Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 273 186: Meeting of Three Head Chefs, Exchanging Snacks

Lin Chen looked puzzled towards the entrance.

At this time, no one should be coming in, and the restaurant had a closed sign on the door, unless it was a hotel employee looking for him or Jonathan for something.

"Tap... tap..."

The crisp sound of leather shoes made him dismiss this thought.

The visitor was not a hotel employee!

President Wang usually doesn't wear something as formal as leather shoes.

Not a hotel person, not a leader, not one of their own, and wearing leather shoes.

Could it be...?!

He suddenly stood up from his chair, just in time to meet eyes with the man who appeared at the corner of the entrance by the green wall.

The man was wearing a casual suit, with a hat on his head. Seeing him, the man squeezed out a friendly smile and waved his hat twice with his right hand.

"Good afternoon, Lin, and Mr. Nagishiro, long time no see~"

"?! "

Upon hearing this voice, Nagishiro Sho was startled and quickly got up.

"Mr. Marchello!"

"Take a seat, both of you, no need to be so tense."

Marchello placed the hat back on his head, gestured for them to sit with a wave, and quickly walked over to the table, pulling out a chair opposite them to sit down.

He glanced at the laptop and notebook on the table, smiled, and said, "Mr. Nagishiro, are you preparing for tomorrow's food stall? Just as well, I've come to talk about that too."

"Have either of you thought of any food to make yet?"

Nagishiro Sho shook his head, but Lin Chen nodded.

"I plan to make a street snack from Great Xia, fried chicken fillet."

"Oh? Sounds good, but it's definitely not the kind of fried chicken fillet I imagine."

This thing doesn't really have a foreign name, and if translated into another language, it could clash with other names.

In Western cuisine, the default fried chicken fillet, also called chicken fingers, is a general term. In different places, the shape and process differ, but generally, the taste is similar; it's chicken breast coated in flour and fried, about as long as a finger.

The fried chicken fillets seen in restaurants or fast food places outside are usually larger chicken breast strips, each at least two to three finger-widths, and about the thickness of a single finger. A whole chicken breast can only make a few.

"That's right, the shape and taste of Great Xia's fried chicken fillets are different from those here. They are childhood memories for young people my age from back then who would buy a bag after school to fill their stomachs."

"Childhood memories... That's quite an unexpected term. Very well, I'll look forward to your offering tomorrow."

Marchello nodded with a smile, paused for two seconds, and continued, "Everyone sitting here is an experienced chef. Simply making stall food seems a bit boring, so I have a suggestion that might increase the difficulty and perhaps inspire each other as well."

"Cultural exchange!"

He tapped the table twice with his index finger, a bright light flashing in his eyes.

"It's simple, besides the food you originally want to make, each person has to make an additional dish from another country."

"For example, I'm good at Western cuisine, and the two of you are skilled in Chinese and Japanese cuisine, so let's mix it up. I choose one from the other two and make the corresponding dish. If I feel confident, I could make both. How's that?"

This novel suggestion instantly piqued the interest of Lin Chen and Nagishiro Sho.

Especially the latter, with a similar glint appearing in his eyes.

"I see, I have no objections. If we're going to compete, let's go for the most challenging, how about each of us makes two additional dishes? Including our chosen one, a total of three."

"Fine."

"I have no objections either."

"Then it's settled!"

"Wait a minute!"

Lin Chen suddenly realized something and interrupted them.

"Since it's a challenge, shouldn't there be rules and rewards and punishments?"

"Moreover, I think since we are doing this, we must respect other countries' cultures and not make too many changes."

"Take sushi, for instance. Everyone knows what sushi is. When making it, we can only make slight adjustments in the ingredients, not destroy the form and taste of sushi."

"If it's a sakura food, then it should be made with sakura's local flavor. Changing the ingredients to make it taste like another country doesn't demonstrate our culinary skills."

All of them were seasoned chefs who had been working in the culinary world for years, and they immediately understood what Lin Chen meant.

Simply put, no innovation.

This point was especially directed towards chefs like Marchello from the West.

In these few years of work, Lin Chen had encountered countless bizarre innovations. Foreign chefs often loved to do flashy things under the guise of innovation, creating dishes not only difficult to eat but also completely different in appearance and taste, while riding on the popularity of the original dish.

Like fried rice, as long as it's called rice, the main ingredient must be rice.

Then some chefs inexplicably crush and dehydrate cauliflower to make tiny bits similar to fried rice, calling it cauliflower fried rice, in the name of innovation.

When he first saw that, he was so angry he couldn't even speak, and after tasting it, he almost flipped the table.

Apart from looking like fried rice from afar, it had nothing to do with fried rice, just genuinely stir-fried cauliflower bits.

Yet many people willingly ate it, and enjoyed it, this utterly absurd innovation was something he could not accept.

Later, there were even fools who asked him if cauliflower fried rice was Chinese cuisine, whether Great Xia people ate this regularly, which made him so frustrated he felt a lump of blood stuck in his throat, about to spit out but unable to.