Chapter 185: Chapter Forty-Five: Pan-Fried Saury and Siblings
Chen Ze took out two saury from the refrigerator and placed them on the cutting board. That was the dish he planned to make today—pan-fried saury.
It wasn’t particularly difficult to make, and the ingredients were quite simple, but this cooking method could really enhance the flavor of the fish. It was one of the few fish dishes that Chen Ze was willing to eat.
"The taste of saury, last time I made lemon-flavored saury. I wonder if I can do well with pan-fried saury this time." Chen Ze felt a bit conflicted; although he had set out to make lemon-flavored saury previously, he didn’t follow through, which remained a regret of his.
As Chen Ze busied himself, a delicious scent wafted through the air, gradually spreading throughout the entire restaurant, making the waiting siblings swallow involuntarily.
"Sis, that smell... is it the aroma of fish?" Jack licked his lips. He could even sense that the fish was now in the frying pan, undergoing its transformation.
"Yeah, it smells so good." Alice nodded, feeling she had made the right choice, both in coming to this restaurant and in ordering the fish dish.
"It’s been a long time since I had fish. How about we switch?" Jack asked his sister cautiously, well aware that their current financial situation didn’t allow them to order too many dishes.
Besides, the money had not been easily earned, and Jack wasn’t keen on overspending on food.
"No way, didn’t you order fried chicken yourself?" Alice rejected her brother’s request decisively and then took a sip of the lemon water Chen Ze had poured.
"Hmm... sour and sweet, not bad." Alice took another satisfied sip, finding the food here far better than anything in the Colosseum.
She just didn’t know about the price. However, Alice felt the money she had should be enough, and a restaurant operating in a poor neighborhood didn’t seem like it would charge too much anyway.
Of course, Chen Ze had no idea that his restaurant had been branded an affordable eatery for the poor—but even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared.
Chen Ze was frying chicken, and the saury was simmering away. Now, he could take care of the fried chicken.
The customer hadn’t specified what kind of fried chicken he wanted, so Chen Ze didn’t cut it into pieces but chose to fry the whole chicken instead.
Watching the chicken sizzle in the fryer, Chen Ze fell into thought. Normally, when a customer walked in, he could roughly guess which world they came from, but he couldn’t figure out the origin of these two siblings.
The sister was dressed in a vintage suit of knight’s armor—Chen Ze first thought she might be from Lafra’s world, but then he saw her brother in very modern clothing, who didn’t appear to be from ancient times at all.
Chen Ze, puzzled, touched his nose. He was really curious about where exactly these two siblings came from. After all, he had always hoped to have guests from the Gourmet Hunter world, so he could exchange a bunch of precious ingredients.
Thinking about the exotic foods in Gourmet Hunter made Chen Ze salivate; those delicacies were a treasure trove for any chef.
"If it can’t be helped, having Luffy drop by would be fine too." Chen Ze shook his head. He really wanted to try cooking Sea King to see what it would feel like.
Especially since One Piece also had many novel cooking methods, such as using a volcano for cooking, as shown in the backstory of the movie featuring Z.
Chen Ze found the thought quite amusing. If he could master that kind of cooking, then he could make an entire tentacle dish, but whether or not he could finish it was another question. Only a Dragon like Sebastian would probably have the appetite to eat it all, right?
"Your orders, please excuse the wait." Chen Ze brought over the fried chicken and pan-seared mackerel, but still couldn’t figure out from which world these siblings had come.
"Wow, sister, this dish is amazing, can I take a photo?" Jack lifted his hand, and a virtual projection screen appeared on his wrist, and then Chen Ze saw him snap a photo.
The corner of Chen Ze’s mouth twitched; compared with the other’s device, his own phone seemed like an antique.
"Hmm, I’ll take one too." Then Alice also lifted her hand, a virtual projection screen just like the first.
"This is indeed a retro shop. It’s not often I see cooking done by real people anymore," Alice sighed, and then she picked up the knife and fork, cut a small piece of mackerel, and put it in her mouth.
"Sister, how does it taste?" Jack swallowed his saliva. He was gnawing on a chicken leg, but the enticing aroma of the fish beside him made him a bit homesick for the port near the sea.
"How to put it, it’s not the freshest, but it’s still a very nice fish dish." Alice cut another piece. Though it wasn’t as fresh as fish eaten straight from the sea, such a fish dish was still very good.
Jack licked his lips; it looked like this was really a fish dish, actual fish meat, not the synthetic kind.
Jack didn’t know how many nights he had dreamt of the fish he used to eat, the dishes flavored with the sea, and the drool-worthy delicious shellfish.
"Sister, look, isn’t that the Scarlet Tyrant?" Jack suddenly exclaimed in a terrified voice, and then while Alice turned her head, shield in hand, he swiftly snatched a large piece of fish from her plate and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Jack!" Alice’s neck veins were visibly throbbing in anger. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Andrew shrank back his arms; it was the first time he had seen such a violent girl, a Knight no less, swinging her sword in ways he had never seen before.
"Uncle, what are they doing?" Andrew was a bit nervous. He was worried that the two might start throwing their plates, and he could already see that the Magician was beginning to chant.
"They are... discussing family matters?" Chen Ze had obviously heard the reason for their quarrel.
Betty staggered down from the second floor. Just now, Lady Lafra had come up and used Healing Magic to alleviate some of her symptoms, and she felt that her overwhelming dizziness was fading a lot. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"Betty sister~" Andrew, having washed the dishes, placed them in the cupboard and watched Betty with joy.
"Andrew... who are these guests?" Betty looked puzzled at the sibling pair wrestling in the restaurant. What was their deal, getting into a fight in Chen Ze’s place?
Was it Lady Lafra who couldn’t lift her sword anymore, or was it you, guest, who drifted away?