Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Shreds of cabbage at the base, followed by diced carrots and shiitake mushrooms, then a square of rice cake, drizzled with teriyaki sauce for flavor, and finally, the whole small octopus placed on top.

With so many ingredients added, the half-spherical mold is instantly filled, leaving the eight tiny tentacles and the plump head exposed.

At this point, some batter should be added, circling around the mold and allowing it to slowly flow and seep in, wrapping all the ingredients tightly inside.

Once the newly added batter starts to solidify, you can turn it over with chopsticks.

Don't rush when turning it over. Since the octopus ball's shape isn't a perfect sphere, you must first turn it halfway to let the octopus lie horizontally, then drizzle batter to fix it, and repeat the process.

The mold heats quickly, allowing the thin batter to caramelize into an enticing golden color in just a few seconds.

This giant octopus ball is about one and a half times the size of a normal small ball, almost as large as a plum, with visible octopus tentacles distributed among the batter.

No need to fry too long; when the batter's surface turns golden, it's ready to be removed.

The whole octopus had been blanched beforehand, the octopus's beak and innards removed in advance; just a slight reheating makes it ready to eat, no worries about being raw.

After finishing the giant octopus ball, drizzle teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and ketchup on top in sequence, then scatter some bonito flakes and nori crumbs to complete the job.

Based on yesterday's rules, excessive innovation in taste and appearance isn't allowed, so he used traditional octopus ball sauces and side dishes, but added diced shiitake mushrooms and rice cake cubes as different ingredients.

The freshly made octopus ball really does look quite tempting, especially with the invisible steam rising, making the bonito flakes on the surface sway like seaweed, emitting bursts of seafood aroma.

Bite into it while it's hot.

"Crunch."

The golden crust is slightly crispy, with the soft and moist batter inside full of the aroma of eggs and the buttery scent.

The three surface sauces simultaneously melt on the tongue, combined with the fresh scent of nori and the savory saltiness of bonito flakes, and the octopus head enveloped in the soft batter bursts open upon chewing.

Inside the octopus head, there is still a blob of something resembling roe, with gaps allowing batter to seep in, perfectly trapping its juices once heated, creating an extraordinary burst of umami straight to the brain.

The perfectly cooked octopus meat is tender and bouncy, especially the tentacle parts with their numerous small suckers adding a slightly crunchy texture, absorbing plenty of teriyaki sauce drizzled on the rice cake.

With each bite, you can taste the sweet and savory juices bursting in your mouth, complemented by the salty fresh scent of nori and the rice fragrance of the batter, along with the sweet and sour of mayonnaise and ketchup.

After pondering for a long time, the conclusion was only the words 'delicious.'

This octopus ball is indeed a bit large, with one bite only taking half of the octopus, not yet reaching the part he most anticipated.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, he eagerly opened his mouth wide again, stuffing the remaining large half of the octopus ball into his mouth.

"Crrrunch."

The familiar slight crisp sound came to his ears again, the sound of the batter surface cracking, though in reality, it didn't offer much of a crispy texture.

If fried for an extra few seconds, it could have been achieved, but you must keep flipping, or it'll easily burn.

He had never made octopus balls before; it was his first time, so not mastering the right doneness is normal, as long as it's not burnt or raw, it counts as acceptable.

As the surface batter cracked, the ample juices burst open again.

This was completely different from the seafood juice inside the octopus head; this time, it was mostly the moisture from the cabbage shreds and diced mushrooms, combined with teriyaki sauce to create a sweet and savory vegetable juice.

Next, the teeth bit into something soft, sticky, and slightly elastic, with the unique rice fragrance of rice cake instantly rushing out.

His eyes lit up, nodding in satisfaction.

Indeed, adding rice cake cubes into the octopus ball resulted in a texture just as he imagined, similar to mozzarella cheese, soft and sweet with a slight stretchy feel.

However, though delicious, for someone who loves strong flavors, especially spicy ones, like him, this sweet and salty Sakura-style snack isn't something he can truly love.

To him, it could only score seventy points; it couldn't go higher unless the sauce was changed to a spicy one.

"Forget it, next time I'll make new sauce myself, but this time I have to stick to the rules."

He didn't worry much, whether he liked it or not wasn't important; foreigners definitely like the sweet and salty flavor, especially the combination of ketchup, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce, which perfectly hits their taste buds.

Having finished the octopus balls, the next was Soka.

He didn't plan to test-make it since pancakes are technically no challenge for a chef from Great Xia, nothing much to test, just prepare the ingredients and batter then start.

Just past seven o'clock.

Chef Marchello and Chef Nagishiro Sho arrived at the restaurant successively, beginning to prepare their respective ingredients.

Seeing Lin Chen almost prepared, both were a bit speechless.

In terms of hustle, it has to be the Great Xia People.

This guy must have started working here by five o'clock, doesn't he need to sleep?

"Alright then, I won't disturb you two, see you later~"

Lin Chen washed his hands, waved goodbye to the two with a smile, and went back to the hotel to catch up on sleep.

He wasn't interested in the Kite Festival's opening ceremony or music performance; sleeping was much more appealing.

It's seven o'clock now; sleep for three hours and get up at ten to prepare for setting up the stall, timing is just about right.

On the way back to the hotel, I could already see many cars coming in and out of the hotel, and quite a few tourists strolling with various styles of kites in their hands, starting to warm up for the upcoming festival.

In the two weeks since I've been here, I've never seen so many people in the morning, except for the time I set up the stall early in the morning.

Ten o'clock sharp.

Right on time, going downstairs.

The dynamic music from the other side of the cliff can be heard clearly; evidently, the event has started.

The two chefs are still in the restaurant, finishing the preparation of ingredients, tidying up the kitchen while moving all the ingredients and pots, bowls, and pans onto the sightseeing car at the entrance.

Lucas and Dais Elsa have been waiting in the restaurant early on, playing with their phones for two hours, finally seeing Lin Chen appear, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"I thought you overslept; if you didn't come soon, I was about to knock on your door."

"How could that happen? When have I ever been late?"

Lin Chen casually waved his hand and took the three of them into the cold storage to start moving the ingredients out.

Half an hour later.

On the cliff-top lawn.

The three chefs have already prepared at their booths, with no signage, only a small blackboard with the menu written in chalk.

Besides them, there are many other stalls.

Selling pizza, selling meat sauce fries, selling ice cream, selling hot dog buns, selling barbecue, etc., foreigners' snacks are basically just these things, nothing particularly fancy.

All the stall owners are eagerly preparing their respective foods, and the entrance to the gourmet area is barricaded, to be opened at eleven.

With a music program to watch, the tourists outside are not keen on digging into meals, and since it's not mealtime, it's normal not to feel hungry.

Lin Chen looked around, Chef Marchello was making sugar syrup, with several kinds of fruit skewers beside him, but his expression was slightly grave.

"Strange, it was easily successful when I tried making it this morning, why is it failing now?"

He held a strawberry skewer, its surface covered with glistening syrup, but the syrup was dripping down instead of forming the desired hard shell.

After a brief glance, Lin Chen withdrew his gaze, his lips curling into a slight smile.

Even Michelin three-star chefs fall into the trap!

Do they really think Great Xia's food is that easy to replicate?

Looking at Nagishiro Sho, he was also making syrup.

Compared to the already failed sugar-coated fruit, his progress seemed quite normal, the syrup in the pot gradually crystallizing with mixing, just tossing the fruit in for a stir would be a success.

Apart from the menu he provided, Lin Chen was actually more curious about the mystery menus each prepared by the two chefs.

As they both struggled with the syrup, he also began his preparation work.

A whole bag of coated chicken fillet was poured into a tray for later use, with various materials and sauces needed for making takoyaki and Soka neatly arranged beside it, next was to wait for time to pass.

The takoyaki making process takes about five minutes, Soka about the same, making them right before opening should be just right.

Chicken fillet is even simpler, requiring only a minute's frying before serving, made on order.

"Damn it!!"

Nearby came Chef Marchello's irate curse.

Turning to look, it turned out the sugar-coated fruit was still failing, and because of excessive heating, the syrup in the pot had turned caramel-colored, unusable.

"How can this be?? Why won't the syrup coat!"

Marchello could feel Lin Chen's gaze and his cheeks couldn't help but flush.

Thinking of myself, a dignified Michelin three-star chef, unable to manage even a simple Great Xia street snack, wouldn't it be a disgrace if word got out?

But the problem is, it succeeded once in the kitchen trial, why is it failing now?

Not only strawberries but also green grapes, raspberries, kiwis, pineapples, all ended in failure.

Having tried several times, the best outcome was achieving a sugar coat, but the texture was sticky and lacked the crispness of Lin Chen's.

Being a top chef, he quickly forced himself to calm down upon discovering the issue, beginning to carefully observe the skewered fruits while recalling in his mind the differences between here and the kitchen trial.

"Clearly, before setting off, I tested it successfully, so if there has to be a difference..."

His gaze swept over the fruit surfaces, suddenly discovering something brightening his eyes.

"Could it be because of this?!"