Hu Yaohui, a committee member for the Yu City Culinary Association's old brand selection and the project leader for Sichuan cuisine at a national banquet.
This year, he was responsible for a project involving a restaurant called Lu Fang, which basically met all the criteria except one—its business license had some issues.
Upon further investigation, Hu Yaohui discovered that the original authentic Lu Fang was in Sichuan and Shu, and the one in Yu City was run by the same family. However, even between brothers, if the paperwork is not in order, the review will definitely be a problem.
The day before, Lu Yongmin submitted a request to Hu Yaohui to visit Sichuan and Shu and suggested that the Sichuan Lu Fang be considered for the selection. If successful, the Yu City Lu Fang would naturally become Lu Fang's second location.
Hu Yaohui was puzzled.
Sichuan and Shu are home to many old brands, even more so than Yu City. However, these old brands are usually concentrated in famous cities, so why should a small town like Hanyang participate in the selection?
Thus, Old Hu secretly went to Hanyang alone, without informing anyone else, mainly wanting to see what was so special about this Lu Fang as a tourist.
As soon as he arrived, he saw a long queue of people in a narrow alley paved with bluestone slabs. At the end of the line stood a yellow food truck, where a young man in a black suit wielded a black frying pan and spoon with such speed it seemed sparks would fly. The queue in front of the truck remained endless.
Finally, it was Hu Yaohui's turn.
Old Hu instinctively glanced at the roadside and long tables. Although he was older, he couldn't help but take a few extra looks at the many shapely and beautiful women present.
"I'll take one of everything on the menu."
"Got it!"
Chen Mo skillfully wielded the black spoon, and Hu Yaohui watched intently.
Even though he had watched many times while in the queue, standing there again and watching, Hu Yaohui couldn't help but comment, "Do you sear the pork belly first to make it slightly crispy and then stir-fry it? Young man, where did you learn this method of making Twice-cooked Pork?"
Chen Mo looked up curiously at the man in front of him, "Figured it out myself."
As soon as he tasted the Twice-cooked Pork, Hu Yaohui, with his culinary understanding, immediately understood why Chen Mo did it this way.
"Changing the cooking method based on the characteristics of different ingredients, not bad, it's delicious."
Chen Mo continued to toss the pan, mixing the peppers and chicken pieces swiftly.
Hu Yaohui took a deep breath of the spicy and fragrant diced chicken and took a bite.
"Tsk, though it's spicy, it's not overwhelming. It seems aimed at highlighting the freshness and fragrance of the chicken itself. Young man, who taught you how to season this?"
Chen Mo's hands didn't stop, "The seasoning is okay, the main thing is that the chicken is good. This kind of chicken only Brother Lu has."
As he said this, Chen Mo nodded towards the busy Lu Yongjun nearby, prompting Hu Yaohui to look over.
That must be Lu Yongmin's brother.
No wonder Lu the Second mentioned before that the family brand wasn't so easy to take down, as his brother had very different culinary principles from him.
But I have to say, this spicy diced chicken is truly delicious, even subverting my understanding of Sichuan cuisine.
'It's said that Sichuan cuisine is unparalleled in flavoring, but if the ingredients are good enough, they can be highlighted in a special way without losing the flavor of Sichuan cuisine.'
At this moment, Hu Yaohui looked at Chen Mo with a changed perspective.
'This kid is so skillful; almost every dish has been specially improved, different from traditional recipes and most modern ones. There must be a master guiding him!'
Boiled beef, out of the pot!
Hu Yaohui tasted it again, this time only nodding slightly. The beef was spicy and flavorful, tender and refreshing, well-cooked, but not as stunning as the previous two dishes.
"Uncle, there's nowhere to sit now, how are you going to eat all that?"
Hu Yaohui looked around at the people. Without tables and chairs, most just ordered one dish and stood by the roadside with lunch boxes.
Clearly, these are signature dishes from the Upper River Gang, yet these people treat it like a street snack!
"Oh right!" Chen Mo remembered something, "I still have this."
He bent down and took out the small yellow table and chairs that had been with him for a long time, temporarily disabling the electric anti-theft feature of the food truck, and called over Uncle Lu Er's assistant to help set them out.
"You can sit and eat now."
As soon as three small tables and twelve small stools were set up, they were immediately occupied.
"Boss, your cooking is so good, why haven't I seen you before? Are you cooking wherever you're invited?"
Chen Mo smiled at the questioning customer, "No. I'm just passing through here to help a friend a bit."
"Hey, is this Chen Mo's food truck? It seems familiar. Bro, weren't you selling fish on the highway before?"
Chen Mo was a bit embarrassed, "Yes."
"I knew it! That's why the truck looks familiar. You changed trucks again! I saw you on Douyin, selling tens of thousands of yuan worth of fish in one afternoon. Pretty impressive, bro!"
Hearing this, several curious customers nearby started asking what happened and why he was selling fish at the highway.
The young man described the story vividly, entertaining the nearby people who were occasionally exclaiming.
The teahouse owner, who had come out to join the queue, was astonished and asked his storyteller, "Did you remember the story just now?"
"Yes, I did!"
"Good, start telling this story from tomorrow! This guy is amazing, standing up for righteousness even with a kitchen knife, no wonder he fries in a suit, it's impressive!"
The storyteller, excitedly stepping out of the queue, first listened intently to the young man's tales about Chen Mo on the highway.
Then he heard a girl at the neighboring long table talking about Boss Xiao Chen's stories.
"It's so funny! You know, those people actually occupied the hospital's inpatient department to eat Boss Xiao Chen's food!"
"The funniest part is there's this guy, Old Zhao, while others were pretending to be sick, he was actually sick! He even went and got a circumcision!"
Hiss...
The nearby male colleagues felt a chill down their pants.
"The funniest part!" Gu Fang said, laughing to the point of tears, and the aunts around kept asking what happened next.
"The funniest part is, the urology department and inpatient ward were separate! Old Zhao didn't eat for two days because of it."
Damn!
The storyteller felt his brain was overwhelmed, he took out a recorder and started recording, while also thinking about how this story was great!
Old Zhao is quite the heroic figure!
The customers who initially found queuing a bit dull were no longer bored at all.
They listened to Gu Fang's storytelling, getting more and more astonished.
Stories about Mapo Tofu curing hemorrhoids, snack streets turning suppliers, and hot spring villages being remodeled.
After hearing this, they became even more convinced of Boss Xiao Chen's cooking skills, it must be delicious!
Would people do such outrageous things if the food wasn't good?
And right at this moment.
Chen Mo took out a second-hand speaker Mu Muhua bought for a hundred yuan.
"The food is sold out today!"
"Sorry everyone, sorry!"
"The ingredients are sold out, all the dishes on the menu are gone! If you still want to eat, you can try our exclusive Lu Fang's Lantern Shadow Beef!"
On the street corner, Lu Yingqiu and Lu the Second turned their heads at the sound.
Their tired expressions immediately vanished, and the Lu Fang team was instantly invigorated.
Lu Yongjun held the basin tighter.
Lantern Shadow Beef was almost sold out half an hour ago, two hundred jin of beef brought in over ninety thousand yuan!
Almost ten thousand was given out just for tasting...
Lu the Second was just discussing whether to tell Xiao Chen to hurry and cook more beef.
But Boss Lu refused.
After all, Chen Mo was there to help, Boss Lu didn't feel right to force him to do anything.
So when Chen Mo shouted loudly, Boss Lu was also very excited!
Finally, it's starting?
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