Chapter 298 - Things That Have Changed (6)
It wasn’t because other dishes with 10 cooking points were not as impressive as the crab stew that they didn’t taste better than that. The more they ate, the more the shortcomings of the dishes stood out.
“It tastes too flat…” Kaya muttered in a low voice.
It wasn’t because there was a problem with the dish because she already ate other dishes enough. Aside from sinsonro, she could still feel the aftertaste of the dishes like steamed short ribs and crab stew. With such an aftertaste still stimulating her tongue, she could not enjoy the real taste of the 10-point dishes that ignored the harmony of the ingredients.
To put it exactly, that was how only Kaya and Min-joon felt. Others were enjoying the dishes without any critical tasting. It seemed that they just enjoyed eating all kinds of dishes one after another
Watching them, Min-joon could understand Man-gil’s feelings more clearly.
“Anyway, ordinary people won’t even be able to feel this kind of flat taste properly. If they didn’t feel it, Man-gil might want to please them with more dishes. I don’t think he is wrong…”
“Don’t you think it’s better to make a dish that everybody, not some, can enjoy?”
“Well, I think he wanted a dish that could appeal to some, not everybody. In the same vein, any restaurant in any country tries to serve dishes that please the local people.”
“If you say that, you have nothing to respond to.”
Although she stopped talking as if he agreed, Kaya was still examining the dishes on the table with a ferocious look. Min-joon stood up from his seat because he was frustrated for no reason. Just enjoying the dishes alone made him frustrated. Naturally, the chef who made all these dishes might feel more frustrated.
“Where are you going?”
“To get some fresh air outside for a minute. I just feel bloated.”
“So do I. Let me go with you.”
She stood up from her seat. It was when they walked through the corridor where nobody was seen and went out to the garden. Min-joon noticed a man wearing a uniform. He wasn’t Man-gil. Looking at him briefly, he walked away when the man suddenly looked back, startled.
“Ah, you must be Chef Min-joon and Chef Kaya, right?”
When he looked at Kaya and asked, he was speaking English fluently. He looked five years older than Min-joon.
Min-joon asked in a calm voice, “Oh, yes. Hello, are you a chef here?”
“I don’t know if I can be called a chef… I’m a student of Master Chef. My name is Jungsoo Lee.”
Min-joon didn’t have to ask him who his master was. When Jung-soo was about to put the cigarette in his hand to his mouth carelessly, he smiled awkwardly, looking at them. Then he moved to a spot where the wind was blowing, seeing which way the cigarette smoke was scattering
“I’m sorry. You don’t smell it anymore, right?”
“Oh, no.”
“I know I shouldn’t smoke, but these days, I’ve got a lot on my mind, so I smoke this again like this.”
Kaya asked, looking at Min-joon, “What did he say?”
“He says he has come to smoke again because he has a lot of things on his mind these days.”
“Well, that’s the standard reply that those addicted to drugs are spitting out.”
Kaya muttered inadvertently then looked back at Lee Jung-soo. Given that he spoke to her in fluent English a little while ago, she was worried he might have understood what she just muttered. Her ominous hunch was right.
Jung-soo soon spoke in English as fluently as they did.
“I haven’t tried marijuana because I heard my taste might change.”
“How come you speak English so well?”
“Oh, I worked at a French restaurant in Florida for about 5 years. I couldn’t speak English at first, but as I got along with them, my English got better. My French also got better, my cooking got better, and even this one, too.”
Jung-soo shook the cigarette in his finger with a smile. Min-joon wanted to ask why he stopped working in Florida and suddenly came to a Korean restaurant.
This time, Kaya opened her mouth in a cold voice.
“If you keep smoking, your tongue will go bad even if you don’t smoke marijuana.”
“Thank you for your concern. I know I have to quit. But is there any smoker who doesn’t know they have to quit smoking? How about a meal? Did you enjoy it?”
“It’s delicious, but I felt a bit annoyed.”
“I think you did.”
When she spoke her mind bluntly, he nodded as if he understood her feelings. He was also a chef, so he knew well what was wrong with Man-Gil Hong’s dishes.
Turning to Min-joon, he opened his mouth.
“I heard that you decided to help my teacher. Thank you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I decided to help him, but I would try to give him my opinion as best as I can. I don’t have much time left before I go back to America, and I’m not that skilled in cooking enough to advise him.”
“I understand you don’t have much time here in Korea, but there aren’t that many people in the world who can say Chef Min-joon is not skilled in cooking.”
“At least Master chef Man-gil can tell me I still have a long way to go.”
Having said that, Min-joon looked askance at Jung-soo. His cooking skills were Level 8. He was quite a competent chef. Min-joon could not understand why he stayed with Man-gil at this closed restaurant with such a high cooking level. He wondered if Jung-soo had any special reason to do so.
‘Hummm… That’s none of my business.’
It was the moment when Min-joon was about to turn and say goodbye when Jung-soo hurriedly caught up with him.
“I want to ask you a favor.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“It’s a difficult but simple favor.”
Min-joon narrowed his eyebrows slowly, a bit surprised. Facing him up close, Jung-soo continued in a subdued voice, “Please blast Master Man-gil’s hopes.”
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“I want to complete Korean food.”
Man-gil spoke when he sat down face to face with Min-joon after the meal.
But without responding, Min-joon listened silently to what he said. Who said there was no better friendlier dialogue partner than silence? When Min-joon remained silent, he continued in a much more relaxed mood, “People talk a lot about the globalization of Korean food. But for more globalization of Korean food, we have to know first what kind of Korean food we are going to show to the world. But even I still don’t really understand what authentic Korean food is. I understand it. From the Japanese occupation until the Korean War, there were many incidents that made us forget the records and customs of Korean food.”
“I guess it’s rather difficult to pinpoint it clearly when it comes to the origin of Korean food. Actually, most of what we think of as traditional Korean dishes have appeared since the Korean War.”
“So I’m going to put all of them together and compile them. That’s my dream.”
“Can I ask you one question?”
“I think I know what you want to ask and why.”
“Your dishes on the table were good. Each one was perfect. But I felt somewhat disappointed in their combination. I understand why you made it like that, but why did you bother to choose that path?”
Honestly, if Min-joon were in Man-gil’s shoes, it seemed that he would not be happy at the dishes. Of course, customers might be satisfied with the abundance of the dishes and smile at the fact they are treated well. But when he looked at a mountain of food waste thrown away every day, how would he feel?
Man-gil opened his mouth, a bit embarrassed, “It was my greed.”
“Greed?”
“A desire to show my customers at least one more dish that I have made. A restaurant that boasts of a luxurious table that no other restaurant can imitate in Korea. When famous people from all walks of life tell me that there is no more luxurious restaurant than this place, I just regarded their compliments as praise. So, I pursued my ambition, not a dream, and I craved for more revenue, not my own recipe. That’s why you are served the kind of dishes you enjoyed here today.”
Min-joon was at a loss for words when he honestly confided like that.
Man-gil said with a bitter smile, “I could have given you some standard Korean dishes. If I did so, you might think I was trying to pretend anything. I can’t ask for the answer without showing you the problem. Now, it’s your turn. Do you want to say anything to me?”
“Compared with you, sir, I’m still a kid. My insight is short and my judgment is shallow. But I think I can tell you one thing for sure.”
Min-joon didn’t feel real while he was talking to Man-gil. It was unthinkable that he was not talking with the great Korean food master on an equal footing. He would not have even imagined it in the past. So, he felt like he would be crushed by what he had to tell Man-gil now.
But time passed, and he found it hard to open his mouth. He looked into Man-gil’s deep and dark eyes.
“You still haven’t let go of your greed,” Min-joon said finally.
“Ah, greed… My greed.”
When he said that, Man-gil kept reciting the word ‘greed’ in a low voice several times.
Min-joon continued calmly, “Given what you said a little while ago, you don’t seem to be satisfied with the results obtained by being greedy as a human, not as a chef.”
“That’s right.”
“If that’s the case, don’t you feel you have to first ask whether your greed right now is that of a chef or that of a human being?”
“I am old.”
Man-gil’s reply seemed rather irrelevant to Min-joon’s question. When he showed a perplexed expression, Man-gil slowly said, “I’m not a philosopher, so I don’t have enough time left to spend my time thinking and thinking. The best thing I can do right now is to devote more time to making even a little more perfect dishes and combine them in a way that everybody in the world can help but think my dishes have a good combination.”
“To be honest, I found it was hard to think that you made the dishes while paying attention to their combination.”
“Haha, this is why I like people like you who learned cooking abroad. You guys just honestly speak your mind without trying to check my expression.”
Man-gil smiled brightly and said calmly, “You’re right. I wouldn’t say the dishes had a good combination. And that’s as far as I can go.”
“Really?”