The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Your Reputation Is the One Thing You Can Never Ruin

Zhao Meng has been a chef for over twenty years and has encountered all kinds of situations.

But precisely because of this, he treasures his hard-earned reputation even more.

Every customer who appreciates his culinary skills is someone he desperately wants to keep.

After all, for him now, money is plentiful, and his job is stable.

Allowing customers to experience the happiness of being well-fed has slowly become his sole pursuit.

Watching Zhao Meng’s expression change after tasting the food, Fu Yu, out of concern, didn’t notice the ”?” suddenly appearing above Zhao Meng’s head.

Fu Yu softly asked, ”Chef Zhao, is there really a problem with the taste?”

Zhao Meng put down his chopsticks, gave him a sideways glance, and nodded: ”Hmm, the acidity is off.”

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Assist in resolving this matter and remake an authentic-tasting lemon chicken claw. Task completion reward: 200 RMB, Personal Skill: Marinating Experience +10, Task Experience: +10]

[Accept task, yes or no]

Fu Yu was taken aback and only then realized that he had inadvertently triggered Zhao Meng’s side quest.

He quickly chose to accept.

Zhao Meng ground the chicken bone with his back molars and swallowed it directly, apologizing with regret and annoyance to the diners present: ”I’m sorry, it’s my negligence; this dish indeed lacks acidity. This matter is my responsibility, and I must apologize to you.”

Customers come to eat, not to nitpick—they actually just want a good attitude.

Zhao Meng demonstrated the right attitude, and naturally, the customers relaxed a bit.

”I came today specifically to treat my friends and wanted to try this chicken claw. It was somewhat disappointing. But, oh well, everyone makes mistakes—it’s just a dish. Just be more careful next time.”

The customer’s words were tantamount to slapping Zhao Meng in the face.

What a chef can’t stand the most is customers rejecting their culinary skills.

Zhao Meng took a deep breath and grinned apologetically: ”I’m sorry, really sorry. How about this, I’ll treat you to this meal today as an apology. Please give me this chance to make amends.”

The customer, upon hearing this, felt embarrassed and waved it off: ”There’s no need, really!”

Zhao Meng insisted on waiving the bill, but the customer was not willing.

Finally, Zhao Meng paid out of his pocket and took a bottle of wine from the store, priced at a wholesale 500 and retailing for 1,500, and sent it to room 302 for them.

This time, the customer truly felt satisfied and, with a smile, said: ”Look at you, going to so much expense, really... Chef Zhao, don’t worry, I’ll definitely come back to eat, and I won’t hold such a small matter against you. Let’s just consider it making friends this time.”

Zhao Meng genuinely breathed a sigh of relief.

After exchanging a few more polite words, he returned to the kitchen.

The kitchen atmosphere became tense due to Zhao Meng’s gloomy expression.

Zhao Meng went straight to the storage room.

The freshly marinated lemon chicken claws from yesterday afternoon were packed in a glass jar on the shelf.

Zhao Meng opened the lid, reached in, grabbed a chicken claw, and chewed on it.

His face immediately turned as dark as a pot bottom.

Indeed, the taste was off.

How could this happen!

He’s been making this dish for over twenty years, and there’s never been a slip-up.

Unlike dishes that are stir-fried or stewed, which require a specific control of the heat and time.

The ingredients for lemon chicken claws are measured down to a few grams, as long as the recipe is followed, even a novice could produce the same taste.

So, how did the acidity go wrong?

Zhao Meng carefully recalled, the lemons were indeed fresh.

Then there’s the vinegar.

Vinegar!!!

Zhao Meng widened his tiger eyes.

Quickly exiting the storage room, he shouted: ”Sun Qingning!!”

Seeing this scene, Sun Qingning was startled and quickly jogged over, anxiously asking: ”Chef Zhao, what’s wrong?”

Zhao Meng questioned: ”When making lemon chicken claws yesterday, what was the acidity level of the vinegar you handed me?”

”Ah?” Sun Qingning was stunned and honestly replied: ”It was just, just 9-degree vinegar!”

Zhao Meng turned and headed for his cooking station, asking back: ”Which one did you take?”

Sun Qingning hesitantly pointed to one of the bottles.

Fu Yu saw it and knew something bad had happened.

The bottle Sun Qingning pointed to was 5-degree vinegar, and the 9-degree vinegar was the one next to it.

The brand of vinegar had identical packaging for both the 9-degree and 5-degree options. The only difference was the acidity level, and there was no distinctive marking to signal them.

Fu Yu himself usually distinguishes between them because of frequent use, knowing which bottle had more left based on usage.

The acidity of 9-degree vinegar is too high, and generally, for everyday stir-frying, the 5-degree vinegar is used.

But since Fu Yu was absent yesterday, Zhao Meng instructed Sun Qingning to take the vinegar.

Because Sun Qingning was nervous and frequently couldn’t keep up with Zhao Meng’s pace, his mind was overwhelmed, so he didn’t carefully distinguish and handed the 5-degree vinegar to Zhao Meng.

However, Zhao Meng, being overly confident in himself, did not taste the flavor while marinating and just sealed the jar.

If you truly reason it out, both of them were at fault.

But the head chef is the leader, has already sacrificed, giving away 500 yuan, and his most treasured reputation suffered damage.

Therefore, Sun Qingning was scolded badly.

After rebuking, Zhao Meng continued his work.

Finally, the busiest dining rush was over.

The kitchen staff all went to eat.

Zhao Meng didn’t go; he was ready to make another batch of lemon chicken claws.

Sun Qingning awkwardly approached, nervously clutching his phone. After taking a deep breath, he said: ”Chef Zhao, I, I just transferred 500 yuan to you—I’ll pay for the wine.”

After saying this, Sun Qingning fell silent.

He feared Zhao Meng would scold him again.

He also feared Zhao Meng would refuse to take the money.

He hadn’t expected a momentary oversight would lead to today’s outcome.

At their restaurant, at least since he’d been hired, no customer had ever approached a chef to argue over flavor issues.

Now, he’s dared not even think about his permanent status at work.

Because of today’s incident, whether he can continue working here is a question.

”Never mind, take today’s matter as a lesson, and do things more carefully in the future.”

Zhao Meng impatiently waved his hand: ”Go eat.”

Sun Qingning’s heart skipped a beat upon seeing Zhao Meng’s somber face, hesitated briefly, and ultimately didn’t dare stay.

Fu Yu returned from the storeroom with chicken claws to see Sun Qingning leaving the kitchen, looking dejected.

Zhao Meng was soaking ginger slices and Sichuan peppercorns in hot water.

Fu Yu came over, concerned: ”Chef Zhao, still mad?”

Zhao Meng saw him bringing back the ingredients and waved his hand: ”Alright, go and eat.”

Fu Yu didn’t leave, carrying the chicken claws to clean, and then skillfully began trimming their nails.

Zhao Meng tried twice to dismiss him, but having failed, let it be.

Fu Yu brought over the processed chicken claws.

Zhao Meng took one look, sighed, and said nothing more.

He then completed the final marinating process for the chicken claws.

The entire afternoon passed as usual.

After work in the evening, Zhao Meng unexpectedly called Fu Yu and asked him to divide the marinated lemon chicken claws into four small jars and pack them in the restaurant’s takeaway bags.

Besides that, two jars of the restaurant’s specialty side dishes were also packed in each bag.

Fu Yu was puzzled at the time, not knowing what Zhao Meng intended to do.

Once they drove to the place and accompanied Zhao Meng to the customer’s house to apologize and deliver the gifts, completing the process.

Fu Yu admiringly said: ”Chef Zhao, you’re really responsible.”

Even though he already compensated with wine, he went out of his way to personally deliver a gift.

As a result, not only would the customer not hold this against him, but they would likely think Zhao Meng is a good person and have an even better opinion of him.

Zhao Meng, however, said: ”For us chefs, the only thing that makes customers recognize us is our cooking skills. We can jeopardize anything but not our reputation.”

Fu Yu nodded.

He thought those words were very true.

Fu Yu followed Zhao Meng to the homes of three more customers.

Fortunately, they were regular patrons with reservation calls, making Zhao Meng’s contact relatively smooth.

They finished delivering to the last family.

On the way back, Zhao Meng let out a long sigh of relief and solemnly said: ”These three customers also ordered this dish in the morning. Though they didn’t complain to us, we can’t be complacent just because the customers were generous.”

”What you send out now will come back as rewards in the future. If customers feel the chef’s skills have deteriorated and stop coming, that’s the real loss.”

Fu Yu learned another valuable lesson.

He was about to nod when an electronic voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Assist in resolving this matter and remake an authentic-tasting lemon chicken claw, successfully completed. Reward gained: 200 RMB, Personal Skill: Marinating Experience +10, Task Experience: +10]

The next moment, his phone vibrated.