Chapter 85: The first appearance of the small restaurant This restaurant... She loves it...
Lin Yunqing started thinking about the menu as soon as he got up in the morning.
Last night, Sister Yi An was furious in the group and wanted to treat everyone to a free meal. She also threatened to charge 1,000 yuan for the meal, which caught her, the boss, off guard.
Anyone who has tried their restaurant will undoubtedly be captivated by the flavors. Lin Yunqing wasn't worried about that. Rather, her restaurant is currently focused on affordable dining; even a table full of seasonal vegetables wouldn't cost more than four figures.
As a result, the menu would inevitably need to include some clearly expensive, substantial dishes. Otherwise, with just a few seasonal vegetables, even with He Dayong's signature sweet and sour spare ribs and braised pork, the meal would only cost a hundred or two hundred yuan at best. But what dishes to add became a problem. Adding too many substantial dishes wouldn't fit with their restaurant's positioning. Offering customers delicacies from land and sea wouldn't only defeat the purpose of their promotion, but would actually be counterproductive.
Now most of the group members have tacitly assumed that Yan Yian is the owner of the small restaurant.
Especially that drunk Wang, who seemed to be at odds with Sister Yi'an, constantly slandering her in the group chat, saying this was a marketing stunt directed and performed by Sister Yi'an herself. If this thing didn't go well, Xiao Wang would probably be overjoyed and even taunt Sister Yi'an even more. Then she would truly have betrayed Sister Yi'an's trust in her.
Lin Yunqing first threw the question of the menu to Chef He Dayong, wanting to see if he had any good ideas. He Dayong was woken up by the phone call while he was half asleep, thinking it was a big deal, but it turned out to be just a small matter.
"Let's go to the market and buy some seafood. The prices will go up, won't they?"
Lin Yunqing could tell he wasn't awake yet and knew she'd disturbed his sweet dreams. But she was still a little angry. "It's closed fishing season now, and the heavy metal levels in the sea are exceeding the standard, don't you know? We can't sell seafood in our store."
He Dayong muttered softly after hanging up the phone, "Tigress, I'm not the worm in your heart, how would I know?"
Seeing that he had no good ideas, Lin Yunqing hung up the phone and walked to the door of the clinic next door. Instead of asking He Dayong why she forgot about her partner, Dr. Shen.
Lin Yunqing briefly explained the whole story, "...Doctor Shen, this is what happened. If it really doesn't work, I'll take out the hidden menu you set up earlier - the sour jujube kernel and lotus seed duck soup. I'll go to the market to buy some duck later."
Taking out this dish was the last thing Lin Yunqing wanted to do, but it also showed that she really had no other choice.
After hearing this, Shen Jiang thought to himself, what a coincidence! He was just planning to call her over to get some mushrooms.
Shen Jiang took Lin Yunqing to see the mushrooms she had taken out and placed in the yard a long time ago. Lin Yunqing looked at the full basket of mushrooms and couldn't help but open his mouth wide, especially the mushrooms with fresh mud and dew on them, which looked like they were just picked from the ground.
"Porcini, chicken mushrooms, maitake mushrooms... and even shimeji mushrooms! Doctor Shen, where do you get all these wild mushrooms?"
Shen Jiang smiled modestly: "These are all given by friends. You can take them to the store and cook them for the customers."
She checked and found that these mushrooms were normal and non-toxic, but the price per kilogram was not low. She was originally worried that Lin Yunqing's restaurant might not be able to sell them, but now it's good, it can just solve the urgent problem of the store.
"Your friend is really nice. These mushrooms are not cheap." Lin Yunqing sighed.
Lin Yunqing herself loves mushrooms. She once went out for a feast with her ex-boyfriend, and it was a dish of stir-fried dried mushrooms that opened her eyes to the world of mushrooms. She recognizes almost all of the mushrooms in Shen Jiang's yard.
The dried mushrooms in Shenjiangyuan were especially tender, with a light yellow color. They were also quite thick and tasted fresh and tender. Lin Yunqing almost drooled at the sight.
Dry mushrooms are difficult to handle and will have some dirt and weeds with them. However, these three top-quality dry mushrooms by Dr. Shen have almost no dirt and weeds. If this kind of stuff were sold on the market, it would cost at least 2,000 yuan per kilogram.
Lin Yunqing would say that all the mushrooms in this basket combined wouldn't be as delicious as this dried mushroom. But these mushrooms aren't as expensive as the dried mushrooms. If you encounter a mushroom that's too stunning when you're young, it's hard to appreciate other mushrooms later on.
*
Chen Jie, a student at Nanze University, is a serious foodie who loves to discover delicious restaurants in every nook and cranny of Nanze City. So when she heard someone recommend a new restaurant in a food group, she immediately went to Dianping.com to search for reviews, only to discover the restaurant didn't even have a name.
Chen Jie, who always likes to read reviews and pictures of dishes before making a decision, suddenly hesitated. With just these two reviews that looked like they were hired by someone, was the food in this restaurant really that good?
If you were to spend your own money, you would still hesitate, but if someone else was treating you, you couldn't be stingy. After Yi Wangxi said that he wanted to treat everyone, Chen Jie was quick to sign up first.
As for her evaluation, she would definitely give her honest opinion. Even though it was a free meal, she couldn't lie and force praise. Fortunately, the wealthy woman named Yi Wangxi didn't say anything at all. After giving her the address and phone number, she just said to tell her name when she got there.
When she heard the rich sister say in the group that the meal cost one thousand, she did not hesitate to get a few good friends from the dormitory to go enjoy the food with her.
When asked about her roommate, Li Qiong, Chen Jie hesitated. Li Qiong was very picky about food. The meat they found delicious always tasted strange to her. The vegetables in their cafeteria were even less delicious. Dining with Li Qiong was a constant source of complaints, and over time, it had also affected their appetites. Leaving Li Qiong out would seem like she was deliberately ignoring her.
"Li Qiong, this restaurant is new, so I can't guarantee the taste, but I heard from a rich woman in the group that she thinks their vegetables are the best in Nanze City. Why don't you come with us and try it?"
Li Qiong didn't want to go at first, but after hearing her roommate say that the vegetables in this restaurant were delicious, she agreed.
It was already soft opening time for Lin Yunqing's restaurant. She had placed two stainless steel beverage dispensers at the entrance. One dispensed three-bean, black plum, and sugar soup, the other red date and longan tea—both the red dates and longans Dr. Shen had given her that morning. They had signs saying "free samples" on them to attract passersby.
As soon as a few beautiful young female college students entered the restaurant, Lin Yunqing's small restaurant was immediately filled with laughter and joy. Looking at these energetic girls, Lin Yunqing thought to herself: How could she forget this group of people? These young girls love food and beauty. Many of them even skip meals to lose weight. If they all came to her restaurant to eat, wouldn't it be killing two birds with one stone?
Lin Yunqing's restaurant has a very simple menu. Besides some basic popular dishes, she mixes seasonal vegetables with side dishes, wraps them in plastic wrap and keeps them in the refrigerator. These vegetables and mushrooms are not on the menu. They appear randomly according to the season.
Chen Jie thought it was quite interesting. She was a meat lover, so she ordered sweet and sour spare ribs and braised pork, then started to choose vegetables from the refrigerator. At this time, Chen Jie found that she didn't recognize most of the vegetables in the refrigerator. "Boss, what are these vegetables?"
Lin Yunqing smiled: "This is sweet potato leaves, this is amaranth..."
There were many kinds of vegetables in the refrigerator, but the faces of the young girls did not show any expectation. On the contrary, seeing that the store was mostly dominated by vegetables, they suddenly felt that it would be difficult to spend a thousand yuan on food today.
Chen Jie thought to herself: I came here for a grand feast today, how could these leaves be so good? Although she had told Li Qiong that this restaurant's vegetables were good, she had actually been thinking of ordering two or three vegetables as a token of appreciation. At this rate, the maximum cost of this lunch would be two or three hundred yuan.
No, she must complain about this in the group. Isn't this a clear scam?
Seeing their hesitation, Lin Yunqing suggested straightforwardly, "I know you were recommended to our restaurant by an old customer. How about this? I'll pair you up according to your number of people. It's worth a thousand yuan."
Having said that, Chen Jie was still a little worried. After all, in her opinion, even if all the dishes in the restaurant were served at once, they might not be worth a thousand yuan. Besides, even if the boss lady served all the dishes at once, the four of them would not be able to finish them all.
After asking everyone about their tastes, Lin Yunqing served them two drinks. Chen Jie was feeling a little upset, but as the warm, sour and sweet drink entered her mouth, the heat and irritability she had felt immediately subsided. She took a few more sips. The drink was sour and sweet, very refreshing.
Li Qiong drank red date and longan tea. The unique aroma of red dates combined with the natural sweetness of longan created a rich, refreshing taste that instantly captivated her taste buds. Because she was a very picky eater and had some Qi and blood deficiency, the red date and longan tea made her feel indescribably comfortable.
"Madam, what kind of drink is this? It tastes so special."
Lin Yunqing looked up: "This is the three-bean, black plum, and white sugar soup and longan and red date tea that the Chinese medicine doctor next door taught me to make. The three-bean, black plum soup can reduce internal heat and detoxify, and the red date tea can improve complexion. It's especially suitable for us girls."
Li Qiong had an idea and took the opportunity to ask about the recipe of longan and red dates tea. The proprietress told her that it was made by boiling longan and red dates in water.
Li Qiong didn't expect that the ingredients and method of making this drink were so simple. She secretly took note of it and planned to try to make it herself in the dormitory after returning home.
Because of these two drinks, everyone immediately started looking forward to today's lunch. If even the drinks were made with such authentic ingredients, how could the food be any less delicious?
Chen Jie was chatting with her roommate about the excitement in the group chat last night when the first dish of sweet and sour short ribs arrived. Everyone, except Li Qiong, took a bite and tasted it. It was okay. It wasn't amazing, but it was definitely better than the cafeteria food.
Because they were the only table in the restaurant, the food was served very quickly. Soon, a dish of stir-fried amaranth and a dish of stir-fried beef were brought up.
Everyone reached out their chopsticks to pick up the beef, except Li Qiong who went to the plate of green vegetables.
"Wow, this dish is delicious!" Li Qiong's eyes lit up instantly, and then she stretched out her chopsticks several times with an excited expression.
Chen Jie was very confused. She had never seen Li Qiong react so strongly to a stir-fried vegetable dish before. She also picked up a piece with chopsticks and put it in her mouth. Soon, the sweet and refreshing taste of the amaranth blossomed in her mouth.
Chen Jie's eyes suddenly widened: So tender! So delicious!
Then, stir-fried sweet potato leaves and young broad beans with leeks were served one by one. Chen Jie finally remembered the important matter and shouted, "Wait a minute, I forgot to take a picture just now."
She finally remembered that she still had to give feedback in the group. She couldn't just make up nothing without any pictures.
Li Qiong rarely enjoyed eating out with her roommates. She'd always had a strange taste in her food, and whenever she went out to eat with them, she could only eat a tiny portion. Honestly, she didn't want to eat out with them. If she split the bill, she'd be at a disadvantage, but if she didn't, it would seem like she was being stingy and taking advantage. But this restaurant was different; they all loved the vegetables.
Li Qiong took the initiative and said, "Let's eat at this restaurant again next time."
The roommates didn't have time to speak and just nodded in response to her.
The few people were so engrossed in their food, they were busy picking up their dishes. The small restaurant suddenly became quite quiet. Only the overhead fan was slowly turning and blowing the air.
Soon, Lin Yunqing brought out a bowl of hot soup from the kitchen. It was winter melon and shredded chicken soup, which was a medicinal food recommended to her by Dr. Shen. It was suitable for drinking in the summer to remove dampness and relieve heat.
The winter melon itself is refreshing and the shredded chicken is delicious. This soup does not contain any extra ingredients, but it has an unexpected deliciousness.
Li Qiong took a few sips and couldn't say she liked it, but she could barely accept the soup. This restaurant was far superior to any restaurant she had ever eaten at before. Today's meal was simply the most enjoyable one she had had in years.
Chen Jie calculated that the two meat dishes, five stir-fried vegetables, and a winter melon soup on the table were all she had for the day. She felt a little disappointed, as all the dishes together would only cost three or four hundred yuan at most.
No matter how delicious these vegetables are, they can't cost 1,000 yuan.
When she thought about the boss lady who had promised to help them to get a meal budget of one thousand, she was looking forward to some special dishes. Now it seems that although the food in this restaurant tastes good, the prices are still a bit high.
She would have to ask the boss lady to tell her the details so that she could share it with her friends in the group.
At this moment, an extremely overbearing fragrance entered the noses of several people.
Chen Jie sniffed the food and thought, "It seems there is another meat dish."
Li Qiong was a little disappointed: "It would be nice if there was another vegetable dish."
She hasn't had enough yet.
Lin Yunqing brought out a plate of golden stir-fried vegetables and placed it on the table.
Chen Jie's roommate frowned: "Why is it beef liver?"
Not to mention Li Qiong, none of them like to eat this kind of animal offal.
Lin Yunqing chuckled and pointed at the plate of porcini mushrooms stir-fried with green and dried red peppers. "This isn't beef liver, it's mushrooms. Even though it's not meat, it tastes like meat."
The golden, oil-coated, beef liver-like thing was actually sliced porcini mushrooms. Chen Jie picked up a piece of porcini and put it in her mouth. A strong, unique mushroom aroma hit her nose. Her eyes lit up immediately, and before she could say anything, she picked up another piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
Seeing her performance, several people knew that the fried mushrooms must be delicious, and they all stretched out their chopsticks to eat them.
Li Qiong, on the other hand, watched her roommates devouring the food without picking up her chopsticks. When the proprietress said the dish tasted like meat, she instinctively thought of the meat she had eaten in the past, and a wave of nausea suddenly welled up in her stomach.
Chen Jie and the others didn't try to persuade her, but Lin Yunqing, seeing that she hadn't picked up her chopsticks, tried to persuade her: "Classmate, why don't you eat some? These mushrooms are freshly picked and very rare. They might be gone next time you come."
Li Qiong was somewhat moved by what she said, and she mustered up the courage to pick up a piece of porcini mushroom and put it in her mouth. As soon as she took the mushroom in her mouth, she knew that the taste of the mushroom was very different from what she had imagined.
She had eaten mushrooms before, but they tasted nothing like this. Li Qiong quickly joined the battle for mushrooms. After a few chopsticks, the plate of fried porcini mushrooms was empty. Several people licked their chopsticks with satisfaction and looked at the proprietress eagerly.
Chen Jie: "Boss, can I have another plate of these mushrooms?"
Seeing the proprietress's suspicious look, Chen Jie said, "Did the meal cost more than you paid? It's okay, we'll pay the extra amount separately."
The others nodded like chicks pecking at rice.
Lin Yunqing laughed: "No, but your dishes haven't been served yet. It's also a stir-fried mushroom dish. And today the chef also made dried mushroom and ham stewed rice. I'm afraid you won't be able to finish it."
Chen Jie: “!!!”
There are actually mushrooms and mushroom rice. Is today a mushroom feast?
This store really...she loves it!
No wonder that rich sister recommended it in the group. To be honest, the vegetables in this store are definitely the most delicious vegetables she has ever eaten in her life. I’m not kidding.
Before their dishes arrived, more customers came into the restaurant.
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