After the girls in the restaurant had finished tasting and the plates were cleared away, Zephyr picked up the menu and prepared to order a few of the restaurant's signature dishes.
But just as he opened the menu, Mia's gaze shot straight over. She snatched the menu from his line of sight, her tone leaving no room for negotiation. "What do you want to eat?"
"I'll treat you. Otherwise, I'll feel bad. The cake you made tasted quite good, it's just that I don't really like sweets."
"Um..."
Noticing Mia's extremely serious expression, Zephyr ultimately felt too embarrassed to refuse. According to her, this should be called reciprocating a favor.
He nodded with a chuckle. "Then I'll trouble you, Aunt Mia. I actually forgot to bring money when I went out."
After taking back the menu, Zephyr ordered a few of the restaurant's signatures—grilled pork chop, cream soup, bread platter, and vegetable salad.
He then pushed the menu back behind the bar. "That'll be all."
Mia reached out to take the menu. "Eat as much as you want. Don't worry about money tonight. If it's not enough, order more."
"Thank you."
Zephyr had to admit that Orario didn't seem as bad as he had imagined. At least, so far, he hadn't encountered any nasty people, Zanis excluded.
Soon, perhaps due to the bonus of that dessert, Zephyr, who had arrived later, found his food served first. The one who personally brought the steaming grilled pork chop to him was Chloe.
She placed the plate on the table in front of Zephyr, but she didn't immediately move away. She looked at Zephyr, her expression even more complex than when she tasted the cake earlier.
She spoke hesitantly, "Um..."
"Hmm?"
"The other day..."
Regarding culinary arts, as a chef at the Hostess of Fertility, Chloe was quite serious about this aspect.
"I tasted those dishes you shared with Syr the other day, I even tried to replicate the simple ones myself. But no matter what, I couldn't achieve the taste you cooked up back then."
"Could it be a difference in our seasonings or cooking techniques?"
Hearing this question, Zephyr was somewhat taken aback. He hadn't even found a suitable conversation starter, yet Chloe had taken the initiative to bring up the topic.
Promoting Gourmet Ingredients—he actually didn't know how to bring that up.
Although he had verified that Gourmet Cells had no effect on other Adventurers, they were still ingredients obtained from monsters. If he was even slightly careless, it would be an act of ruining the brand.
As the most popular restaurant in Orario, the Hostess of Fertility had stable ingredient suppliers who could better control quality.
The source of goods he had on hand, to be honest, were all brought back from the Dungeon. Sometimes it depended on luck. If customers found out, he didn't even dare to imagine how ridiculous the scene would be.
But now, Chloe had taken the initiative to offer him a step down.
Zephyr deliberated for a moment and said, "It should be the difference in ingredients, it has nothing to do with our cooking techniques."
"Ingredients?" Chloe's brows furrowed.
Zephyr said, "If you are interested, when I have some time in a few days, I can bring some raw materials over."
"Really?"
As a chef, Chloe had basically seen most of the ingredients in Orario, but no matter what, she couldn't compare them to those from that day, especially the Braised Pork Ribs.
She couldn't understand why the pork ribs had the taste of crab, perfectly integrated without any sense of discord.
"That goes without saying." Zephyr nodded with a smile.
The consumption level at the Hostess of Fertility is considered upper-middle grade in Orario. Calculating backwards from the typical 40% gross profit margin in the catering industry, the profit space for the restaurant business is quite considerable.
Moreover, Zephyr was very clear about his unique selling point. Given the scarcity of ingredients like Gourmet Creatures, there was absolutely no problem with selling them at a higher price.
Zephyr didn't mind dealing the excess meat from his daily Dungeon explorations—the parts that he and his friends couldn't finish—to this restaurant.
Just at this moment, while Zephyr was letting his thoughts wander, a system notification bar appeared before his eyes, indicating that a task had been finished.
[Gourmet Sharing Mission]
[The meaning of gourmet food lies in sharing. Please share your cooking with a stranger, and let them feel the true meaning of deliciousness.]
[Status: Completed]
[Randomly drawing cooking skill...]
Zephyr stared at the notification bar that had appeared in his field of vision, unable to help but feel expectant, looking forward to the reward that best suited the current situation.
All that flashed through his mind were the wonderful scenes from the food anime of his past life.
Similar to the glowing dishes in Cooking Master Boy, or the sensations in Food Wars!, that could make people's souls fly away. In Orario, these would definitely be incredibly outrageous skills.
[Acquired Talent: Absolute Taste]
[Effect: Can precisely decompose the details of all ingredients, seasoning, and heat control in every dish, and even judge the origin and processing method of the ingredients.]
[Acquired Ability: Professional Chef-level Knife Skills]
[Effect: Exquisite knife skills mastered by a professional-level chef.]
[Acquired Ability: Heat Control]
[Effect: No need for a timer or thermometer, precisely control the heat of cooking by feel.]
Looking at the rewards finally settled by the system, Zephyr's heart skipped a beat.
How should he put it? It was like opening a mystery box and discovering that everything inside was usable.
Absolute Taste? This thing looked familiar to Zephyr.
Erina's God's Tongue, which could precisely decompose all the details of every dish.
Moreover, there were two other abilities. The three-piece set of [Absolute Taste] combined with [Professional Chef-level Knife Skills] and [Heat Control] could lead to a qualitative change in his cooking methods.
Knife skills and heat control are the two pillars of cooking basics. The former determines the degree of ingredient processing, and the latter determines the doneness of the dish.
And Absolute Taste is the judge that overrides the first two. Only by tasting the flaws in the food can one make individual improvements in those areas. It would allow him to accurately judge the shortcomings of every dish in the future and find the direction for improvement.
Zephyr had some self-awareness regarding his level of cooking.
Home-cooked meals were no problem. After all, his life experience from his past life was there.
But if one were to talk about refinement, it certainly wasn't there. Often, the dishes he made could be praised, but he knew that it was mostly due to the quality of the ingredients themselves.
But now it was different. With these abilities—knife skills, heat control, and taste—accounted for, he should be able to make dishes worthy of those ingredients from now on.
Most importantly, going forward, even monster meat with strange odors could be properly handled.
Zephyr gradually calmed the surprise in his heart and looked down at the steaming grilled pork chop in front of him, the signature dish treated by Mia.
He had been chatting with Chloe about the ingredient cooperation earlier, and he hadn't had a chance to eat it. Now was the perfect opportunity to test these abilities of his.
Thinking of this, he picked up his fork, cut a piece of grilled pork chop, and stuffed it into his mouth. Just as he chewed it, his expression froze.
The moment the meat broke apart between his teeth, countless cooking details flooded into his mind.
Hind leg meat, meat age about 18 months, marinated with thyme, rosemary, and minced garlic, soaking time about 45 minutes.
The seasoning salt particles are uneven in size, and some areas are too salty.
Zephyr's action of holding the fork froze completely. It wasn't that the taste was bad. On the contrary, this grilled pork chop was an excellent dish by Orario's standards.
But in the analysis of Absolute Taste, all details were infinitely magnified, and any flaws were completely presented before him.
From ingredient selection to marination time, oil temperature control to seasoning technique. It was like someone holding a magnifying glass and dissecting the dish.
"Isn't this the real experience of Erina in Food Wars!?"
Absolute Taste's effect was quite good. Now, simply eating the grilled pork chop in front of him gave him the experience of a TV show judge, causing his expression to become somewhat strange.