Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 323 - 200 External Aid

Chapter 323: Chapter 200 External Aid

The external aid for Zhiwei Restaurant has arrived!

Zheng Da’s call excited everyone in Huang’s Kitchen.

Almost everyone knew about Zheng Da seeking help from the master chefs at Zhiwei Restaurant, but he hadn’t mentioned any specifics, and there was no sign of anyone coming for several days. Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan didn’t ask, and neither did anyone else dare to.

Huang Ji and Zhiwei Restaurant weren’t really on familiar terms.

Huang Ji was a proper traditional meat cooking restaurant. Before Qin Huai arrived, they had nothing to do with pastries. Normally, the menu didn’t even have snacks, not even simple steamed buns.

Usually, the exchange sessions were attended by Huang An Yao. The only thing he could tell everyone upon his return was that the snacks at the sessions hosted by Zhiwei Restaurant were great, without any other useful information—just a passive participant.

To this day, Huang An Yao doesn’t even have the boss’s WeChat from Zhiwei Restaurant, only being in the same group chat.

So when there was no news about the external aid for several days, everyone just assumed it was a dead end and didn’t talk about it.

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t canceled. Zheng Da even pulled off something big and directly brought in six people!

These were six proper professionals!

Given the competitiveness at Zhiwei Restaurant, everyone at Huang Ji couldn’t imagine how much easier things would be with these six arrivals.

These past few days, Wang Jun nearly started to doubt whether he was actually a pastry chef.

Zheng Da took Huang An Yao and him to pick up the people. As soon as they left, Huang’s Kitchen became lively. Dong Shi, taking advantage of his status as a Closed-door Disciple, young and with a sweet tongue, boldly approached Huang Shengli and directly asked:

"Master, which six did Junior Master Zheng borrow from Zhiwei Restaurant?"

"How would I know? Have you finished your noodles? If you’re done, get to work. We’ve had more guests these days; prepare more dishes in the morning. Haven’t you noticed your senior brother even has to boil an extra pot of stock compared to usual?" Huang Shengli didn’t answer but smiled and sent Dong Shi away. Then, he saw the second person approaching directly.

It was Qin Huai.

In a sense, it was not without reason that Qin Huai and Dong Shi got along so well.

"Master Huang, is Master Zheng on good terms with the masters at Zhiwei Restaurant?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

"Not particularly," Huang Shengli replied honestly, while nearby, Huang Ji employees pretended to eat dumplings/noodles/prepare food, all secretly perking up their ears, ready to hear some gossip.

"Your Master Zheng is indeed skilled, but in recent years, his mind hasn’t been on snacks, focusing instead on expanding the business and making money. It’s actually quite human, but many of the masters at Zhiwei are quite old-fashioned and don’t like Zheng Da’s approach."

"Among the masters at Zhiwei, the one who gets along relatively well with him should be Master Tan Wenyan. Master Tan is more tolerant, feeling that Zheng Da’s actions aren’t too outrageous."

"At least what he’s doing is the snack business, and the snacks he sells are quite delicious, not considered a disgrace to his skills."

"Master Tan Wenyan?" Qin Huai searched his memory and was very certain he hadn’t seen this name in the Chef Record.

A few days ago, after work, Qin Huai had carefully studied the Chef Record. Although he couldn’t remember every Chinese chef, he could at least recognize those ranked in the top 70.

The master chefs at Zhiwei couldn’t possibly be ranked after 70.

"Master Tan is very old and hasn’t been in good health. He passed away a few years ago due to illness," Huang Shengli said softly.

Qin Huai immediately understood and asked no more.

But Huang Shengli knew what Qin Huai wanted to ask and continued, "Although your Master Zheng isn’t particularly close with the masters at Zhiwei, he’s on good terms with the boss of Zhiwei Restaurant."

"The boss, Su Ming, is also a pastry chef. Although not as skilled as some of the masters at Zhiwei, he has taken on many disciples and teaches them well."

"Running a restaurant does make money, but it’s nothing compared to setting up a factory and doing business nationwide. In terms of snack skills, Zheng Da doesn’t match up to several master chefs at Zhiwei."

"However, when it comes to doing business and modifying recipes, transforming snacks that originally required pastry chefs’ handmade effort for industrial production, ensuring quality control, maintaining quality and quantity, and not compromising too much on flavor, there’s no one more professional across the southern region than Zheng Da."

"Su Ming wants to promote snacks with the Zhiwei brand nationwide, so it’s inevitable he’ll seek Zheng Da for advice."

"I heard that last year, Zhiwei made an attempt, but the sales were poor. Presumably, the recipes weren’t refined, severely incompatible with different locales, and quality control wasn’t up to par."

"I reckon the boss of Zhiwei wants to collaborate with Zheng Da, so Zheng Da was able to borrow talents so smoothly this time, borrowing six people at once with such speed."

"Typically, it was always external chefs going to Zhiwei for learning exchanges. I’ve never heard of chefs from Zhiwei going elsewhere for learning exchanges."

Qin Huai suddenly understood.

Because Qin Huai had always been able to make snacks since a young age, the Qin Family rarely bought snacks outside and wasn’t very familiar with those sold in the market.

However, a few months ago, Qin Huai tried some of the dozen or so boxes of snacks Zheng Da sent to Qin Luo. The taste was indeed very good, definitely having a unique recipe.

Exaggerating a bit, the salted egg yolk pastries, mille-feuille cakes, and several other snacks Zheng Da sent to Qin Luo were tastier than many so-called freshly-made ones sold in pastry shops.

Zheng Da may not be able to become the best pastry chef nationwide, but he is certainly the most technically knowledgeable snack business boss in the country.

"So, the six people Junior Master Zheng borrowed this time aren’t ordinary apprentices," Dong Shi couldn’t help but interject.