Relics
The kappa roll consists of just three ingredients: seaweed, vinegared rice, and cucumber. Like egg fried rice, it's a simple yet complex sushi dish. Zheng Cheng didn't really want to eat it; he just wanted to test the waters.
The manager brought over six neatly arranged rolls of sushi. The cucumbers were of the right size and the cuts were smooth. Each roll looked as if they had been copied and pasted.
After just a quick glance, Zheng Cheng pushed the plate to Xiao Ming: "You eat."
The store manager's expression changed. He was about to ask Zheng Cheng what he did wrong, but Zheng Cheng turned around and said to him with a smile: "The Kappa roll is well made. Call him over."
Zheng Cheng has regular facial features, but he usually holds his head high with his eyelids drooped, never looking at people. When he has no expression, he looks cold and arrogant.
But once he is in a funny mood and looks into someone's eyes, the four words "bright eyes and white teeth" become fully embodied. This sense of contrast, regardless of gender, will instinctively make people want to laugh again after seeing it once.
"Okay, okay." Generally, chefs in chain stores are not allowed to go out of the counter casually, but today the store manager made an exception without thinking.
The black-clad chef came straight over behind the store manager. He was dressed in black, with his chest hunched over and wearing a black mask. When he got closer, he looked very young, only a few years older than them, and had a lazy and ruffian air.
This nonchalant look hasn't changed at all, Zheng Cheng thought.
Xiao Ming stuffed his mouth with a Kappa roll and wanted to stand up to show off his strength, but when he got closer and saw his height, he sat down to avoid humiliating himself.
If Brother Cheng could stand up and compete with him, I would just forget it.
He glanced at Zheng Cheng who was still leaning against the corner of the booth and was not at all panicked, so he sat down calmly. The Kappa roll was refreshing and filling, so he ate another one.
"I won't look at the menu anymore. Recommend one. I want Edomae." At this time, Zheng Cheng had put away his smile, without raising his eyes, and returned to his previous state.
The store manager nodded and agreed, nudging the young man in black beside him: "The salmon belly has just arrived today. Go and grab a couple of them. Remember, be selective..."
"Oh."
A sneer interrupted the store manager's earnest care. Turning around, he saw Zheng Cheng's smile again, but it was no longer as sweet as the spring breeze, and was only replaced by an arrogance that made people lose without a fight.
The store manager didn't know what he had said to offend him, so he could only hesitate and stop giving instructions, looking for help at Xiao Ming, who was eating a kappa roll while trying to hold back a smile.
Compared to the store manager, the young man in black was much calmer. He looked at the two customers leisurely and spoke slowly:
"I can't do it."
"What did you say?" The manager was terrified. He turned around and quietly scolded the young chef, "Just do what I tell you to do. This Guan Gongzi can cut our sales in half with just one tweet."
The young man's mask covered half of his face. Instead of feeling any urgency, the store manager's words curved his eyes and smiled, "I really can't do it. There's no salmon sushi in Edomae."
Zheng Cheng glanced at him.
"Hahahaha, manager, you need more training." Xiao Ming, who finally swallowed the kappa roll, explained with a smile, "There are only rainbow trout and salmon in the Sea of Japan. In Edomae cuisine, these two are eaten cooked. There's no salmon sushi. Hey, tuna, please."
"Oh, oh, oh, okay," the store manager suddenly realized, and without caring about the embarrassment, he hurriedly urged, "Hurry up and make the tuna belly!"
When he heard him say big belly, Xiao Ming laughed again: "Goodbye, your tuna big belly..."
"Don't interrupt," Zheng Cheng interrupted him, raising his chin towards the flustered store manager. "Let him recommend it."
The conversation between the two of them confused the store manager. He couldn't figure out what was going on and could only look at the young man in black and wait for him to speak.
The young man slowly pinched the metal strip on the mask: "A big belly is not okay, it was last month. The lionfish that came this morning is okay."
"Okay, okay, how are the lionfish, you two?" the store manager asked immediately as if he had found a savior.
Zheng Cheng nodded, and the young man walked towards the kitchen without saying a word.
"Brother Cheng, I think I remember." After the store manager and the young man hurriedly left, Xiao Ming whispered to Zheng Cheng, "Is it the one that was about to go bankrupt a year ago and didn't allow people to eat..."
"Shari." Zheng Cheng spat out the two words in a cold voice, looking at Xiao Ming with appreciation, "Not bad, you finally remembered it."
Sheri, that was the only store that locked Zheng Cheng outside and wouldn't let him in. The young man in black was the culprit who pulled up the sliding door that year. His name was written on the health license - Hu Hanyu.
A year ago, Zheng Cheng had just started exploring restaurants. Among a string of fancy Japanese restaurants, he picked this small restaurant that had the most authentic Edo-style food, both in terms of name and dishes. He was complacent and thought that with his ability to identify good food, he could establish himself as a professional food blogger.
Sheli is located on a small street in a busy city area. The owner knows the location well: it is convenient for transportation but not easy to find, hidden away in the city.
Zheng Cheng also remembers the decoration of the store entrance very clearly. In the corner of the black stone slab, there is a handwritten Japanese word "Shari", which means the ball of rice under the nigiri sushi.
Originally planning a blind test, Zheng Cheng liked the design of the door head quite a bit, so he changed his mind and asked Xiao Ming to ask if he could take a picture. But he was kicked out directly.
Hu Hanyu followed out and flipped the doorplate to "Ready" with an expressionless face.
"No, it's fine if you don't allow me to take pictures, but you also don't allow me to eat after coming all the way here?" Zheng Cheng was extremely dissatisfied with his attitude, so he rushed forward and started to scold him.
"We don't accept internet celebrities." Hu Hanyu didn't even look at him. He returned to the store and muttered, "I hate people like you who play on traffic the most."
Playing with traffic? Playing with traffic?!
"Brother, forget it, forget it. Don't let me take it away." Xiao Ming grabbed Zheng Cheng's arm and tried to pull him away. "We really came here for the traffic."
"I'll remember you! This little shop that doesn't distinguish right from wrong doesn't even have the most basic respect!" Zheng Cheng's face flushed red as he glared at the door and shouted, "Who stinks?"
He had never been insulted like this in his life, except for the few days when he was thrown into the kitchen by the kidnappers. He always smelled delicious every day!
"How could I forget the great humiliation I suffered as brother? I just didn't connect the dots just now, hahaha." Thinking of what made Zheng Cheng angry, Xiao Ming couldn't close his mouth again.
That day, Zheng Cheng threw all his life's cultivation into the trash can at the door of the relic store and cursed at the door. Xiao Ming couldn't help laughing when he thought about it.
"Still laughing, still laughing! I was almost sick with anger!" Zheng Cheng kicked Xiao Ming under the table. "This arrogant Hu Hanyu, I'm going to kill him today."
In fact, Zheng Cheng wanted to leave him a bad review anonymously when he got home, but when he opened the comments, [Shari] had become [Shari (Closed for business)].
Deserved it! Although he still felt a little unhappy, Zheng Cheng felt relieved when he saw the four words in brackets.
Don’t let me find out that you opened a shop somewhere else, Hu Hanyu, he thought to himself.
"I don't think he needs you to kill him to show off his power, Brother Cheng." Xiao Ming wiped his face and took over the conversation in a serious tone, "A good store owner has become a sushi restaurant employee."
"With that attitude, he deserves to go bankrupt!" Zheng Cheng couldn't stop talking. "At the time, I was wondering how the young boss dared to claim that he could prepare kaiseki by himself. Today, I'll put him to the test."
"Okay, brother, how do you think I can find fault with this?" Xiao Ming looked at the empty sushi plate and thought for a long time. He couldn't find any fault with the sushi. "Uh, the plate is pretty old?"
"What does Panzijiu have to do with him? Are you here to collect a debt, and you're looking for trouble? If you want money, just go out in the rain and eat sushi." Zheng Cheng kicked him several times.
"The ingredients used in chain sushi restaurants are so poor, so there's nothing to say about the ingredients..." Xiao Ming muttered and sat down obediently.
The store manager came over excitedly, carrying two lionfish in his hands. He looked both excited and nervous. "Sorry for the long wait, I've picked out the best parts. Please enjoy them."
When Zheng Cheng saw the store manager, he immediately regained his previous coolness. He picked up the sushi, looked at it for a while, turned it upside down and dipped it in the soy sauce dish, then took a bite.
I have to say, Hu Hanyu really knows how to make sushi.
The first thing is the knife skills. Cut the fish at the belly and remove the fat and blood from the edges. The knife skills are sharp and the fish is clean.
Sufficient fat brings the richness and fragrance of sashimi, the freshness brings crispness, and the vinegar rice just neutralizes the greasiness.
Then comes the relics, the tightness of which is a test of the sushi chef's technique.
It should be tight so that the sashimi will not fall when picked up by chopsticks and turned upside down, and it should be loose so that it can blend into the sashimi when you put it in your mouth and chew it lightly. He achieved both points.
After swallowing the whole bottle, Zheng Cheng pushed the remaining bottle to Xiao Ming as usual. Only then did he glance at the store manager:
"What about him?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Hanyu appeared silently behind the store manager.
"Next." Zheng Cheng said, "What do you recommend?"
"The prawns are quite fresh, but a little on the size," said Hu Hanyu.
"Okay." Zheng Cheng agreed.
Hu Hanyu didn't move.
"Go quickly, why are you standing there?" The store manager was feeling a little embarrassed and vented his anger towards Hu Hanyu without saying a word.
"Can I do it differently from the restaurant?" he asked. "The shrimp are too skinny."
"Okay, okay! You can do anything to satisfy Master Guan. Hurry up!" The store manager chased after him as if chasing someone away.
"Why did he call me Master Guan? Did I blush?" Zheng Cheng asked Xiao Ming after the man left.
"Don't bother with him." Xiao Ming, still unsatisfied with a round of sushi, licked his lips to comfort him. "How can Cheng-ge be as handsome as Guan Gong?"
The prawns were indeed very thin, but Hu Hanyu cut three strips from each of the two prawns, stacked them together and braided them into a small braid. The two tails stood up like fans, looking very delicate and beautiful.
The shrimps are quite fresh, springy, sweet and chewy. The rich texture of the two shrimps fills the balance between the shrimp and the shrimp meat. This time, Hu Hanyu directly applied soy sauce, and the saltiness of the seasoning that seeped into the gaps between the shrimps was just right.
Originally, I just wanted to test his skills and then add insult to injury to dampen his enthusiasm. Now that he has finished eating two strings of coins, not only has the half-baked Xiao Ming already forgotten everything, Zheng Cheng can't find any fault with it either.
Under the store manager's gaze, Zheng Cheng nodded slowly. He wanted to ask Hu Hanyu a few more questions, but he saw that he was still busy at the counter and didn't follow him.
"The chef said he'll make two more pieces of naked tuna. Please wait a moment." The manager added in a low voice, "These prawns are too expensive. Please don't advertise them. Thank you very much."
Xiao Ming and Zheng Cheng looked at each other: Sure enough, Hu Hanyu, the order of tasting sushi is white first and then red, and the taste ranges from light to strong. It is indeed time to serve the redfish.
Hu Hanyu's knife skills have done their best to make up for the various shortcomings of the chain store's tuna ingredients. The membranes and tendons between the fish meat are carefully picked off without affecting the chewing, and the relics are perfect.
By this point, Zheng Cheng had already figured out Hu Hanyu's skill level. He put down his chopsticks, met the manager's attentive gaze, and smiled, "Your sushi chef's skills are quite good."
If the store manager, who finally got a smile, had a tail at that moment, he would definitely swing it into the air and fly around: "That's right, our shop's chefs are professionals, do you want to..."
"That's enough sushi. Eating too much will make your stomach cold. Have a bowl of miso soup." Hu Hanyu has already pushed the upper limit of the ingredients. If he wants to find some problems, he can only change his angle.
Even though Zheng Cheng would not wrongly accuse someone of his craft out of a grudge, his desire for revenge remained undiminished. He opened his mouth leisurely and added:
"Don't give me the ones you pre-made. They have to be on the same level as the peony shrimp."
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