Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 287 - 199: An Unexpected Encounter, Business Is Booming

Helena had just handed the ear of a packed plastic bag to the previous customer, and before she could greet the next one, her smile suddenly froze, and she stared blankly down at the girl before her.

"Li... Lisa?"

"Why are you here!"

Lisa pointed her small, fair fingers upwards: "Daddy brought me here."

"Hey~"

The man smiled charmingly, the sexy stubble on his face glimmering slightly in the sunlight.

"Long time no see, my dear."

"?!"

Beside her, Lucinda’s red lips parted slightly, staring in shock at the scene, even taking a half step back silently.

Although she knew Helena was married, she never expected her to have such a big daughter!

Judging by the handwriting and fluent sentences, she must be at least in middle school, between ten and fifteen years old.

If she remembered correctly, Helena herself seemed to be only in her early thirties, which meant she must have had a child in college?

To have a child at that age, she must have experienced a passionate romance!

Lucinda looked up at the man with a bit of a beard, exuding a charming aura, clearly a typical man from the Romantic Country.

At this moment, the man’s eyes seemed to only have his wife in them, with hundreds and thousands of people around disappearing from his world, and the gaze between the two intertwined, shining so brightly that Lucinda felt she couldn’t open her eyes.

"Hi~"

The usually mature and steady Helena seemed like a different person at that moment, with a rare blush on her cheeks, visible to the naked eye.

"Wow~"

"Woohoo~~"

The diners around were quick to pick up on the atmosphere, especially in the land of the Romantic Country.

Whistles rang out, cheers resounded, and there were quite a few hoots from the crowd.

"Kiss! Kiss!"

The commotion drew the attention of everyone nearby, even the stall owners prepping their dishes.

Chef Marchello, standing farther away, stood on tiptoes to glance over, smiled and shook his head, continuing to prepare the candy skewers in his hands.

Lin Chen had the leisure to enjoy the spectacle, as the fried chicken fillets were monitored by a timer, leaving no worry about overcooking.

Even Nagishiro Sho, who had been fully focused on prepping ingredients and never distracted, glanced over, seemingly aware of the pink bubbles swirling in the air.

While everyone sighed at the couple’s first-love-esque, heart-tugging romantic atmosphere, Richard’s jaw dropped as if he had seen a ghost.

Beside him, Marian had clearly noticed as well, a playful glint appearing in her eyes.

Noticing her son’s apparent desire to retreat, she called out first.

"Hey, isn’t this the beautiful and cute Lisa? I never expected to run into you here, what a coincidence!"

"Ms. Marian?!"

Lisa, worried her mom was ignoring her, drowning in pink bubbles with her dad, turned sharply at Marian’s voice, facing an equally embarrassed Richard.

"Hey, Richard, you’re here too? What a coincidence!"

"Uh... Yeah, quite the coincidence."

Richard’s face flushed red with embarrassment, feeling as if Lunard was watching him with a smirk.

Recalling the bold words he had uttered just a few minutes ago, he decided to act manly, treating her as just a normal classmate!

"Don’t, don’t misunderstand, I didn’t know you’d be here, I came to enjoy Boss Lin’s cooking!"

"Boss Lin?!"

As if triggered by a keyword, Lisa’s eyes lit up and she immediately looked past him towards the nearby stall.

Eliminating the two pretty sisters, her gaze quickly locked onto the two men.

One was a Westerner, the other an Easterner, unmistakable.

"Oh?"

Lin Chen, with his enhanced keen hearing, clearly heard the exchange between the two children from over three meters away, despite the noisy surroundings.

Combined with Richard’s reaction, he suddenly understood.

This little exquisite girl must be the younger sister that kid had a crush on before, right?

Turns out she was Helena’s daughter, fully inheriting her beauty DNA; it’s no surprise she became the class beauty.

Westerners’ skin condition is terrible, aging rapidly.

At eighteen it’s acceptable, but once past twenty, they seem to age in fast-forward, visibly growing old year by year.

At twenty-five, one might look thirty-five, quite normal.

Particularly for women, wrinkles are hard to hide, and the skin becomes saggy.

Only those who persist in working out can slightly slow down the process.

When he first saw Helena and Lucinda, he thought they were about the same age, around twenty-five or twenty-six, but later he found out Helena was actually the oldest among the four waiters, already thirty-two.

A Western beauty like her, aging backward, you don’t see many after being abroad for years.

Her daughter is even more impressive; still in middle school, her figure has already started to develop slightly, carrying an elegant model-like aura similar to Dreya’s.

Wait a minute, Dreya?

"Oh right, now I remember, this girl’s idol is Dreya, she probably dreams of becoming a model, right? That makes sense then."

"Daddy! This is the chef I told you about, the one who makes really delicious food!"

She tugged at her dad’s sleeve a few times, interrupting their romantic moment.

"Really? No rush, we’ll buy here first and then immediately go queue up, we’ll definitely get to eat."

The man chuckled and patted his daughter’s head: "After all, the food festival just started half an hour ago, there’s still plenty of time."

His words had just fallen when Helena’s face changed, and she turned to call out, "Dais! Can you pack an assortment for my daughter first?"

"Huh? Of course, wait till I’m done with this order, it won’t take long! What flavor of chicken fillet does she want?"

"Pick something for her, she can’t handle much spice."

Since it’s a close relative of an internal employee, using the internal channel is fine, considered as employee welfare, no one would mind.

"Honey, isn’t it bad to cut in line like this?"

"You don’t get it! Chef Lin’s reputation here is even bigger than those two head chefs, it’s normal for his stall to sell out within an hour or so, by the time you queue up, it might be all gone!"

"...Huh??"

The man was a bit dumbfounded, and Lisa was shocked with her mouth agape, clearly not expecting Lin Chen’s business to be so wildly successful.

They thought it was just a case of needing to queue a bit to buy the food, but you’re saying it’s even hotter than the Michelin Chef’s fare?

"Here you go, ma’am, thirty servings of chicken fillet, twelve servings of takoyaki, we only have five servings of beef soka for now, you can wait a bit for the remaining fifteen servings from the next batch."

"How many??"

Lisa held her mouth, shocked by the numbers she had just heard.

Yet, the multitude of bags packed with food lined up across the counter proved she wasn’t hearing things, Marian did indeed buy so much in one go.

"Don’t misunderstand, we have a lot of people, splitting up to queue and buy."

Seeing Lisa’s shock mixed with deep craving, Richard felt a wave of pride rise unbidden, he simply explained.

That said, the two little sisters he held didn’t look convincing at all.

The two tiny tots together probably didn’t have as big a stomach as him, no matter how many people there were, how much could they actually eat?

The customers ordering ahead eyed Marian’s bold ordering style, then glanced at their almost empty boxes, suddenly wondering if they ordered too conservatively.

They hadn’t eaten enough!

But with limited stomach space and so many tasty options left untried, you can’t fill up at just one place, right?

Customers behind Marian began reassessing, whether to order a little to try the flavors, or like her, buy a lot to take home and eat slowly.

Reheated fried chicken fillet sure gets dry and loses flavor, best enjoyed fresh, but takoyaki and soka don’t have such concerns, you can buy and reheat them from the fridge.

Mainly, Helena’s earlier shout stuck with all nearby.

It might sell out in about an hour, if you don’t buy now, who knows when the next chance will be!

"Ten servings of chicken fillet, please, all flavors, I’ll have double portions of tomato cheese and sour plum!"

"Seven servings of chicken fillet, one of each flavor! And five takoyaki, six soka."

"Five servings of chicken fillet! Ten takoyaki, ten soka!"

As soon as Marian gave up her spot, customers behind her shouted out their carefully planned orders.

The sudden surge of orders threw Dais and Elsa into a panic, Lucas on the other end was scrambling, flames flying from his spatula, unable to keep up.

Lin Chen was also tirelessly frying chicken fillet, pulling out handfuls from plastic bags into the oil, sweating profusely as visible stocks dwindled rapidly.

At this rate, the six hundred servings of chicken fillet he prepared could really sell out quickly.

So here’s the question.

After selling out, should he rest or continue?

The food event of the Kite Festival will last until the evening, being a hotel-affiliated restaurant chef, it might not look good to stop at noon, right?

There’s little time for hesitation, asking Dais to watch the fryer, he quickly washed his hands, pulled out his phone, and headed to the back to call.

"Hey, President Wang, is there any stock of fresh chicken breast left on your side, the crowd at this food festival is exceeding expectations here..."

"Let’s order fifty kilos more, as for the rest... forget it, let’s keep it simple, just use my order from yesterday and adjust the quantity by fifty percent."

"Can you get it delivered asap, the faster the better, ensuring safety!"

After hanging up, he sighed in relief.

Luckily, they have their own slaughterhouse, slaughtering and parting daily then delivering to supermarkets in various areas, unsold daily chicken breasts are re-tagged from fresh to regular or frozen.

Time is still early, just a quick stock turnaround solves it, no big issue.

If quickest, it should be delivered in about an hour and a half.