Chapter 43
For their second stop, Jiang Hao and Zhen Xiaoqiu set their sights on a Japanese restaurant.
Japan was most famous for its sushi restaurants.
Boya House was also Michelin-recommended.
After the assistant director communicated with them, Boya House agreed to let the production crew film inside. The restaurant was mostly decorated in wood, with a distinctly Japanese style. Chef Sakata personally received them in their private room.
The first dish was sturgeon caviar. The red roe was plump and flavored with yuzu peel. One bite finished it; this was merely the appetizer.
The second dish was salmon sashimi. The chef introduced it as being made from fresh salmon.
The third dish was sukiyaki, a beef hot pot. Jiang Hao and Zhen Xiaoqiu had ordered the most expensive wagyu beef. Chef Sakata introduced it as the very finest wagyu. The beef was lightly swished through the broth before being placed in their mouths, where it melted instantly.
Last came a full pufferfish course. Chef Sakata introduced it, saying, "The pufferfish is tiger pufferfish flown in from Japan. It is prepared by the most skilled chef in our restaurant. The first dish is pufferfish skin, the second is thick-cut pufferfish sashimi, which is the main course, the third is crispy fried pufferfish, and the final dish is pufferfish hot pot."
It had to be said, the pufferfish really was delicious.
"Ding~~ Taste of Gourmet Food collected. Please keep up the good work, Host."
After consecutively gaining several mission points, Jiang Hao contentedly set down his chopsticks. Delicious as it was, he still had to criticize it.
Seeing Jiang Hao's expression, Zhen Xiaoqiu knew they had reached the final stage. She spoke at just the right moment. "Zhou Sheng, what do you think of today's dishes? Give us your evaluation."
Jiang Hao pretended to ponder for a moment before saying, "I think they were somewhat disappointing."
Zhen Xiaoqiu was not surprised at all, but Chef Sakata of Boya House looked at Jiang Hao in surprise. "May I ask why you say that? Our ingredients are all top-grade and exceptionally fresh, all flown in from Japan. Was it not to your taste?"
Jiang Hao shook his head and pointed at the wagyu. "You just said this was the finest wagyu beef. I have my doubts."
Chef Sakata frowned. "What do you doubt?"
"If I am not mistaken, this wagyu should be graded A2, perhaps A3 at most. A4 and A5 are the true top grades. So when you said this was the finest wagyu, that statement was inaccurate."
Chef Sakata's expression changed slightly. He could even tell it was A2? What kind of tongue was that?
Jiang Hao continued his criticism.
"Why use fresh fish for salmon sashimi?" Jiang Hao asked.
"Because customers prefer it that way," Chef Sakata said.
Jiang Hao gave a dry laugh. "Wild salmon carry a large number of parasites. They need to be frozen to kill the parasites: frozen below minus twenty degrees Celsius for a week, or flash-frozen below minus thirty-five degrees Celsius for a day. It can only be eaten after the parasites are killed. That is the proper way to consume it."
Chef Sakata looked at Jiang Hao but did not refute him.
Jiang Hao did not let the matter drop. Facing the camera, he said, "Let me share some common knowledge with everyone. Salmon is particularly tricky. Even when it is about to spoil, it can remain bright orange, without changing color or developing any odor. So salmon that looks good may not necessarily be the best."
Chef Sakata was furious inside. What did he mean by that? Bringing down salmon at a time like this was clearly a pointed remark, wasn't it? But Jiang Hao had not directly pointed at their fish, so he could only endure it.
"As for the full pufferfish course, it was indeed well made, and I personally liked it very much. But the issue is that the chef said this fish was flown in from Japan. I would like to say that this fish should have been farmed in China, so how could it have been flown in from Japan?" Jiang Hao said as he looked at the chef.
Chef Sakata's eyelid twitched. How does this bastard know even that? Still, he flatly denied it. "No, it was transported from Japan. It is the finest ingredient."
Jiang Hao shrugged. "Say whatever you like."
"My final score is six out of ten, barely passing. The food is refined, but the chef's claims were somewhat exaggerated, and the value for money is poor. This little food cost over ten thousand. All I can say is that it was expensive." Jiang Hao spoke to the camera.
Chef Sakata immediately became anxious and angrily said, "How can you evaluate us like that? You must retract what you just said."
"Also, we are a Michelin-rated restaurant. What qualifications do you have to rate our restaurant? Your filming has been terminated. You must leave the videotapes behind before you can leave."
This was not the first time they had encountered such a situation. Zhen Xiaoqiu immediately said, "You gave us permission to film earlier."
"You have even less right to keep anything. We paid for the meal."
Chef Sakata's face went pale with rage. He knew he had been tricked.
These television production people were truly too cunning.
The Japanese called the police. The police came, but what could they do about such a matter? The TV station had not violated any rules, and Jiang Hao had been extremely shrewd, recording the entire process of negotiating with the sushi restaurant for permission to film. The Japanese could only grit their teeth and accept it.
The next day, the production crew selected another Michelin-rated French Restaurant. After obtaining the restaurant's consent, the crew got to work. Zhen Xiaoqiu and Jiang Hao ordered Provencal Fish Soup, Saint-Jacques scallops, pan-seared foie gras, Veal in White Sauce, French snails, sole meunière, shepherd's pie, Apple Black Pudding, and onion soup in puff pastry.
They were all classic French dishes.
French cuisine was eaten one course at a time, so the meal was complicated and took a long time. During the meal, Jiang Hao and Xiaoqiu sat across from each other, and the filming made them look like a couple dining together, completely changing the previous goofy atmosphere.
During the meal, Jiang Hao casually commented on the dishes, discussing everything from the methods behind classic recipes to their various adaptations, flavors, side dishes, and more.
Xiaoqiu listened with great interest as well.
Naturally, Jiang Hao was in quite a good mood too, because he had absorbed quite a few more Taste of Gourmet Food mission points, bringing him another step closer to completing the mission.
After the meal, it was time for the evaluation again.
Jiang Hao looked at Zhen Xiaoqiu and said, "Food evaluation mainly begins with several aspects: color, aroma, flavor, form, and tableware. Color refers to the use and arrangement of colors: warm and cool colors, light and dark colors, deep and pale shades, and so on. The most important thing is that it should please the eye."
"Aroma means the smell. At the very least, it should whet the appetite, not make people want to vomit."
"Flavor means taste. It has to be delicious; that is the foundation. No matter how beautiful it looks, if it tastes like chewing wax, it will not do."
"Form means appearance. Color is color, while form is the overall arrangement. It needs to be harmoniously matched and not unpleasant to look at. French cuisine does well in this regard."
"Tableware means the vessels. People pay more attention to this now. For example, putting a small dish of food into a large barrel would naturally look bad."
Having finished with the praise, it was naturally time to switch into criticism mode.
In truth, food appreciation was highly subjective. After all, everyone's tastes differed, and it was unfair to forcefully declare whether a dish was good or bad, or how it tasted.
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