The Game of Life-Chapter 812 - 811 Consider It
Chapter 812: Chapter 811: Consider It
Chapter 812: Chapter 811: Consider It
On Thursday morning at ten o’clock, the program team issued a new notice informing everyone that from now on, all contestants could go to the restaurant they had drawn to familiarize themselves with the restaurant staff, kitchen layout, menu recipes, and other related matters, especially those contestants who were about to head to other locations.
This notice marked the end of Jiang Feng’s leisurely salted fish life.
Although he really had nothing familiar to get acquainted with, Sun Jikai, Wu Minqi, and Sun Maochai were all unfamiliar with Yonghe House. It was indeed necessary to go there earlier to meet their new colleagues for the next two weeks, get to know the kitchen of Yonghe House, and study the menu and the taste of its dishes.
To better acquaint the contestants with the new environment, the program team also specifically assigned a staff member to each group of contestants to deal with their issues.
The first issue to address was the dish selection.
Aside from the four selected dishes, theoretically, Jiang Feng and his team could cook and sell all the dishes on the menu of Yonghe House. It should be noted that the menu of Yonghe House was over sixty pages long, and although many pages had just one dish that seriously diluted the content, the total number of dishes was definitely not small.
How to choose, and what to choose, was a big problem.
Jiang Feng and his team calculated the timing and arrived at Yonghe House around three in the afternoon when most of the chefs had already returned to the restaurant.
“Can’t we change it after it’s decided?” Jiang Feng was very familiar with the menu of Yonghe House and felt that aside from Tan Family Cuisine, they could cook all the dishes on the menu, although Sun Maochai and Sun Jikai might have a bit of difficulty adjusting because Lu and Cantonese cuisine are rarely the main focus at Yonghe House.
“Of course, you can change it, I’m just suggesting that you first decide on the dishes you can prepare. After all, there are so many chefs in the back kitchen, and chaos might occur if there is no good communication in advance, which could affect the restaurant’s operation,” the staff member said.
Jiang Feng and the others understood these principles well. Everyone in the kitchen had their own role—cutting, cooking, plating—and almost every chef had their fixed dishes, though the menu did not indicate this explicitly. Only Taifeng Building explicitly marked these details on the menu and considered them part of each chef’s performance.
While Sun Maochai, Sun Jikai, and Wu Minqi were studying the menu, Jiang Feng directly ran into the back kitchen to chat with the other chefs about the recent business situation of Yonghe House, the situation with Zhou Shi, and Peng Changping.
Zhou Shi’s cat had already been sent back to his hometown, and Peng Changping, having no cat to take care of, could only peacefully come to Yonghe House every day to teach his apprentices. Zhou Shi had also long passed the stage of being a rebellious teenager who loved to play without learning. He diligently practiced cooking every day and had made tremendous progress; it was said that his basic skills in Tan Family Cuisine had become very impressive.
Zhou Shi and Peng Changping were not in the restaurant now; Peng Changping had taken Zhou Shi to stroll through the vegetable market.
“Everything has been fine recently, it’s just a bit troublesome since they released the entire cookbook all at once,” complained the youngest boy nibbling on an apple to Jiang Feng.
“Troublesome?” Jiang Feng was startled, “The recipe for Tan Family Cuisine being released along with the airing of the show should be very good for business, how could it be troublesome?”
Jiang Feng had discussed this the previous night with Lu Sheng, who had mentioned that although Yonghe House primarily featured Tan Family Cuisine, they had not publicly disclosed their Tan Family Cuisine menu before, which led many ordinary customers unaware that Yonghe House served Tan Family Cuisine.
They were featuring Tan Family Cuisine, yet not selling it.
Lu Sheng had also explained to Jiang Feng the reason why Tan Family Cuisine was not on the ordinary menu was mainly due to its high cost.
The ingredients for Tan Family Cuisine were primarily luxury items such as abalone, shark fins, sea cucumbers, and bird’s nests, which naturally made the dishes very expensive. Initially, Yonghe House didn’t even have a menu and sold dishes based solely on that day’s available ingredients. Guests who wanted to reserve a feast had to prepare the ingredients in advance. This business model lasted a long time, even during the period it was a state-owned restaurant, with just home-style small dishes and appetizers on the menu; those who wanted to taste truly good dishes depended on luck.
Later on, when the state-owned restaurant was restructured and bought by a private owner, this model remained unchanged, although the variety of dishes on the menu had increased considerably. Initially, only a small batch of customers could afford Tan Family Cuisine. However, as the economy thrived and everyone’s wallets grew fuller, the number of customers who could afford Tan Family Cuisine increased, and Yonghe House then launched so-called VIP recipes, still not open to the general public.
Over the years, the restaurant industry flourished. Eight-Treasure House, under the management of Ling Guangzhao, earned a lot of money despite its tarnished reputation, which made Lu Sheng, whose restaurant had a good reputation but did not earn as much, quite envious.
Who wouldn’t want to make money without compromising their restaurant’s good reputation?
Lu Sheng had actually been looking for an opportunity for years to make Tan Family Cuisine less high-end and more visible to the general public, but he had never succeeded.
One reason Lu Sheng couldn’t find an opportunity was that Peng Changping had left Yonghe House many years ago, and the apprentices he had taught had mostly retired, being too old to work. With incompletent chefs, he feared rashly advancing it might make Yonghe House the second Eight-Treasure House.
The other reason was that the dishes and prices of Tan Family Cuisine were too high and difficult to promote. Putting them on the menu would not necessarily entice ordinary customers to order them, and it might be better to keep them as a secret menu, which could subtly elevate Yonghe House’s prestige.
Even a simple vegetarian dish like Tremella with Vegetables was priced at over a thousand.
If it came to comparing dish prices, Yonghe House might not lose to top-tier restaurants.
This reality TV competition was actually an opportunity for transformation for Yonghe House. From the start of the competition, Yonghe House added relatively inexpensive and less complicated dishes like Tremella with Vegetables, Sunflower Duck, Two-colored Shrimps, Scallop with Winter Melon, and Date Walnut Cheese to the menu.
Riding the popularity of the show, the sales of these high-priced Tan Family Cuisines at Yonghe House during this period were incredibly good.
Of course, Lu Sheng would talk to Jiang Feng about these things, mainly to encourage Jiang Feng to take on a few of the major dishes in the Swallow-wing Feast during these two weeks, such as Braised Yellow Fish Maw and Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber.
Lu Sheng truly hoped that one day Yonghe House could reopen for a complete Swallow-wing Feast.
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After all, the Swallow-wing Feast was the pinnacle of Yonghe House, representing its glory.
In recent days, Peng Changping had also spent some time and effort training the other disciples besides Zhou Shi, and everyone had made progress, but reaching the level needed to reopen the Swallow-wing Feast in a short period of time would require them to have a personal trainer like Jiang Feng.
“It’s really troublesome when the business is too good,” lamented the youngest chap, “We’ve just started offering some Tan Family Cuisine, which initially was great since business boomed and salaries increased. However, someone began to spread rumors that we launched these dishes because we’re planning to reopen the Swallow-wing Feast.”
“Reopen the Swallow-wing Feast?” Jiang Feng pondered, “Isn’t the Swallow-wing Feast always open?”
Though it was a version of the Swallow-wing Feast with two of the most difficult dishes cut out to reduce costs, Yonghe House had indeed been serving the Swallow-wing Feast for these years.
Even if Lu Sheng never explicitly named it, didn’t the customers automatically assume they were eating the Swallow-wing Feast?
“It’s not really open,” the youngest chap whispered, “These years, although we’ve been serving the Swallow-wing Feast, we’ve only done one or two tables a year and always at the customers’ homes. If we truly reopen the Swallow-wing Feast, we should do it like before, twice a month, once at the beginning and once in the middle, and then an auction at the end of the month, with the highest bidder getting a price upon request.”
Jiang Feng was startled.
Is this the lifestyle of the rich? Even their dining is decided by auction.
“Then why not do it now? It’s not like it can’t be done, just missing two dishes. You’ve been doing it for so many years and no customer has pointed it out,” Jiang Feng asked.
The voice of the youngest chap lowered even more, “It’s not just about missing two dishes; actually, the taste isn’t up to par either, nowhere near what it was ten or twenty years ago. But there’s no way around it, seeing as Master Peng left the restaurant so many years ago, and most of the master chefs have nearly retired, including Master Xu who is also close to retirement.”
Master Xu is indeed the head chef representing Yonghe House in this competition.
“Master Xu’s cooking skills were the poorest among the master chefs. If it hadn’t been for Master Peng’s return, we probably wouldn’t even be able to prepare the family version of the Swallow-wing Feast after Master Xu retires,” said the youngest chap.
Jiang Feng finally understood.
He had only tasted the Swallow-wing Feast made personally by Peng Changping, not the cost-cutting version from Yonghe House, so he was naturally unaware of the difference.
He knew the cost-cutting version was diluted, but he hadn’t realized just how watered down it was.
No wonder Lu Sheng had been so obsessed with hosting a complete Swallow-wing Feast for so many years and was so eager for the transformation into Tan Family Cuisine, truly driven by circumstances.
Unfortunately, he was also helpless to assist. He hadn’t even finished learning his own family’s dishes, let alone had the time to learn Tan Family Cuisine. Besides, even if he wanted to, Peng Changping might not be willing to teach him; after all, he wasn’t Zhou Shi and hadn’t been apprenticed to Peng Changping.
“I was wondering why there were only three people out there; turns out you ran into the kitchen to chat,” Lu Sheng appeared out of nowhere just as Jiang Feng was reflecting.
“I don’t need to study the menu, so of course I ran off to the kitchen to chat,” Jiang Feng laughed, noticing Lu Sheng’s hair was a bit messy, his collar wrinkled, and his face had several red marks, likely from sleeping on the table.
Anyone who didn’t know better might think he was a high school student who had the telltale marks of sleeping during class.
“How’s your research going?” Lu Sheng asked.
“How could it go? Any dish is manageable; there’s nothing difficult here,” Jiang Feng boastfully declared in front of his friend.
“Is that so? Then how about considering Clear Broth Official Bird’s Nest, or if you don’t want to tackle the Braised Yellow Fish Maw, I think the Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber is also an option,” Lu Sheng suggested with a smile.
Jiang Feng: …
“Sorry to interrupt you,” Jiang Feng excused himself on the spot.
“Consider it for a bit, I’ve had more than one old customer come to me about the Swallow-wing Feast lately. You know, our restaurant’s main chef for the Swallow-wing Feast has always been Master Xu, and now that Master Xu has been replaced by you, perhaps you should take on the role. Think about it, I know you can handle it, it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with our dishes, you’ve been around here long enough, just treat this place like your own home, if all else fails… oyster sauce abalone…”
Lu Sheng chased after him.
