Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

After checking into the room and obtaining the room card, Wilson didn’t seem in a hurry to leave. He leisurely slurped noodles while flipping through the hotel guide, nearly driving the two women crazy with craving.

They couldn’t say anything, and even had to greet him with smiles on their faces, secretly swallowing saliva and silently enduring the attack of temptation.

Thankfully, the portion of the noodles wasn’t large. After sucking down seven or eight strands, he saw the bottom of the bowl, and with a lingering satisfaction, licked the sauce residue on his lips, looking as if he hadn’t eaten enough.

"The Great Xia chef here is really skilled, no wonder so many people are lining up to buy meals."

"Haha, yes, originally our business was quite slow here. Unexpectedly, after Chef Lin arrived, everyone started queuing every day, and the occupancy rate has doubled several times."

"In a couple of days, maybe even the rooms will be fully booked."

"Then I’m pretty lucky! Off I go~"

Wilson picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth and carried the empty takeout box as he turned toward the elevator.

He planned to check out the room first, then go back to bring over some daily necessities. Meanwhile, he’d also post an announcement online for subletting his place. Saving wherever possible was the goal.

"Oh, sir!"

Elise seemed to suddenly recall something and stood up to call out to him.

"Chef Lin initiated a poll on our hotel’s website regarding the dishes to be sold later. You might want to participate if you’re interested!"

"The website, right? Got it!"

As Wilson entered the elevator, he promptly opened the hotel’s website on his phone and soon spotted the flaming icon pinned at the top of the homepage.

Clicking in, he was presented with various food photos and related text descriptions.

[Survey on the flavors of the street food for the upcoming period!]

[Great Xia cuisine has countless culinary schools, with the most mainstream divided into eight systems, specifically Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Fujian, Su, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hunan. According to regional characteristics, it can be further subdivided into countless smaller categories...]

After a brief introduction, there were images of representative dishes from each major school and explanations of their features.

Each culinary school listed at least ten dish pictures, all looking very appetizing.

"Please vote for the culinary school you’re most interested in. Dish updates will follow based on the voting results."

After reading the entire article, Wilson had already entered his room.

To his surprise, it was a sea view room, offering a panoramic view of the golden sandy beaches below and the azure water.

"My God, is this room available for 150 euros??"

He initially thought cheap single rooms faced toward the town, not providing a sea view, but he didn’t expect them to give a room with such a view!

Below the voting options were many pictures of Great Xia desserts, all of which he hadn’t seen before, presented in exquisite shapes tantalizing enough to make one drool.

Unfortunately, these desserts weren’t part of the current voting and were only previews. When they could be tasted was only known by the Head Chef.

He personally favored heavier flavors, and his eyes were immediately drawn to Sichuan, Hunan, and Shandong cuisines, which appeared to have rich flavors.

After hesitating for a while, he finally cast his vote.

Once voted, he immediately saw the current voting results, with Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines fiercely competing despite their vastly different styles.

He could understand Cantonese cuisine, as many big cities and tourist towns have Cantonese restaurants selling dim sum, which he’s had a few times, and the taste was indeed very good.

But he couldn’t fathom how the spicy Sichuan cuisine could also rise to the top.

However, while reading the introduction, it seemed that not all Sichuan dishes are heavy in spice; there are many mild ones too.

Among them, the spicy hotpot was quite famous, and recently a popular shop opened in Paris.

Maybe these foodies are choosing Sichuan cuisine because they’ve tried that, or gone for the reputation?

He was merely guessing, as everyone has their preferences. He was more interested in hearty meat dishes, so he chose Shandong cuisine.

The reason was simple; there seemed to be a lot of meat, satisfying to eat.

Shandong cuisine currently ranked third, which was acceptable; however, the voting would not close until tomorrow noon, so it was too early to tell the results.

He skimmed through the lower-ranked culinary schools, noting that the gap between them wasn’t large, and anyone could overtake at any moment.

With no conclusive results yet, even if there were, exactly when any dish would be served remained uncertain.

He didn’t mind much, as he hadn’t tried any of these cuisines before, so whatever the Head Chef prepared was fine; they should all taste good.

After voting, he casually browsed below the forum, hoping to see some dishes previously made, flipping through and gradually becoming stunned.

"What’s this, last Sunday? It looks like mini lobsters, with a heap of minced garlic, bright red oil, and these wide noodles... freaking hell! The noodles can fly?!"

"Marinated raw seafood? Looks good, I didn’t know crabs could be eaten raw too, wonder how it compares to shrimp."

"This is... dessert? Shaved ice? Looks peculiarly shaped."

"Garlic roasted oysters!!!"

The further he flipped through, the more saliva accumulated in his mouth, almost overflowing in the end. He had to swallow it, making the sound particularly crisp in the silent room.

Not only did he see the dishes made earlier, but he also found the social media account of the lemon tea guy in the comments, which not only featured videos of the food seen earlier but also many stall videos from before.

"Impressive, over ten thousand followers? He’s actually a food blogger!"

While he immersed himself in the temptation of Great Xia cuisine, Lin Chen was engaged in his daily routine.

"Sorry folks at the back, the steamed buns are sold out, but we still have fried sauce noodles. If you’re interested, keep lining up, otherwise, there’s no need to join the queue!"

Dais held a loudspeaker as she walked back, shouting loudly, her face showing a professional apology.

This routine happened twice a day, and she was long used to it.

Not only her, but even the customers were accustomed to it. Upon hearing the buns were gone, many turned to leave.

These were mainly people who had already eaten, casually checking if they could catch anything leftover. Only those who arrived late and hadn’t had their fill stayed in line.

"That’s it?"

"Can you prepare more next time? I really want to try those buns!"

"Sold out by 12? Business is really good."

"Wasn’t lunch service supposed to end at 1? I thought I didn’t need to rush downstairs, how unfortunate."

Lin Chen wasn’t idle either. As usual, he came out from the food truck to appease the diners and gain some goodwill.

"Sorry everyone, since our restaurant is still in the trial operation phase, we’re limited by staff. All the dishes are for trial tasting, so the quantities are limited."

"We can’t find chefs skilled in Great Xia Cuisine here, so we need to recruit from back home. Even the fastest process takes several days, please forgive any inconvenience."

"To compensate for your support and long wait, we are offering fried sauce noodles at half price, as a token of my appreciation."

"Our restaurant still has a buffet available. Interested diners can hurry inside; there’s still time."

After his remarks, the slight grumpiness the diners had acccumulated dissipated instantly, leaving them all smiling.

Foreigners in business are different from Great Xia People; they don’t weigh relationships heavily. Their general demeanor seems too rigid.

The cost of flour is nearly negligible. Even with half-price sales, there’s still profit. Better to use it to appease diners, so they might return next time.

Great Xia People distinguish between one-time business and repeat business.

Though Lin Chen knows he’s slightly overthinking, because foreigners are different from Great Xia People, they aren’t easily influenced.

As long as the food at a restaurant tastes good and service follows the standard without discrimination, typically returning local diners can eat there for a lifetime.

Foreign cuisine selections are limited. Growing up with it, there’s no issue of needing to change palates.

Although the nature of the hotel restaurant is different from ordinary restaurants, unable to maintain a fixed customer base, it has its benefits.

New customers continuously come to become regulars, returning to repurchase over time.

Judging by population density, this location’s regular customer base exceeds ordinary restaurants, with high customer turnover accelerating regular accumulation.

The toughest part of this model is at the beginning. Slowly cultivating it until enough clientele builds up leads to qualitative leaps.

Fortunately, President Wang has a vast business empire and doesn’t mind the little expenses. He planned for long-term business from the start, hence the integrated farmhouse seaside resort creation.

"Nice, half-price offer, so lucky!"

"Good thing I didn’t leave earlier, please get me two bowls, thank you!"

"No wonder they say Great Xia People know business, it does feel comforting, get me two servings of noodles, packed to take upstairs for my wife."

"Can these noodles be stored long? I’d like to try the buffet inside; if they don’t keep long, I won’t buy them."

"They can," Lin Chen nodded, "I can pack the noodles and sauce separately, cooling the noodles prevents clumping, but storing beyond twelve hours isn’t recommended. With a fridge, it’s extended to twenty-four hours."

"That’s great! I’ll pack two more to go!"

Lucas could handle noodle tasks himself, so Lin Chen didn’t need to intervene. He found an empty spot nearby, sat down, and took out his phone to check the list John had sent.

As per his wide-ranging requirements, John was asked to list anything that could be related to all ingredients, edible or not, if possible.

"Hmm, the table looks clear, seems like there’s a template, many vegetable roots, stems, leaves, and flowers are edible, let me take a look..."