Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

After the originally light white noodle soup was poured into the bowl and mixed with the soy sauce at the bottom, it instantly transformed into a light brown soy sauce soup base. With the naked eye, you could see bits of unmelted pork oil floating on the surface, mingling with the tender green scallions.

Within a few blinks, the fragments of pork oil completely melted into the soup, leaving only a thin layer of oil floating on the surface.

A few customers standing on their tiptoes at the window, peering inside, caught the scent of pork oil, causing their stomachs to rumble uncontrollably.

"So fragrant, so fragrant, this is way too fragrant! What is that white stuff in a spoonful?"

"It smells like some kind of animal fat, clearly not butter, and it shouldn’t be chicken fat either."

"It’s pork oil."

Lin Chen smiled and explained, "Pork oil in our Great Xia holds a similar status to butter in the West. It’s a natural animal fat that significantly enhances flavor when used in cooking."

"Whether it’s vegetarian dishes or something like this soup-based food, just a little pork oil makes the taste many times more delicious."

Without his explanation, it might have been fine, but once he explained, the diners became even more eager.

They had no impression of pork oil, but the only thing they could think of was bacon.

Both bacon itself and bacon grease are incredibly delicious foods.

Thinking of this, their minds automatically associated the taste of bacon grease with this bowl of noodle soup.

"Gulp."

Someone was clearly swallowing their saliva. Surprisingly, no one ridiculed it; instead, it triggered a chain reaction of gulping.

As soon as Lin Chen finished speaking, Elsa scooped up full spoonfuls of translucent small wontons into each bowl.

After cooking, the wonton wrappers were as thin as a cicada’s wings, floating in the soy sauce soup, looking like little bubbles—visually appealing and unlike anything anyone had seen before.

Even a few customers who had tried frozen wontons from the supermarket couldn’t help but exclaim in wonder, taking out their phones to document this novel food.

"I always thought wontons were supposed to look similar to dumplings. I had no idea there was something like this."

"These wrappers are so thin, almost see-through, yet they haven’t broken. Truly impressive craftsmanship from the head chef."

The small wontons and lemon tea didn’t need any differentiation—uniform sweetness and flavor for everyone. Each diner got a portion directly delivered with a tray to each table.

Customers who had already received their baozi were eager to eat but were harshly taught a lesson by the scalding hot baozi. They obediently waited until all the dishes were served before daring to try again.

The baozi, left for about two minutes, still felt hot to the touch, but it was tolerable.

Although they had chopsticks, everyone chose to grab the baozi with their hands.

The soft baozi skin was an excellent touch, as soft and springy as freshly baked toast.

The surface had been visibly soaked with meat juices from inside, giving off a glossy sheen.

Taking a big bite, the boiling meat juice burst in the mouth. The soft and tender meat filling mixed with scallions was easily mashed into a meat paste by the tongue, chewed together with the baozi skin that absorbed the juices. The combination of soy sauce, wheat aroma, meat aroma, scallion aroma, and oil aroma blended seamlessly.

Just from half a bite, everyone’s eyes lit up with obvious delight, making the queued diners’ mouths water nearly onto the floor.

You didn’t even need to ask; seeing them devour it, it was evidently irresistibly delicious.

After finishing the original flavor, they tried dipping the baozi in a soy sauce, vinegar, and spicy oil dish. The slight sour and spicy taste perfectly neutralized the slight greasiness inside the baozi, instantly replenishing their fighting spirit.

The beef baozi filling looked full of seeping meat juices, but most came from the pork oil mixed into the filling, with only a small part from the beef and scallion juice.

The best part of these baozi was that first bite—the thrill of juice explosion and the pork oil’s aroma was endlessly enticing.

But the thrill subsided quickly. Unlike Great Xia People, foreigners, whose diets mainly consist of pork, have less tolerance for greasy foods. Eating one or two large baozi might make them feel overwhelmed by the richness.

At this point, the dipping sauce came in handy to alleviate the grease, even using the aroma of vinegar and spicy oil to elevate the baozi’s flavor to a new peak.

However, after dipping in the sauce, the taste became quite heavy. After the second baozi, the mouth felt a bit salty, and the five diners, as if prearranged, all grabbed the lemon tea beside them.

"..."

"???!!!"

"What the–?! What is this? How is it so delicious?!"

"It’s not bitter at all. It has a unique fragrance, not overly sweet, with a refreshing light tea aroma!"

"I declare this the best lemon tea I’ve had this year! No exceptions!"

The surprising lemon tea caught them off guard, and they quickly took a few more gulps for satisfaction, soon reaching the ice jelly at the bottom.

The mildly sweet ice jelly had absorbed a bit of the perfume lemon’s aroma and sweet-sourness, breaking into bits in the mouth, creating a particularly novel sensation.

Both foods were so good and so drinkable—what about the bowl of wonton soup?

There was no doubt—it was definitely delicious too!

Seeing the five of them transformed into vacuum cleaners, devouring everything rapidly, the diners in line were filled with certainty.

Don’t bother trying, just buy more! You can’t go wrong!

If you can’t finish it, pack it up!

"Customers 6 to 10, please come to place your orders~"

Dais held a clipboard in her hand, taking orders while loudly notifying the food truck to start preparing.

"Ten cups of lemon tea, five bowls of wontons, get them ready first!"

"Customers 11 to 15, please also mention what you’d like to order in advance~"

Just as she finished shouting, Elsa had already started setting bowls on the table.

Lin Chen kindly advised, "You don’t have to set the table according to the order quantity, just fill it up, prepare all the ingredients, and then make a couple of bowls per order as needed to save more time."

"If time allows, you can even stack the bowls into a pyramid shape, these are all key points for fast service."

Elsa was stunned, blinking her big eyes in realization, "So that’s how it is, I thought you make each order as it’s placed, turns out there are hidden speed-up techniques for setting up a stall."

After Lin Chen’s guidance, she first started cooking the wontons and then began continuously placing take-out boxes on the counter.

This not only accelerated the speed of service but also brought a much stronger visual impact to the diners.

"Is it really that good?"

A few elderly men, around fifty with grey hair, who were watching the commotion, were full of doubt.

Isn’t it just dough with meatballs? How is it any different from eating toast with meatballs? Why eat it so sloppily?

And that lemon tea, they’ve been drinking it all their lives, never had lemon peel water that wasn’t bitter; surely lemon juice made like this is very bitter!

Silly, they must be trying to trick people by pretending it’s delicious to make others buy more!

"Hey hey, don’t be fooled by them, it’s lemon after all, how can so much of it not be bitter? They’re probably waiting to see you have a bad time."

With the old man’s reminder, quite a few people started to hesitate.

Should they buy one cup to try first, or go for two at once?

Seeing the line growing longer behind them and watching Lucas swinging his arms in a blur, after hesitating for a while, they still decided to buy two cups.

"I trust the chef’s skills, he must have considered these issues, he wouldn’t dare to do this without thorough research."

"Makes sense, anyway, I came to eat for two days last week, and I didn’t have any unpleasant food or dessert, buying more can’t be wrong, better than queuing again."

Hearing the news that the diners behind were all ordering two cups, Lucas was a bit despairing.

In his plan, everyone should order one cup, saving their appetite for the buns, how come they’re all ordering two cups now?

Drinking so much water, how can they eat the buns? Silly!

After only making seven or eight cups, he already felt a slight soreness in his arms.

If this trend continues, after pounding out two to three hundred cups, his arms might be done for, unable to return to normal by the week.

Thinking of this, he suddenly regretted not working out regularly, or else he wouldn’t be this weak.

He looked up at the camera that was recording, pretended nothing happened, and naturally switched from his right hand to his left hand to continue pounding, to give his right hand a bit of rest.

Meanwhile, a small batch of customers also arrived in the restaurant.

These were basically people who came relatively late. Seeing the long queue at the food truck and separate charges, they decided to enter the restaurant to grab a quick bite.

As soon as they stepped into the dining area, the rich smell of cream immediately caught their attention.

The rectangular, whole cream lasagna looked incredibly enticing, especially the top, covered densely with a cream sauce made from various mushrooms and onions, the mushroom layer topped with a thick layer of cheese, completely melted, and even torched to a distinct brown char.

From the side, you could clearly see the layers of tender spinach and seafood inserted in between the lasagna, with alluring shrimp and squid rings everywhere, impressively rich in ingredients.

Seeing such a stunning dish, nearly all the diners inside were drawn to it, and they unanimously grabbed plates and rushed towards the lasagna.

Creamy pasta holds a similar status for Westerners as tomato and egg stir-fry for the Great Xia People, almost no one can resist having a few bites.

Even the picky ones, there’s also a whole baked salmon with pesto, refreshing and appetizing salads, scrambled eggs with buttered toast, and more, are all perfect breakfasts one can’t refuse.

Jonathan was also smart, preparing mainly oven dishes or quick-to-make dishes for this week, keeping it simple, while ensuring they were visually appealing and tasty.

All thanks to the experience learned from Lin Chen, saving him a lot of work hours.

At this moment, he was leaning against the back kitchen door, looking at the dining area from afar, seeing the diners who came in with smiles on their faces, continuously filling their plates with food, his face also showed a satisfied smile.

"I told you, you could do it, Jonathan!"

"Last week must have been an accident, not playing to your level, this is your true ability!"