Liu Jinfei found himself again in the kitchen of the Savory Alley, but this time, together with Lin Xiao to cook their best local dish they could present to the Shen princess.
However, it couldn’t be that simple—in Liu Jinfei’s opinion. A signature dish was a recipe that distinguished a chef or a restaurant from others. It must become a reason why customers would resonate with a restaurant brand and tend to seek it out as well.
In so many oversaturated places filled with restaurants competing with each other, a signature dish could help claim the top spot. Liu Jinfei understood the importance of the Savory Alley having a signature dish that could help them improve the restaurant’s reputation.
However, it was not always easy to choose an item from the menu and label it as the restaurant’s signature dish.
Many diners in today’s generation like experimenting with different cuisines and indulging themselves in good food along with their peers. Yet, for most patrons, a memorable dining experience could mean savoring iconic dishes only a certain restaurant could offer.
Signature dishes could give a restaurant an everlasting identity that wouldn’t be easily forgotten, even if new competitions had arisen. Even though some signature dishes were set at a premium price, most of them were loved and demanded by the customers.
However, to think that Shen Lingqing had asked them to cook their best dish, what could it mean? Liu Jinfei wondered, but he had no time to think about Shen Lingqing’s motives. Right now, the demon princess had only given them exactly two hours to complete the task.
“Dad has been worrying about the menu planning these past few days. I’m sure he wasn’t prepared for this,” Lin Xiaoyu commented next to Qiao Lian as she watched her father work in the kitchen.
“Truth to be told, I’ve already expected that this could happen,” Qiao Lian said in response, “Because it’s already a norm that Madam Shen would ask the respective chefs to formulate the best menu for their restaurants and test their skills in the kitchen.”
“Having a signature dish is the most important.” Shen Lingqing joined their conversation. She had taken the same seat she had during the first time she tested Liu Jinfei’s skills in cooking.
“The intricately designed menu of a restaurant is usually a combination of the brand’s concept, unique offerings, and vision. To run successful restaurants, most restaurateurs strive to offer uniqueness to their customers and adopt some innovations. While menu innovations are necessary, the core idea is the same for every business out there—which is profitability. Having a signature dish has the potential to become the primary source of it.”
“And it could be their best dish?” Another staff member asked.
“Of course.” The Shen princess nodded. “You might commonly know it as the Chef’s Special. If a chef loves to cook a particular dish, he or she would put extra effort into making it perfect. It’s a good way to see if I could consider those dishes as our signature dish for our patrons.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
A unique, flavorful signature dish could potentially turn new customers into regulars. It could also ignite complimentary word of mouth that could influence customers to travel just to be able to experience and taste the dish themselves.
People tend to show tremendous loyalty and enthusiasm for their favorite food, and having a signature dish was the culinary equivalent of an author finding his or her niche or an artist sticking to a unique style of self-expression. In fact, most restaurant franchises started operations based on the culinary appeal of some signature dishes.
Shen Lingqing looked down at her cup of tea. She had to admit that she still wasn’t aware of how capable her two chefs were yet. She knew Liu Jinfei had great potential within him, considering that he had traveled and worked around the world. It must have given him an advantage over Lin Xiao who hadn’t left the country and repeatedly cooked the same dishes he knew over and over again.
She saw Lin Xiao take a bag of flour and make dough. It seemed that he was planning to make handmade noodles this time, but what kind? Shen Lingqing had no idea.
In her opinion, hand-pulled noodles were better than hand-cut and machine-made noodles. Aside from being served super fresh, it had a silkier, springy, and chewy texture which Shen Lingqing liked in her noodle dishes.
Lin Xiao demonstrated a good hand-pulling technique that even surprised everyone, and allowed it to undergo three stages of resting.
Meanwhile, Liu Jinfei opted to cook his best Mapo Tofu dish. He prepared the firm tofu and sliced it into 1.2-centimeter-small cubes. At least he knew the basics of Mapo Tofu, Shen Lingqing thought. Using firm tofu would yield a more flavorful dish than using its soft counterpart.
He then cut beef with a little fat on it. By choosing beef with a little fat, it would give beef texture and flavor to the dish later. Liu Jinfei demonstrated his excellent knife skills by cutting the aromatics he would need for the dish in such a short span of time. In a separate bowl, he combined some dried chili pepper and added a few Sichuan green peppercorns.
As he heated the wok and sautéed the chili peppers and green peppercorns into the hot oil, the kitchen was instantly filled with its pungent scent. Once he was satisfied, he put the chili on a chopping board, crushed it with a large knife, and chopped it into smaller pieces until it was powder-like.
“If I’m right, Chef Liu is making Mapo Tofu, right?” Qian Lian asked her boss. Just smelling the strong aroma of chili in the air made her stomach grumble and mouth water. “Qingqing, please allow us to taste their Chef’s specials, too.”
Shen Lingqing ignored her and focused on the show. At this rate, Liu Jinfei would be able to finish his dish before Lin Xiao.
