Chapter 109 Braised Chicken Feet in Abalone Sauce, Spinach and Wood Ear Mushroom Salad...
Just now, when there was only chilled sweet and sour pork with lychees, everyone at the table devoured the pork and lychees. Even though the portion was large, they couldn't keep up with the eating. Now, there are only a few pieces of pork left on the plate, and the lychees have long been picked out and eaten.
Since the stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots was served, everyone who tried it praised it highly. They happily ate a bite of beef and a bite of pickled bamboo shoot, and no one cared about the chilled sweet and sour pork with lychee that they had previously favored.
The beef is fresh, tender, and chewy, while the pickled bamboo shoots are crisp, tangy, and flavorful. The sauce is savory and delicious, making the beef and bamboo shoots taste much smoother and more flavorful.
After eating quite a bit of beef and pickled bamboo shoots, Ma Yongjun couldn't help but ask, "I'm planning to have a bowl of rice with the beef and pickled bamboo shoots. Just the thick sauce poured over the white rice is so delicious. Do you want some?"
This stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots is so flavorful! From the beef and pickled bamboo shoots to the sauce, everything is perfect for eating with rice. They definitely had the idea of having a bowl of rice too.
Although many people can get full just by eating meat and vegetables when they go out to eat, and then they can almost walk with just a little soup, Rong Chuan and the others still prefer to eat a bowl of rice with their main meal to feel like they've had a proper meal, so they all nodded in agreement.
Ma Yongjun immediately waved to the shop assistant and ordered five bowls of rice.
After the clerk brought over five bowls of rice on a tray, Zhao Yuanzheng said, "Hello, could you please also order a serving of stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots and a serving of pork rib soup with yellow skin to take away later? Thank you."
The clerk nodded in agreement, and the same procedure as before was followed: first, the cashier would collect the receipt and send it over, then another receipt would be placed on the glass window before the clerk would go on to serve other customers.
Lin Gangjie chuckled and joked, "Oh, you really order one dish at a time?"
Zhou Hongyuan asked in confusion, "Since you've already ordered two dishes and a soup, why not just order one of everything on the menu to avoid the hassle later?"
Rong Chuan and Ma Yongjun ate their beef while waiting for Zhao Yuanzheng's reply, also somewhat puzzled.
Zhao Yuan smiled and said, "These two dishes and one soup are enough for Mu Si and Xuan Xuan tonight. They probably won't order anything else. I'm having the staff place the order now so we can take them away later. I'm just worried that the dishes might sell out quickly, so I'm ordering now as a gesture of respect!"
He told everyone how popular Gu's Private Kitchen was for lunch and dinner, how often the sign said "Ingredients Sold Out," and how many people arrived late and couldn't even get a number at the restaurant.
Zhou Hongyuan suddenly realized: "That restaurant is really popular. If you come even a little late, you won't be able to get a meal!"
Looking at the seven tables in the hall filled with customers, and the queues of customers waiting outside the restaurant, he believed Zhao Yuanzheng's words without a doubt.
Lin Gangjie was already planning for the next time: "It's thanks to Lao Zhao that you got a table at the restaurant early today, otherwise we would have had to wait in line outside. Next time we come, we should try to arrive earlier and sit inside rather than waste time standing and waiting outside."
They're not used to queuing for meals. It's not like they absolutely have to eat at this restaurant. If there's a queue here, they can just find another place with decent food where there's no queue.
It's because the soup and meat I just had were so delicious that I'm thinking of coming back earlier next time, even if I have to wait in line.
Rong Chuan asked, "Can't we make reservations for this restaurant in advance?"
Zhao Yuanzheng shook his head: "Gu's Private Kitchen can't be booked in advance. If everyone called to make a reservation in advance, the phone would be ringing off the hook. The restaurant should just stop that and only allow people to queue up for dine-in. When my family comes to eat, we come early to wait and try to be in the first round of customers. Even if we don't get a turn, we can still get one after a while."
He also mentioned the delivery and errand services and subsidies.
Zhou Hongyuan and the others listened attentively. Who knows, maybe one day they'll want to eat it but don't want to come over, so they'll be willing to spend money to have someone run errands to buy it for them. They have to take this subsidy; every little bit helps!
Ma Yongjun was the first to be unable to resist, listening to them talk while eating stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots and rice.
The slightly thick and savory sauce is poured over white rice, and the round, white rice grains are instantly stained with the sauce and glisten with oil. At this moment, you can eat two slices of tender, spicy and sour beef and mix them with a mouthful of savory and smooth rice. After a few chews, you can't help but swallow them directly.
"Good heavens, Lao Ma, you actually started eating behind our backs!" Zhou Hongyuan saw that Ma Yongjun had already started eating, and judging from the frequency of his eating, he knew how delicious the stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots was.
Seeing this, everyone teased Ma Yongjun, saying that he truly deserved to be called the number one eater in the unit back then, and they quickly picked up their chopsticks and started eating.
The tender, tangy, and spicy beef is indeed very satisfying to eat with rice. If you drizzle the rice with the savory and thick sauce beforehand, each bite will be moist and flavorful, making it even more delicious. Even the pickled bamboo shoots are crisp, tangy, and fragrant, and you can easily enjoy them with a few bites of white rice.
Perhaps because they are used to quick lunches and dinners due to their busy work schedules, they were able to restrain themselves a little when eating meat and vegetables. But now that they were eating rice, their habitual behavior was triggered, and they ate rice very quickly with their chopsticks. Even when eating it with stir-fried beef with pickled bamboo shoots, everyone quickly ate more than half of their bowl of rice.
Fortunately, the staff came over in time and served braised chicken feet in abalone sauce, interrupting their ravenous eating.
The white porcelain plate is filled with chicken feet coated in a thick sauce, a beautiful deep amber color, and upon closer inspection, you can see the lovely sheen on the chicken feet, making them very tempting.
The sauce must have been reduced over high heat and then applied to the chicken feet to enhance their aroma and color. In addition to coating each chicken foot, a lot of it spilled out onto the plate. The chicken feet soaking in the sauce seemed to be trying to marinate themselves even more quickly.
Rong Chuan has a good sense of smell, and he looked at the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce with great anticipation: "I can already smell the seafood aroma of the abalone sauce. It's sweet and savory with a hint of saltiness. This braised chicken feet in abalone sauce is truly authentic!"
Lin Gangjie nodded: "These chicken feet look really good, much more delicious than the chicken feet snacks my wife loves. I have to take a picture and send it to her to make her drool!"
After saying that, he took out his phone, opened the camera, took a picture, then opened WeChat, found his wife's pinned WeChat message, and sent it to her.
Seeing this, Zhao Yuanzheng smiled and said, "I reckon your sister-in-law will ask you to pack some braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to take home later."
Zhou Hongyuan chuckled and shook his head: "Old Lin, you just love to provoke your sister-in-law. You're still the same after all these years. Old Zhao is right, you'll have to pack up some braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to take back to your sister-in-law as an apology later."
Rong Chuan and Ma Yongjun nodded in agreement.
"You don't even need to tell me. I'll definitely pack some braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to take back to her later. Let's send it to her now to whet her appetite, and we'll eat first!" Lin Gangjie said with a smile.
He wouldn't have taken a picture and sent it to his wife if he hadn't planned to take some home. He could still resist the meat dishes from before, but this braised chicken feet in abalone sauce looked delicious and was one of his wife's favorites, so he immediately couldn't resist taking some home.
Of course, he would try it first as a sign of respect.
Lin Gangjie picked up a chicken foot with his chopsticks, holding it close to the bowl as he ate, afraid that the thick sauce dripping from the chicken foot might accidentally spill all over the table.
He took a bite and felt the rich aroma of the sauce. The fresh and fragrant abalone sauce quickly spread in his mouth. The chicken feet were soft, tender, salty and fragrant, with a lot of collagen. There was a sticky feeling in his mouth, and the thick sauce added a lot to the flavor.
These chicken feet are undoubtedly delicious. They are soft, sticky, and have a strong gelatinous texture, making them a pleasure to eat. They also easily fall off the bone when you bite into them, which is very convenient.
Rong Chuan was also gnawing on chicken feet. He hadn't eaten this kind of thing much before. He always thought it was just scraps. Wouldn't it be better to just eat big pieces of chicken instead of using his mouth?
I was drawn by the culinary skills of Gu's Private Kitchen and the aroma of abalone sauce seafood, so I picked up a chicken foot with high expectations and tried it. I was instantly captivated by its unique flavor.
The chicken feet are soft, chewy, and have a unique gelatinous texture that leaves a sticky feeling in your mouth, but it's surprisingly good.
The chicken feet are savory and flavorful, and the seafood taste from the sauce makes them even more delicious. The bone is easy to remove at the end, which is very satisfying.
He couldn't resist picking up another chicken foot and eating it. It was savory and rich, incredibly soft and tender, and the meat fell off the bone with just one bite.
Rong Chuan realized for the first time that he had been hasty in the past. Although these chicken feet were scraps, they were still quite delicious if processed well. No wonder there are shops that specialize in selling braised chicken feet, and those chicken feet snacks in supermarkets sell so well.
However, he deeply understood that his ability to accept and even find the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce today was inseparable from the superb culinary skills of Gu's Private Kitchen. In any other restaurant, his chopsticks would never have touched these chicken feet.
Ma Yongjun, being a straightforward person, exclaimed, "This braised chicken feet in abalone sauce really tastes great! No wonder it's sold as a main dish. The chicken feet are soft, tender, savory, and fall off the bone with every bite. The collagen is so good, and the seafood flavor from the abalone sauce is absolutely amazing!"
Zhou Hongyuan said with a hint of regret: "It's also because we weren't prepared this time. If we had known that the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce were so delicious, we would have definitely prepared some beer or liquor to drink with them."
Chicken feet are a great snack to enjoy with drinks, and this braised chicken feet in abalone sauce is so delicious that it's incredibly refreshing to pair it with beer or baijiu!
Although they are all public servants and rarely drink alcohol for fear of interfering with their work, they sometimes do drink for social occasions. Besides, this is a private gathering of friends, and coincidentally, none of them are on duty today, so having a few drinks is perfectly acceptable!
Upon hearing Zhou Hongyuan's words, Ma Yongjun was also somewhat tempted, and sighed, "If I had known there would be such delicious braised chicken feet in abalone sauce today, I would have brought two bottles of baijiu from home. It's been a long time since we've had a drink together."
These days, everyone's busy with their own families and jobs, making it hard to get together. We rarely get together more than a few times a year, and drinking is even less frequent. It's not like when we were younger, when we all worked together and could grab a barbecue and chat anytime after finishing a case.
Zhao Yuanzheng gestured with his chin toward the standing freezer at the back of the courtroom: "If we really want to drink, we can just grab some beer from the store! Next time we'll have a chance to mooch some of Lao Ma's baijiu."
He knows this standing freezer very well; every time Xuanxuan comes over, he runs there to pick out a drink.
His words intrigued Lin Gangjie and Rong Chuan, who, having nothing else to do that day, readily agreed.
Ma Yongjun immediately got up and grabbed five bottles of beer from the standing freezer. Before the clerk could bring a bottle opener, he skillfully opened all five bottles using the two-bottle-opening method, handing one bottle to each person: "Come on, let's drink to our hearts' content today!"
"Okay, let's have a clash!"
Everyone raised their bottles of wine, and Rong Chuan laughed, "Let's toast first, to thank Lao Zhao for treating us to such a delicious meal at this restaurant!"
"Bang!"
The sound of several glass bottles colliding together was particularly crisp, indicating the pleasant mood of the five people present.
Everyone felt even more refreshed drinking the ice-cold beer, and when paired with the soft, savory, and sweet abalone sauce, it was simply a perfect combination! Taking a sip of beer and a bite of chicken feet, the more you ate, the more addictive it became, and chatting became even more comfortable.
Fortunately, even though he was drinking and chatting happily and getting a little tipsy, when the waiter came over to serve the last dish, spinach and wood ear mushroom salad, Lin Gangjie immediately said, "Hello, could you please order a serving of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to be packed up later? Thank you!"
Rong Chuan quickly added, "Let's order another one. I'll also pack one to take home for my daughter to try; she loves chicken feet!"
He knew that the supermarket's chicken feet snacks sold very well thanks to his daughter; every time he went to the supermarket, he would buy a pack or two of chicken feet to eat at home. Gu's Private Kitchen's braised chicken feet in abalone sauce were so delicious that even he, who would never normally eat them, enjoyed them immensely, so he had to pack some to take home for her.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Hongyuan asked Ma Yongjun, "Old Ma, didn't you say that braised chicken feet in abalone sauce are good with alcohol? Why don't we pack some to take home and eat again tonight?"
Ma Yongjun shook his head and said honestly, "I'm already satisfied with this beer and chicken feet at noon, so I won't pack any more. My family doesn't like chicken feet."
On the contrary, Zhao Yuanzheng was somewhat tempted, completely forgetting that he had previously said that packing two dishes and a soup would be enough for his wife and children, and said, "I'll also add an order of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to go."
However, this time the clerk didn't agree immediately. Instead, she said apologetically, "I'm very sorry, customer, but our restaurant has limited ingredients. We've almost sold out of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce. There are only two servings left..."
Most customers dining at the restaurant order all dishes at once, meaning that even if some tables haven't received braised chicken feet in abalone sauce yet, they've already ordered it in advance. Besides, there are also delivery services that buy it for others, and some of the food has already been sold.
Zhao Yuanzheng's table was one of the tables that had been eating for quite a while. The other tables had probably gone through one or even two rounds of customers. Naturally, quite a few customers had eaten there and thought it was delicious, so they asked for a takeaway. Therefore, there were really only two servings of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce left.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuanzheng immediately replied, "Okay, I understand. It's alright. The two meat dishes and one vegetable dish I packed earlier are enough for Mu Si and Xuan Xuan."
The clerk nodded and thanked her, saying, "Thank you so much for your understanding. I'll take two more orders of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce for your table." After saying that, she went to the cashier again to place the order and brought over a new menu.
Zhao Yuanzheng, seeing Rong Chuan and Lin Gangjie's slightly embarrassed looks, joked, "Are you two regretting it? Since you've already ordered a takeout, you should have done what I did and ordered all the dishes in front of you first, so you could have eaten your fill. But maybe all the meat dishes in front are already sold out by now..."
Lin Gangjie smiled and said, "Old Zhao, you have good taste. You ordered those two dishes and a soup in advance. Otherwise, we really don't know what would have happened."
Rong Chuan laughed and said, "Thank you, Lao Zhao. I'll tell my daughter later that it's all thanks to her Uncle Zhao for inviting us out to dinner that she was able to eat such delicious braised chicken feet in abalone sauce."
The awkwardness was fleeting; everyone was so familiar with each other that no one cared. The conversation was mostly joking around.
Zhao Yuanzheng readily agreed, "Let's find some time to get together at Gu's Private Kitchen again. Bring your families too. The kids haven't played together in a long time. Mu Si is still thinking about getting together with the sisters-in-law sometime."
The group of friends had been friends for many years, and their wives all knew each other. However, due to the different times they got married, their children ranged in age from similar to each other to a few years apart, but they all got along very well.
Rong Chuan smiled and agreed: "I'll tell my daughter later, she'll definitely be happy!"
Lin Gangjie joked, "Needless to say, my husband can't wait to come over for dinner after we finish eating these braised chicken feet in abalone sauce!"
After saying that, he remembered something and quickly took out his phone to check. His wife had sent him several messages in a row. On one hand, she scolded him for being heartless and sending photos instead of packing the food. On the other hand, she was craving the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce. Her praise was so high that it could be used as a menu item for a restaurant.
Lin Gangjie chuckled and shook his head. He texted his wife to tell her that he had packed a portion of braised chicken feet in abalone sauce to take home, which successfully elicited a surprised "Ahhh!" from her, and she sent him several praising emojis in a row.
While he was sending the message, Zhou Hongyuan and Ma Yongjun both agreed to bring their families to Gu's Private Kitchen for dinner next time. However, they each had their own plans. Having tasted such delicious meat dishes, they thought they should bring their wives and children to try them first. They couldn't possibly enjoy such a delicious meal all by themselves, could they?
Zhao Yuanzheng urged them, "Everyone, quickly try this spinach and wood ear mushroom salad! Let me tell you, one advantage of Gu's private kitchen is that even the most ordinary dishes can be made delicious. This soup is tasty, the meat is delicious, and the vegetables are pretty good too!"
Everyone was so busy talking that they didn't have time to look at the new dish on the table. Now, they turned their attention back to the spinach and wood ear mushroom salad and picked up their chopsticks to try it.
This cold dish looks refreshing. Tender green spinach mixed with black fungus is served on a white porcelain plate, and bright red chili peppers add a touch of color. You can already smell the sweet and sour aroma wafting in the air.
When you taste it, you get a sweet, sour, salty and savory flavor from the combination of light soy sauce, aged vinegar and white sugar, with a hint of spiciness. Then there's the fresh aroma brought out by minced garlic, white sesame seeds and peanut oil. You can feel the multi-layered flavor of this dish even before you start chewing. It's really something special!
The spinach is fresh and crisp, with a hint of its own fragrance and sweetness. The wood ear mushrooms are even crisper and more tender. Eating them together creates a wonderfully refreshing sensation. Combined with the various seasonings that bring out the sweet, sour, salty, and slightly spicy flavors, the taste is truly unforgettable. Even after just chewing and swallowing, I couldn't help but savor the aftertaste.
Rong Chuan picked up a piece of spinach mixed with wood ear mushrooms and ate it, then couldn't resist picking up another piece and eating it.
The sweet, sour, salty, and slightly spicy flavor lingered in my mouth. Even though I had been sitting in the air-conditioned restaurant for a while, I wasn't hot at all. The more I ate, the more refreshing and energetic I felt, and my appetite improved considerably.
Lin Gangjie nodded repeatedly after eating: "This spinach and wood ear mushroom salad is really delicious. Both the spinach and wood ear mushrooms are very fresh and have a rich flavor. It's rare to find a cold dish that tastes even better than stir-fried vegetables."
He had always assumed that cold dishes were appetizers, and that proper vegetables should be stir-fried. But after eating this spinach and wood ear mushroom stir-fry, he was surprised to find that cold dishes were actually quite delicious, especially refreshing and appetizing in the summer.
Ma Yongjun also liked the taste: "This cold dish is really good. I noticed that all the dishes on this table today, except for the abalone sauce chicken feet, are sweet and sour. Even the yellow-skinned pork rib soup is sweet and sour. In this hot and humid weather, it's really suitable to eat this kind of sweet and sour appetizer. And we didn't feel greasy after eating this whole table of food, which is the most difficult thing!"
Zhou Hongyuan exclaimed, "Before I started eating, I wasn't a big fan of sweet and sour flavors, but I couldn't have enjoyed this meal more than ever. So, there's no such thing as absolutely disliking something; as long as the dishes are delicious enough, even a table full of sweet and sour dishes is delicious!"
Zhao Yuanzheng also thought this spinach and wood ear mushroom salad was very good. The spinach was tender and the wood ear mushrooms were crisp. The salad was sweet, sour, salty and spicy, making it particularly refreshing and appetizing!
After listening to his friend's explanation, he realized, "If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have expected that everything on the table at lunch today, except for the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce, was sweet and sour, and it got better and better the more you ate, without being greasy at all!"
At other restaurants, one or two sweet and sour meat dishes are already enough to make you feel greasy.
As everyone chatted and ate, the meal came to an end, and most of the chopsticks were reaching for the last dish, spinach and wood ear mushroom salad, since the meat dishes had been almost finished.
The beer bottles for everyone were all empty. Actually, no one had planned to drink alcohol, but the braised chicken feet in abalone sauce smelled so good that they grabbed a bottle of beer to eat with it. After finishing the braised chicken feet, they naturally didn't want to refill their beer bottles.
Their table definitely had the longest dining time in the restaurant today. They ate and chatted, and after finishing the whole plate of cold spinach salad, they took a break to catch their breath, and each of them got a bowl of yellow-skinned pork rib soup.
We've finished all the other meat dishes, but there's still some pork ribs and yellow peppers left in this soup. Perfect timing, we'll each share some and finish it off.
Fortunately, the five middle-aged men had large appetites, and the Gu family's private kitchen only had a few dishes in total, so even though the portions were quite large, they finished them all.
Rong Chuan and the others no longer cared about the professional requirements and lifestyle of maintaining proper posture, and relaxed and casually leaned back in their chairs.
The slightly more robust Ma Yongjun and Lin Gangjie couldn't help but rub their stomachs to try and aid digestion, while the thinner Rong Chuan and Zhou Hongyuan didn't rub their stomachs, only saying that they were too full and that they definitely couldn't eat so much next time, and that they had to restrain themselves.
Zhao Yuanzheng was quite full. If he hadn't drunk the last bowl of yellow-skinned pork rib soup, he would have been almost completely full. A bowl of soup, two pieces of pork ribs, and a yellow-skinned fruit were enough to make him feel very full.
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stomach, when he suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh no! We also ordered longan and water chestnut soup, five bowls per person, to be served after the meal. I was just thinking of telling the waiter when they came to serve the last dish that we could bring the sweet soup, but I was so busy telling them to pack the abalone sauce chicken feet that I completely forgot about it."
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, realizing that they had indeed forgotten about the sweet soup.
The main reason is that when they usually eat out, they only eat meat and drink soup, and they don't have the habit of ordering sweet soup. If they remembered this, they would never drink another bowl of yellow-skinned pork rib soup. They would definitely wait to taste the longan and water chestnut soup.
Rong Chuan suggested, "Why don't we ask the shop assistant for a refund?"
Lin Gangjie guessed, "I'm afraid that since we placed the order so long ago, the restaurant has already prepared it."
Unlike some pre-cooked food restaurants, Gu's Private Kitchen is not made fresh to order. However, some dishes take a long time to cook and must be prepared in advance. They are served as soon as a customer orders them, and if they are not available, they are reserved for the next customer who orders them.
Zhou Hongyuan hesitated: "Then why don't we just go normally, take a break, and then continue eating?"
Ma Yongjun was tempted but still declined: "I'm already quite full, and I won't be able to drink this sweet soup even if I rest for a while longer."
Zhao Yuanzheng simply said, "How about this, we just tell the shop assistant to pack up the five bowls of longan and water chestnut soup separately, and we can each take them home and drink them when we're ready, or give them to our sister-in-law and children!"
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