Free Web NovelChapter 519: Chapter 431: Chinese Breads—A Dreamy Fusion of Sweet and Savory
Westerners naturally enjoy eating bread-based foods, like baguettes, muffins, and toast; these are almost essential breakfast items in every household.
Zhao Shun made so many fancy and novel breads and desserts that they were long tempted, but because Lin Chen hadn’t shown up, no one dared to take a bite.
Now that even Lin Chen has given positive feedback on this egg tart, how could they resist any longer? One by one, they stretched their sinful little hands toward the table in front of them.
Actually, there’s a staff meal before the restaurant opens, and Lin Chen didn’t say much, just symbolically reminded them a few times.
"Take it easy, girls. Don’t focus on just one; try a little of each if you’re interested. Finish eating soon so you can be ready for the opening; the customers outside are waiting."
With the one-bite size of these Great Xia egg tarts, he was really worried they’d get carried away and devour them all on the spot.
Women naturally have two stomachs, a small one for main courses and an endless one for desserts. Add to that the larger physique of foreign women, and the appetite only increases.
If we let them eat freely, even these two tables of food probably wouldn’t be enough.
"Don’t worry, chef, we know our limits."
After just appreciating the charm of Great Xia desserts a couple of days ago, a pure indulgence session so soon was irresistible. Not just for Dais and the four of them, even Helena and Lucinda couldn’t resist shamelessly joining the fray.
"This chicken mushroom egg tart tastes so familiar, kind of like a creamy salmon pie."
"You guys must try this bread with sausage and green onions; it’s incredible! It’s at the level where you can’t help but swear!"
"What’s this sauce spread on the bread, mayonnaise?? Spreading mayonnaise on bread??"
"I didn’t expect that bread can be made salty, paired with vegetables and meat. Why hasn’t any bakery around here thought to try such a simple combination?"
"Has anyone tried this golden bread that looks like a turtle shell pattern? It looks pretty good."
Just as they were dazzled by the array of baked goods, Zhao Shun pushed a fully loaded cart out from the kitchen.
The three tiers of the cart were filled with different breads, all in eye-catching fancy styles, instantly grabbing everyone’s attention.
Even Lin Chen, who hadn’t seen these before, curiously joined in to have a look.
Lucas directly switched to filming mode, aiming the camera at the freshly baked, enticing bread early in the morning.
"What’s this? Taro and meat floss croissant?"
"Yes, but it’s not ordinary taro; it’s taro and cream cheese filling, chilled together."
Without needing Zhao Shun to explain much, with just a key point mentioned, Lin Chen immediately understood the selling point of this bread.
The freshly baked croissant paired with the chilled, ice cream-like taro and cream cheese, plus the sweet and salty meat floss, is absolutely the ultimate indulgence of cold and hot, sweet and savory.
Even someone like him, not particularly interested in sweets, couldn’t resist grabbing one to try.
It was just as he imagined: the freshly baked croissant was still slightly warm, and the taro cream cheese in the middle had partially melted, forming a creamy texture, while the central part retained the firmer texture of cream cheese.
With one bite, the croissant’s crust was crispy and flaky, the inner bread was fluffy and soft, bursting with buttery and wheaty fragrance.
Then the rich taro aroma filled his senses, the cool cream texture mixed with the chewy cheese part, paired with the salty meat floss, the overall taste was immensely satisfying.
The size of this croissant wasn’t too large either, about the length of his palm; finishing a whole one was just right, without feeling greasy, and the happiness level accumulated to a certain extent.
If you ate a few more bites, perhaps the greasy feeling would lead to a rapid decline in happiness.
After eating the sweet stuff, Lin Chen felt a bit like his throat was coated and was eager to find something savory to cleanse his palate.
"Which one is savory? Besides the egg tart."
Many products on the table had not yet been labeled, and just by their appearance, it was impossible to determine their exact flavor; he simply asked Zhao Shun directly for quicker results.
"Savory? This is a green onion ham bread, this is a curry beef bun, next to it is a green onion bacon scone, and that pocket-looking one is stuffed with corn, ham, crab meat sticks, and cheese cheese sauce."
"Here’s the most traditional caterpillar-shaped sausage bread, next to it are the spicy sausage bagel, Orléans chicken bagel, and the neighboring one is the Sichuan pepper and cashew ciabatta..."
Zhao Shun pointed out several kinds, and surprisingly, nearly seventy percent of the products were savory. The rest were mostly not purely sweet, but flavors related to fruits or nuts.
He had already tried the bagels a few days ago, and although the caterpillar sausage was a childhood memory, it was hardly salty.
The green onion ham scone was too dry, the filled ice scones were all sweet, and the ciabatta was purely dry bread, completely unappealing.
After some hesitation, Lin Chen finally picked up the pocket bread that looked like a burger. Through the cut, you could clearly see it stuffed with corn, ham, crab sticks mixed with rich mayonnaise, and even lots of red flying fish roe inside.
Upon closer inspection, you could vaguely see a few light green cucumber cubes hidden inside.
It’s more fitting to call this a burger rather than bread.
Perhaps this guy was inspired by the Great Xia burgers from the other day to make this, having overheard himself casually translate a snippet of conversation between two chefs.
The pocket cake isn’t very large either, just the size of a palm, but it feels quite hefty in hand.
The filling inside is so plentiful that it even spills out uncontrollably when squeezed by fingers, creating maximum visual impact.
Although he hasn’t tasted it yet, Lin Chen can already imagine what this thing might taste like.
Great Xia’s bakeries keep innovating every year, but there aren’t so many new flavors for them to develop, largely just slight modifications on appearance and ingredients.
Especially with savory bread, after all these years, the core elements are still spring onion, ham, bacon, mayonnaise, and pork floss.
The filling in this pocket cake here is probably just the sweet and salty taste of mayonnaise, right?
After thinking for a moment, he decided not to eat it and casually handed it to the girl next to him who was having a hard time choosing, not even seeing who she was.
Nicole was staring at the wide variety of breads, unsure of which to eat first, when a hand suddenly reached over with a pocket cake that looked delicious.
She was momentarily stunned, but once she realized whose hand it was, a hint of glee flashed across her face, and she quickly reached out to take it.
"Thank you, you’re such a good person!"
"?"
Hearing the Chinese out of the blue, Lin Chen turned sharply and was surprised to find it was delivered to Nicole, the girl, her face with a faint blush. He mentally noted trouble.
His mind spun quickly, and he soon noticed Lucas across from him, watching with a gossip-ready expression.
"You taught her? She didn’t learn it right!"
Not giving Lucas a chance to respond, Lin Chen waved his hand grandly: "Teaching her wrong on purpose, huh? Didn’t expect you to have this nasty hobby, satisfying personal desire during work hours. I’ll dock your pay by fifty euros as punishment!"
"?????????"
Lucas’s smile froze, leaving him completely bewildered.
"Not at all? Huh? What does this have to do with me? I never taught this! How can you dock my pay, you’re abusing your power for personal vendetta!!"
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Chen had already grabbed an Orleans Chicken Bagel and walked to the kitchen with Zhao Shun, flipping him off on the way.
Lucas looked tearfully at Nicole, who was still completely bewildered.
"Did I, did I say something wrong?"
"What you just said, you learned it online, right?"
"Yeah, isn’t it supposed to mean that you’re complimenting the other person for being really nice?"
Not just her, a few women who were gobbling up food perked up their ears at the topic of learning Chinese, clearly wanting to understand what Lin Chen’s attitude just now was all about.
Though one could see that Lin Chen was joking, the phrase must have been used incorrectly.
"Originally, that phrase did mean that, but with the spread of online vernacular, it has gradually acquired another meaning."
Lucas shook his head with a sympathetic expression: "You’re a good person; when a woman says this to a man, the hidden meaning given is ’even though you’re nice, we’re not compatible’."
"It’s essentially a rejection."
"What???"
Nicole’s rosy face turned pale in a flash, and the pocket cake in her hand nearly got squashed, with the corn, crab stick, ham, and egg yolk mayonnaise oozing down from the opening.
"Hey, hey!! It’s leaking!"
Lucas hadn’t expected that Nicole would react so strongly, apparently genuinely interested in Old Lin, so he quickly added to reassure her: "Don’t worry, he didn’t confess to you, so the rejection isn’t even relevant."
"Young people in Great Xia all know what that phrase means, especially since you’re a foreigner, it’s easy to use it wrong. So actually, he knew you used it wrong but didn’t know how to react, so he took me as an excuse to slip away!"
"Oh, I see."
After hearing his explanation, Nicole finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thinking carefully, Lin Chen indeed showed no intense emotional fluctuations before, surely joking.
But then again, the absence of emotional fluctuation is the worst result.
It indicates he isn’t interested in her at all.
She didn’t get discouraged because before deciding to work in the restaurant, she had mentally prepared herself.
Back then, Lin wouldn’t even exchange a few words with her; at least now he gives her tasks to do every day, which is progress!
"Okay everyone, let’s hurry up," Dais clapped her hands, gathering everyone’s attention, "It’s already six-thirty, quickly eat what you want to pad your stomach, we’re about to open for dinner!"
