Chapter 541 - Steamed Chinese Cabbage in Supreme Soup (1/2)

Jessica shrugged. “I don’t want to be biased against Chinese cuisine either, but I went to Ming House a few days before, and it didn’t meet my expectations.”

Elena was evidently frustrated. “I already told you that that’s not the best Chinese cuisine in Jingzhou.”

Jessica: “You were very disappointed as well, weren’t you?”

Jia Nuo smiled without chiming in on the ladies’ conversation. Just as planned, he served the dishes one by one according to the schedule.

The first dish was a small appetizer—the Four Seasons Cold Platter.

The Four Seasons Cold Platter contained four appetizers: pickled cucumbers, vegetarian goose meat, braised bamboo shoots, and candied plums. There was a variety of flavors in that one dish.

Immediately after that came the Lettuce-Wrapped Shrimp Floss. It was made by dicing and stir-frying fresh shrimp, onions, celery, and other ingredients; mixing them with golden, fried, and crispy dough sticks; and then wrapping them all with lettuce.

Then came the famous traditional dish-the Braised Pork Belly Pyramid.

Elena was very adept with her chopsticks while Jessica looked like she was struggling more. Still, that did not stop her from enjoying the delicacies.

Before serving the dishes, Jia Nuo introduced each of their special characteristics and other details in English. He had prepared the introductions well. They were short and sweet.

If they were too short, he would not be able to cover every detail hidden inside the dish. Yet, if they were too long, the customers’ enjoyment of the dish would be affected.

After all, most Chinese cuisines had to be served warm. Once too much time passed, they would not taste as good. At the same time, customers could not be expected to divide their attention and listen to complicated processes and steps while eating the food.

Trying to achieve too much often resulted in customers not being able to enjoy the taste of the food or remember details in the introduction.

Thus, Jia Nuo had revised the contents of his introduction multiple times to make sure that he had a perfect grasp of the timing. That would ensure that customers understood each dish well enough and yet managed to enjoy their taste without interruptions.

As Elena listened to Jia Nuo, she nonchalantly touched the sides of the plates. The minute details determined one’s experience of dining in high-end restaurants.

Some high-end restaurants that didn’t pay enough attention to details would not even bother to check if all water droplets had been wiped off the goblets after washing them.

If they neglected to do that, just a little bit of dust in the surroundings would cause marks to be left behind after the water droplets dried.

Of course, very few high-end restaurants committed such mistakes these days.

Another common problem was the temperature of the plates.

Cold dishes had to be served on cold plates, and warm dishes had to be served on warm plates. If waiters were slow to serve the dishes, the plates would get cold, and the dish would have to be prepared from scratch.

Elena had already lightly touched the sides of the plates for the three dishes that had been served so far. At once, she could tell that the temperature of each plate was within the acceptable range. Everything has been well taken care of.

On top of that, Elena had been taking note of the plating Matching of shapes, blending of colors, and types of cutlery… all of it was like art. The chef could give each dish emotions and a soul through his plating. The plating of the last three dishes could be called works of art, and Elena was very satisfied.

On the other hand, Jessica did not know as much. All she knew was that the Chinese cuisine that she was having today was different from anything she had had before. It looked about the same, but for some reason, it felt so mystifying that she could not find the right words to describe it. As Jessica ate, she exclaimed, “Is this Braised Pork Belly Pyramid one of the two complicated dishes that we ordered?”

Elena shook her head. “Apparently not.”

She turned to Jia Nuo. “Lucas, the first few dishes were outstanding, but I’ve had all of them at other high-end restaurants before. Take the Four Seasons Cold Platter for example – I had it in an outstanding Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley before.

“As for the Braised Pork Belly Pyramid, I had it at an elite private kitchen in Xiamen. Each has its own merits in terms of taste. You’re not lacking compared to the other restaurants, but I’m not completely won over by you either.”

Jia Nuo smiled. “Then, you must have had the next dish before as well; it’s a Western dessert called Verjus in Egg.” Elena and Jessica looked at the dishes that had just been placed in front of them.

It was… an egg.

Jessica was confused. “Did you boil this egg using Verjus drizzled in water? Lucas, I recall you saying that this is a dessert.”

Verjus was a rich and sour juice made from raw grapes. It was not common in countries outside of England, and ordinary people would not like it either. However, Jessica and Elena were obviously pleasantly surprised.

To provide a picture of how they felt, one could think of how those born and raised in Beijing would feel upon finding Beijing’s orange soda in Silicon Valley. Looking excited, Elena said, “Yes, this is a dessert. Everything on this plate can be eaten.”

Jia Nuo smiled as he began his introduction of the dish. “I guess Miss Elena is familiar with this dish. This little legg’ is a product of close to a hundred steps and over seventy ingredients.”

Elena reminded Jessica, “Jessica, you had better eat the eggshell, the egg yolk, and the egg white together. The mixture of different flavors would be perfect.”