Chapter 154
Chapter 154: Global & Local (4) God of Cooking
Name：God of Cooking
But of course, it wasn’t that a change occurred because of this step. His tasting level was still 8 and what people thought about this was still ‘the absolute taste is incredible’. And actually, the words that came up on the chat were all like that.
It was then. Jeremy looked down at his dish with warm eyes.
“It is delicious but…..I think that this restaurant is going to be more popular to tourists rather than japanese people. Am I right?”
“Mm….I can’t exactly deny that. They did say that they kind of compromised, so I couldn’t completely catch their tastes. But of course, it’s not that we don’t have japanese customers……At least half of the half are japanese.”
Not even a quarter of the customers in a japanese fusion restaurant are japanese. Even if it is a global michelin three star, it was quite a strange proportion. Jo Minjoon slowly thought back at the sushis he ate just now.
‘…..It was delicious indeed, but it felt like sushi that had a mask on.’
He thought that it may not suit the tastes of the feelings of the japanese. Rachel opened her mouth.
“Bringing the two of them is originally a difficult task. A foreign country…..Precisely speaking, it’s fine as westerners like it, right? The ones a chef has to treat are the customers inside the restaurant, thinking over the likings of the people that don’t even come is a stupid thing to do.”
“…..Ugh, I think I know what you are talking about. But even so, I still think of that. Is this fusion food that was masked as japanese or japanese food masked as fusion. Well, that may depend on each person.”
At Jeremy’s words, Rachel turned to look at Anderson and Jo Minjoon. She threw a question with the eyes of a teacher.
“What do you think about this?”
“What do you want us to say exactly?”
“The proportion of local and global food, what’s the most important thing in that balance. Can you tell me your opinions?”
[It’s a homework.]
[I always found those kinds of questions the hardest to solve. I feel like it may not do it if I answered it half heartedly.]
Rachel turned to look at the chat with round eyes and as soon as she read a few lines, she instantly became depressed. Anderson said towards Rachel with a soft voice.
“I didn’t dislike the speeches of my previous principal that much. That all becomes blood and skin.”
“Stop your flatteries. I’m not so old as to get deceived by those words.”
Rachel answered with a depressed voice.
They continued the meal. Grilled halibut that was placed in a consomme soup with vegetables, grilled duck that had a wholegrain mustard and wasabi slightly smeared in it, dakkochi, etc. Dishes that were the most luxuriously japanese were placed on the table.
Although all of it was delicious, Jo Minjoon felt a bit of regret. He looked at the menu again. Most were 9 points or 8. He thought that if it was a three star, it would at least have a 10 points dish…..but there were none.
‘There was also a 10 points dish in Alan’s restaurant, that isn’t a three star yet…….’
Although most of that was enough because of the pasta, it was still 10 points. He thought if there may really be a three star without any 10 points dish.
But he also couldn’t order everything in the menu. In the end, Jo Minjoon looked at Samuel anxiously. Samuel, that was putting on a bitter face at the good reviews mixed with a bit of bad ones, flinched at those eyes.
“…..Do you have something to tell me?”
“Um……Don’t you really have a menu that you think that we must eat?”
“Didn’t I tell you before. Each and every dish was made with the utmost effort. …..Is the flavor lacking?”
“No, it’s not that. Only….”
Jo Minjoon paused speaking. It was when he was about to say ‘I think that there was no dish that gave me a strong shock.’. He remembered the words Rachel had just said.
‘Although you have to win a dish through the flavor, what you think of before eating also becomes a big factor.’
He felt like the mist in his head was clearing up. Jo Minjoon looked at his plate. There was fried udon with crab meat and masala on top of the small plate.
The score was 9. It was a nice score. Before, he was amazed with just eating an 8 points dish, no, a 6 points one. However, was it because he just ate a lot of delicious things. His standards were elevated. No.
‘My standards…..were already set up.’
The people and the camera didn’t say a thing and looked at Jo Minjoon that was deep in his thoughts. It looked like he was thinking alone again. Although Jo Minjoon wasn’t aware himself, getting immersed in your own was seen as fastidious. Just like the culprit couldn’t understand, he was just like a person that was on a special and outstanding world. But at that moment, ironically enough, Jo Minjoon was blaming his stupidity.
He had thought. Always. That he wouldn’t get caught in the system. When he revealed the absolute taste while borrowing the strength of the system, he was determined to use the system as a tool, not to become dependent of it.
But, he was. Precisely speaking he was overcredulous. The cooking score could vary depending on the time, effort, recipe and technique…..Even when he knew that even when he had composed a recipe which could bring the best flavor, he could get a higher score. Even though he knew that simple dishes had low scores but could be more delicious than high scored dishes.
Even so, Jo Minjoon was obsessed with the score. Even when he discovered himself being like that he got surprised and said ‘this isn’t right’…… After that moment passed, he was being obsessed once again at the score.
It wasn’t that you had to ignore the score. You couldn’t get pulled in by it. Why did you get disappointed at the fact that there was no 10 points dishes. You couldn’t be like that.
Jo Minjoon raised his chopsticks again and slowly placed the fried udon on his tongue. The unique aroma of the masala melted down like ice cream, and the crunchy crab meat broke from between his teeth and at the same time soft because of his saliva. And beyond that, the udon that was hidden just like a turtle in its shell appeared.
It was a flavor he couldn’t feel until just now. Being impatient waiting for a 10 points dish to come out, and the prejudice that a 9 points dish wasn’t perfect. When those things disappeared……Even when it was the same dish, it was clearly felt differently.
‘Right. This……This was tasting.’
Jo Minjoon’s face brightened up.
[You have understood a basic of tasting!]
[Due to your broadened knowledge, the first condition to achieve tasting level 9 has been accomplished!]
< Global & Local (4) > End