Mia frowned as she looked toward Zephyr, who was frozen with his fork raised. He was staring blankly at the grilled pork chop, his expression clearly not quite right.
He had been chatting with Chloe just a moment ago, but when he actually started to eat, it was as if he had tasted something difficult to swallow.
'Is the food in my restaurant that hard to swallow?'
Recalling his cooking level, she didn't think he was deliberately finding fault and asked, "Does the food not suit your taste?"
"Uh..."
Surely he couldn't just tell her there was a problem with the dish, right?
Moreover, for a signature dish that Mia treated him to, he had started nitpicking as soon as it was served—that kind of thing was extremely rude.
Furthermore, he knew that as the head chef of the restaurant, Chloe had to deal with many orders every day, and it was already very good that she could maintain stable output.
Nitpicking at them—what was the difference between that and crashing the place?
Zephyr considered his wording and finally chose to politely brush it off, shaking his head. "That's not the case, it tastes quite good."
Mia had been running the Hostess of Fertility for all these years, and the number of customers she had welcomed and sent off was countless. Her judgment of people was absolutely beyond doubt.
While Zephyr was eating, his expression from earlier and the slight hesitation in his reply—every single detail had been fully captured by her eyes.
He is definitely lying!
It wasn't that she felt offended by Zephyr. 5he fact that he chose to remain silent instead of nitpicking gave her a better impression of him.
After all, the standards of someone whose culinary skills could make the girls sing endless praises would definitely be on a completely different level from ordinary customers when judging a grilled pork chop.
Mia waved her hand dismissively. "Just speak your mind. I know you're a good cook, so your tasting skills must be decent too. If there are flaws, point them out so we can improve in a timely manner. If there's an issue with the food, that's our responsibility. It has nothing to do with the customer being picky."
"Who knows? After we improve it, it might become even more popular."
Should he really say it?
Zephyr hesitated for a moment. Mia's straightforward attitude made it hard for him to keep pretending nothing was wrong, especially since she had gone to such lengths. To keep hiding his thoughts now
would only make him look overly dramatic.
He cut the grilled pork chop into small pieces and began to voice the analysis provided by [Absolute Taste].
Zephyr recalled carefully, then said calmly, "Let me think about how to put this. The oil temperature was a bit too high during grilling, causing the proteins to over-caramelize—this leaves a slight bitterness on the surface."
"As for the seasoning, the salt grains are unevenly sized. This causes some parts to taste too salty while others are bland, which ruins the overall experience."
"The most critical part..."
He pointed to the remaining sauce on the plate and said, "I think there's an issue with how the sauce paired with the pork chop was thickened. It also lacks a bit of flavor. This makes it so the sauce doesn't cling to the meat, making the overall taste feel a bit thin."
By the time Mia finished listening to his evaluation, her eyes had widened in complete shock.
Just from a simple taste, he could pick out so many detailed flaws?
The grilling temperature was wrong, the base flavor wasn't done right and even the paired sauce had issues?!
Putting aside whether it was true or not for a moment, such a sense of taste was definitely not something an ordinary person should possess. At least, none of the gods who patronized the shop had ever given such an evaluation.
But the thing was, during the time Mia had interacted with Zephyr, she could tell that his core personality was not one to nitpick in a restaurant for no reason.
Mia called out toward the kitchen, "Chloe, come here for a second!"
"Huh?"
Chloe walked over, asking in confusion, "What's up, Mama Mia?"
Mia pushed the plate, which was still mostly full, from in front of Zephyr. "Taste this plate of grilled pork chop. After eating it, see if there's any difference from how it usually tastes."
Chloe tilted her head slightly, her eyes filled with confusion.
This was the grilled pork chop she had just made tonight—cooked according to her usual process, so it shouldn't be any different from before. But since Mia said so, there must be a reason.
She cut off a piece of grilled pork chop, and put it in her mouth, chewing carefully.
Her pupils narrowed as she tried her best to distinguish the layers of flavor in this dish—meat quality, sauce, seasoning, and temperature.
In the end, she shook her head and replied, "It tastes about the same as usual, doesn't it?"
Hearing Chloe's response, Mia's scrutinizing gaze fell back onto Zephyr's face. Instead of questioning him, she used a fork to get herself a piece of the pork chop.
As she tasted it, she recalled Zephyr's detailed evaluation from earlier. Perhaps due to psychological suggestion, when she tasted the grilled pork chop, she felt like what Zephyr said made perfect sense.
Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "How on earth did you sense all that?"
"My sense of taste, I guess?"
He couldn't exactly say it was a talent rewarded by the system after completing a task.
He smiled. "Anyway, when I eat, my perception of various flavors is just a bit sharper than most people's. If all these details are controlled properly, then the food will taste much better."
Chloe asked, "Um... what is going on?"
Mia simply repeated what Zephyr had just said.
Chloe's eyes at this moment were filled with exhaustion. The tavern was short-staffed, and she had to handle so many orders in the kitchen every day. She and Lunoire were constantly rushed off their feet. Just ensuring that every dish was served with basic consistency was already the result of her doing her absolute best.
Chloe knew that Zephyr's cooking was truly delicious. Otherwise, she would have suspected that he was just here to cause trouble.
But then again, being nitpicked to such an extent, Chloe, as the head chef of the kitchen, still had her pride slightly dented.
She looked at Zephyr and raised an eyebrow. "Since you say the grilled pork chop has so many problems, how about you show me how it's done?"
"Do it according to the details you mentioned, and let's see what kind of different flavor you can make."
This was exactly why Zephyr hadn't wanted to speak up. It was too easy to be misunderstood.
He met Chloe's challenging gaze and then glanced at Mia nearby, who didn't stop her.
At this point, refusing would be inappropriate. What's more, he had other thoughts in mind. He had just chatted with Chloe about finding time to bring over some ingredients. In the future, if he wanted to regularly supply Gourmet Creatures as ingredients to the Hostess of Fertility, playing the riddler now would impact their relationship.
How would they negotiate future cooperation then?
Zephyr didn't refuse, treating it as a test of the system's reward.
He nodded. "Sure, no problem."
"Then follow me." Chloe nodded in satisfaction.
Her tail swayed cheerfully, clearly looking forward to this upcoming culinary duel.
Syr, Anya, Ryuu, and Lunoire all gathered around to watch the excitement, their attention drawn to the kitchen.
Even the guests drinking at the few tables near the bar looked curiously toward the kitchen.
Is this really necessary?
But since things had already reached this point and Zephyr didn't feel any pressure anyway, he followed Chloe into the kitchen.
The environment here was better than he had expected. Various knives were hung on the wall racks according to size, ranging from cleavers to fine slicing knives, and the cookware was fully stocked. Seasoning bottles were arranged by type on the shelves next to the stove, each labeled by hand.