Chapter 499 - Windows of Eyes (4)
'Gosh, the air here is so bad...'
What struck Min-joon first as soon as he arrived in Beijing was the bad air. He heard so much about the bad air in China that he bought a good mask, but he wondered if his mask could filter the dirty air at all. He even wondered if it was possible to make good dishes in a place like this.
If they grew crops in a place like this, their quality would be bad. Even if they were distributed from a distance, it would be also questionable how fresh they would be.
If someone asked Min-joon to come here to cook, he wasn't confident to reply in a positive way.
Of course, since Beijing was a wealthy city, he could probably work as a chef serving the power clients with the dishes with the best ingredients, but that was not what he wanted.
"Isn't Beijing cool?"
However, the Chinese man who couldn't have read Min-joon's mind asked casually.
Fortunately, Min-joon was wearing a mask. Otherwise, the man might have noticed Min-joon's disapproving expression on his face.
Nodding at him, Min-joon just said, "It's a huge city."
"You bet. Beijing is not only one of China's best cities but also one of the world's most famous cities. It's also a very dynamic city."
Min-joon also recognized what the man said because except for its environment, Beijing was obviously a good city. However, it was quite unreasonable for him to not care about the environment as a chef.
'Why did he choose this place...?'
Min-joon recalled Daisy, the head chef of Rose Island's Beijing branch. He had a chance to talk with the chef several times before. The only thing he remembered was her wavy hair, her subtly girlish tone, and the way of her speaking like she did in a game when dealing with cooking.
In Min-joon's eyes, she looked like a chef that he could deal with seriously. And Min-joon could confirm it again when he entered her restaurant.
"Ah, Min-joon!"
Daisy waved her hand happily, then came up to him and hugged him tightly.
She said in a bright voice, "It's been a while since we last met! When did we last see each other?"
"About a month ago."
"Yeah, it's been a long time. Why don't we see each other often?"
"Well, we're too far away from each other to see each other often."
"That's why I regret it a lot while living here in Beijing."
Daisy sighed, then opened her mouth, "You haven't yet visited other restaurants in Beijing, right?"
"Nope."
"Good. If you go to any restaurant, you might eat steamed eggs with lots of oil and throw up."
"Really?"
"Well, China basically has so many things, regardless of whether they are good or bad."
He wanted to ask her why she took the trouble of working as the head chef here instead of working in America but he couldn't because he didn't have to let her know that he had a negative impression of the Beijing branch.
He asked, putting his hand in his hoodie pocket, "When can I try your dish?"
"Don't be too anxious. I'll give it to you in time. Let's talk a little bit for now. Isn't it so easy to chat with a beautiful woman like me in China?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're so mean… I am sure you have already visited all the head chefs in America, right? Just tell me what you think about them. Tell me who is good or who is just so and so. Tell me who is the most promising candidate as Rachel's successor."
A bit surprised, he looked at her quietly.
But she blinked her eyes nonchalantly.
"Can't you tell me?"
"Chef Daisy, you are really unique. Other chefs were so anxious to show their own dishes first before asking me about their rivals. All the head chefs I met wanted to show me their dishes first."
"Well, I know to some extent how you'll react."
"What reaction?"
"I'm not confident you will rate the food of my restaurant as the best, but I'm sure you will think that my restaurant is the most fun and freshest."
Of course, there was a reason for her to make such a comment confidently. She was confident that as far as fun was concerned, her restaurant could beat any other rivals of Rose Island branches.
She said in a calm voice, "A lot of people are watching you. You know that?"
"Yeah, I've known it for quite a long time."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Well, the general people, people involved in the cooking industry and the chefs of Rose Island, in particular."
"Yeah, I guess it would be strange if they didn't know you. Then how about this question? How do they look at you now? It's not about yourself. It's about the way you are going around to visit them and rate their dishes. What do they think about your evaluation? Do they doubt it or do they accept it or do you just keep wondering?"
Min-joon could not answer because each of them would think differently, after all.
Daisy said with a smile, "That's right. Everybody will think differently."
"Does it matter how they think about me?"
"Well, it depends. Some might think it's important, but others may not. Are you generally conscious of other people?"
"I don't think there is anybody who doesn't."
"As for me, I don't care," she said, smiling. "It's annoying, as you know. I don't want to care about others. Perhaps that's why Michelin reduced one of my stars this time. What should I do when they don't like me? I don't want to make what they want. I just want to do what I want. I didn't start cooking because of money or fame, so I didn't want to see myself bound by something like that at some point."
"That's cool. In fact, that's the reason why lots of chefs are collapsing. They are just conscious of people around them, and ask them to evaluate their dishes."
"You bet. So, I want to tell you now why I'm different, how I am different, and what's different."
He looked at her with a little puzzled look. But she wanted to say one thing to him. Actually, that was what Rachel had asked her to convey to him. Rachel asked her to make him feel how wide the world was, so he could look around instead of looking up or down only.
'Gosh, I just don't know why she is favoring Min-joon…'
When she recalled Rachel's favor, she still felt lots of regrets, but she could not afford to recall it now because she was more interested in checking how he would react to her dishes and what kind of decision he would make.
Daisy said in an excited voice, "Let me apologize to you in advance."
"What do you mean?"
"Because I have tempted you," she replied meaningfully. "After you try my dishes, you might want to leave and learn cooking from me."
***
The bottom line was Daisy didn't exaggerate her cooking skills.
"This is fantastic…"
Min-joon looked at the plate in front of him. He didn't even understand what kind of taste he just enjoyed. As somebody with gastronomy level 9, he felt he tried all the spices in the world, but come to think of it, he didn't have many chances to try the highest standards of cuisine from other countries. But Daisy's dishes made up for what he felt was lacking in terms of his gastronomy world. More precisely, he couldn't say that her cuisine was the best Chinese food because her dishes were somewhere between Chinese and Western food.
But that was why her cooking wasn't tied to anything. When she said that Min-joon would find her dishes the most fun, she didn't exaggerate because every dish he tried was fresh and original.
Only then could he blame his arrogance. He thought when he reached gastronomic level 9 and cooking level 8, he rose to the top of the field, but it was not true. Just like a chef specialized in cooking, he or she could not be said to be an expert in cuisine.
Now he was greedy. His eyes turned toward what humans could not have and aim for.
He wanted to have her style of cooking.
She suddenly asked, "Why are you staring at me dangerously like that?"
"I want to have you!"
"Hey, how can you say that when you have a girlfriend?"
"I mean your cooking, Daisy," he added hurriedly as if he felt she misunderstood. "Honestly, I wondered at first why you went to the trouble of coming to China, which is full of smoke and soot and bad air when there were so many places in the world where you could find good ingredients."
She giggled at his words. Although he spoke cautiously, he didn't have to because her acquaintances pointed out the same thing to her at least once.
"You know that the Chinese people eat everything with legs except desks."
"Yes, I've heard it."
"Of course, they don't, but the point is as far as food is concerned, the Chinese like and eat almost any food. In other words, no matter how poor my recipe is, I can try to make the dish with that recipe for them."
"Yeah, that's why you could make this kind of dish here…"
He looked at the plate in front of him again. At first glance, it looked like rolled noodles. But what looked like noodles was actually mushrooms sliced like a thread and then deep-fried, and dried eel pickled in onion sauce was inside them.
He could enjoy the taste of the eel with the crunchy mushrooms gently stimulating his tongue.
When he dipped it in soy sauce mixed with mara, its taste was so fantastic.
Even frying mushrooms and mixing mara with soy sauce was something new to him, so he had no choice but to be thrilled. In fact, her dishes weren't as great as those of Rachel, June, or Dave that he knew too well. But her dishes were clearly different from them. They were new to him but very cool and delicious.