Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 125: Spice Inequality (Part 1)

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Spice Inequality (Part 1)

"Danfei Building manager, Qi Nan?"

Xia Yu took the business card and glanced at it.

"The name Danfei Building sounds familiar." Xia Yu slightly furrowed his brows.

Qi Nan laughed, "Our restaurant is just fifty to sixty meters in front of Keisei Ueno Station."

Upon hearing this, Xia Yu was enlightened.

There weren’t many Chinese restaurants near the old shopping street; Xia Yu had lived in this area for ten years, and as a foodie, he naturally remembered the famous restaurants in his living environment.

Danfei Building was not only well-known in the Ueno Station area but was also one of the high-end Chinese restaurants in the entire Taito District. Foodies who pursued dining environments and service quality typically chose to dine at places like Danfei Building.

Another point worth mentioning is that in numerous food magazines, and even on food apps similar to Dazhong Dianping in Neon, Danfei Building received unanimous praise from professional food critics and domestic and international tourists.

Speaking of which, Xia Yu remembered that Danfei Building was rated as a five-star restaurant by the IGO organization!

Hozoi Midori’s ’Beitiao Building,’ famous in Yokohama and busy with distinguished guests daily, had only just passed the six-star rating. One could imagine how prestigious the IGO ratings of five stars and six stars would be, heavy and golden.

The key point was that Xia’s shop and Danfei Building were geographically too close; walking from one Chinese restaurant to the other would take about a quarter hour.

Competitors!

Xia Yu was a bit dumbfounded; if the competitor came to give a business card like this, it was really overconfident.

"Don’t misunderstand, I’m here today for a job," Qi Nan surveyed the youthful head chef.

"A job?" Xia Yu glanced at the middle-aged man, a light bulb moment, "IGO?"

Blurting it out, Xia Yu immediately regretted it, yet unexpectedly, Qi Nan nodded, "Yes, I’m an IGO auditor."

"Mr. Qi, announcing your identity as an auditor like this isn’t according to protocol, is it?" Xia Yu was stunned. Even he knew that IGO auditors mostly conducted surprise checks, personally visiting the restaurants that applied for grading evaluation, settling the reports quietly.

"This is after the audit." Qi Nan smiled, "Just a few minutes ago, I submitted an audit report through the IGO online to the IGO Bureau... Your restaurant, in my evaluation, scored a perfect score, and it’s more than enough to be promoted to a two-star restaurant!"

Phew.

Xia Yu internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Gaining a positive response from an IGO auditor made Xia Yu very happy.

He hadn’t expected that the auditor was the manager of a Chinese restaurant and that they were geographic competitors with plenty of reasons to trip him up.

Suddenly, Qi Nan changed the topic, "But I am just one of the reviewers."

"In the next few days, at least two more restaurant managers will visit your little shop." Qi Nan looked deeply at Xia Yu.

"Thank you!" Xia Yu bowed slightly.

This was a reminder, showing goodwill. The last bit of doubt in Xia Yu’s mind also completely dissipated.

"May I ask, are you a student of Far Moon?" Qi Nan observed the relief on Xia Yu’s face and asked.

"No!"

Xia Yu laughed wryly, "I study at Douli White Crane High School."

"I see."

Qi Nan replied, his eyes showing even more astonishment.

Not a student of Far Moon, yet possessing such formidable culinary skills at this age, could it be family heritage?

Thinking of the legendary culinary families back home, Qi Nan felt a chill in his heart.

Qi Nan wanted to inquire more about the secrets Xia Yu poured into his cooking, but the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. Upon answering, his secretary urgently reminded him that the distinguished guests at Danfei Building had been waiting for a while and he needed to return to entertain them.

"Thank you for the hospitality. I will come by soon to seek your guidance." Qi Nan said respectfully and then strode out of Xia’s shop.

Xia Yu watched the auditor walk away, his mind racing.

Speaking of which, in the coming days, the task of hitting two-star restaurant status was about to be completed. He wondered how to allocate the 10 Talent Points that would be his task reward. Xia Yu was torn between investing in skills related to spices or continuing to put into Cooking Intuition and Bursting Flame.

He decided to wait and see.

For the moment, he couldn’t make up his mind. As Xia Yu came back to reality, he noticed the group of Chinese exchange students at the table were all staring at him, as if he had three heads and six arms.

"What’s up?" Xia Yu chuckled.

"When did your shop increase the daily menu from six to nine dishes?" Ren Xue asked.

"Just a couple of days ago."

"No wonder!" Ren Xue looked annoyed, "I was busy hosting new students these past two days, and Mr. Shuigu went to Osaka for a comic convention."

"Hey, hey!"

The female student streamer Xuanxuan moved over, sitting where Qi Nan had been, closer to Xia Yu, and stared at him with big unblinking eyes, "Are you really the head chef of this shop?"

Xia Yu nodded, "Yes, I’m the head chef and also the manager."

"Did you cook all the dishes on this table just now?" Xuanxuan remembered the delightful feast she enjoyed earlier and quietly swallowed.

Seeing her point the rear camera of her phone at him, Xia Yu leaned over to take a peek, discovering it was a popular live broadcast room, so he skillfully waved and greeted the camera, "The coordinates of our Xia’s shop are in Neon Tokyo Taito District..."

With a brilliant ad, Xia Yu waved his hands and headed back to the main battlefield in the kitchen before anyone could react. He didn’t have time to chat over meaningless topics, even with pretty girls.

Everyone was shocked.

The female streamer Xuanxuan pouted unhappily at her failed attempt to engage him.

...

Midnight rolled around.

Xia Yu emerged from the quiet little shop, carrying a large black garbage bag in each hand, heading towards the trash bins on the shopping street.

Neon had a meticulous and strict garbage classification system, but luckily kitchen waste was considered burnable, so Xia Yu didn’t need to spend much time sorting through the trash, simply packing and taking it away.

Sakamoto was sent off two hours ago.

An Yilun and his buddies had left even before Sakamoto.

Sitting in a busy kitchen, Xia Yu didn’t have time to entertain them upstairs, only making several sophisticated dishes not on the menu for Sakamoto to take to the second floor.

Upon returning to the shop, Xia Yu stood in the doorway, gazing at the old district now wrapped in midnight silence, finally able to catch a breath.

A lantern hung above, casting a mesmerizing orange-red glow.

He stood at the shop door for a full ten minutes before going back inside, half-closing the shop door with a casual hand.

It seemed there wouldn’t be anyone at the midnight counter today.

Not long ago, he had managed to host distinguished guests like Shinohara Shigetaro and Reiko Lina, but in these ten days following that, except for a few pitiful overtime workers who missed the last train occasionally, Xia Yu hadn’t hosted any other noteworthy diners at the midnight counter.

Before Reiko Lina left, she took his phone to receive numerous professional books documenting spice knowledge, all in digital format.

"System, has the spice information been consolidated?"

"The content has been streamlined, removing 28% unnecessary content. The system has reorganized and consolidated the remaining 72%. The next step will require spending 500 Fame Points to synthesize the ’Spice Basics’ skill book."

"Does the host agree to this expenditure?"

"Agree!"

Spending 500 Fame Points? It wasn’t expensive at all!

Purchasing a basic spice skill book directly from the Chef God Store would cost over a thousand Fame Points at least. Xia Yu’s principle was simple: save where possible.

Moreover, a basic skill book consolidated from IGO’s internal professional information might not be inferior to the skill books in the system store.

"Learn!"

Focusing on the blue book appearing in the inventory, Xia Yu mentally commanded to use it. A surge of vast information flowed into his mind. He began to sweat on his forehead, enduring the pain of the memory influx. After a dozen seconds, he reopened his eyes, his pupils seemed to flow with strings of code formed by 01 digits.