Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 194 - 146: A New Week, Restaurant Opening (Part 2)

"Oh no, please, we have a 10 PM bus, my wife's only wish before leaving is to taste the food made by that head chef one more time!"

"Do you live far away? If not, you could still come over from time to time. Chef Lin will be working at our restaurant, providing delicious food every day."

"It's far, takes over an hour by bus, nearly three hours round trip, we can't just come all the way here to eat, can we?"

"Hmm... Is there a possibility that you could come over on a Friday night, have breakfast and lunch on Saturday, then pre-book dinner, and have breakfast and lunch on Sunday before heading back?"

"!!! Great idea, great idea! Honey, what about coming back next Friday?"

"I have no objections."

"Miss, is the food truck where Lady Dreya takes food photos nearby?"

"Yes, it's our restaurant chef's food truck, but he hasn't started his orders today, and tomorrow is the official trial opening of the restaurant, so he's likely not going out, if you need, you could check the nearby menu, reservations must be made in advance, registration closes by 6 PM."

The hotel front desk has already printed all breakfast and lunch menus for tomorrow, placed in transparent plastic plates for hotel guests' reference, and registration forms beside them.

If you want to make a reservation, you need to pay in advance to avoid unnecessary hassles and facilitate statistics.

The tourists who came for consultation, especially those who tasted Lin Chen's craft, almost everyone's face was filled with excitement upon hearing that the restaurant would start operating tomorrow and provide a buffet.

But the problem is...

Tomorrow is Monday.

Gotta work.

Only those tourists from abroad were overjoyed, happily swiping their cards, filling in their room numbers, phone numbers, and names on the forms.

"The price is really cheap, with such a great hotel environment, and it's new, the accommodation price is actually average!"

"Yes, plus booking for more than a week provides discount rebates, self-service breakfast is only 15 euros, lunch is just 25 euros, is this more affordable than most restaurants?"

These tourists from abroad always feel like they got a bargain, especially since the hotel also provides gym and swimming pool, sauna, karaoke and massage services, with service facilities and quality comparable to a five-star hotel, yet the price is so low.

Though enjoying these services requires additional payment, so what, as long as the prices are nearly the same as outside, it feels like a gain to these tourists.

Can the services provided by a big hotel be the same quality as those provided by a small shop outside?

At this moment, Lin Chen and his group are enjoying free Thai massages on the third floor, the masseurs are actually genuine Tai Island people.

A set of herbal baths + full body massage relaxation + facial cleaning done, the whole person feels brand new, indescribably light and joyful all over.

"Hey, you should've said that working at the restaurant has such benefits!"

Lucas twists his neck, causing a 'crack crack' sound, feeling like his life has gained value.

Dais and Elsa have grown closer over the past week, they didn't change clothes, just wore comfortable casual attire heading to the restaurant to enjoy the last free night of relaxation and joy.

Formal attire, better leave it for official occasions.

The four of them were quite frugal, each ordered a cocktail mainly with fruit juice for a little taste, enjoying the pleasant tipsiness, and afterwards all replaced with sparkling water to avoid affecting tomorrow's work.

At 10 PM, they disbanded on time.

Upon returning to the hotel entrance, they saw the restaurant was surprisingly lit.

The four exchanged glances.

"Did those folks finally come back?"

"So late, can't be working overtime, could they have just returned?"

"Feels like it, not showing up for seven days straight, not caring about anything, it's decent enough they returned within the last few hours, I was afraid they'd come back tomorrow morning."

"Hahaha, you're too cruel, let's go, I don't want to find trouble for myself in the middle of the night, better leave the work for tomorrow, time to sleep!"

"Right, right, time to sleep!"

"Chef, was the minced meat they ordered in the daytime meant for making meatballs? How long does it take to make that in our restaurant?"

"Supposedly for meatballs, could also be for hamburger patties, though hamburger patties require rolling into balls too, at our place a basin of forty kilograms of ground meat takes about half an hour for three people, but it's definitely too late to make it tomorrow."

Lin Chen remembers it vividly, he is a walking recipe.

"Rolling balls and shaping them takes half an hour assuming mastery, Helena and Lucinda certainly lack the skill, at least an hour."

"Meatballs in the oven take forty minutes, cooking tomato sauce takes twenty, cooking the roasted meatballs together with meat juice needs at least another hour, then cool below forty degrees to store in the fridge."

"To be conservative, just this dish requires over two and a half hours of preparation time, definitely not enough from 9 AM to 11 AM tomorrow, so it must be prepared tonight."

"Also, desserts need to be made tonight and frozen; even for a buffet, Western desserts need to look quite exquisite."

With each sentence, their smiles widened.

"Ah, feels good, even better than post-massage~"

"We have an old saying in Great Xia: what goes around, comes around, the fun they had in the past six days will turn into agony tonight."

Lucas smugly flipped a middle finger towards the restaurant's direction, "Our Chinese cuisine is still superior, preparation is simple, can be made on the spot, and looks good and tastes great."

"Alright, alright, mind your image, don't let anyone see."

Lin Chen pulled him over and walked towards the hotel lobby.

"Gather at the restaurant at 5 AM tomorrow, everyone try not to oversleep, Dais and Elsa should also come help wash vegetables, and assist with setting up the venue, we might need to discuss with those two how to divide work areas."

"Okay chef!"

...

Monday morning at four-thirty.

As soon as the alarm rang, Lin Chen abruptly opened his eyes, turned off the alarm on his phone.

"Finally got to use the alarm once, not bad, not bad."

After quickly freshening up, shaving clean, and applying some cream to his face, he headed downstairs.

Yesterday while organizing ingredients, he noticed two boxes on the office desk, these were uniforms for two teams, primarily black, with head chef uniforms having light gold trim, looking rather classy.

The restaurant was still lit, without surprise, it's likely an all-nighter.

"Ding-a-ling~"

A new wind chime was added to the restaurant's front door, ringing crisply as he entered, refreshing his spirit.

He scanned the hall, each table was neatly set with cutlery and tableware, except for wine glasses.

Turning his gaze, he saw the drink area with a bunch of transparent glasses stacked neatly, for guests to take as needed.

Nodding in satisfaction, it seemed Helena and Lucinda had already arranged the front hall, quite a pleasant surprise indeed.

At least, this crew has some awareness and human touch, it won't be too hard to get along.

He feared entering a restaurant left in its original state, empty and barren, which would really piss him off.

The restaurant was quiet, no one was visible, all clearly working overtime in the kitchen.

Instead of heading straight over, he first went to the office to change into his uniform and put on his chef's hat.

Not one of those tall traditional ones, just a black cap similar to a baseball cap, as long as it covers the hair, the smaller the hat the less it affects work. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

While changing, Lucas and Dais along with Elsa arrived together.

"Good morning chef!"

"Wow, looks great in uniform, with gold accents feeling even better than Raphael Chef's outfit!"

"Old Lin, quick, where's my uniform? I'm in a hurry!"

Upon their arrival, the atmosphere became lively instantly.

Seems like the noise outside was heard, crisp footsteps resounded from the kitchen.

The four simultaneously stopped chatting and turned their heads towards that direction.

Two equally dressed in slim black uniforms, sexy hot-bodied ladies walked out, waving to them.

"Good morning chef, and everyone, we're here to apologize for yesterday's incident."