Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

Liang Ding said half-jokingly, "Business is terrible right now! Our restaurant is thinking of launching a traditional dish menu this month, such as replicating some traditional kung fu dishes and lost dishes that the restaurant no longer makes, just to create a gimmick and attract customers."

"The general menu is settled, but we haven't decided on the main course yet. Do you have any recommendations, Yu-ge?"

The chubby chef Zhang Rong next to him frowned slightly, not because he was frowning at Liang Ding calling Zhou Yu "Brother Yu".

Liang Ding, aside from being much younger than him, always greeted everyone with a smile, addressing them as "brother" or "elder brother," a habit he had long been accustomed to.

He just felt that Liang Ding was spoiling his daughter too much, actually asking Zhou Yu about it because of a child's joke.

He didn't know who Zhou Yu was, and he couldn't see at all what made Zhou Yu look like a chef.

Not only did Zhou Yu lack the rough temperament of a chef, but he was also incredibly handsome.

No matter what industry he's in, someone as handsome as him who can achieve great things can't possibly remain unknown, especially since G City isn't that big.

But he didn't contradict him, since Liang Ding was only asking one question anyway.

Given Zhou Yu's usual personality, he certainly wouldn't have dared to accept those words.

After all, he had no idea what traditional dishes, elaborate dishes, or lost dishes were.

But I just got the recipe for Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken last night, and I just saw Liang Ding's wish quest.

He was still quite envious of the SD sashimi recipe that was a reward for completing the mission.

Moreover, gaining Liang Ding's favor will be a great help in opening a store in the future.

Zhou Yu said, "Master Ding, compared to you Cantonese cuisine masters, I'm just a novice. But since you asked me, I'll shamelessly say a few words."

He first stacked a layer of armor, although he believed that the system's Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken would definitely be very powerful once it was released.

But, well, all he knows how to cook is the Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken.

He continued, "If you're looking for traditional, nostalgic dishes, you should know about the four major restaurants in Guangzhou from the last century, right?"

At the beginning of the last century, Cantonese cuisine was just emerging, and Guangzhou, as the capital of Lingnan, was the place where Cantonese cuisine flourished.

Later, due to war and economic depression, chefs from Guangzhou were forced to migrate south to Hong Kong Island and even Southeast Asia.

It wasn't until the 1980s, when people returned to Cantonese cuisine in Lingnan, that the region experienced a resurgence.

The four most prestigious restaurants in Guangzhou back then could be said to represent the highest level of Cantonese cuisine in the last century.

Before Liang Ding could speak, the portly chef Zhang Rong chimed in, "I'm Zhang Rong, the head chef of Shunyi Restaurant. What's your name, sir?"

"Zhou Yu".

"Mr. Zhou, are you referring to the signature dishes of each of the four major restaurants back in the day?"

Before Zhou Yu could answer, Zhang Rong began to read aloud:

"Eating well is a blessing, wearing well is a blessing. The four major restaurants are familiar to everyone. The abalone is as big as your palm, and it's so delicious that your mouth is churning (in Cantonese, churning means moving).

"Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken surpasses even dragon meat; Dinghu Vegetarian Cuisine is pure and fragrant without a trace of turbidity. Hey, hey, hey, there's also the famous Skirt and Wing Chicken, priced at sixty yuan."

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, of course we know that the Four Great Restaurants are so famous."

Zhang Rong recited the folk rhymes of the four major restaurants of that time, which corresponded to the signature dishes of each of the four restaurants.

Nanyuan's Braised Oyster Sauce, Wenyuan's Jiangnan Hundred-Flower Chicken, Xiyuan's Dinghu Vegetarian Dish, and Dasanyuan's Sixty-Yuan Large Group of Shark Fin.

He deliberately recited the folk songs of the time, simply to tell Zhou Yu that what he thought were trivia was nothing more than the basic skills of a chef.

Liang Ding: "Brother Yu, actually, when we first came up with the traditional banquet menu, we considered almost all the famous dishes from the last hundred years or so. Dishes from the four major restaurants were the first thing we considered, but either, like the shark fin soup from Da San Yuan, it's no longer allowed to be sold; or like the braised abalone with oyster sauce from Nan Yuan, the taste wasn't right when we tried to recreate it. That's why we had a headache."

Actually, shark fins aren't banned from sale; rather, the limited availability of fins for most shark species has naturally decreased daily since fishing for them was prohibited. Using them for cooking would be prohibitively expensive.

"I remember that replicating the Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken shouldn't be too difficult, right? The materials aren't complicated either," Zhou Yu said.

He knew, of course, that Liang Ding would have replicated the work if nothing unexpected had happened. But he still had to continue the conversation one sentence at a time.

Besides, how can you be sophisticated if you don't play dumb?

Zhang Rong sneered: "Zhou Sheng, you may have read some marketing accounts and know about the four major restaurants of the last century, but do you know about the major restaurants after the revival of Cantonese cuisine in Guangzhou a few decades ago?"

"I'm not very talented, but I came from Beiyuan Restaurant. Back then, Chef Li of Beiyuan once tried to recreate the Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken, but it didn't sell well. Otherwise, why do you think no one has thought of using the recreated Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken as a signature dish?"

Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken is probably the easiest dish to replicate among those that have been lost to time.

Because both the ingredients and the techniques are still completely preserved; it's just that there are more steps involved.

Therefore, there are still quite a few restaurants on the market that are being replicated.

Even the Beiyuan restaurant, which was rebuilt in the 1980s and has so many master chefs and ancient recipes, can only be described as having good taste after the replication.

Although it was popular for a while, it could not replicate the splendor of Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken, which outshone all other chickens in the last century.

If it's just that the taste is acceptable, then it can be used as the main dish.

There are now stores on the market that use replica versions of Jiangnan Baihua Chicken as a gimmick.

If you can't differentiate yourself from other restaurants on the market, high-end diners won't be willing to pay.

Zhang Rong felt that Zhou Yu was simply an incompetent fool, and in his opinion, it was common sense that Jiangnan Baihua Chicken could not be made well.

"Have you ever considered that you used the wrong shrimp when you were replicating it?" Zhou Yu ignored the sarcasm in Zhang Rong's tone and continued to ask.

"Are you trying to say bamboo shrimp, mandarin shrimp, tiger prawn, or lobster? Do you think none of the head chefs at Beiyuan back then thought of that?"

Zhang Rong couldn't listen any longer, so he turned to Liang Ding and said:

"Master Ding, if there's nothing else, I'll head back to the kitchen now. I'll contact my former apprentices again in the next couple of days to see if they have any other good suggestions."

But before he could leave, Zhou Yu's words rang out behind him again:

"Have you ever thought that it's not some kind of giant shrimp, but just a very simple, ordinary prawn?"

Zhang Rong was so angry he almost laughed. He couldn't help but want to directly mock him, but then he suddenly remembered something and froze.

Instead, it was Ah Sheng, who had remained silent all along, who couldn't help but speak up:

"Prawns? Can feed-fed shrimp that cost less than 30 yuan a pound in the market taste good? Besides, didn't you say it's a dish from the last century? There weren't any farmed shrimp in the last century, were there?"

Yes, there was no shrimp farming in the last century. It was because of this thought that Zhang Rong was stunned.

He remembered a type of shrimp that had always been popular in the Lingnan region.

Even now, it remains very popular among the people of Lingnan.