Chapter 222: Chapter 27: The True Strength of Full-Form Renz?
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Despite being just a cold dish, Dojima Gin and Akira Hayama ate with great relish. Any previous doubts about the price of Renz’s [Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad] mysteriously vanished. From a professional chef’s perspective, this dish was worth the price.
Cuisine cannot be measured solely by its raw ingredient cost; the craftsmanship and processing significantly add to a dish’s value. Dishes made by ordinary people and those made by professional chefs differ greatly in price, and even among professional chefs, there are distinct tiers. For example, Eishi Tsukasa, with his world ranking of third and numerous accolades, commands inflated prices for his dishes.
His reputation, combined with his exceptional cooking skills and refined techniques, adds substantial value to his creations. Or take Senzaemon Nakiri ’s dishes; their value transcends mere price. If this were future Renz, selling his [Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad] for just ten thousand yen would be considered an absolute bargain.
Renz, after careful consideration, set the price at a conventional rate for a renowned chef, based on the dish’s final quality. But in reality, it was still cheap. The finished quality was representative of peak Renz’s ultimate cooking. If this weren’t reality but a world from a manga, Renz’s dish would undoubtedly glow with "light" in everyone’s eyes, becoming a legendary "glowing dish."
Dojima Gin initially thought it was expensive because he believed Renz’s skill wasn’t yet at a level to justify such a multiplied price.
However, for a master-level dish, ten thousand yen is merely pocket change. For instance, in Dojima Gin’s own restaurant, his personal, full-course menu can cost up to four hundred eighty thousand yen. Even without the fame of someone like Dojima Gin, ordinary Totsuki students’ restaurant menus typically range around one hundred twenty thousand yen in total. Renz’s dish was priced according to the standard of a chef in Dojima Gin’s league.
Dojima Gin glanced around and asked, "Are there any other dishes?" He had already tasted the appetizer, and it had indeed whetted his appetite. He was eager to try Renz’s other dishes. Not only was his appetite stimulated by the cold dish, but Dojima Gin even felt he could accept several plates of the same cold dish; its impactful beauty on his palate left him somewhat "unable to extricate himself."
"Is this the chef who conquered the God’s Tongue?" Akira Hayama’s plate of [Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad] was also completely devoured. Admiration. Pure admiration. Satisfying customers is easy, but satisfying fellow professionals is not so easily done. Customers, with their lower expertise, can only discern "tasty" or "not tasty." They can’t perceive subtle differences in texture. But for highly skilled chefs, such differences are immediately apparent, and a perfect dish, even the simplest one, can deliver the ultimate culinary feast.
Seeing Dojima Gin and Akira Hayama’s reactions, Renz’s expression was almost one of calmness and serenity. If even the God’s Tongue couldn’t find fault with his cooking, how could anyone else?
"These dishes are what I serve to my VIP guests," Renz explained. "I got a little serious for this assessment."
Renz’s VIP guests referred to family, friends, important business partners, and wealthy merchants willing to pay a high price. He would cook less and less in the future because, having taken the helm of the Nakiri family’s economic enterprises, his primary identity was that of the Nakiri family’s chairman, rather than a chef.
"Just a little serious?" Akira Hayama gave a wry smile.
Renz was like a towering mountain pressing on his shoulders. With just one bite, he understood the gap between himself and Renz. He, at least, couldn’t create a flawless dish. To this day, only in bursts of exceptional form could he precisely craft a top-tier dish that was perfect in all aspects, but that was a rare occurrence. As for Renz? He seemed to be able to create a flawless dish with every gesture. How was this trained?
"But ten thousand yen is still so expensive. Can the guests here afford it?" As a frugal and practical young woman, Nito Hisako’s concern remained the price. No matter how delicious, that price was still hard for her to shake off.
"You don’t need to worry about that. The Totsuki Resort’s Gourmet Street is famous for its high per-person spending. If guests don’t wish to spend at the Gourmet Street, they can order hotel meals at the resort hotel," Dojima Gin explained. The hotel meals at the Totsuki Resort had their own self-prepared menus, and the chefs responsible for them were ordinary Totsuki graduates.
Hotel meals at the resort hotel were priced similarly to
ordinary restaurants outside.
For guests who couldn’t afford the Gourmet Street’s prices, these hotel meals might be a good alternative.
The reality, however, was that most people who vacationed at the Totsuki Resort came primarily for the Gourmet Street. Plus, with the rare luxury of leisure time, many were still willing to spend money to satisfy themselves. If you earned money but didn’t spend it, that money was earned for nothing, all for the bank.
"Enough talk, bring out the food," Dojima Gin tapped the table. "My appetite is fully whetted. If you can’t let me fully enjoy the food, then don’t blame me for giving you a bad assessment." He spoke with a hint of playfulness.
"Coming, coming! Senior, would you like a main course or some small bites?" Renz brought out several other dishes from the back kitchen. To maintain temperature, Renz had specifically made preparations in the back kitchen to ensure the freshly cooked dishes had excellent freshness.
"This is... Tornado Shark Fin?" Dojima Gin’s eyes widened sharply. He never expected to see this dish here. If the previous dish conquered Dojima Gin with its deliciousness, the appearance of Tornado Shark Fin nearly stunned him. Because this dish originated from a manga, a dish that was simply a cartoonist’s fantasy, with no actual practical preparation methods.
Even if one followed the manga’s steps, there was a high
probability of failure. Simply put, it involved braiding shark fin, Jinhua ham, and shredded bamboo shoots into a braid, then making it into a sausage. No one had ever seen this dish in real life, so its taste was unknown.
Dojima Gin had once attempted to replicate the cooking method from the manga, but after a brief try, he realized that such deliciousness was beyond human craftsmanship.
You first had to form loose shark fins into a nest shape, wrap the tenderloin in the center, and then use swallow skin (a type of dumpling wrapper) for a second wrapping, all while braiding it. The skill requirements were extremely strict. This was purely a product of a cartoonist’s imagination, an imaginary dish. Dojima Gin’s junior, Joichiro Saiba, was a specialist in such manga-inspired creations; many of his dark dishes also originated from manga cooking steps, often becoming "devilish dishes" that "poisoned" human taste buds.
But Dojima Gin never imagined that Renz not only replicated this dish but, based on its appearance alone, Dojima Gin couldn’t find any flaws in it. The presentation of this dish brought a shock to Dojima Gin far more intense than Renz’s [Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad].
At least the [Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad] had been made by others before, and there were indeed chefs who made delicious versions. But this [Tornado Shark Fin] was likely one of a kind. In other places, Dojima Gin had never seen a truly complete [Tornado Shark Fin] made. Most people weren’t even willing to try. The steps were too complicated and difficult; one mistake in one area could mean starting all over. For an ordinary family to practice this would be too expensive.
"How... how did you make the Tornado Shark Fin?" Dojima Gin still couldn’t believe that Renz had made a dish from a manga from beginning to end. And it looked so convincing. On the outside, there was no way to tell that this dish was a product of someone’s pure imagination.
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