Chapter 112 Coral Cabbage, Shrimp Cabbage [Second Update]...

Although there are many meat dishes, cabbage is still the most popular.

Chinese cabbage is like a kind and gentle elder; no matter what flavor it has or what ingredients it is paired with, it will create a wonderful chemical reaction.

Soon, the second dish was served. Wen's mother introduced it as coral cabbage, but it turned out to be a cold dish.

Some were disappointed. Although Wenji's private kitchen, averaging 100 yuan per person, was quite affordable, many had high expectations based on feedback from previous diners, especially since reservations were so difficult to secure. The first dish, though a simple home-style stew, was still a main course; was the second dish really that perfunctory—just a small cold appetizer?

Although the portion is indeed large, it's still just a cold dish, how delicious can it be...?

Why?

The person who took a bite of the cabbage almost instantly had their eyes light up.

The sweet, sour, and spicy flavors of cabbage combine to create a complex taste profile that makes it difficult to say which is superior. This once again demonstrates the inclusiveness of cabbage; the various flavors are not in competition but rather achieve a balance within its embrace.

"It's unbelievable, how can even cabbage be cooked so deliciously?"

The crispy pot still has some lard for seasoning, but this cabbage dish, apart from a little bit of scallion, ginger and chili on top, has no other side dishes. But how can the cabbage itself have such an amazing flavor?

Looking at the cabbage on the plate, it wasn't even cabbage leaves, but rather the cabbage stalks!

The shredded cabbage stalks, I don't know what was added, have a unique sweet and sour taste. After a few bites of the crispy pot, take a bite of the coral cabbage, and you'll feel refreshed and cleansed. Then you can have a big pig's trotter!

Wen Fan's process of preparing cabbage is not complicated.

Keep only the core of the Chinese cabbage, and cut the cabbage stalks into strips along the grain and then salt them to draw out the water.

Boil white sugar into syrup, let it cool, and then add vinegar essence. The ratio of white sugar to vinegar essence is six to one.

Place shredded scallions, ginger, and chili peppers on top of the cabbage, then pour sweet and sour sauce over it.

Finally, heat some Sichuan peppercorn oil and pour the hot oil over the shredded scallions, ginger, and chili peppers. Then, refrigerate the entire dish.

Cabbage that has been refrigerated overnight becomes coral cabbage.

It's quite a strange contrast, actually.

Because of its straightforward name, Boiled Cabbage in Clear Broth is often perceived as a simple dish.

The coral cabbage, however, is misunderstood as being too complex because of its elegant name.

Fortunately, the taste remained good in the end, which put the customer at ease.

The third dish was shrimp and cabbage.

After frying the shrimp heads to extract the shrimp oil, simmer it to make a rich broth. Stir-fry the fresh shrimp until fragrant and add them to the shrimp broth, then add the cabbage...

The dish is very home-style, yet it brings out the sweetness of the cabbage to its fullest.

You could even say that cabbage tastes better than shrimp.

"Waaaaah, I've never eaten such delicious cabbage before."

"I'm going to eat my third bowl of rice now, this dish is so good with rice!"

The fresh prawns are firm and bouncy, and the prawn broth is incredibly savory and flavorful. The cabbage has been simmered until it loses its shape, resembling a piece of silk that has been soaked for a long time, with the deliciousness of the prawn broth seeping into every fold.

This dish is incredibly delicious with rice. Just like the crispy pot on the table, almost every table finished this dish first, and then they didn't even waste the shrimp soup, which they poured over the rice, giving it a feeling of eating shrimp rice.

Each of the three dishes had its own unique flavor, and even with everyone's combined efforts, the crispy pot couldn't be finished.

At this moment, Wen's mother brought over the soup to finish the meal.

"Cabbage and tofu soup."

Wen Fan used soft tofu, cut into small pieces. What's remarkable is that the tofu didn't break during the soup-making process; instead, it remained perfectly square.

Perhaps because the previous dishes were so rich and flavorful, the last dish was extremely light and bland.

It's so simple that it doesn't use any extra seasonings, just the pure flavor of cabbage and tofu.

With the exquisite Coral Cabbage soup preceding it, no one criticized how simple the last dish was. Everyone ladled out a bowl of soup and drank it down, hot and comforting. Their stomachs, exhausted from a night's work, finally got a rest. The natural sweetness of the cabbage and the simplicity of the tofu made the soup so incredibly simple that everyone exclaimed how absurd it was.

"I'm doomed. I'm even starting to wonder if Wenji used some kind of spring water to cook this soup."

Otherwise, how can you explain how a soup with only salt as a seasoning could give him the illusion of being delicious?

Wen Fan, who had finished cooking all the dishes, quietly passed by and chuckled upon hearing this.

Mountain spring water?

Perhaps it was like this in the palace: the royal family would fetch water from springs in the suburbs early in the morning. These springs were heavily guarded, all for that one sip of fresh, cool, and exceptionally sweet water.

Nowadays, she doesn't have the ability to find any mountain spring water.

These people find the flavor light and delicious simply because they've eaten too much meat beforehand. After eating such strong-flavored food, a light meal naturally makes them appreciate the unique taste of the light dishes.

The "cabbage feast" that night was a great success.

Those who have tried it need no introduction, and even those who haven't can feel the deliciousness just by looking at videos and pictures, so they whine and beg for new dishes in the comments section of the account.

[A miracle will eventually happen: Ahhh, I really want to eat this crispy pot!]

[A Little Lucky Thing: There are also shrimp and cabbage! The soup looks so delicious, it looks so appetizing!]

[Misa Nohara: ...Actually, I'm really curious to try what coral cabbage tastes like. It looks like a small cold dish in the picture, so I'm curious how delicious it is when the final review says it's really good.]

...

However, the account owner was heartless and still didn't put those dishes on the menu. Even the simplest dish, Coral Cabbage, was no longer sold by the restaurant after that day.

Many people complained while saying – they definitely want to book a private kitchen!

On one side are excited netizens online, and on the other side is Wen's mother encountering the scalper problem again.

As soon as winter vacation started, Yu Fangfang went back to her hometown. Business at the store was getting better and better, but there were not enough people to handle the workload.

The mashed potato business temporarily ceased as students went on winter break, but the shop gradually filled up again with college students on vacation, with a long line of people waiting outside every day.

These are all minor issues; I can just find a winter break job in a few days.

The bigger problem is that, after Yu Fangfang's reminder last time, Wen's mother began to pay more attention.

Then we discovered that scalpers are already reselling reservation slots for the private kitchens that open for reservations every month!

And the price has even been inflated to five hundred!

Wen's mother: "...That's outrageous."

The dishes from our own farm cost only 300 yuan for three people, but one person's share is selling for 500 yuan.

It's still a business with no initial investment.

Wen Fan asked his mother how she discovered it.

Wen's mother said she could tell from the number of guests who made reservations. There were two people who had been making reservations for two months and had been able to get a reservation once a month. Logically, Wen's mother should have remembered them since they came once a month, but she noticed that the people who came each time were different!

If you ask the other customers who came to eat, they are mostly from out of town. They said that the friends who made the reservations for them couldn't come today, so they ate by themselves.

Where can you find something like this!

Wen's mother searched online and indeed found an account for "Wen's Private Kitchen Ordering Service." Clicking on it, she saw that they released a limited number of slots once a month, and the price was 500 yuan. The seller also said that this was only temporary, and the price would increase next month as the Lunar New Year approached!

Wen's mother was so angry she almost laughed. Her daughter had worked so hard to cook, and they hadn't even raised prices for the Spring Festival, but the scalpers had already started raising prices.

"I'm thinking of blocking them."

Blocking someone isn't a long-term solution; they can just change their phone number and keep coming back.

Whatever, there are only one or two spots a month now. But once the scalpers get going, they can use ten or so phone numbers to apply for the same spot, and then all the spots for the month will be taken by them!

Wen Fan thought for a moment: "That's simple... It's winter break, I plan to change the menu."

Looking back, we've been making steamed bowls for quite a while now, it's time to try something new.

Wen Fan asked her parents to stop serving braised dishes and rice noodles, and also stopped taking private kitchen orders on weekends. Besides the beef offal hot pot, the restaurant's menu changes daily.

I bought a small table and write down what dishes I'll be cooking each day on it. There aren't many dishes, maybe seven or eight a day. I cook everything fresh over a high flame—it's all about giving back!

Wen Fan refused to believe that scalpers would still be reselling the products after this incident.

To be honest, Wenji has always been focused on certain product categories since it opened, and this is the first time they have actually started selling stir-fries.

As soon as Yao Qingqin posted this message on her account, a series of question marks appeared below, expressing disbelief that Wenji had actually responded to everyone's call.

After Wenji became popular, many people suggested that since each new dish in a particular category becomes a hit, and private kitchen dishes are extremely difficult to book, instead of always envying others, Wenji should just switch to stir-fries!

This way, everyone might have a greater chance of getting to eat it.

[Little Starfish: Yay! I strongly suggest bringing back these dishes! I've never had shrimp and cabbage stew with persimmon cakes before... just talking about it makes my mouth water.]

[Strawberry and watermelon stir-fry: La la la, my house is nearby, I'll be the first one in line tomorrow!]

[momo: So Wenji is really changing its restaurant strategy? That's great! I'm so tired of Jinyulou.]

[T~: To be honest, I always see you guys comparing Wenji to Jinyulou, and I used to think it was an exaggeration. But I took some guests to Jinyulou the other day, and the food was really just average.]

[Lili: It's an old establishment, with a long list of achievements, so it's normal for it to take a break. I don't take my guests to Jin Yu Lou anymore; I go to Wen Ji instead. Although I always get looked down upon at first, after a few bites, I always find it delicious... I've fallen in love with this reversal of fortune. Next time, I'll take my clients there!]

[Tree's Sky: Hehe, I can speak to this. I took my crush to eat here before, and as soon as she sat down, she looked at me with surprise and said that I looked so quiet and gentle, why did she like to eat street food... But later she really liked it.]

[Hida Duoduo: You guys are going off on a tangent! I just want to know, can you please post the menu in advance?! My flight back to China is the day after tomorrow, and I need to study the menu beforehand so I don't waste any food after I land!]

[Geng Nuan: ...Although I've always been a virtual customer of Wenji Restaurant, I'm arriving in Taiwan next week. I hope the restaurant can send me a complete menu.]

...

The public's appeals were not ignored, and the account quickly posted a picture.

The video was accompanied by some light music, and the picture showed a small blackboard with the names of several dishes written on it.

[Wenji Restaurant: This is for tomorrow.]

This! Is! Tomorrow!

So it's changing every day, right?

As expected of Wenji, their so-called change in approach is also done at their own pace.

[Little Lucky: This menu is actually pretty good, eight dishes! I'll go eat there tomorrow!]

[Anson: So why is it already closed today? I just went to the store and it was closed. They said it would only open in the evening.]

[Canvas: Exactly, it can't be preparing for tomorrow, can it?]

...

Why are you not open for business?

Of course, it was because the school had posted an honor roll, and Wen Fan went back to school to pick up his admission notice.

After a semester of diligent study, Wen Fan has made remarkable progress.

Compared to the last midterm exam, Wen Fan successfully entered the top twenty in the class this time.

Not only that, she also scored 128 points in math.

Mr. and Mrs. Wen were overjoyed, so they closed the shop and took their daughter out to celebrate.

-----------------------

Author's Note: I'm so sorry, I was suddenly dragged by my family to a wedding banquet today, which ended up taking longer than I expected. I also drank a little alcohol. I thought I was fine at first, but the effects kicked in in the afternoon… and when I opened my eyes it was already dark. Sorry for not updating on time.