Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 159: Tasting Session with Eriina (Part 2)

Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Tasting Session with Eriina (Part 2)

Qi Nan and a middle-aged chef stood in front of the table.

The middle-aged chef pointed to one of the Chinese soup dishes and said, "Miss Tiqie, this is a new dish I’ve recently developed. Could you take a look and tell me if there’s anything lacking?"

In the presence of others, Tiqie Eriina exuded an air of regal authority, gracefully scooping a bit of the clear fish soup with a spoon and a bowl. After taking a sip, she closed her eyes slightly and sat back in her chair, plunging the small room into silence.

Xia Yu quietly returned, and the middle-aged chef merely glanced at him.

"Fish head soup?" Tiqie Eriina opened her eyes. "Besides the fish head, are there any other main ingredients for umami?"

"Yes, actually, this is Nine Fresh Soup. Miss Tiqie, please taste it carefully."

The middle-aged chef appeared unremarkable at first glance, but his eyes burned with intensity, his spirit was strong, and his countenance was filled with confidence in his creation.

"No need."

Tiqie Eriina said nonchalantly, glancing at Xia Yu sitting across from her, "You should try it too."

She probably hadn’t realized that her tone had softened.

Noticing this detail, both Qi Nan, the manager of Danfei Building, and the middle-aged chef looked at Xia Yu in surprise.

Qi Nan took the initiative to introduce, "Chef Xia, this is Chef Shen He, the culinary director of our Danfei Building. He apprenticed at Yangquan Restaurant in Guangzhou at the age of twelve, mastered his skills by the age of twenty, and has been working hard with our CEO in Japan ever since. This is his twenty-fifth year."

An elder of the hotel!

More importantly, he had once been an apprentice at Yangquan Restaurant!

Xia Yu felt a deep respect. Being able to apprentice at Yangquan Restaurant for eight years was enough to prove his extraordinary culinary talent.

Seeing Xia Yu looking at him, Chef Shen nodded at him with a smile. "Try it."

Taking a clean porcelain bowl, Xia Yu stood up, scooped with a spoon through the fish soup filled bowl, and as the soup rippled, a few fine strips of seaweed floated up like swimming fish from the bottom.

"Clear soup?"

He didn’t see any fish head or other seafood ingredients, but the rich umami flavor hit him directly, prompting Xia Yu to take a deep breath, as if he could hear the roaring sound of ocean waves in his ears.

Having served the soup, Xia Yu couldn’t wait any longer and took a light sip.

In an instant, the nine ingredients used to simmer the seafood soup seemed to float before his eyes.

He didn’t have the "Divine Tongue" and could only roughly identify a few, murmuring, "Salmon fish head, sea shrimp, oysters, Emperor Crab, large clams..."

"And then?"

Xia Yu furrowed his brow, nearly calling out the names of the remaining few ingredients, the feeling of fog obscuring his vision greatly annoyed him.

Tiqie Eriina was about to speak, to help him call out the other ingredients, when Xia Yu activated an enhanced state of concentration, took another sip of the soup, and without a breath, said:

"Seaweed, wakame, Agar, sea ear..."

"Four types of sea vegetables, five types of marine fresh ingredients!" Xia Yu exclaimed. "All of them blended into this bowl of soup!"

Deactivating his enhanced concentration state, Xia Yu savored the feeling of intensified taste buds while tasting the seafood soup, remaining silent for quite a while.

So, this was the specialty of a Five-Star Chef?

Staring blankly at the crystal-clear seafood soup, Xia Yu felt that he needed to use a glowing recipe and produce a glowing dish to confidently conquer this bowl of clear soup before him.

"It wasn’t a perfect fusion, actually; there are many flaws within."

However, Tiqie Eriina had a different opinion and didn’t spare Chef Shen’s face, pointing to the strips of seaweed floating in the soup, she hummed, "First, there’s the seaweed. It’s redundant!"

"Seaweed naturally contains a certain amount of salt. The seaweed used in this soup is wild marine seaweed, which inevitably absorbed salt from seawater. Actually, while cooking the soup, the remaining seaweed could have been removed, leaving it in the boiling soup unwittingly increases the salt level! A flaw!"

To Xia Yu’s surprise, the Five-Star Chef Shen He wasn’t angry at all but listened earnestly, "Anything else?"

"Pay attention to the time spent cooking and rinsing the oysters!"

"Moreover, the taste of the sea shrimp is not strong enough, nearly overshadowed. I believe the sea shrimp should be shelled, minced, and thrown into the soup for simmering to make the flavor more robust!"

Next, Tiqie Eriina tasted several other new dishes, similarly pointing out a host of seemingly minor shortcomings in Xia Yu’s view.

Chef Shen, a Five-Star Chef, instead became like a student, nodding repeatedly under Tiqie Eriina’s guidance, even using a small notebook to jot down notes as he listened.

Even Xia Yu caught on eventually.

Tiqie Eriina was working, and Danfei Building must have paid a substantial sum to invite her to taste their new dishes. After all, her god-level talent, "Divine Tongue," was perhaps unique in the nation of Neon, and even in the world.

It was nearly six o’clock, and with a table full of dishes, Xia Yu had only tasted a small portion before having to leave reluctantly.

"You’re leaving? Wait!"

Picking up a napkin, wiping her mouth, Tiqie Eriina swiftly caught up with Xia Yu.

Both Qi Nan and Chef Shen escorted them to the door. In the car, Xia Yu watched Tiqie Eriina deliberately turning her head to gaze at the night outside the window, opening his mouth, but finally, his words condensed into a simple pair of words, "Thank you."

With that said, Xia Yu leaned his head on the headrest of the car seat, eyes closed in contemplation, but in actuality, he was communicating with the Chef God Space, recalling Chef Shen’s culinary skill blended into the dishes, and then comparing them with his own.

Soon, he returned to the small shop.

Xia Yu got out of the car, thought for a moment, then turned back to knock on the window. When the car window rolled down, revealing Tiqie Eriina’s exquisite face, he asked with a smile, "Would you like to come in and sit?"

Tiqie Eriina glanced at him, didn’t answer, but instead asked her secretary in the driver’s seat:

"Hizaki, what’s on the schedule for tomorrow?"

"Miss, at 9 a.m., you’re scheduled to taste new dishes at Senior Kazasaki Tatsuki’s restaurant, ’Long Amarillo.’ At 11 a.m., it’s Senior Kikuchi Sankaku’s ’Spring Fruit Pavilion’ restaurant. At 3 p.m., it’s Senior Qian Rixiangzi’s ’Mist House’..."

"Did you hear that? I’ll pick you up at eight in the morning!" Tiqie Eriina sat with her arms crossed.

"Uh?"

Xia Yu blinked, suddenly understanding.

Recalling Tiqie Eriina’s previous offer to help him, Xia Yu felt a warm surge flowing through his heart.

It seemed Tiqie Eriina intended to take him along for her work, to visit Kazasaki Tatsuki, Qian Rixiangzi, Kikuchi Sankaku, and others. They were all Far Moon students who graduated with the ten outstanding titles.

Recently, the IGO online showed Kazasaki Tatsuki, Kikuchi Sankaku as Four-Star Chefs, but as Xia Yu delved deeper into the culinary world, he discovered that IGO rating information usually lagged behind. Just speaking for himself, if luck was on his side, if the tasks weren’t too tricky, he could pass the Three-Star and Four-Star Chef assessments.

Yet, he was still a humble Two-Star Chef, no wonder Lancelot looked down on him and came to challenge him.

"Well, it’s good to find out in advance the true capabilities of those Far Moon graduates."

Xia Yu suddenly looked forward to going out with Eriina, enjoying the treats, and getting a clear sense of the strength of Five-Star Chefs.