Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 206 - 152: A Leader Forced by Employees to Go Hungry (Part 2)

After the dishes on that side were sold out, the situation slowly returned to normal.

"It's just the first day today, it's normal. After a couple of days, when the guests get tired of it, things will be fine."

Lucinda patted Helena's hand in comfort, but Helena tilted her head curiously: "When you travel, do you stay at the same place for a week?"

"Uh... good question."

She suddenly realized she had overlooked a crucial issue.

This is a hotel, and the guests are transient.

"No worries, I heard the guests chatting earlier, saying Chef Lin set up a stall outside the hotel last week, so he accumulated a group of regulars."

"Once those regulars leave, the new guests won't know the situation here. They'll definitely try everything."

"Let's hope so..."

Helena had already given up struggling, with no hope in her heart.

The guests may change, but the hotel staff won't.

When these employees come to eat, they're in regular clothes. New guests won't know if they're guests or staff. Seeing everyone picking the same dishes, they'll certainly follow suit.

She shook her head, controlling herself not to imagine that scene.

The situation this week was already set. They could only hope that next week that guy could come up with some innovative dishes.

Having nothing better to do, the two started wandering around, cleaning up any tables they saw, regardless of whether it was their section or not.

Everyone is under the same restaurant; sometimes there's no need to distinguish so clearly. People who work less should take more initiative to share the workload, which can improve their impression scores.

Breakfast time quickly ended.

With the two's proactive help, the dining area was quickly tidied up, and the dining area was restored to normal with the help of others.

Next up was starting to prepare lunch.

Lin Chen's side was still quite simple, much like breakfast, just dealing with various ingredients.

Jonathan looked at the collected leftovers with some confusion.

"It shouldn't be, why is it all my food? Was it that bad?"

"It's not that it's bad."

Helena knocked on the table, showing no intention of giving him face.

"It's that there's no innovation, you understand? Diners need innovation, not the ordinary stuff they can eat anywhere. Even in our restaurant, don't we update a few dishes every two weeks and replace the entire menu every quarter?"

"The food Chef Lin makes, the diners have never tried before. Naturally, everyone rushes to try his food. Who would choose the everyday stuff?"

"Oh~ innovation, that's right up my alley!"

Jonathan wasn't discouraged at all; instead, he chuckled: "The menu for this week can't be changed anyway. We'll focus on dinner. Reduce the stock for breakfast and lunch, and I'll think about the menu for next week with the spare time."

There were still two hours until lunch, and after a night of hard work yesterday, their group didn't need any overtime. They just needed to finish all the semi-finished products.

Like the smoked beef brisket, barbecue sauce beef ribs, those heavy dishes were already in the oven, pasta was precooked, and before service, just fry some sauce and mix it.

Tomato meatballs, two kinds of salads, dessert cookies were all prepared. He was the most idle person in the kitchen, just waiting to serve the meals.

Having nothing to do, he went over to Lin Chen with a cheeky smile: "Lin, what delicious food are you making for lunch? Do you have anything simple, convenient, and quick that we can try? We can help you prepare the ingredients~"

"You want to eat our group's lunch?"

"Mm-hmm!"

With his suggestion, Helena and Lucinda also showed curious and eager expressions.

"If... it's convenient?"

It just so happened that their group hadn't managed to have breakfast. If they starved at lunch too, it could really affect work efficiency.

Rice had already been cooking in the electric rice cooker, with about twenty minutes to go.

He was pondering whether to make dishes to go with rice or cook noodles.

With seven extremely hungry people, they might as well finish a couple of bowls of rice, which could easily disrupt the subsequent rhythm. After some consideration, he decided to cook noodles.

Tomato Egg Minced Noodles.

Tomato and egg stock was abundant, stored in boxes, and could last a long time. He ordered a lot, making it perfect for an employee meal—nutritious, healthy, and delicious.

"Lucas, open two packs of noodles and cook them. You know how to cook noodles, right? Throw a handful of salt into the water."

"I do! I've been cooking noodles for a while!"

There were tomato chunks on hand, which had been blanched and peeled. He beat twenty eggs in total and mixed them thoroughly, then drizzled a little milk in to make the egg even creamier and softer.

Heat up the pan with cold oil, and first fry the egg mixture.

For egg frying, to achieve a tender and fragrant texture, you must add oil generously. Eggs absorb oil like crazy, as much as you put, they absorb. It's somewhat like mushrooms or eggplants.

There's no special trick, just keep stirring, letting the egg mixture solidify. It doesn't need to be completely firm; a semi-liquid state is best.

Once the egg is done, take it out and let it sit to finish cooking by its own residual heat, achieving a slow-cooked effect that keeps it soft and tender.

No need to wash the pan, just throw in the tomato chunks and stir-fry until they turn into a paste, add some water to cover half the tomatoes, and boil over high heat.

Peeled tomato chunks turn into a paste quickly, just two or three minutes, and their edges begin to melt, with the whole sauce turning a tempting orange-red color.

Apart from Lucas, everyone else gathered around to watch him cook.

"This seems... just like making tomato meat sauce, except with fresh tomatoes?"

"Yes, that's right."

Lin Chen nodded, not feeling the need to hide anything, "This is one of Great Xia's national dishes, and one of the most famous home-style dishes. If you haven't eaten this, it's like you haven't tasted Great Xia Cuisine."

"Its characteristics are obvious: convenient, quick, nutritious, delicious."

As he spoke, the tomato chunks had shrunk significantly, and the sauce became a bit thicker. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"What I'm making now is an improved version of Tomato Fried Eggs, Tomato Egg Noodles, with some tweaks in the seasoning, but the overall taste is about the same."

A little soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken essence, sugar, salt. After adding the seasoning, taste for saltiness, then add some more water, and throw in the fried egg.

The originally semi-liquid egg had solidified mostly, soaked in the orange-red sauce, instantly taking on a lovely color, then he unceremoniously cut it into large pieces, thoroughly mixing it into the sauce.

Add a bit of cornstarch water to thicken it, and done.

Tomato egg mince with soy sauce and oyster sauce is more of a sauce brown color, not the traditional tomato fried egg's orange-red.

Lucas's timing was just right. He scooped up a large bowl of plain noodles and brought it over, and Lin Chen poured the sauce over it, finally sprinkling a handful of scallions. All set!

"It's... done?"

There was no flamboyant stir-frying nor roaring flames; the whole process seemed quite ordinary.

Helena and Lucinda showed a hint of disappointment in their eyes.

Jonathan also felt something was a bit strange. This thing looked like a tomato meat sauce noodle's egg version, just with different noodles.

Turns out Great Xia People eat this flavor too!

Lucas was practically drooling, but since it was an employee meal, he didn't care much and started mixing with tongs.

As the sauce made that sticky sound, every noodle in the bowl was coated with a rich layer, instantly becoming appetizing.

"Come on, everyone starts with a bowl. If it's not enough, get more. This thing clumps up fast, so hurry up and eat!"

Out of care for the newcomers... ahem, showing off a little, he first served Helena and Lucinda a plate each, then Dais and Elsa, Lin Chen, himself, and finally Jonathan.

Hearing that they should eat quickly, Helena and Lucinda didn't bother observing closely and twirled up a lot of noodles with their forks, sending them straight into their mouths.