebang, Xiahebang, and Xiaohebang, although each type was slightly different from the other, if one is very good in one of them, it is impossible that one would know nothing about the other two types.”
“But from my observation, every single dish Yuan Zhou listed on his menu is a dish he had reached perfection with,” said Zhang Yan.
The assistant finally understood, “You mean previously he only had Shanghebang dishes on the menu because he still had room for growth for the other two types.”
“People said that the people of this era are fickle and impatient, but I disagree with that. I feel that the people of this era are all used to a faster tempo of life. Thus, the act of staying calm to slowly study and improve his skills is something that can no longer keep up with the times,” said Zhang Yan with a sigh.
He recalled how things used to be. When he first started learning how to cook, he could spend several months in research just because he was dissatisfied with one of the ingredients. That was no longer a common practice nowadays, thus, he couldn’t help but sigh when he realized that.
“But president, isn’t Head Chef Yuan’s success proof that focusing and slowly studying one aspect of cooking is not outdated yet? No matter what, being focused will always bear much better result than being unfocused,” said the assistant gently.
Something made with focus would always be better than something made without focus. This fact was so simple even a child could understand it, but it also fully reflected the essence of being a chef.
“A chef as steady as Yuan Zhou is already very rare nowadays. In the menu someone shared in the Wechat group, there are Xiahebang and Xiaohebang dishes. There are even new snacks. This signified that Yuan Zhou is already extremely confident with the entirety of Sichuan Cuisine,” exclaimed Zhang Yan.
That was why Zhang Yan claimed Yuan Zhou was already a Sichuan Cuisine grandmaster.
Hearing Zhang Yan’s reasoning, the assistant also started to believe that Head Chef Yuan was akin to an otherworldly hermit.
It would be no exaggeration to say that Yuan Zhou currently had a rather high income. Yet he still spent all his time studying and improving his cooking skills.
Not many people would remain so true to his original path upon reaching this level of success.
“Set the time earlier tomorrow so we have more time,” said Zhang Yan. He was determined to eat the new dishes tomorrow.
The assistant nodded. In two days, they would be very busy again.
Many customers of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant did the same as Zhang Yan. They were initially busy, but after hearing about the new dishes, they all spared some time just so they could try the new dishes.
One of them was Yin Ya. In recent days, there was a massive project in her company. Thus, she had been extremely busy with work.
But after hearing about the new dishes, she immediately applied for leave so she could try the new dishes and relax herself.
“It has been a while since I came. Wow, I’m even starting to miss it here,” muttered Yin Ya as she lifted a strand of her hair that had fallen over while gazing at Yuan Zhou who was seriously cooking. Today, she had arrived on a pair of wine red heels.
It was unknown whether Yin Ya was missing the food here or the chef…
