Huang Shengli led Qin Huai to the warehouse, passed through the shelves, and arrived at a corner.
There was a small window in the corner.
The view was excellent; through the small window, you could see most of the tables in Huang Ji’s main hall. The small window was open, presumably for ventilation, and Qin Huai could clearly see that almost every table in the main hall was occupied.
Even the round tables were fully seated, and they even had to add chairs to squeeze more people in.
The waitstaff were mostly gathered near the big round tables, each person holding several nus, reverting to the most primitive thod of writing down orders manually, recording each dish as the custors ntioned them.
By coincidence, Qin Huai had seen the people sitting at the round table closest to the small window; they were the college students dragging suitcases who were first in line.
Huang Ji didn’t have small round tables, only 4-person small tables, 6-person dium tables, and 12-person standard large round tables. This table with the college students also combined with another group of four tourists, one side chatting enthusiastically while the other remained silent, a stark contrast, making it obvious at a glance who were the students and who were the tourists.
"Bingbing, you’re still the smart one, ordering the guo’er first. We’ll definitely be the first to get served. First in line, first served, and the restaurant we’re eating at is ranked number one on the recomndation list. Wait until I post on my Monts; it’s going to be like crazy with likes! It wasn’t for nothing that we took a hard seat from Beiping and queued up here right after getting off the train at 4 a.m."
The girl called Bingbing giggled: "I ca across this restaurant online so ti ago; it’s supposed to be quite popular, saying that the Three at Buns and Fernted Rice with Stead Buns are delicious. It’s a good thing we ca early; if we had co later, we wouldn’t have been first in line."
"But is this guo’er really as good as the magazine says?" Bingbing raised "Taste," "It doesn’t look tasty, it’s actually ugly. I can’t imagine what my art teacher would say if I handed this in as my color assignnt."
"It must be tasty." The guy next to her said, "Look at the nu, guo’er is 98 each, Fernted Rice with Stead Buns is 18 each, Three at Buns is 35 each, guo’er is the most expensive and limited to in-house dining only, it must be good!"
"But I checked online, and the Three at Buns were 56, so why is it so cheap today? We didn’t co to the wrong restaurant, did we? There’s no second Huang Ji Restaurant in Gusu, is there?" The short-haired girl asked worriedly.
"56 is the premium Three at Buns, today they’re selling the regular Three at Buns. I asked the waiter when we ordered, and they said the premium ones use better ingredients and are more difficult to make. Today they’re too busy, so they’re only selling the regular ones, no premium." Bingbing explained, continuing to look at "Taste."
The short-haired girl showed a disappointed expression: "Ah... I wanted to try the premium ones, we ca all the way from Beiping on a hard seat, nearly smashing my butt just to have a taste of the premium Three at Buns."
"It’s okay, you can say it’s the premium Three at Buns when you post on Monts later." The girl next to her comforted her.
This table was very close to the window, and the chattering voices were clearly audible to Qin Huai and Huang Shengli. Huang Shengli heard that unexpectedly today there were guests who ca specifically for the Three at Buns rather than the guo’er, and jokingly said: "These are your future loyal custors, taking a hard seat all the way from Beiping just for a taste of the Three at Buns."
Qin Huai’s attention was not there, because he noticed that not only the college students at this table but also at other tables, there were basically 2-3 copies of "Taste" per table.
Qin Huai knew "Taste" was famous, and today there were many guests who must have co specifically after reading about the guo’er in "Taste."
But surely they didn’t bring the magazine along to dine?
Does bringing a magazine to dine make the food taste better?
Or do the readers of "Taste" actually have a habit of taking the magazine to each shop, and if the food doesn’t match the description, they slap "Taste" on the chef’s head?
"Is the nearby newsstand promoting ’Taste’?" Qin Huai asked.
Huang Shengli was taken aback, then showed a aningful smile: "Oh, that, your Master Zheng bought 300 copies of ’Taste’ again last night."
Qin Huai: ?
"You didn’t co in through the main entrance this morning, did you? Your Master Zheng set up a magazine reading rack at the main entrance, filled with ’Taste,’ and incoming guests can take a copy to read."
Qin Huai: ...
Qin Huai felt he really couldn’t understand the thought process of these rich people.
As Huang Shengli was joking, the dishes arrived.
The first batch of guo’er had already been stead.
Due to the nature of guo’er, the kitchen doesn’t need to wait until just before business hours to start steaming them; this snack is cooked before coloring, and after coloring, it is put into a warming box, and eating it within two hours doesn’t change the taste much.
Therefore, the kitchen only needed to plate the orders after the custors finished ordering, and the serving speed was very fast.
So tables hadn’t even finished ordering, and the first batch of guo’er was already served.
As the absolute star snack of the day, the mont the waitstaff walked out with the guo’er in a single file, all the guests in the main hall had their eyes on the guo’er.
So ugly, really so ugly, just as "Taste" described!
This was the first impression all the guests had of the guo’er.
Under normal circumstances, when people eat snacks or stir-fried dishes, they want them to look good.
Looking, slling, and tasting great are the greatest complints to a dish.
Evidently, the guo’er was not normal.
If at least 90% of Huang Ji’s guests today ca for the guo’er, then after Zheng Da placed a magazine reading rack at Huang Ji’s entrance, the remaining 10% who didn’t care about "Taste" but simply ca over during the holiday to queue up for a al because Huang Ji’s Fernted Rice with Stead Buns and Three at Buns were famous at the ti, also read "Taste."
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