"Please come in, three guests." The waiter of Kuaiji Restaurant warmly invited Zhu Ping'an, Fatty and Liu Dadao into the restaurant and diligently led them to a table and chairs by the window.
"What would you like to eat, sir?" the waiter asked enthusiastically after Zhu Ping'an and others took their seats.
"What delicious food do you have in your restaurant? Order a few more. This young master is treating us. Look at his attire. He must be well-off."
The greasy fat man pointed at Zhu Ping'an without any falsehood and said that he was taking advantage of Zhu Ping'an without any concealment.
"How many more dishes do you want?" The waiter smiled bitterly and looked at Zhu Ping'an.
The waiter felt somewhat ashamed of the fat man. He was a guest in the hotel and was used to seeing off guests like this, but he had never seen anyone who asked for such an exorbitant amount of money after being treated by others.
"Literally, the more the better." The greasy fat man said bluntly.
"The more the better?! How many stomachs do you have?!" Liu Dadao couldn't help but glared at the fat man when he heard that.
"Haha, your restaurant is called Kuaiji Restaurant, and the owner is from Shaoxing. Can your chef cook Shaoxing dishes?"
Zhu Ping'an asked the waiter with a smile.
"Sir, you are really a prophet. Our boss is from Shaoxing. Our restaurant has a famous chef specially hired from Shaoxing. His specialty is Shaoxing cuisine, which is well-known far and wide."
The waiter replied.
"Okay, then give us a portion of drunken chicken, drunken crab, drunken shrimp, fermented bean curd, fennel beans, steamed three-stinky dishes, Shaoxing three-fresh dishes, marinated duck, steamed mandarin fish, Xishi tofu, braised pork with dried vegetables, and moldy amaranth stems. Oh, and don't forget to give us another jar of Shaoxing rice wine. You can't have food without wine."
After Zhu Ping'an confirmed that Kuaiji Restaurant specializes in Shaoxing cuisine, he recited the names of the dishes that the greasy fat man had previously reported and ordered all of them, including the Shaoxing rice wine, without missing a single dish.
"Little brother, you have a good memory." Seeing this, the fat man couldn't help but give Zhu Ping'an a thumbs up.
At this moment, he was surprised by two things. One was that Zhu Ping'an's memory was so good that he could remember everything he heard; the other surprise was that Zhu Ping'an actually practiced what he said and really ordered all the dishes.
"Thank you for the compliment, sir. I am just more interested in food, so my memory is better in this regard..."
Zhu Pingan said modestly.
"Sir, you've ordered too much..." Liu Dadao couldn't help but reminded him with a painful look on his face.
This fat guy is so shameless that he owes us a meal. It's already a great favor that we're willing to treat him to a meal. Why do we have to order so many dishes for him? The young master himself usually doesn't even want to eat such good food.
At this moment, even the waiter couldn't bear it anymore and reminded quietly, "Young Master, the three of you ordered so many dishes, I'm afraid you can't finish them. Four dishes and one soup will be enough. We have large portions."
"That's right, sir. The shop assistants have already said that four dishes and one soup will be enough." Liu Dadao took the opportunity to persuade him again.
"It's okay. If you can't finish it, just pack it up and take it away." Zhu Ping'an smiled and waved his hand. He took out a silver ingot from his pocket and handed it to the waiter, saying to the waiter, "Refund if there is too much and add if there is too little." This relieved the restaurant of any worries.
Finally, he reminded the waiter, "Please tell the kitchen to serve the food quickly. My friend hasn't had breakfast yet."
"Okay, sir." The waiter responded repeatedly.
"That's nice!" The greasy fat man smiled and gave Zhu Ping'an a thumbs up again.
Maybe because the money was paid first, the restaurant served the food very quickly. In less than a cup of tea, all the food and wine were served, filling up a large table. The greasy fat man looked at the table full of food and wine and smiled like a flower.
"My dear brother, please." Zhu Ping'an raised the wine glass and toasted to the greasy fat man.
"Little brother, please." The greasy fat man picked up the wine glass, said this, and then couldn't wait to pour the wine into his mouth.
"Tsk... Good wine, good wine, this rich aroma, it must be at least ten years old, very flavorful, very flavorful."
The fat man took a sip of the wine, and all the pores on his body relaxed comfortably. He praised with satisfaction.
"Hmm, good wine." Zhu Ping'an also drank it all in one gulp and praised the wine.
"Haha, little brother, do you understand Shaoxing rice wine?! I'm not bragging, there are thousands of fine wines in the world, but none can surpass Shaoxing rice wine. Why?! There are many wines in the world that are gray, which make people thirsty after drinking, but Shaoxing rice wine is different; there are most wines in the world that are sweet, which make people feel full and stuffy after drinking, but Shaoxing rice wine is aromatic and mellow, it moves without staying, it is abundant but not overwhelming, so, among the fine wines in the world, Shaoxing rice wine deserves to be the number one." The greasy fat man was a good talker and he praised Shaoxing rice wine highly.
"I know a little bit." Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly.
"Oh, little brother, what do you think of Shaoxing rice wine?" The greasy fat man looked at Zhu Ping'an with curiosity.
Seeing the greasy fat man's expectant and testing eyes, Zhu Pingan smiled slightly, then pretended to be cool without leaving any trace, shaking the wine glass and slowly said, "Shaoxing rice wine is sweet, clear, fragrant and mellow. In my opinion, this Shaoxing rice wine is like an honest official, without any fakeness, and its taste is authentic. It is also like a famous scholar who has stayed in the world for a long time, and his quality has become thicker after experiencing all the worldly things."
Zhu Ping'an's comments completely follow Yuan Mei's comments on Shaoxing rice wine in "Suiyuan Food List" in the Qing Dynasty.
Zhu Ping'an is actually not very keen on wine, so he hasn't done a lot of research on it. But it doesn't matter, because Zhu Ping'an comes from the modern era and has hundreds of years of historical accumulation and leading experience. If I can't do it, there are people who can.
Yuan Mei was a top foodie in the Qing Dynasty. When it came to eating, he was several levels higher than the gourmet Su Dongpo, and could be called the number one foodie of all time.
Su Dongpo's eating was "eating to relieve boredom", but Yuan Mei's eating was elevated to the level of a gourmet and a writer. Yuan Mei collected and tasted delicacies from all over the world, commented on them one by one, and compiled them into a book called "Suiyuan Food List". Just like "The Self-cultivation of an Actor", this book can be called "The Self-cultivation of a Foodie", and it is the best choice for foodies to show off. In other words, this book is the ancient version of the "Michelin Guide". Zhu Ping'an's comments on rice wine are quoted from the evaluation of Shaoxing rice wine in this book.
Sure enough, once the number one foodie made a move, he could tell whether it was there or not.
After Zhu Ping'an finished his comments, the greasy fat man opposite him, who had originally been disapproving, immediately widened his eyes and looked at Zhu Ping'an with admiration.
"Shaoxing rice wine is like an honest official, without any fake ingredients, and its taste is genuine. It is also like a famous scholar, who stays in the world for a long time, and becomes more and more refined after experiencing the world... Honest official, famous scholar... You know a thing or two about these things, little brother, you are, no, you are the confidant of Shaoxing rice wine."
The fat man repeated Zhu Ping'an's comments and couldn't help but slap the table excitedly and praised Zhu Ping'an.