Chapter 69 Chapter 69 Tasting the tender white tofu from Baxianlou with...
As the largest restaurant in Qingkang Town, as noon approached, diners flocked in and the Eight Immortals Restaurant was naturally bustling with activity.
When Zhao Mingsheng and the others arrived, the Eight Immortals Tower was at its busiest.
"Waiter, are there any private rooms available?" Zhao Qingyue asked in a slightly raised voice amid the chaotic environment.
The waiter came up to greet us with a smile and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, the private rooms on the second floor are all full. We only have a few tables left in the main hall. Where would you like to sit?"
Zhao Qingyue looked around and found that there were no windows or slightly hidden seats left, so he did not reply to the waiter directly, but turned around and asked:
"The only room left is in the lobby. If you mind, we can move to another place."
Zhao Mingsheng shook her head. Now that she was wearing men's clothes, it was very convenient. She looked at Huang Yuexin, but she didn't know if it was convenient for her.
"My father is doing business outside, and I often go with him. It's not so complicated, and we can sit in the hall." Huang Yuexin said with a smile.
Finally, Zhao Mingsheng slammed the table and said, "Then we'll just sit in the lobby."
At this time, there were only a few tables with similar seats left empty. They randomly picked one, and as soon as they sat down, the waiter from before came over with a smile on his face and greeted them warmly.
"What would you like to eat, gentlemen?"
Zhao Mingsheng and Huang Yuexin had never eaten the food at the Eight Immortals Restaurant, so naturally they didn't know what was delicious. They both looked at Zhao Qingyue.
After inquiring about everyone's dietary preferences and dietary restrictions, the burden of ordering fell on Zhao Qingyue. After a moment's thought, he said, "Two mixed lychees, one each of lotus tofu, honey-glazed hilsadi, and white angelica chicken. For the main course, I'd like an order of Eight Immortals vegetarian noodles."
The waiter took note of it familiarly and recommended it enthusiastically:
"What would you like to drink? We have a new spring-brewed plum wine here, which is sweet and delicious without being intoxicating. If you don't drink alcohol, our lotus heart tea is also very good. It's brewed with cold water from the ancient well and is the best way to cool down in the summer."
In fact, Zhao Mingsheng was very interested in the plum wine he mentioned, but with Zhao Qingyue beside her, he would not give her a chance to taste it.
"Then let's have Lotus Heart Tea. That's all we order. Thank you."
"Okay, please wait a moment, your food will be served soon."
Tea was served first.
Zhao Qingyue picked up the teapot, and the clear tea slowly poured into the bottom of the bowl, emitting a faint tea fragrance. He gently pushed the poured teacup in front of Huang Yuexin.
Looking at the teacup being gently pushed in front of her, the temperature on Huang Yuexin's face, which had just subsided, rose again.
"Oh, is it for me?"
As soon as she said this, she realized that her question was a bit stupid. It was right in front of her, so who else could it be for?
"Um."
Zhao Qingyue responded with a smile and poured another glass and handed it to Zhao Mingsheng.
Zhao Mingsheng took it naturally and said sweetly, "Thank you, brother."
Huang Yuexin also said thank you in a weak voice. She held the slightly cool teacup, but her fingertips felt a little hot.
Brother Zhao is such a gentle person...
The slightly cool tea has a light fragrance when you first drink it. After a slight bitter taste on the tip of your tongue, it is followed by a sweet aftertaste, along with the taste of lotus seeds.
After a while, the dishes came up one after another.
“This is Furong Tofu.”
After being steamed over high heat, the surface of the lotus tofu that had just been served was still covered with mist. The tofu tastes most delicate when it is hot, so Zhao Mingsheng chose to taste a spoonful of lotus tofu first.
Gently blow away the heat on the surface, the white and tender tofu is paired with fresh shrimps. It is slightly hot inside but the temperature is acceptable to the tip of the tongue. It slides down the stomach before you can chew it. The green peas mixed in the tofu also become soft and rotten under high heat, and the aroma of peas and tofu blends perfectly together.
Fresh, fragrant and smooth!
There is no trace of bean smell.
The secret to its delicious taste is not only the shrimp, but also the sauce poured on top.
Zhao Mingsheng tasted it at once and found out that the reason why this lotus tofu was so fresh was that it was different from the ordinary starch sauce. It also contained powder made from dried shrimp heads, using shrimp powder instead of salt, which greatly improved the freshness.
Huang Yuexin loves fish and sweet food, so this honey-glazed shad dish is very much to her liking.
Known as one of the three delicacies of the Yangtze River, hilsa is known for its delicious meat, and July and August are when it's at its plumpest. A hilsa, about a foot long, may not look large, but the belly is about a finger thick, and it has few, mostly large, bones, making it easy to eat.
Although the original flavor of shad is very delicious, the flavor of shad coated with sauce and grilled will only increase instead of diminish. What is even more commendable is that grilling not only removes moisture, but also enhances the freshness of the fish.
The grilled fish meat was firm and chewy, and the sauce overflowed with every bite. Huang Yuexin ate it with great satisfaction, like a well-fed little kitten, squinting her eyes happily.
The most eye-catching dish is the mixed lychee dish, with half green lychees and half red lychees placed on a white porcelain plate.
The green one looks like bitter melon, and the red one also looks like bitter melon, but Zhao Mingsheng has never seen a red bitter melon.
"What is this red fruit?" she asked.
"This fruit is called Jinlichi. Although it looks similar to a lychee, it's not Feizixiao," Zhao Qingyue explained. "It's also called Lai Pu Tao, a type of wild bitter melon. But unlike bitter melon, where you eat the skin, Jinlichi is about eating the red soil inside. Bitter melon is bitter, but this one is sweet."
Huang Yuexin likes sweet things and dislikes bitter things. She has never liked bitter melon. When she heard that it was bitter melon, she frowned, as if she had already tasted the bitterness of bitter melon.
But Zhao Qingyue said the fruit was sweet, so she plucked up the courage to pick up the fruit and take a bite.
The crystal clear red flesh is like a fine ruby, translucent red, a bit like the guava her father brought back from the Western Regions, but the flesh of the Jinlichi is much larger than that of the guava.
The skin of the fruit is much softer than that of a pomegranate. Just sip it with your upper and lower lips and it will turn into juice that melts in your mouth.
Huang Yuexin's heart was filled with only one word: sweet. The sweet taste filled her entire mouth and even reached her heart.
The bitter melon placed on the same plate with the brocade lychees seemed less popular. Half of the plate of brocade lychees had been almost completely devoured by the two young ladies, while the bitter melon on the side remained untouched.
Seeing that no one picked up the bitter melon, Zhao Qingyue frowned slightly: "Summer is very hot and dry. Bitter melon can clear away heat and reduce dryness. Eating more is good for your health."
After saying that, he set an example by picking up a large piece of bitter melon with chopsticks and eating it without changing his expression.
Huang Yuexin's eyes lit up with admiration. Even though she usually hated bitter food, she picked up a small piece and swallowed it in a flash. However, she still couldn't stand the bitterness.
Looking at Huang Yuexin's face which looked as bitter as a dumpling, Zhao Qingyue couldn't help but think that she was very cute and smiled softly.
Looking at the smiling face of Brother Zhao, she suddenly felt that the bitter melon was not so bitter after all.
At this time, the last dish of chicken stewed with angelica was also served. The chicken soup was milky white, exuding a faint fragrance, and looked good.
But Zhao Mingsheng only took a bite and her eyebrows frowned slightly.
Her sense of taste and smell were extremely sensitive. She could tell from just one bite that the chicken stewed with angelica tasted wrong, even though others couldn't.
Adding angelica dahurica when stewing chicken can make the chicken more tender and remove the fishy smell.
However, the fishy smell in this bowl of chicken soup has only gone by seven-tenths, with only three-tenths remaining. With these three-tenths of fishy smell, this pot of chicken soup is ruined!
Zhao Mingsheng reached out and held down the bowl that Huang Yuexin was preparing to hold the soup, and shook his head slightly at her.
When she asked everyone if they had any dietary restrictions, she remembered that Huang Yuexin said that she didn't like fishy or muttony food, so Zhao Qingyue specially ordered this chicken stewed with angelica dahurica, which had no fishy or muttony smell. But she couldn't drink this chicken soup now.
She waved her hand to call the waiter over and ordered, "Take this chicken soup away."
The waiter looked at the full pot of chicken soup with some confusion. The customers who came to his restaurant to eat always ate all the dishes except the soup base. This was the first time he saw someone leave without paying.
"Excuse me, sir, is there anything wrong with this chicken soup?"
"It tastes a bit off. Ask your chef to taste it carefully and you'll know what's wrong."
Although he was full of doubts, he still followed the customer's instructions and served the chicken soup.
The kitchen was bustling with activity.
The waiter found the chef and told him exactly what the customer had said.
Chef Hao, the head chef, used his strong and powerful arms to lift the heavy pot weighing more than ten pounds and stir-fried the food.
Hearing the waiter's words, he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said in disbelief:
"What did you say? A customer returned the dish and said it tasted bad?"
He has worked in the Eight Immortals Restaurant for so many years, rising from an apprentice to the position of head chef, but this is the first time he has heard of such a thing. He wants to see if this customer is deliberately looking for trouble!
"Bring the food here so I can try it."
The waiter quickly handed him the chicken soup.
Chef Hao lowered his head, took a bite, and after a long silence, he spat.
"Who the hell made this Angelica stewed chicken?!"
As a good cook, a keen sense of smell and taste is essential, so he also tasted that something was wrong, and there was indeed a fishy smell.
As the head chef of the Eight Immortals Restaurant, he leaves the preparation of some difficult dishes to other chefs, as long as the proportions of the recipe and the heat are mastered, such as the chicken stewed with angelica dahurica, which can be successfully made.
Chef Hao has always had a hot temper. When he got angry, the kitchen suddenly became quiet. No one dared to breathe for fear of getting angry. Only the crackling sound of the burning firewood remained.
In the silence, a young cook stood up tremblingly.
"I...I did it."
He is responsible for preparing the seasoning and heat for stewing the chicken. Today's chicken stewed with angelica dahurica is made by him.
"Come and try it." Chef Hao pushed the bowl in front of him with a stern face.
The young cook took a shaky sip of the chicken soup.
Doesn't this taste the same as usual? There's nothing wrong with it, right?
The recipe records how much ingredients should be put in the chicken stewed with angelica, at what heat and for how long. He has always made it according to the records and has never made any mistakes for so long.
Seeing that he didn't taste anything wrong at all, Chef Hao shook his head in disappointment and called out another person's name.
"Qiming, come here and try it."
Such a big thing happened in the kitchen, and Chef Hao was so angry that the people in the kitchen had no intention of working anymore. They all stopped what they were doing and just watched the fun.
Only a young man in the corner kept silent and continued to do his work. He put down his work when he heard someone calling his name.
The young man who was called put down the work in his hands and walked over obediently.
Qi Ming first tasted the chicken soup, then tasted some chicken, and said frankly:
“It definitely doesn’t taste right.”
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