Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 943 - 463: Snack Encyclopedia

Question: When circumstances allow, what method does Qin Huai most commonly use to complete a task?

Answer: Expressing his true feelings.

After Zhang Guanghang was silent for five or six minutes, he sent a message to Qin Huai saying that Master Xia doesn't know many types of pastry snacks, but if Qin Huai and his friend really want to eat snacks and don't mind, they can come to Fen Garden around 2 PM to make them themselves. Qin Huai immediately told Zhao Cheng'an:

"You just said that you feel today's meal is missing a staple food, right?"

"What staple food do you want? To be precise, snacks."

Zhao Cheng'an was baffled by Qin Huai's question. In his current not-very-alert status, most of what he said was basically nonsense.

This question from Qin Huai brought his intelligence back to a higher level. After thinking about it, Zhao Cheng'an hesitantly asked, "Isn't it true that Master Xia isn't really skilled at making snacks?"

Reviewing the famous signature dishes of Fen Garden over the years, they're all standard or slightly peculiar meat cooking dishes. There isn't a single snack-related dish. From the customers who dined yesterday, it's easy to see that people who come to Fen Garden aren't fond of eating staple foods; none of the guests at the other two tables had any rice.

Main courses fill you up. Now that Fen Garden has an unlimited order policy, of course, you'd eat as many dishes as you can. Even if you can't get the signature dishes, having some winter melon, cabbage, or pumpkin is good. Who eats main courses at times like this?

Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an do.

Qin Huai did not answer Zhao Cheng'an's question.

Zhao Cheng'an thought about it and continued, "The dishes at Fen Garden go well with rice, but it feels a bit wasteful to eat with white rice. If there were steamed buns, rice cakes, wotou, or the kind of yam cake you made this morning, I think they'd match quite well."

"But this kind of typical dish, even if Master Xia knows how to make it, he probably wouldn't want to bother. It seems a bit overqualified for the task."

Qin Huai flashed a satisfied smile, and this smile gave Zhao Cheng'an a bad feeling.

"That's what I thought too, so when I was chatting with Zhang Guanghang, I asked him if we could go to Fen Garden tomorrow afternoon to make snacks, and Master Xia agreed."

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

"Tomorrow at 2 PM, we'll head to Fen Garden on time to make the snacks we want to eat for dinner. You can make whatever you want to eat."

Zhao Cheng'an: ???

.

At 1 PM the next day, worried about being late due to traffic jams, the Qin Huai duo set out an hour early only to find the way clear, arriving at Fen Garden at 1:32 PM.

Qin Huai, holding a clay pot and looking at the familiar closed gate of Fen Garden, posed a soul-searching question to Zhao Cheng'an: "Didn't they say the road conditions in Beiping were terrible with traffic jams every day? How come we never encounter traffic jams when going to Fen Garden?"

Zhao Cheng'an was clueless: "I don't know."

Qin Huai began to wonder if the Mayfly could be some kind of niche auspicious beast that clears traffic whenever it heads out. If that's the case, he definitely needs to drag Zhao Cheng'an along for outings more often.

The two loitered again at the entrance of Fen Garden. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Qin Huai hesitated about whether to message Zhang Guanghang to let him know that they inadvertently found themselves there again.

Zhao Cheng'an thought maybe they should really buy a baked bun from a stall, even if they don't eat it, just to bring it back for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Qin Huai found it unnecessary and remarked that if Zhao Cheng'an really wanted to eat baked buns, they could bake them themselves that afternoon. Taking two baked buns into Fen Garden might make it seem as though they were dissatisfied with Master Xia's cooking and came to cause trouble.

Just as the two were about to delve into a discussion about baked buns at the gate of Fen Garden, the door opened.

Wearing the same chef's uniform as yesterday, although not in the cold storage, Zhang Guanghang glanced at them speechlessly and said, "Come in."

As usual, Zhang Guanghang led the way. However, yesterday he led them to the hall to be seated, while today he led them into the kitchen to make snacks.

The guests turned into workers.

Can't deny it, the kitchen at Fen Garden is quite spacious.

A private restaurant converted from a courtyard house is really different, boasting both vintage and spacious characteristics. Fen Garden's kitchen is equipped with modern culinary stations, stoves, and ovens, but it also has those traditional earth stoves now only found in old rural houses, antiquated utility cabinets with peeling paint that speak to their age, and even logs and dustpans in the corner.

Of course, Qin Huai considered the most modern feature to be the surveillance screen on the wall.

The screen faced directly and was extremely high definition, able to capture the movements of diners in the hall and private rooms at a glance. The only odd thing was that one small part of the screen was black.

Seeing Qin Huai glancing at the blacked-out screen, Zhang Guanghang calmly explained, "That screen broke and there's no time to fix it."

"All the ingredients in the kitchen are at your disposal, the steamer is over there, and since Fen Garden seldom makes snacks, you might have to make do without certain utensils." Zhang Guanghang pointed out two culinary stations to Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an, "Later on, my master and I will come to the kitchen to prepare dishes, and the pots on the stove are off-limits."

Qin Huai quickly said, "It's really tough on Master Xia to start preparing dishes so early every day!"

Zhao Cheng'an: ? Bro, aren't you going to give me a hint before you start brown-nosing? I can't keep up and don't know how to respond.

Zhang Guanghang didn't say a word and left the kitchen to the two of them in silence.

As soon as Zhang Guanghang left, Zhao Cheng'an dashed to the freezer to eagerly examine the ingredients, exclaiming in amazement:

"Such high-quality bird's nest!"

"Such large dried abalone!"

"Such big sea cucumber from Liaoning!"

"Wow, that ham on the wall!"

If Qin Huai didn't know that Zhao Cheng'an in this life hadn't retained his previous culinary skills, he might have thought Zhao Cheng'an regained his memory after moving to Beiping and was planning his first big move to reclaim his place in the industry at Xia Mubing's place.