Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 423 - 422: Beehive and Jiu Chong Mountain (Part 2)

Chapter 423: Chapter 422: Beehive and Jiu Chong Mountain (Part 2)

Almost?

Indira was taken aback.

"So it’s also about thinking outside the box, adding a personal touch to make the framework more nuanced?" Shinohara Shigetaro revealed an interested smile.

Even in the heat of summer, the IGO manager still wore a thick black coat.

Upon entering the room, he took off his hat and gloves, but not his coat.

"Wait and see!"

Shinohara Shigetaro said.

The others also looked at Xia Yu.

After a moment of contemplation, Xia Yu wrote down a recipe for a rich soup on the printout:

Coconut milk, ginkgo nuts, lemongrass, citronella, laksa leaves...

She particularly circled the "laksa leaves" spice and pointed to the words, "This is the second core element I have given to the recipe... laksa leaves!"

Laksa leaves?

Sen Tian Makoto, Niho Fuyuka, including Tiqie Helinai all furrowed their brows, evidently unfamiliar with the name of this spice.

Yuchuan Ayaka, however, looked surprised.

"...Is it the kind of laksa from Southeast Asia?" Indira locked her gaze on Xia Yu across the table.

"Yes!"

"Laksa leaves are a native spice to Southeast Asia." Xia Yu’s lips curved into a smile, "The reason I know about this spice, is largely thanks to the Peranakan cuisine that originates from a combination of Chinese dishes and Malay dishes."

"In Peranakan cuisine from South Asia, laksa is one of the most famous dishes, and it would be incomplete without laksa leaves."

Indira rested her chin on her hand, silent for a long time.

Xia Yu’s proposal for a modification... could be called bold!

Outside of the curry recipe, she proposed another recipe for a rich soup, which also required a variety of spices.

So strictly speaking, this was a fusion of two curry recipes!

Combining the two into one!

The room fell silent for a moment.

Xia Yu looked over her recipe, while Indira thought about hers.

"Let’s do this..."

Shinohara Shigetaro spoke up, smiling, "Lady Indira, if you have brought some of those Fantasy Spices, why not use this kitchen to verify them. After all, conjecture is just conjecture; only by putting it into practice and successfully cooking the dish can we prove the conjecture is correct."

"I’ve brought some Fantasy Spices with me."

Indira took several glass bottles out of her lady’s handbag and passed one to Xia Yu.

"Chef Xia, shall we cook together?"

She extended the invitation.

Looking at the spice powder already ground up in the glass bottle, Xia Yu’s eyes shimmered with delight, "I would love nothing more!"

The two stood up and left together, leaving the others exchanging puzzled looks.

"Don’t go disturbing them—"

Shinohara Shigetaro advised the Far Moon interns, "Wait here."

After Indira left, Shanben Xiaoshu let out a long sigh.

"Sister!"

He could no longer pay attention to the interns, rushed to kneel before Yuchuan Ayaka, pouting, "You shouldn’t be here, go back to Shi Lin Temple. If you’re willing, Shi Lin Temple can offer them a sum of money, or some secret recipes, to trade you back."

Yuchuan Ayaka’s head was slightly bowed.

She did not respond, but instead furrowed her brow slightly, pondering over the two curry recipes.

Indira’s modifications were undoubtedly more feasible, and if things went as expected, the practical application would have a very high chance of being successful.

But Xia Yu’s modifications weren’t necessarily going to be.

"Sister—"

Shanben Xiaoshu quietly scooted forward.

"Shut up!"

Her train of thought interrupted, Yuchuan Ayaka was a bit annoyed and looked up to glare at her crestfallen junior, "You better take care of yourself first! The autumn special elite exam one month from now is bound to attract attention, and if you fail the exam, you know the consequences!"

With that one sentence, she shut Shanben Xiaoshu up.

"Xiaoshu, come here!"

Aoki Motota quickly pulled him aside, sitting in the corridor facing the courtyard, and reprimanded him in a low voice, with their voices faintly drifting towards the restaurant hall.

About two hours later.

Xia Yu and Indira, laughing and talking, returned to their private room.

"...Your conjecture was bold, but it proved to be correct. With this curry recipe as the foundation, once I return, I’ll find a way to integrate a Food’s Profound Meaning into it and cook up a true Lin-level dish!"

"Not at all, not at all."

"My recipe, after being modified by you, lady, has already touched the threshold of ’finishing moves.’ If I start with other ingredients and manage to replace them with a second Fantasy Ingredient and complement it with two chef’s marks, I can also cook my second special-grade ’finishing move’ dish!"

Xia Yu was wholly satisfied; at this moment, one could say he was all smiles.

A recipe conjecture showdown, unexpectedly, brought a rich harvest for both.

Afterward, Shinohara Shigetaro and Indira left.

Leaving Yuchuan Ayaka to continue entertaining Aoki Motota and Shinohara Shigetaro, Xia Yu, hands behind his back, humming a tune, walked through the courtyard.

Morioka Makoto, Tiqie Helinai and others followed him all the way to the kitchen.

"Come, everyone, come over."

Xia Yu beckoned with a hook of his finger, gathering a group of Far Moon interns.

Yuchuan Meisha had arrived at the small shop from Kamakura yesterday, but Xia Yu had only asked her over the phone to come for a visit, so there was no employment relationship between them. Therefore, Yuchuan Meisha stood out from the crowd and stood beside him.

Morioka Makoto was at his side.

With two large pots of hot curry on the counter, on Xia Yu’s instructions, Yuchuan Meisha and Morioka Makoto served the group of interns steaming hot curry rice.

"First, try the curry cooked by Lady Indira," Xia Yu said.

Lin Chef’s curry dish?

Gurgle.

A large chorus of swallowing sounds echoed, and even Tiqie Helinai, who had tasted all delicacies, quickly picked up the silver spoon from her plate, scooped up the fragrant curry draped over the rice, and brought it to her mouth.

"Buzzzzzz!"

All she could hear was buzzing in her ears.

"Comb!"

As Morioka Makoto chewed on a mouthful of curry rice, she mumbled unclearly, "What a huge honeycomb!"

It was more than huge.

Almost simultaneously spooning in their bites, the group of Far Moon interns—from Ichise Hui, Kobayakawa Ryodan, and Koga Shoji, who were among the top ten, to Niho Fuyuka and Hozoi Midori—had faces full of astonishment.

Golden glistening honeycomb structures floated within their field of vision.

Continuing to chew.

Then, a surrounding sweetness filled their mouths, making their jaws cramp. The interns’ facial muscles twitched, their eyes widened dramatically, as if they had encountered some inconceivably beautiful scenery.

"Zap—"

It was that world of deliciousness again, and suddenly the sky poured down buckets of rain.

The savory rain bathed the honeycomb structures, giving this marvel a hint of a milky-white shimmer.

Lots of people, naked, ran under the rain, converging from all directions toward the honeycomb.

"The honeycomb... it’s evolved!"

After a while, the group, lost in thought, put down their silver spoons.

Unconsciously, their plates were empty—no curry left, not a single grain of rice.

"Try mine now!"

Xia Yu pointed to the table, where he had quietly served another round of curry rice.

Again, they ate.

"How strange!"

Little Yellow Koga Shoji wiped his mouth and, as he set down his plate, muttered sotto voce, "How come there’s no obvious difference between Lady Indira’s Lin-level curry dish and Instructor Xia’s special-grade dish..."

The others were puzzled too.

Two completely different curry dishes—after they had thrown caution to the wind and feasted, neither had come out on top!

Curious.

"You see," Xia Yu chuckled, "Lady Indira and I were simply competing in our cooking skills, without any battle of marks or Food’s Profound Meaning. So what you ate was food that couldn’t possibly be purer."

"There was no Lin-level dish, no special-grade dish either."

"Just simple, ordinary curry rice."

Ordinary?

Hearing this, everyone exchanged puzzled glances.

Ordinary my foot!

Tiqie Helinai rolled her eyes secretly, thinking: "Ordinary? An average special-grade chef might not even be able to beat your curry dishes. This is the power that comes from reaching the depths in a certain field..."