I Am A Gourmet: Just Eight And You Want Me To Start A Roadside Stall Novel! - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Head Chef of the Heavenly Restaurant!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Don’t forget to pay later. This bowl of fried rice… costs 99 yuan”
Xu Le reminded in his child-like voice.
Although it was not cheap, Xu Le really did not ask for too much.
After all, there were so many ingredients, such as ham, prawns, and dried scallop. The cost price itself already added up to 30 to 40 yuan.
The most important thing was the cooking method.
The ingredients could be bought with money, but Xu Le used a special method to make this bowl of fried rice. If one missed it, they would not get another chance to taste it.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this bowl of fried rice was the one and only.
Xu Le had absolute confidence. As long as Zhang Tong tasted it, he would feel that the money was worth it.
Zhang Tong stared blankly at the bowl of fried rice.
He didn’t care about the price at all.
In the eyes of a top chef like him, a single dish of fried rice could be sold for over 100 yuan.
The cost price was only a small portion.
More to the point, you’re paying for the chef’s cooking and creativity.
After staring blankly for a few seconds, he picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful into his mouth.
“Delicious!”
Zhang Tong was speechless.
At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind—Delicious!
This bowl of Egg Fried Rice was definitely the best Egg Fried Rice he had ever eaten.
Without any pause, Zhang Tong finished the Egg Fried Rice in less than half a minute.
Even after he finished eating, he looked at the empty bowl reluctantly.
He seemed to feel a little regretful.
Although the taste lasted for a short period, it was forever engraved in his DNA.
He had previously thought that Xu Le had used too many ingredients. If they were all fried in the same pot, the taste might clash.
However, when he started eating, Zhang Tong realized something.
Xu Le had matched the ingredients to taste perfectly.
The effect could even be described as magical.
For example, if you ate the rice and ham, the flavor presented would be savory.
If the next bite was rice, prawns, and scallops, the taste would be fresh and sweet.
Zhang Tong’s worry about the conflict between the taste of the ingredients did not happen at all.
It was even to the extent that every single mouthful he ate had a completely different taste.
Suddenly, a dish appeared in Zhang Tong’s mind.
That dish was what his master had told him about when he was learning how to cook.
It was also Egg Fried Rice.
The name of the dish was “Golden Egg Fried Rice”!
Although the name sounded ordinary, in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the Golden Egg Fried Rice was a court dish. Only the imperial chefs of the court had passed it down for generations and specially made it for the emperor.
Unfortunately, as time passed, the palace was no longer there.
Not to mention the inheritance of the imperial chef’s recipe.
The cooking method of the Golden Egg Fried Rice had long disappeared over time.
According to his master, the last time the Golden Egg Fried Rice appeared was when a chef of the Peace Hotel appeared in the Republic of China.
In that case…
Zhang Tong was shocked.
This lost dish was actually made by Xu Le, who was only eight years old.
Could it be… Xu Le was a descendant of the imperial chefs?
Otherwise, how could he know to cook the Golden Egg Fried Rice?
The more he thought about it, the more shocked Zhang Tong became. The only thing he was certain about was that this child was not simple!
“I, Zhang Tong, have learned something today.”
Zhang Tong stood in front of the food stall and bowed respectfully to Xu Le who was just a little kid.
This surprised Xu Le.
However, Xu Le quickly asked with a suspicious look, “You suddenly gave such a big bow… Are you thinking of not paying?”
Zhang Tong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
After all, he was the head chef of a big hotel. How could he owe a child payment for food?
Zhang Tong took out a hundred-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to Xu Le.
He also handed Xu Le a name card.
“Let me introduce myself again. My name is Zhang Tong, and I’m the head chef of the Heavenly Restaurant. If possible, I’d like to invite you to join our hotel.”
“Heavenly Restaurant?”
Xu Le blinked his big black eyes.
Soon, he recalled.
The Heavenly Restaurant seemed to be a famous restaurant in Shanghai. It was ranked in the top five among the top ten restaurants in Shanghai every year. It had been passed down for 124 years, and was considered a genuine century-old restaurant.
Xu Le accepted the money and name card but did not agree to it.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Might as well.”
Zhang Tong didn’t continue to ask him. After all, he was only an eight-year-old kid.
Even if he really came to their restaurant to cook, he could not be an official employee. Otherwise… wouldn’t their Heavenly Restaurant be hiring child labor? That would be illegal.
“Little chef, today’s bowl of Egg Fried Rice has taught me a lot. You deserve that bow.”
Zhang Tong said that from the bottom of his heart.
Although he felt a little regretful that he didn’t get to taste the Oil Doused Noodles and Kung Pao Chicken that day, this bowl of Golden Egg Fried Rice had completely convinced him.
Just now, Zhang Tong even had the thought of becoming his disciple.
It wasn’t for anything else but for this bowl of Egg Fried Rice.
If he could master it, the Heavenly Restaurant would have one more signature dish in the future, which would be of great help to the restaurant’s ranking.
After Zhang Tong left.
Xu Le quietly cleaned up the shop and brought Xu Tian home.
“How tiring!”
After Xu Tian fell asleep, Xu Le lay on the bed and felt his back aching.
He had set up his stall for about five hours and had been cooking the whole time.
This was an unbearable amount of work for an adult, let alone a child like Xu Le.
But at the same time, Xu Le discovered another use of the system.
He usually practiced cooking in the system space, which seemed to have improved his physical fitness.
At the very least, his body was only a little tired after such high-intensity cooking. It was not to the extent that he could not take it.
For Xu Le, this was enough.
“Let me calculate the turnover today!”
Xu Le’s eyes lit up at the thought of the booming business that day.
He got up from the bed and checked his account balance.
His Alipay had a balance of 3700 yuan, WeChat had a balance of 5400 yuan, and Xu Le also received more than 900 yuan in cash.
All of them added up to about 10,000 yuan.
“Oh God…”
Even Xu Le was shocked by this number.
The requirement for the system mission was 5,000 yuan in revenue, and he had exceeded the requirement to complete the mission. He had even achieved twice the mission’s target!
[Congratulations, Host, you have completed the mission!]
[100 gourmet points awarded!]
The mechanical voice of the system sounded in Xu Le’s ears. He looked at his system panel again and realized that the number behind his Gourmet points had changed from 0 to 100.
Besides the cost, Xu Le had earned at least 5,000 yuan that day.
In the food and beverage industry, earning half the amount was not a lot.
After all, all of Xu Le’s ingredients were carefully selected by him. The meat was selected from farm chickens, and the tomatoes were all fresh and juicy. All of these would increase the cost.
“Enough to pay off my mortgage.”
Xu Le lay on the bed and smiled happily.
He no longer had to worry about the rent.. It was a huge burden that he had to bear.