Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 131 - 128: Rock Burning

Even when she was targeted in the past, no one would use such exaggerated phrases in front of Yan Yan, but the fighting prowess of the little girl today was truly astonishing.

"It’s not just based on anything, but on the fact that I and Buster have been living together for a long time. Remember to eat well so you can grow more brain cells. Once your brain matures, you’ll know when an ’Old Cai’ like me will make a move." After a second of being choked up, Yan Yan spoke to the little girl in an especially gentle tone, very kindly and amicably.

Whether it was her expression or tone, one couldn’t tell that Yan Yan was unhappy at all.

Bao Bao finally finished checking the coffee beans for tomorrow and came out of the storage room.

As soon as Bao Bao reached the front hall, she saw the little girl in the purple dress looking all tense and ready for battle.

"Buster, I brought you so many people to support your venue, and this ’Old Cai’ dares to say she can’t accommodate them." The moment the little girl saw Bao Bao, she felt she had found her backup.

The little girl had already inquired clearly; Bao Bao had only one girlfriend before, Shen Xi. Such shameless and presumptuous behavior like that of ’Old Cai’ definitely had to be exposed directly.

"After the opening is the right time to support, isn’t it? Did you skip school today to come check out my venue? I and ’Old Cai’ are going to order food now. You can do as you please until the manager comes to close the doors before leaving," Bao Bao said, pulling Yan Yan away.

The little girl watched helplessly as Bao Bao and Yan Yan walked out of the café’s main door and muttered a few particularly ugly words.

"Bao Xiaobao, how did you manage to attract so many little girls?" Yan Yan chuckled and felt both amused and annoyed after leaving the café.

"I’d avoid it if I could; how dare I attract little girls? I honestly don’t know where all these people came from," Bao Bao felt a lingering fear about the crowd that had come today.

Bao Bao had never felt that matters of affection were related to what’s trendy, nor did she ever mix in any social circles.

If you could consider Shen Xi, who grew up in Australia, as somewhat of an "insider," then Bao Bao was completely and thoroughly an outsider.

Bao Bao’s social connections in Melbourne were extraordinarily simple.

Apart from people she met at work, there were only Shen Xi and Yan Yan.

Apart from that, Bao Bao wasn’t much of a talker.

When overly enthusiastic girls approached Bao Bao to talk, if they said ten sentences, it was good if she replied to one.

Shen Xi had once suggested taking Bao Bao to a Melbourne Les gathering, which Bao Bao outright refused.

"Today was quite an eye-opener. Modern-day little girls have such fierce firepowers. Thinking about it, my own times of being targeted were quite elegant," Yan Yan turned the conversation to herself.

Yan Yan didn’t want to continue discussing the origin of these people with Bao Bao and didn’t plan on telling Bao Bao about the girl’s messaging in the social group.

If they continued this discussion, they would inevitably end up mentioning Shen Xi.

Right now, Yan Yan wasn’t sure if the name Shen Xi was a taboo subject for Bao Bao.

If Bao Bao didn’t bring it up herself, Yan Yan certainly wouldn’t be the first to speak.

"Is there really a distinction between being elegantly and inelegantly targeted?" Bao Bao felt that no matter how elegant, being targeted didn’t change its true nature.

"Whether there is a distinction or not, what I really want to know now is where you are taking me, this ’Old Cai,’ to order food," Yan Yan was more concerned about what they were going to eat.

Yan Yan wasn’t particularly troubled by the little girl’s targeting. Insignificant people saying insignificant things—if she took these seriously, Yan Yan wouldn’t have been able to grow strong amid the many years of being targeted.

"Let’s go to StoneGrill in China Town," Bao Bao mentioned a restaurant not far from the new café.

"Wow, I’ve only been away for a few days, and Bao Bao is already treating me to a meal. StoneGrill is my true love," foodie Yan Yan’s eyes sparkled at the mention of StoneGrill.

The full name of this StoneGrill outlet is Ishiya StoneGrill, note 1.

"Ishiya" is a phonetic transcription from Japanese, which would mostly be interpreted into something like ’Stone House’ or ’Stone Valley’.

For example, the very famous White Lover chocolates are made by Ishiya Stone House Confectionery, established in 1976.

The words "Ishiya" and "Stone" in the restaurant’s name both mean ’stone’.

From the name of this restaurant, one can immediately understand its specialty.

Ishiya StoneGrill is considered an old establishment, with a small storefront in Melbourne’s Chinatown, and has been open for over a decade. Its main highlight, Wagyu, doesn’t sound too extraordinary among Japanese restaurants.

But anyone who has dined there knows it’s a very different kind of Japanese eatery.

The beef at this restaurant is always served completely raw, without even the slightest hint of cooking on the surface that you’d find in a rare steak.

It is served with a black stone slab that can maintain high temperatures up to 400 degrees for an extended time.

Diners decide everything from the doneness of the meat to whether or not to cook side dishes alongside the meat—it’s all DIY.

This amounts to grilling and eating on the spot.

Diners can even try cooking the same steak to every possible level of doneness, then choosing their preferred level, cutting a larger piece of meat, and grilling it to the perfect doneness, using large cuts of Wagyu to satisfy their eager taste buds.

When Ishiya StoneGrill first opened, it only offered large cuts of meat, with each set containing only one type of meat.

Perhaps because it’s located in Chinatown, the restaurant attracts many Chinese customers.

For those visiting for the first time, or perhaps only once, it can be confusing to determine from the menu pictures which meat is which type and which part.

Gradually evolving, the restaurant began offering smaller portions of beef combinations, and later combinations including meat and lobster.

Many Chinese believe in avoiding beef, so the restaurant now even offers raw chicken.

Currently, the most popular and cost-effective option is the Beef Combination Stonegrill, which includes three types of beef: Wagyu Oyster Blade, Angus Porterhouse, and Yearling Aged Tenderloin.

This trio of quality meats in a combo meal comes to less than fifty Australian Dollars.

If it’s lunchtime, this price includes dumplings and side dishes, while dinner side dishes must be ordered separately.

Besides the unique way of cooking beef, each piece of meat is served with four different secret dipping sauces.

Experiencing five different levels of doneness and four distinct flavors in one piece of beef is a rare find in other restaurants.

What’s more, each dipping sauce has a very distinctive flavor.

Ishiya StoneGrill is one of those restaurants where just one meal can transform your understanding of beef.

.........

note 1:

Ishiya StoneGrill address: 152 Little Bourke St, Melbourne.

note 2:

Australia’s Wagyu beef was introduced from Japan.

Australia is also a major beef nation, with its own beef grading standards ranging from M1 to M12, which are entirely different from those of Japanese Wagyu.

The higher the number, the better the quality; before the introduction of Japanese Wagyu, Australia’s beef grading was only up to M9.

In 1988, a famous Australian cattle-raising family introduced top-grade Japanese Wagyu, which added grades M10 to M12 to Australia’s beef grading.

Australia’s M12 Wagyu is comparable in quality to Japan’s top-tier A5 Wagyu beef.