Chapter 123 Guo Shijie goes to Macau
The second episode of "Hong Kong and Macau Chef Competition" has been aired.
The audience didn't expect that this year's competition would be so exciting.
In the first episode, Baohualou lost points first, but later caught up with one dish after another. However, the gap between the two restaurants was not that big. In the end, the chef of Chunfenglou made a mistake, allowing Baohualou to overtake and win the game.
In the second episode, a small restaurant like Zhangji in Aocheng sent a young man in his early twenties to compete against Lou Jiafu, the chef of Yulongxuan.
Lu Peide from Zhangji speaks Cantonese haltingly and needs an assistant to translate for him.
At the beginning of the game, Zhang Ji's assistant was just a decoration, and Lu Peide was cutting and preparing the ingredients by himself. Lou Jiafu and his apprentice worked in perfect harmony.
This is completely in line with everyone's impression. This small restaurant in Aocheng is just here to make up the numbers. Yulongxuan will definitely win this game easily.
At this time, the camera cuts to a close-up. The young man named Lu Peide seems to be busy, but he is actually very organized and has good knife skills.
When the cold dishes came out, Zhang Ji’s presentation was average, while Yulongxuan’s was more refined.
When the professional judges were evaluating the food, Yang Yuhe ate a piece of Luohan tripe and said, "The cooking time is a bit short, but the taste is already very good. If it can be braised for a longer time, the seasoning will be amazing."
The judges were not impressed by the stewed duck, but after eating the braised duck liver, they all praised it.
Among Lou Jiafu’s cold dishes, there was a braised goose liver, but several people’s comments on the braised goose liver were a bit mediocre.
The audience judges were very direct and said that Lou Jiafu’s braised goose liver was delicious, but it could not compare to the braised duck liver.
The scores came out and Zhangji was already ahead in the cold dish category. But this lead was a little unclear to the audience.
The difference between the two dishes can be seen even through the screen. The dish made by Lu Peide is much more difficult than that made by Lou Jiafu.
When the lobster prawns came out, Yang Yuhe asked Lu Peide, "Are you the heir of Lu's cuisine?"
Lu Peide said that he was the seventh generation successor of Lu’s cuisine.
Yang Yuhe began to introduce Lu family cuisine.
Even after hearing what Yang Yuhe said, Lou Jiafu still finished the remaining dishes very calmly.
Neither side made any mistakes throughout the entire process, but the other side's performance was many levels more difficult. Both the professional judges and the audience judges gave high praise for the taste.
Lu Peide became famous, especially when reporters went to interview Yue Ning.
Yue Ning said: "The Lu family is the representative of the century-old official cuisine. In the process of Cantonese cuisine moving north, southern dishes were cooked in the north, absorbing the northern cuisine, especially the Shandong cuisine. Sugar is added to many dishes to enhance the flavor. Roasting, stewing, braising, steaming, grilling, frying, roasting, and soups are all what they are good at. There are very few dishes that are stir-fried quickly over high heat. To be honest, this competition, including the preparation time, only has four hours, which limits the skills of Chef Lu. If he is given enough time, his tripe will be better. The chicken soup will also be better."
“If Chef Zhang from Baohualou meets Chef Lu, who do you think will win?”
Yue Ning said firmly: "I won't boost other people's ambitions. As long as the competition hasn't started, I will definitely say that my uncle A Ming will win."
After Yue Ning’s interview came out, the audience now knows that this is not Chef Lu’s true level.
Naturally, some reporters went to Macau to find out what was going on. The camera was focused on the small restaurant, which was even smaller than everyone imagined. It was a small shop located in a narrow street, specializing in selling noodles.
Chef Lu was wearing a vest and boiling noodles for the guests. The TV show was broadcast last night and many guests came to ask him to cook the dishes from the show.
He shook his head and pointed to the menu on the wall of the shop, indicating that he did not understand Cantonese and asked the customers to order the dishes on the menu.
The customer had no choice but to order some rice porridge.
This press conference was held in Mandarin. I told Chef Lu that he is very popular in Hong Kong now. Does he know?
Lu Peide smiled and said, "We have just started the competition! Let's wait until we can really make it to the finals!"
The reporter wanted to ask him a few more questions, but he said, "I still have to work!"
With just these words, the reporter was sent away.
Boss Guo of Junhao Hotel was looking at this scene and he was already in a state of panic.
It was rumored before that he forced Lou Jiafu away because Lou Jiafu lost the game.
They say he was clearly at the scene and had eyes, so could he not see how strong his opponent was?
When Chef Qiu from Chunfenglou lost the competition, Boss Liu came out and said that Chef Qiu played to his full potential and that it was normal for people to make mistakes. He also praised Chef Zhang from Baohualou for his excellent cooking skills.
He really had no way to defend himself. He just cursed Lou Jiafu a few times. It was obviously Lou Jiafu's wife who wanted to divorce him, but Lou Jiafu had no choice but to give up.
Now everyone is saying that he forced Lou Jiafu away. No matter what he says, it's useless. He really has no way to defend himself.
Moreover, Lu Jinyong was a stab in the back. Lu Jinyong had just told him that he wanted to leave.
He said that he did not force Lou Jiafu to leave, but he did not expect that the day after the show was broadcast, Lu Jinyong, who used to be a favorite on various programs, also announced that he would leave Yulongxuan, and he even said it on the show.
Without Lou Jiafu, at least there is Lu Jinyong. Now the two chefs are leaving? Of course, the world can go on without anyone, but without the two chefs, can Yulongxuan still be open?
Some people say that the glory of the company was after Miss Cui left, as the chefs left one after another. In fact, it didn’t take long for the company to no longer be as glorious as before.
The Zhang family had reached an agreement with Hong An and came to inform him that they had changed the venue for Mrs. Zhang's birthday banquet. The Zhang family was wealthy and could refuse the deposit of several hundred thousand yuan.
There was also a rumor that in order to express his respect for the highly respected Madam Zhang, Hongan specially invited Yue Ning to cook Chinese food.
This was like adding insult to injury for Yulongxuan. The number of customers had already dropped a lot, and now there were even fewer, making it look like the former glory days when it was half dead and hanging on for dear life.
Guo Shijie predicted that Lu Peide would become popular after the show, but he didn't expect him to be this popular. Now he doesn't want to wait for Lu Peide to win the title of Chef King.
According to Yang Yuhe's introduction and Yue Ning's evaluation, Lu Peide is already a famous chef in both Hong Kong and Macau.
After watching this interview, he became more confident. How could a pair of hands that are good at cooking bird's nest, abalone and shark's fin just boil noodles and cook pasta every day?
Guo Shijie brought a subordinate who could speak Mandarin from Hong Kong City to Macau City.
Walking on this small street, I found that apart from the prosperous gambling industry, other places in Macau were not as vibrant as those in Hong Kong. This street was not crowded with people, only two or three pedestrians.
The two found Zhang Ji, but found that the store was closed.
Guo Shijie asked the owner of the grocery store across the street: "Boss, do you know where Lu Peide lives?"
"have no idea."
"So when will he be back?"
"Can't you see it yourself?" The boss pointed and saw the morning and noon opening hours written on the wall opposite the shop. It was now afternoon.
Guo Shijie took out a cigarette and lit it up in annoyance. How about going to gamble a few times first and come back tomorrow?
Just as he was thinking this, two people, one old and one young, walked out of the alley where the shop was.
The grocery store owner smiled and called out, "Shou Bo, A De, where are you going?"
Shou Bo said in Cantonese: "Ade wants to make abalone, so I took him to the market. He doesn't understand Cantonese and will be cheated. Yesterday, many people came to see Ade, but today there are fewer people."
"Yes!" the grocery store owner just said.
The two were stopped by Guo Shijie and his men. Guo Shijie looked at Lu Peide and said, "Chef Lu, can we talk?"
Guo Shijie's entourage translated in Mandarin.
Lu Peide shook his head: "Sorry, I'm busy, we still have to go to the market."
"My boss is the boss of Hong Kong City Yulongxuan, we..."
"I know. I saw him during the competition that day. Your chef is very skilled. His dishes are not new in Hong Kong and Macau. People may rarely eat what I cook, so I felt very good at once." Lu Peide said.
Guo Shijie didn't need a translator. He could understand Mandarin, but he couldn't speak it very well. He said, "I came to you this time to invite you to work as a chef at our Yulongxuan."
When Lu Peide heard this, he quickly shook his head: "I'm not interested in going to Hong Kong City. I'll stay in Macau City. Besides, I have to participate in the competition. If I go to another restaurant, I will lose the qualification for the competition. Sorry."
As Lu Peide and Shou Bo were about to move forward, Guo Shijie and his men refused to give way. Guo Shijie said, "Would you like to talk together? I guarantee that you will get more than you would after participating in the competition. You are the heir of Lu's cuisine and you should not be confined to this small restaurant."
After listening to the translation, Lu Peide laughed, "Boss Guo, when I first arrived in Hong Kong, I thought the same thing. My ancestors were chefs for state banquets, and I am a descendant of the Lu family. If I had to go, I would go to the best restaurant in Hong Kong, so I went to Yulongxuan and wanted to be an apprentice at Yulongxuan. Your people were afraid that I wouldn't understand, so they asked someone who could speak Mandarin to translate, saying that I, a northerner who couldn't even speak Cantonese, wanted to work in a Cantonese restaurant. I said that I was the descendant of Lu's cuisine, the Lu family that brought Cantonese cuisine to the north a hundred years ago. Many dishes in my family recipes were used in state banquets, and my second uncle was a chef for state banquets. They laughed at me, saying that I couldn't speak Cantonese anymore, and asked where my mother was from. I said she was from Beijing. He told me that the Cantonese dishes I made wouldn't use old Beijing bean paste, right? I couldn't refute it, because our family has a braised carp with sauce that uses old Beijing bean paste. My specialty is braised sea cucumber with scallions, which is a Shandong dish."
Guo Shijie stood there in a daze, wondering which bastard had let him miss out on such a great chef?
Lu Peide said: "Later, I went to several restaurants, but they all disliked my inability to speak Cantonese and said that people in Hong Kong would not eat northern Cantonese food. I came to Macau to try my luck, and it was Uncle Shou who took me in. He had eaten the dishes I cooked and told me to cook in his restaurant and slowly look for a job. I saw the Hong Kong and Macau Chef Contest on TV, and I thought about how to participate. My purpose of participating in the competition was to find out if people in Hong Kong would not like the popular Lu family dishes. So I just wanted to participate in the competition completely. Should I go to a big restaurant in the future, or just follow Uncle Shou to make noodles? I haven't decided yet. But I definitely won't go to Yu Long Xuan."
Lu Peide took Shou Bo forward.
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