“There are so many people, so many restaurants competing... Can our restaurant really do well?”
After finally finishing the interview and getting away from the crowd of reporters, Ye Chui came to a lounge prepared by the organizer of the Food Association. It was located on the second floor of a large restaurant next to Jinghua Plaza. The huge floor fan allowed him to clearly see everything in the square below. When Ye Chui arrived here, Lin Wei, An Jing, An Xiaoxiao, Wang Shiyu, Tian Xiaodu, Qin Yiyue, Dong Qian and other chefs were already waiting here.
Lin Wei walked to Ye Chui and gently hugged his arm, looking at the surging crowd below with a look of worry in her eyes.
There are ninety-seven restaurants participating in the Spring Banquet, and ninety-seven banquet tables are placed throughout the square. People from all the major restaurants are busy putting their own dishes on the tables. This huge-scale banquet is already very horrifying, and that's not all. The crowd watching the excitement outside the guardrail on one side of the square is even more black and connected, which is indescribably spectacular.
This does not include the judges of the Spring Banquet.
There are nearly 500 judges, including 87 foreign guests, 123 gourmets from various cities in China, and the remaining 290 or so people are lucky winners randomly selected from across the country.
At this moment, the judges are all staying in the lounge arranged by the Gourmet Association and have not yet officially entered the venue.
"Having more restaurants doesn't mean greater competition. Our restaurant's whole pig banquet has become well-known on the Internet a few days ago. I think when the Spring Banquet officially begins, there will definitely be a lot of people who want to check out our whole pig banquet. And I'm confident that as long as they taste it, they will love our dishes." Ye Chui said calmly and gently, putting his arm around Lin Wei's shoulders.
Lin Wei resisted a little, as if she was a little shy in this situation, but finally she obediently leaned into Ye Chui's arms.
"Yes, Weiwei, don't worry. We are the favorites to win. Compared with the other favorites, we are not worse at all." Dong Qian also said with a smile.
The names of the dishes in the whole pig banquet may sound hard to accept, but once you really taste them, you will find that they are rare delicacies.
Dong Qian, Qin Yiyue, Tian Xiaodu and other three chefs were skeptical about the whole pig banquet that Ye Chui was going to prepare at the beginning, but now they are full of confidence in Ye Chui. Having tasted these dishes themselves, they naturally know how delicious these dishes are.
But at this moment, a disgusting voice suddenly sounded beside him: "Master Ye, you guys at Manhanlou are really brave. I didn't expect you to actually use pig offal to make a dish. Now many people are saying that you are cooking dark food. Ha, Master Ye, I admire your courage so much."
The person who spoke was Gao Yuesheng, and Jim was standing beside him.
Naturally, everyone on Ye Chui's side had no good impression of these two people. Tian Xiaodu said coldly: "After the Spring Banquet is over, you will admire Master even more!"
"Hmph." Gao Yuesheng looked at Tian Xiaodu, then at Dong Qian and Qin Yiyue, his gaze lingering on Qin Yiyue for a few seconds, and then he continued, "Master Tian, Master Dong, and Master Qin, you are all young and promising chefs. Hey... If Manhanlou doesn't work out, we at Shenghuayuan welcome you very much. You're welcome to join us at any time."
"Forget it." Qin Yiyue refused with a look of disgust, "I have no interest in Shenghua Garden at all."
Gao Yuesheng snorted again, but he looked at Ye Chui again and said proudly, "Boss Ye, I just heard you accepting an interview with reporters outside, claiming that even if your whole pig banquet cannot win the championship, it is better than our Shenghuayuan banquet? Boss Ye, you are so confident."
Ye Chui turned his head and glanced at Jim, who was looking at him angrily. It was obvious that his words had offended Jim's dignity, so Ye Chui smiled and continued to offend him: "I'm not confident at all, I'm just telling the truth... I've never heard of a son who has just learned the basics and can match his father's craftsmanship."
"After the Spring Banquet is over, I'll see if you're still in the mood to look down on Chinatown's delicacies!" Jim opened his eyes wide and looked at Ye Chui angrily. Ye Chui's words were obviously alluding to the relationship between Chinatown delicacies and Chinese cuisine.
"Then let's wait and see." Ye Chui said calmly. Noticing the host's voice ringing out in the square, he smiled and said, "The Spring Banquet has officially begun, and the judges are starting to enter."
Jim then turned his sight through the French window to Jinghua Plaza below. His face was still filled with anger, but a trace of worry flashed across his eyes. He had never doubted Chinatown cuisine before, and thought it was a delicacy that was completely superior to Chinese cuisine. But since he met Ye Chui, his view had quietly changed...
Is Chinatown cuisine really okay
"No, Chinatown cuisine is definitely better than Chinese cuisine!" Jim said in his heart, "We are determined to win this Spring Banquet. My dishes will not be inferior to any Chinese dishes, and Uncle Huang has already arranged the judges..."
…
The judges were divided into three groups: foreign guests, gourmets, and ordinary people. These nearly 500 people were divided into five groups and arranged in different lounges. As the Spring Banquet began, the five groups entered from different directions of the square.
Popular restaurants such as Manhanlou, Jingjialou and Shenghuayuan are located in front of Jinghua Shopping Center. The lounge for foreign food judges is located in Jinghua Shopping Center, so the first people to come into contact with the whole pig banquet of Manhanlou are these foreign foodies.
Sister Han looked at the crowd coming out of Jinghua Shopping Mall and subconsciously felt a little nervous. She took a deep breath and prepared to be the host of the banquet in her best condition. Then, she received the first guest who came over - a man in his sixties, bald, short and fat, his body shape was almost like a ball. He was walking in front when he just came out of the mall and came straight to Manhan Building. It seemed that he came here for the whole pig banquet.
He stood in front of the dining table, looking at the dishes on the table, and asked Han Yuyan who was standing next to him in English: "Miss, which dish is the braised pork intestines?"
"Well… "
Sister Han was just about to smile and ask the short fat man, but she didn't expect him to ask her first, and what he asked was actually fried pork intestines...
This short and fat man was naturally the Mr. Robert who had argued with Mr. Han in the lounge earlier. At that time, he told Mr. Han in a disdainful tone that he wanted to taste the pork intestines himself. If it was really worthy of being a delicacy, he would promote this dish in his three eight-star restaurants. Robert was also an impatient person. Since he had said that to Mr. Han before, he paid special attention to this dish and couldn't wait to come over to look for it as soon as he entered the venue.
Of course, he had no expectations for this dish. How could a dish made with pig intestines taste good? He was just a little curious about what the dish tasted like, so that he could laugh at Mr. Han later.
Han Yuyan quickly calmed down, took a deep breath, and pointed at the three dishes placed on the table: "Sir, this dish of fried pork intestines has three flavors. There are three dishes in total, namely this fried pork intestines, this soft pork intestines, and this fried pork intestines with hot peppers."
The name of a dish like "fried pork intestines" naturally cannot be directly translated into English, so whether it is Robert or Han Yuyan, they all use transliteration when mentioning fried pork intestines. The introduction of these three fried pork intestines with different flavors are also transliterations.
Robert frowned. Naturally, he couldn't tell the beauty of these dishes from the transliteration. He bent down and looked at the three dishes with a frown. After a moment, he finally made up his mind. He took a pair of chopsticks from the side, and clumsily picked up a piece of golden pork intestines from the soft pork intestines dish and put it in front of him to examine it carefully.
This kind of food inevitably causes some psychological barriers, but as a world-renowned gourmet and chef, the desire to explore delicious food is above all else. Although Robert hesitated for a few seconds before, he quickly threw it into his mouth.
The method of making stir-fried pork intestines is not complicated, but it is quite complicated to make them the most delicious. It requires the use of black fungus, winter bamboo shoots, peas, etc. as side dishes for seasoning. The pork intestines must first be fried until golden brown. This process also requires great attention to the heat. "Stir-frying" is a unique cooking method in China, and it also requires superb cooking skills to fully master this technique.
Of course, Ye Chui’s braised pork intestines have definitely reached the best level of this dish.
This dish is cooked in golden color, which is pleasing to the eye. It whets the appetite first. When Robert put the pig intestines into his mouth and took a bite, he felt that they were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a salty, sweet and fragrant taste.
As a gourmet, and a gourmet with great achievements at that, Robert has reached the level of "tasting all kinds of ingredients in the world". Gourmets at this level usually have a regret that "Is there any ingredient in the world that I have not encountered?"
And now he tasted the dish of stir-fried pork intestines for the first time. It was his first time encountering this ingredient. The soft, glutinous, salty and fragrant taste greatly stimulated his taste buds. It was a taste he had never experienced before. It was a brand new ingredient for him.
It turns out that pig intestines are actually edible, and they are an amazing delicacy!
Robert was the first person to come to the Manhan Building whole pig banquet to taste it, and he was also the first person to taste it. Han Yuyan looked at him nervously, not knowing what kind of evaluation he would get from this dish.
Han Yuyan was very nervous. Then he saw Robert pause for a moment after taking the first bite of the pig intestines, as if he was savoring the delicacy. Then he started to put the whole dish into his mouth continuously as if he had been hungry for several days.
The chopsticks in my hand, which were originally quite clumsy, have become more and more skillful in use... (~^~)