Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"Can we try all four flavors? We’ve never had this kind of food before, we want to taste them all."

"Huh? All of them?"

This truly puzzled Elsa, who turned her head and cast a pleading glance at Lin Chen inside the car.

Lin Chen was shaking the net bag in the pot, and upon noticing her gaze, nodded.

"Sure, but it’s not easy to divide the instant noodles into four portions. Do either of you prefer vegetarian?"

"No, we eat everything."

"Then I’ll give you one portion of instant noodles in bone broth and one portion dry-mixed; since the bone broth is the original flavor, you can dip it into the other two soups to achieve those flavors."

"Okay, okay, thanks a lot, chef."

"No problem, it’s my duty to provide satisfactory service to guests."

"Order number 27, four flavors; ladies, please hold onto your number card, and we’ll call out the number shortly~"

"Whew..."

Su stepped away from the food truck window, exhaling deeply, feeling that it was even more nerve-wracking than previous job interviews.

She didn’t dare to join the other three, walked straight past them, gave them a quick signal, and sat down at an empty table.

The three understood, their faces lighting up with surprise, and immediately stood up to leave towards the hotel.

They had discussed the whole plan beforehand, originally intending to wait in the hotel for the results, but their curiosity and concern got the better of them, so they came to take a look.

Seeing that the plan succeeded, they didn’t dare linger, eager to return to the hotel room to wait for the food, rather than risk an accident by staying here too long.

There were still many diners who had seen them in the morning, the longer they stayed, the higher the chance of being exposed.

Although usually, no one pays attention to other diners coming to buy food, it’s better to be cautious.

"Huh? Why did they leave again?"

As all the diners were waiting for the meal, the three leaving seemed very abrupt.

Wilson was already annoyed by his inexplicable habit of focusing on surrounding details, but there was no way to easily change a formed habit.

Watching their departing backs, he frowned, feeling more familiar the longer he watched, and their behavior seemed strange.

Others queued, but they didn’t; others sought seating, but they vanished.

This behavior is not typical of people here to eat?

"Guest number 1! Guest number 1, please raise your hand~"

Dais’s sudden announcement interrupted his train of thought, and nearby, a man excitedly stood up.

"Here, here!"

"Number 2 here!"

"I’m number 3, is mine ready soon?"

"Number 4, number 4!!"

Lin Chen was very efficient in serving dishes; he didn’t need to do much with the spicy soup, just dunk the cooked net bags into the bowls and pour the designated broth.

Dishes with dry-mixes were a tad more complicated, taking several extra seconds to drizzle sauces.

He swiftly retrieved all six portions into containers, then following the paper tags clipped on the baskets, continued to fetch six more portions from the pot, proceeding with the final stages of preparation.

"Number 1, number 2, number 4, number 5, number 7, number 8 are ready!"

Placing the packaged food by the window, attaching the paper tags, allowed him to move on without further attention, continuing to retrieve food from another pot to repeat the cycle.

"Ah? What about my number 3? How come it’s slower than number 8??"

"Why is my number 6 not ready either?"

Dais and Elsa moved gracefully with trays between tables, personally delivering hot spicy soup to each diner.

Number 3 and number 6 were dumbfounded, hurriedly catching Dais for clarification.

"Don’t worry, you two, you chose tomato flavor, while they chose spicy; different flavors are cooked in separate pots, and only one pot’s orders are served at once. Chef is currently packaging your food, it’ll be ready soon."

Dais patiently explained to them with a smile, pointing to the food truck window, where they saw Lin Chen fetching food, reassured by the sight.

"So that’s how it is. I thought it was served by order number, didn’t expect it based on flavor."

"Makes sense, makes sense, no worries, take your time, just make sure it’s delicious!"

Saying this, they couldn’t help but glance at the diners closest to them who had already received their food.

The lids of their meal boxes were already lifted, revealing an assortment of food soaked in red and white broths.

The regular diners were familiar with the red chili oil flavor, imagining its taste easily, but the white broth was new to them, drawing comparisons to previous experiences with high-quality broths or creamy soups.

Imagining the taste of broth with red oil in my mind, my mouth started to water uncontrollably.

"Number 3, 6, 9, 13, 15..."

While numbers were being called enthusiastically by the food cart here, there were also quite a few figures gathered at the windows in hotel stairwells.

"I heard the Head Chef is serving spicy hot pot today?"

"It’s only 10:40 and there are already so many people. Business is getting better every day, I want to try it too..."

"When can we revert lunch back? If it doesn’t work, I’d pay for it, or we could collectively suggest it to the higher-ups?"

"I think it’s not that simple, the main issue is the lack of manpower, not that the Head Chef doesn’t want to cook for us."

"Yes, yes, Chef Lin is very nice. Their business is getting better every day, so they’re really too busy to prepare meals for so many of us staff, which is why only Jonathan Chef, who is relatively free, can prepare meals for us."

"I heard Chef Lin is already hiring publicly. I wonder when someone will come to work. I hope it’s soon; I’m really tired of Western food, just want to try something different."

"I really miss the days when we could eat buffet for free..."

"What do you mean ’before’, it was just last week!"

Several waitstaff stood next to each staircase window. Besides the cleaning and room service staff, quite a few from the logistics team were loafing around here.

Even more outrageous was someone pulling out a pair of binoculars from the cleaning cart, peering at the food cart, trying to see what the enticing spicy hot pot looked like.

Wang Ziqin and his wife arrived right on time. They, of course, knew that spicy hot pot was being sold for lunch. They basically asked Lin Chen every day what dishes were being prepared, coming if interested, and not if not.

They had tried the spicy hot pot from Paris before, and honestly, it was just so-so, modified to suit foreign tastes.

But it’s different here with Lin Chen, they can have it authentically made to order, tailored to their preferences.

"Wait, what? Wow, so many people??"

Seeing the long queue in front of the food cart and the sight of Dais and Elsa weaving through the crowd delivering food, their eyes widened, thinking their watch was broken.

"Isn’t it 10:50? How are they already eating?"

"The young man started serving earlier today, didn’t even say a word!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, your position as general manager doesn’t seem very important~"

"... You’re good at tactics, don’t use it next time."

Covering his forehead speechlessly, Wang Ziqin resigned himself to silently standing at the end of the line.

He didn’t want to create an impression of exploiting power and status to cut in line in front of so many guests, so he decided to just queue patiently.

Soon after they lined up, the numbers started being called again in front.

"24, 25, 26..."

In just two minutes, almost ten numbers were called, and the line moved forward significantly.

"So fast? This young man’s speed is impressive, no wonder he’s been single for over twenty years. I remember when eating at home, a crowd of this size took at least two hours to get a meal."

"Exactly, last time we went back home, the spicy hot pot shop we went to was not only awfully slow but also missed orders! And their prices were high, three bucks for a skewer of veggies, who can afford that!"

Talking about it made them mad, but the owner couldn’t hear from halfway across the globe, and the foreigners couldn’t understand, so they unreservedly criticized each shop.

At this moment, Su hurried past them carrying four takeaway boxes, wafting the unique fragrance of spicy hot pot in the air.

"?"

Smelling this aroma, both their stomachs immediately rumbled, and they instinctively followed her departing figure with their gaze.

"Four bowls? What’s going on, that’s a lot to eat."

"Can’t it be a family meal or a gathering with friends? Why worry about it? Renting a room to accommodate several people is common, especially with the price hikes now."

"True, anyway more buys mean more profits, all my dear customers~"

The restaurant was part of his business too, and Lin Chen’s earnings partly went to him, so naturally, he hoped for more guests to spend.

However, Chu Yueyue was staring at the queue in front and behind, slowly furrowing her brows as if pondering something.

"Hey, husband, I think his stall setup might need some changes."

"After all, foreigners aren’t like us Great Xia People who like a bustling atmosphere. They might tolerate a half-hour wait, but if every meal requires waiting an hour or two, that would significantly diminish diners’ enthusiasm."

"The main point is that our primary profit model is from the farm and fishery over there, and then the hotel. The restaurant might just break even at most."

"If dozens or hundreds of diners waste their time queuing here, doesn’t it mean a significant reduction in income from the farm and fishery side?"

Wang Ziqin nodded repeatedly, stroking his chin, "Yes, that’s right, I hadn’t thought in that direction until you mentioned it. My wife really does have a sharp mind."

"So how do you propose we change it? We can’t shift to pre-made dishes, can we? The issue of queuing can’t be avoided with freshly made, served instantly unless we expand the workforce. But it’s hard to hire now, even with airfare covered, that young man only managed to hire two."

"And right now, the hotel is fully booked, rooms are tight. Many employees have given up their rooms for guests, and we have to give them subsidies. If we hire more, where would they stay? Are we to give them money to find a place themselves outside?"

"However, it’s peak tourist season now, and even finding a rental is tough, not until after the Olympics ends that there’ll be some relief, needing at least more than half a month."