My Restaurant's Guests are All Abnormal

Chapter 44: Chapter 44 Maybe Mushroom Sauce is a Better Choice?

Chen Ze scratched his head, it had to be said, Baidu was quite reliable when it came to searching for recipes.

At least Chen Ze wouldn’t use Baidu to diagnose his own illnesses—he just had a headache and a cold, but if he did search on Baidu, he might start thinking about writing his will within minutes.

"But I always feel like this flavor is lacking something..." Chen Ze dipped his chopsticks for a taste. It was just that very ordinary spicy sauce, even a bit distasteful, the kind you wouldn’t want to try again after one bite. freēwebnovel.com

Chen Ze touched the stone slab, and his nose protection "Magic" instantly covered him. Only then did he feel safe enough to smell it.

"The spiciness is too overpowering... it’s suppressing all the other flavors." Chen Ze shook his head, personally thinking this sauce was a failed creation.

However, Chen Ze felt he should still slice a bit of the tentacle to grill it first, as practice is the only criterion for testing truth after all.

Chen Ze took out a kitchen knife, cut a small strip from the tentacle, skewered it on a bamboo stick, dabbed it with oil, and placed it on the grill to roast.

Chen Ze watched the grill intently; the tentacle on it was slowly changing color, but Chen Ze couldn’t quite determine when it would be considered done, as he had no prior experience with this.

But as he watched the slightly golden-brown tentacle, Chen Ze brushed it with the sauce, thinking it should be about right.

Chen Ze picked up the grilled tentacle and put it in his mouth, taking a gentle bite...

Chen Ze could not bite through, looking at the piece of tentacle in surprise. It had been so easy to cut with the kitchen knife, he hadn’t expected it to be so tough to chew.

Chen Ze bit down hard on the tentacle, grinding at it several times before he managed to bite off a piece to start eating.

The tentacle didn’t have the traditional taste of squid tentacles, nor any fishiness. On the contrary, it had a faint salty taste and a hint of the sea.

Incredibly, Chen Ze had just taken one bite and he felt as if he were savoring the ocean itself, reminiscent of the experience of eating seafood in Sanya—very fresh, not at all like it had been sitting for a long time.

It was like a freshly caught squid whose tentacle was cut off and thrown right onto the grill.

But... it really had a ’chewiness’ to it!

Chen Ze was nearly going mad. For such a small piece of tentacle, one-fifth of a bamboo skewer, he had been chewing for a full three minutes, and still didn’t have that easy-to-swallow feeling like with regular squid tentacles.

Instead, there was an illusion that the more he chewed, the tougher the tentacle became. Chen Ze felt like his teeth were being counted.

And worst of all, as the chewing time increased, the flavor of the spicy sauce had faded away, the seafood taste was gone, and Chen Ze felt like he was just chewing rubber.

After five whole minutes, Chen Ze finally swallowed the extremely chewy tentacle and, looking at the remaining grilling tentacles, he gave up the idea of continuing to eat.

"This won’t do, although it was quite amazing at the beginning, the more I ate, the worse it tasted, which isn’t good." Chen Ze scratched his head in frustration, feeling a few more hairs fall out, bringing him closer to baldness.

"The sea flavor is strong enough, but it’s also too tough to chew..."

"Sea flavor? Sea flavor... speaking of sea flavor... there’s the saying ’delicacies from the mountain and the sea.’ Why don’t I give that a try?" Remembering the Moonlight Mushroom he had just eaten, Chen Ze had another bold idea.

Chen Ze hesitantly took out the Moonlight Mushroom. This mushroom, known as the ultimate mountain delicacy, was laid out on the cutting board.

Chen Ze picked up the kitchen knife and cut another small piece, which he then placed into a small bowl and pressed down with chopsticks.

Chen Ze remembered that when he ate it, his mouth was bursting with an extremely delicious juice.

He only pressed for a short while before he saw a liquid that looked like clear water flowing out from the Moonlight Mushroom, and a fresh fragrance spread out.

Chen Ze dipped a bit with chopsticks and tasted it—it was that flavor, only slightly lighter than the roasted Moonlight Mushroom.

Chen Ze took the squeezed-dry slice of Moonlight Mushroom out and placed it in a small bottle. He didn’t plan to throw them away; it would be better to roast and eat them.

Chen Ze gritted his teeth and added a tiny drop of the juice to the spicy sauce. After stirring it evenly, Chen Ze smelled it again, but this time the fresh fragrance was gone.

Chen Ze cut an even thinner piece of tentacle, then smeared it with oil and placed it on the grill. With the experience from last time, Chen Ze grilled it longer this time, waiting until the center of the tentacle changed color before he applied the improved version of the spicy sauce.

Chen Ze swallowed and took a bite.

This time it went smoothly. The tentacle was not so tough to chew, but still had a good chewiness, and with every chew, Chen Ze could feel the delicious storm on his taste buds.

Just as Chen Ze had thought, the Mountain Treasure Moonlight Mushroom paired with the sea flavor of the tentacle created a wonderful reaction. The flavors of the two did not clash but instead cleverly merged into one.

Chen Ze closed his eyes, feeling as if there was a symphony concert happening in his mouth. The sea flavor and Mountain Treasure continually collided, spreading the delicious taste in Chen Ze’s mouth, making him unable to help but exhale.

But it was still hard to chew. This time, it took Chen Ze three minutes to swallow a small piece of tentacle.

However, it was very tasty. This time, there wasn’t the sensation of tastelessness towards the end. Instead, the more he chewed, the more fragrant it became, and the two flavors became even more delicious.

"It looks like there’s no problem this time," Chen Ze clapped his hands satisfactorily. With these two ingredients, Chen Ze felt that he definitely wouldn’t disappoint Chen Xingchen at the school festival.

"Next is to sleep. Tomorrow when I wake up, I’ll see if there are any abnormalities." Chen Ze yawned and turned off the kitchen lights.

Having learned from the Strong Liquor Grass incident, Chen Ze now dared not serve these exotic foods without trying them himself, lest another mishap occur—he didn’t think the visitors next time would be as eager and friendly customers.

[Little sister, everything’s ready. See you on time on Saturday.]

Chen Ze took out his phone and sent a message, then slowly walked back to the second floor.

Chen Ze felt a bit tired today. There had been too many experiences, giving him the illusion of an almost short-circuited train of thought.

"Tsk, I was hoping to relax a bit, but why do I feel like being a restaurant owner is even busier than before?" Looking at his sister’s reply, Chen Ze lay down on the bed, squinted his eyes, and complained.

What was the original reason for taking over this restaurant? Chen Ze remembered that he seemed to have planned to be a hands-off manager, the kind that just collected money and paid wages each month and that would be it.

But now, he couldn’t be hands-off anymore, he even had to learn cooking—Chen Ze felt he had completely embarked on a different path.

However, upon thinking of the satisfied looks of those exotic world guests and their praise for his cooking, Chen Ze felt his motivation returning. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"Isn’t slacking off nice..." he murmured, and soon, the room was filled with the sound of regular breathing.