Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

Zhou Wen plans to sell the crayfish in portions starting from half a pound. If you buy ten pounds, you can make twenty servings.

The initial price is set at 19 yuan for half a catty and 35 yuan for a catty.

On the first day, Zhou Wen didn't buy much, only about ten jin. He was mainly worried that the price was much higher than the usual prices for dishes, and he wasn't sure if customers would accept it on the first day.

However, Zhou Wen still has a lot of confidence in crayfish, after all, it was a wildly popular food in his previous life.

Even if not a single item is sold on the first day, Zhou Wen will not panic at all.

In the end, the stall owner reduced the price for Zhou Wen by a little.

After buying the vegetables, go to Sister Ming's stall to pick up the vegetables you bought earlier.

"Can you carry it?" Zhou Wen asked.

"No problem." As she spoke, Shi Ying raised the hand carrying the vegetables upwards to indicate that there was no problem.

Actually, now I go to the market every day and then go back to get much less food than before.

Because Ke Jinhai would pass by the market on his way to the restaurant, and Zhou Wen's usual vegetable stalls were also quite close by.

So Ke Jinhai would bring these dishes along as well, since it wasn't a big deal and it was just something he did on the spur of the moment.

Moreover, ever since they ate at the restaurant last time, the two brothers would occasionally go there to improve their meals, since the food there was indeed delicious.

Every time they came, Zhou Wen would serve them a free appetizer, such as sliced ​​beef and tripe in chili sauce or hand-shredded Sichuan peppercorn chicken, alternating between the two of them.

Because the other party had recently helped him a lot, Zhou Wen would sometimes give Ke Jinhai, who was delivering the goods, a couple of packs of cigarettes.

The two owners and Sister Ming, who runs the beef stall, are both generous people, and they have maintained a good relationship with each other recently.

Back at the restaurant, Zhou Wen found a large basin and put all the crayfish he had bought into it.

A basin of clear water, freshly collected, immediately turned murky.

Seeing this, Shi Ying asked, "Boss, are these crayfish really safe to eat?"

Zhou Wen took a clean rag, wiped his hands, and said, "Of course I can, and the taste is actually quite good. It's just that it's a bit troublesome to prepare."

"If you want to eat there, you'll have to wait until after the store closes in the afternoon at the earliest."

Shi Ying nodded, feeling a little regretful that she would have to wait until the afternoon to eat the so-called crayfish.

This made Shi Ying even more excited about the crayfish, since delicious food usually requires more time and effort.

The remaining time was spent braising the ingredients to prepare for the new day.

Now, Shan Wei arrives at work about ten minutes early every day, which is much better than before.

Perhaps they realized that working at the restaurant was really a good job.

"Sister Shi Ying, is the restaurant launching new dishes today?" Upon arriving at the restaurant, Shan Wei's first question was also about the new dishes.

Shan Wei is also very much looking forward to this new dish.

Shi Ying nodded.

"Sister Shi Ying, what kind of dish is that? How does it taste?" Shan Wei had already assumed that Shi Ying had tasted it.

"Crawfish. I haven't tried it yet, the owner said he'll make it for us when the shop closes in the afternoon."

Upon hearing this, Shan Wei was also somewhat confused: "Don't bosses usually make it first to check the taste?"

"Well, the crayfish owner said they won't be bringing out new ones until tonight."

"Oh, I see." Shan Wei felt a pang of regret. He had been looking forward to the new product all night, but now he had to wait until the afternoon.

Before opening for business, the store also wrote down the new dishes and prices for the day on a signboard outside the store.

This time, however, there was an extra line: they would only start selling in the evening.

This is the first time such a situation has occurred in a restaurant.

However, compared to this, diners are more concerned about the price.

You should know that the cheapest dishes at the restaurant now are hot dry noodles, oil-splashed noodles, and roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) for five yuan.

The most expensive dish is pork tripe and chicken soup, which costs 28 yuan for a medium portion and 44 yuan for a large portion.

However, most people felt that the price was not a big problem.

After all, the prices of fresh pork belly and fresh chicken are what they are.

This crayfish was something most people hadn't heard of before, and it was sold in batches of half a pound, costing nineteen yuan per half pound.

So many diners who came to the restaurant that morning were discussing this matter.

Have you ever eaten this crayfish?

"No, I've never even heard of it, let alone eaten it."

The restaurant also had some diners from Hubei Province. While crayfish are not very common in Fujian Province, they are a different story in Hubei Province, where almost every roadside food stall serves crayfish.

These diners also enthusiastically answered questions for other diners.

"The taste is pretty good. It's just that there's not much meat, and the crayfish need to be cleaned properly. In our area, restaurants mostly make crayfish, but we don't usually cook them at home."

"And what about the price?"

"Price is not a problem. It's about the same price where I live, and it's even cheaper at restaurants here."

"I see." The diner who asked the question nodded.

Whether or not to try the crayfish at the restaurant in the evening remains to be seen.

At 1:30 pm, there were not as many customers in the store as there were at 12 pm.

Zhou Wen could also spare some attention to deal with the crayfish.

Because he wanted to make it first to taste it, Zhou Wen scooped out about a pound of crayfish.

I found another basin, filled it with water, and then added salt and white vinegar.

It's difficult to clean crayfish thoroughly with just water; they need to be soaked for at least half an hour.

As the store was about to close, Zhou Wen began to process the crayfish.

He went to the sink and picked up a brush.

The crayfish are scrubbed clean inside and out with a brush before being placed in another clean container. To prevent them from being not clean enough and having sand or grit on the food, they are scrubbed several times.

Because some customers still wanted to order food during the process, the service was intermittent until the restaurant officially closed, at which point the crayfish were finally cleaned.

After scrubbing, the next step is specific treatment.

Zhou Wen took a pair of scissors and cut along a line on the head, pulling out the shrimp's stomach in the process.

Zhou Wen had considered removing the shrimp gills as well, but if he removed the gills, he would also need to remove the thin legs, which might reduce the flavor.

After careful consideration, I decided to leave that area alone and just wash it several times until it's clean.

Zhou Wen also removed the shrimp vein, although removing the shrimp vein would make the shrimp meat much looser.

However, for the sake of food cleanliness and hygiene, it is still necessary to remove the shrimp vein.