The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

The Shangshi Private Kitchen in Bei’an is a branch.

Its location was chosen in a densely populated residential area.

Although there was no grand publicity, it quickly rose to fame as a new culinary favorite through its well-known reputation within the community, genuine ingredients, and unique, delicious cooking methods.

In Liu Yunong’s words, this branch is an exemplary combination of the Liu Family Cuisine’s old customs and authentic classic flavors with modern dining service and new trends—a classic in a new bottle, with a beautifully crafted bottle and a rich, pleasant taste!

When Shen the Third drove over, he found the location of this branch quite interesting.

Unlike the main store, which is situated in an old street, this one is nestled in an old neighborhood.

If it weren’t for GPS, finding this place would indeed be a bit tricky.

However, upon entering, one would find that the branch’s interior decoration is very creative and cleverly designed.

The window-side tables are reserved for couples, small two-seater tables where they can sit on small wooden stools, play footsie under the table, and enjoy the view of human life in the neighborhood outside the window.

Solo diners generally prefer to sit around the bar.

On the dish service bar connected to the kitchen window, dishes are slowly rotated out on a revolving bar for customers to pick as needed.

And for those like Shen the Third, who highly value privacy and have high demands for the dining environment, there are private dining rooms available.

Here, as in a regular restaurant, dedicated servers pour tea and water, providing very attentive and thorough service.

Even though it’s a branch, Shen the Third, when led to a private room by a server, had to admit that both the decor and the service quality were indistinguishable from the main store.

Though they both offer private dining and small gastronomical ventures, Liu Yunong’s restaurant satisfies all dining requirements of both new and old customers.

The only question was how the skills of the chef here compared to the master chefs at the main store, whether there would be a significant difference.

Zhang Conglin personally greeted Shen the Third and seated him in an elegant room near the window on the first floor.

Shen the Third didn’t even need to look at the menu, nor did he give Zhang Conglin a chance to speak, as he quickly ordered two familiar dishes.

”Soft glutinous sauce duck, golden tofu soup, and a large bowl of rice, oh, you have red date tea here, right? A pot, please.”

Zhang Conglin immediately recognized the order as the most popular set from the main store.

Zhang Conglin, impressed, thought to himself, indeed an old customer of the restaurant, knowing the dishes inside out.

He then replied, ”Alright, your dishes will be served shortly.”

The server left, and only Shen the Third remained in the private room.

He took a look around at the decor of the private room and was left stunned, falling silent.

The style was identical to the main store, from the wallpaper to the furnishings, even the doors and windows were the same.

Sitting here felt no different from sitting in a private room at the main store.

The dishes at the restaurant were his favorites, once made by his grandfather in the back kitchen of the main store.

His grandfather, apart from enjoying gatherings and pursuing pretty girls, had one major hobby: cooking!

Moreover, he truly dedicated himself to the ingredients, the heat, and the flavors, exploring and researching.

Due to his passion, his grandfather ignored the family business and became an apprentice under the head chef at Shangshi Private Kitchen, humbly working in the kitchen for half his life.

Whenever he devised a new dish, he first cooked it for Shen the Third and Grandma Shen to try, listened to Grandma Shen’s opinions, and observed whether it suited Shen the Third’s palate.

What Shen the Third ate more of, favored, what he ate less of, disliked, the old man silently kept in mind.

It wasn’t until after the old man passed away that people realized the devoted chef in the back kitchen was actually a member of the Shen Family.

Since then, Shen the Third had become a regular at the main store of Shangshi Private Kitchen.

The soft glutinous sauce duck, placed on a large round plate, emitted a rich aroma from the crispy yet tender duck meat after a quick stir-fry.

The presentation and dishes all followed the usual setup of the main store.

Duck pieces were cut evenly, each piece of duck carrying the marinated fatty and fragrant duck skin, and the thin layer of duck meat on the skeleton at the bottom was fried to a crisp, and after stir-frying, was imbued with a strong spicy aroma.

Shen the Third relished this intense spicy and aromatic flavor.

The golden tofu soup was made with tofu curds, mixed with concentrated soy milk from pure soybeans, deep-fried, covered with secret chopped matsutake, then drizzled with thick, sweet pumpkin puree, richly aromatic, with a lingering sweet aftertaste.

Holding a spoon, Shen the Third stared blankly at the soft glutinous sauce duck in front of him.

It wasn’t the flavor he had previously tasted at the main store.

But it was identical to the classic old flavor of soft glutinous sauce duck his grandfather used to cook at home.

The dishes at Shangshi Private Kitchen were mostly modified.

Compared to classic old flavors, they were more in line with contemporary dining habits and tastes.

However, his grandfather favored the classic old flavors of various dishes.

He believed that, regardless of the time, only classic old flavors strictly adhered to traditional craftsmanship, retaining the original taste.

The more these old flavors seemed to become lost in modern society, the more precious they were, worth savoring.

The soft glutinous sauce duck was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, the bones could be chewed through, savoring the taste, and Shen the Third enjoyed chewing the duck bones too.

Silently, he chewed on the duck meat, savored the thick, perfectly balanced spicy and aromatic flavor, with an eruption of sour, sweet, bitter, and astringent memories flooding through his mind...

Shen the Third’s gaze at the dish was dark and deep, as if through the dish, he could see the hunched yet professionally poised figure from his memory.

The old man wore only a loose white tank top, with the back of his neck sunbaked to a dark red by the scorching sun, hot sweat freely flowing.

Standing in front of the cooking station, with a poised stance, his cooking movements were very skilled.

The knife skills were meticulous and swift when slicing julienne.

His solid, bronze-toned arms lifted a cast-iron pot, with skillful movements tossing the dish evenly, rhythmically, in all directions.

Shen the Third, lost in memory, in that moment, suddenly realized that the soft glutinous sauce duck in his mouth overlapped with the flavor he once tasted before.

It was filled with the everyday and mundane, homey warmth of small town life, filling his mouth with the long-awaited fragrant aroma of classic old flavors.

He held the chopsticks in his hand but forgot to set them down, and unknowingly, he was lost in thought for a long time...