Fancy Dishes

Alfred personally introduced it. "This is our signature appetizer, 'Sprouts of Early Spring.'"

Brook and Hermione looked at the empty plate, then at the head waiter.

Were they supposed to eat air?

Then the real performance began.

The first waiter stepped forward and used pure silver tweezers to pick up a carrot slice as thin as a cicada's wing.

The carrot slice had been cut so thin it was translucent.

The second waiter stepped forward, scooped a little emerald-green sauce from a small crystal bowl, and carefully brushed it onto the carrot slice with a paintbrush, drawing the veins of a leaf.

The third waiter stepped forward, also scooped some yellow-green sauce from a small bowl, and used an even finer brush to outline the edges, giving the "leaf" a greater sense of depth.

The fourth waiter stepped forward with a special spray bottle. With a gentle press, he sprayed out a puff of white foam.

The foam drifted down lightly but did not disperse when it landed on the sauce, forming a tiny cloud.

The fifth waiter stepped forward and used tweezers to pick up three pea shoots.

Each was only two centimeters long, tender enough to squeeze water from—then they were arranged atop that "cloud."

The sixth waiter stepped forward and used a special grater to shave a tiny pinch of white truffle over it, almost too little to see.

The seventh waiter stepped forward and used gold-foil tweezers to pick up a piece of gold leaf smaller than a fingernail, placing it along the edge of the "cloud."

The eighth, ninth, tenth...

A full twenty waiters busied themselves for five minutes, and the finished dish was only the size of a coin.

Alfred said respectfully, "Please enjoy."

Brook and Hermione exchanged a glance, seeing the same thought