Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 356 - 268 Plan Exposed, Someone Sneaking Food?!

There’s none of those miscellaneous flavors like celery or carrot, just the pure sweet aroma of tomatoes.

The soup is also quite thick, not the thin kind of clear soup, and you can vaguely see quite a bit of tomato pulp residue at the bottom of the spoon.

Could this actually be a soup made by simmering juice squeezed directly from whole tomatoes?

This is way too extravagant!

While it’s true that tomatoes are the most commonly eaten food by foreigners, and they frequently appear in various stew soups, they generally show up alongside onions, carrots, and celery.

These ingredients are regarded as the foundation of Western cuisine, the source of vegetable stock, so fresh tomatoes don’t usually appear alone in a soup dish.

However, the tomato soup Lin Chen cooked truly taught them a lesson, making them deeply realize that tomato soup can actually be this delicious without the need for those random ingredients to be simmered together.

"Wait a minute! This sweetness..."

As the hot soup went down, the sweet aftertaste began to reemerge in their mouths, gradually revealing its true nature.

"So it turned out there was onion added, no wonder I wondered how it could be this sweet with just tomatoes. It makes sense if there was onion paste added."

"Hiss?!"

"So, so spicy!"

While savoring the marvelous aspects of the two types of stock, she overheard the sound of people gasping in surprise.

"Huh?"

The person with the spicy soup base in front of them was just about to call it spicy when their frown suddenly relaxed, full of confusion.

"I thought it was very spicy, but it seems... just okay? But what’s this feeling of lips and tongue constantly trembling, it’s so magical."

"What! Your bowl looks so red, and it’s not spicy? Hiss, ha... my bowl is, it’s killing me with spiciness, super spicy!"

The woman who picked the dry mix bowl only took a bite of the fish ball, turned red-faced from the spiciness, and hurriedly gulped down ice-cold milk.

"Is it that spicy?"

Seeing her blushing face, the other three were startled and began to hesitate whether they could handle this level of spiciness.

"But, but this fish, fish ball is quite tasty! Just the sauce on the outside is a bit spicy, but it’s not unbearable, and rather makes me want to eat more of it as it gets spicier."

"Aside from the spiciness, my lips and tongue are trembling, and there’s sweetness too, this flavor is so incredible."

The woman kept her mouth open to fan her mouth, while her body edged towards Su.

"Let’s switch places, let me try this non-spicy one over here, it looks like yours is the mildest."

Switch places?

This was unexpected for them, but actually quite reasonable. Instead of picking and mixing them up, moving clockwise after every bite made it much easier.

The woman who just finished the spicy soup base flavor turned pale.

Was she going to challenge that super spicy bowl next?

She wasn’t mentally prepared for this!

"Hiss... !! Spicy, spicy, spicy, water!"

"Hey, actually, don’t even mention it, after a few seconds the spiciness indeed becomes kind of addictive, there’s a compulsion to keep eating."

"This beef ball is also quite good, with crispy cartilage inside, how did they even think to crush cartilage into the meatball?"

"No wonder they say Great Xia’s culinary culture ranks first in the world, I used to think it was just boasting, but now I see it’s true, just the creativity in food combination can’t be compared with our French cuisine."

"Wow, you’re changing sides so quickly, who was it that said French cuisine is the best in the world just a few days ago?"

"Ahem... I didn’t say Great Xia Cuisine is the best, right? But what they’re making is indeed very good, what’s wrong with giving a compliment, just being honest!"

"Stop with the nonsense and eat while it’s hot, how about the next person try this bamboo shoot that pandas eat? I’ve been curious for a long time!"

While the girls were sweating it out eating in the hotel room, Su’s boyfriend was at home enjoying a delicious thin-crust pizza, watching an intense game match on TV.

Just when the man was watching engrossingly, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Ding-a-ling~"

He curiously held half a slice of pizza in his mouth as he climbed off the sofa to answer the door.

"Hey, good afternoon Sergy."

The man at the door looked familiar; he immediately recognized him as the husband of one of the women who often took walks with Su.

"Good afternoon, is there something you need?"

"Well, actually, I had originally arranged with my wife to have lunch together at home today, but when I got back, she wasn’t there, there’s no food at home either, and I couldn’t reach her by phone, so I thought she might be visiting you guys."

"No, my girlfriend said she had an appointment with friends and went out, leaving just me at home."

Sergy shook the half-eaten pizza in his hand, "My lunch just got delivered."

"I see."

The man suddenly understood, "It seems they went out to eat and forgot about me; damn, after all these years she still hasn’t changed her forgetfulness, well, then I won’t disturb your meal, goodbye."

The two of them didn’t give it much thought. After all, a few women gathering for walks and chats every day was as normal as can be.

As the man just stepped out from Sergy’s house, not far away, he encountered two middle-aged women pushing baby strollers as he was crossing the intersection.

Even though he couldn’t recall their names, they looked familiar, definitely neighbors, so he greeted them proactively.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Have you had lunch yet?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Sergy. Not yet, we’re just discussing whether to make some pasta together. If you two haven’t eaten, would you like to join us?"

"No need, no need. My wife went out for lunch with Su and the others. I’ll just grab some pizza nearby to fill my stomach."

"What?!"

Both of them seemed to think of something at the same time, their expressions changed.

But they couldn’t discuss it in front of the man, so they just exchanged pleasantries and quickly made their escape.

Once the man’s back was out of sight, they quickly took out their phones and turned to the group chat.

Their expressions grew increasingly grim.

"Damn, there’s no news in the group chat at all!"

"They must have gone off secretly to enjoy some good food without us!"

Although everyone was neighbors and saw each other coming and going all the time, it was normal to have their own social circles.

But these two didn’t expect that they had just called to ask if they wanted to collaborate, formed a group, and by noon, they were excluded while the others went off to enjoy good food.

This was too much!

The problem was that aside from these two, they didn’t know who else was involved in this exclusionary sneaky dining event, so they couldn’t just start calling people randomly.

"How about... we go hang around near the hotel?"

"Good idea! I don’t believe they can finish eating and not come out!"

They roughly remembered the plan mentioned on the phone in the morning, it was nothing more than one person booking a room, then everyone else mooching off the food, with everyone splitting the cost.

They must have bought food and gone to the room to eat. It’s impossible for a group to eat openly with so many people around, so as long as they guard the hotel on the way home, they would definitely catch someone.

They all had families and kids, surely they couldn’t stay away from home at dinnertime, right?

The four women enjoying the perfect meal in the room were already drenched, with glazed eyes and heavy breaths, their foreheads covered with fine beads of sweat.

The magic of the spicy hot pot had completely conquered them, especially alternating between the mix and the soup. The fiery and hot thrill almost drove them crazy.

Often they would jump in place from the dry mix’s heat one moment, then they’d use the bone broth and tomato soup to ease the spice the next.

Not long after feeling comfortable, they’d start enduring the spicy bone broth again, stacking on the just-diminished heat, and finally facing the challenge of dry mix spicy hot pot.

But there was nothing they could do. This level of spice was just their threshold, any spicier and they might not be able to eat it, but it was stuck right at this limit, making them increasingly addicted, unable to stop.

The key was that this pepper was spicy but very mild, it didn’t cause much reaction in their stomachs, only spicy on their lips and tongues.

But the good times didn’t last long. After the four completely drained the bone broth and tomato soup, all that was left was the spice challenge.

"Burp~"

"I’m so full. This might be the most satisfying meal I’ve had in recent years."

"Also the spiciest meal I’ve had in my life."

"When I bought it, the female server recommended a mild spice, saying it’s suitable for foreign tastes. If they’ve been to Great Xia or love Mexico cuisine, they’d recommend mild or medium spice."

"What?! This spice level is only mildly spicy? Are Great Xia people really that good at eating chili?"

"It’s really unbelievable. I feel like even Mexico food isn’t that spicy. Do people really order medium spicy?"

"Anyway, when I was in line, I didn’t see any. They clip a paper on selected baskets to write the taste and number, and they call the number to confirm whose order it is. I glanced around and they were mostly mildly spicy, or bone broth and tomato, rarely dry mix."

"But but! The dry mix is really delicious. Although at first, it feels like my mouth’s been punched, later it becomes more and more addictive, unable to stop."

The group cheerfully sat around the coffee table and discussed for a long time, then pulled up the homepage voting page, thinking of what might be tasty next.

"Oh no, oops!"

Just as they pulled out their phone, someone exclaimed.

"I actually forgot I had an agreement to have lunch at home with my husband today. I even missed his calls. How did I not hear my phone ring at all?"

"Maybe the calls came in when we were outside. With so many people in line, it’s normal not to hear it."

"I have to hurry back home. I need to nurse my baby. If I don’t go back, who knows what kind of formula he’ll end up making."

"I should head back too. My baby usually sleeps until afternoon, the sooner I get home, the sooner I’ll be at ease."

The three mothers all stood up together, walking towards the door in company.

"Su, since you don’t have kids, can’t let the room be wasted. Enjoy the hotel’s massage service this afternoon, remember to send us videos~"

"What about tomorrow? Who’s going to book the room? We can’t possibly check out the room, it won’t be available again for a short period."