I opened a restaurant in the Pokémon world.

However, what Heath couldn't understand was why Saya liked bitterness but also hated it—wasn't that a contradiction? Therefore, if Heath wanted to get the progress of this satisfactory task out of Saya, he would definitely need to think about it carefully.

There aren't many things in nature that can naturally produce a bitter taste. Most of the time, bitterness represents poisoning, such as sprouted potatoes or rotten fruit. Heath was very curious about how the ancestors of the Chinese people discovered that bitter melon has the highest nutritional content and is the best for the human body when it is bitter.

However, the reason why bitter melon is bitter is because it is not fully ripe. I once saw this when I was browsing videos. Ripe bitter melon is yellow and doesn't taste bitter; in fact, it's a little sweet.

However, what Heath needed right now was this bitter melon, which Heath bought at the Quartz Union market today. He didn't buy much, just one that wasn't too big or too small. Heath had originally planned to try making stuffed bitter melon, but before he could even start, he ran into Saya, who liked bitter food.

A qualified chef can always satisfy the diverse needs of guests. Of course, there are also many chefs who are very dogmatic. If they are making Sichuan cuisine, then it must taste like Sichuan cuisine. Even if tourists call the police, they cannot skimp on the chili peppers in a dish of twice-cooked pork. It is not that such chefs are bad, after all, authentic twice-cooked pork does feel a bit lacking without chili peppers.

Heath had his own method. Heath would cut open the bitter melon, remove the inedible parts, and then blanch it. This was a very important step, because blanching would slightly reduce the bitterness, but it wouldn't completely cook the bitter melon. The soft and mushy texture of a fully cooked bitter melon combined with its intense bitterness would make one question the meaning of life.

Heath felt that unless someone had a particular fondness for bitterness, no one could accept the terrible taste of cooked bitter melon. At least Heath couldn't. He preferred to eat bitter melon stir-fried. Stir-fried bitter melon that had been blanched once was crisp and not so bitter.

However, using it in fried rice was a difficult task. After hesitating for a moment, Heath found a solution.

Cut the bitter melon into very small pieces, then add it to the beaten eggs and stir. Then pour the eggs and a small amount of bitter melon pieces into a wok and stir-fry over high heat. At the same time, quickly add the rice and keep mixing the rice and eggs. After that, it's just a very standard procedure.

The egg fried rice made this way makes it hard to taste the bitterness of the bitter melon. However, once you actually taste the diced bitter melon, the subtle bitterness will appear on your taste buds without affecting the deliciousness of the egg fried rice. While Heath thinks the aftertaste is nice, for a guest like Saya, the bitter aftertaste might be a better choice.

After finishing, Heath served the fried rice to Saya, who picked up a spoon and began to eat her own. Heath was a little nervous, hoping that the fried rice would successfully achieve the goal she wanted to achieve.

"Hey? Boss, the fried rice you made this time is really delicious." Saya looked at the fried rice in front of her with some surprise. The faint bitterness was quickly masked by the aroma of eggs. If you didn't taste it carefully, you really wouldn't be able to taste it.

"I'm glad the guests like it." Heath smiled. The mission progress increased by one level. It seems that Heath's attempt this time was successful. This Chef's Eye is indeed a very powerful tool, especially for chefs.

It's not just a saying that you can't please everyone. Even within the same city, people's tastes can vary wildly due to individual differences. Some people like sweet food, some like salty food, and some even add a lot of vinegar to their noodles.

A chef can practice knife skills and cooking techniques, and learn new dishes gradually. But figuring out what flavors a customer likes is a top-tier challenge. It's like a mathematician trying to prove Goldbach's Conjecture – a challenge that requires a chef to create dishes tailored to each individual's taste.

If it's a regular customer who comes to eat often, then we can guess what they like to eat based on their preferences. But if it's a new customer, then unless we ask, we can only guess.

But now that Heath has the Chef's Eye, his culinary skills have the potential to improve further. In Heath's view, the reason why famous dishes were famous in the past was because their taste had reached its peak, and even people who didn't like them would be won over. But Heath hasn't reached that level yet, so modifying the recipes according to each diner's preferences is the best approach.

What's suitable is the best.

"Didn't Miss Saya go to the Champion's Road before?" Heath looked at Saya. There were hardly any customers now. Since Heath stopped making braised chicken, the aroma was gone, so Heath's stall had become deserted.

Heath didn't find anything strange about it; being able to run a small stall in such a bustling location was already a very happy thing for him.

"Hmph, I originally thought I could go straight to the Champion's Road and then fight against strong opponents, but then I found out that you need a badge to get there." Saya pouted unconvinced, showing that she was a Miss Joy who was unwilling to admit defeat.

“Of course you need badges. Aren’t all the powerful trainers who participate in the Indigo League collecting badges?” Heath smiled. He had thought about whether to go down this path before, but he gave up on the idea.

"It's just a badge. I'll go to Pewter City in a few days and challenge the Gym Leader there to get my first badge!" Saya confidently waved her little fist, and Hiss encouraged this unique Nurse Joy.

The Nurse Joy exudes a burning will, clearly different from the average Nurse Joy. As a healing genius, Nurse Joy has little interest in becoming a Pokémon medic.

Heath felt that having one's own dreams was a good thing.

Chapter 144 Charmander's Talent

After Saya, who loved hard work, left, Heath began packing up her food truck. There wasn't much food left in the truck, so Heath could probably close down. That's probably the only advantage of starting your own business: you can decide when to rest whenever you want.

Heath was quite satisfied with this kind of life. There was no stupid boss pointing fingers at him and questioning why he didn't contribute to the company. While everyone else was voluntarily working overtime, Heath was the only one running around like crazy.

So after coming into this world, Heath's mood became much more peaceful. He faced life with a smile. Even though the first four years were spent paying off debts, Heath enjoyed this free and easy life. Heath felt that he was probably born with this personality.

"Trainer, are we going back later?" Zoroya popped out of the rest room, looking at Hiss expectantly with her little eyes blinking. Hiss only needed to glance at Zoroya to know what this little guy wanted to do, since Zoroya wasn't very good at hiding her emotions; she usually expressed them directly.

“Yeah, after all, I have to go to Officer Jenny’s apartment to prepare dinner for them.” Heath nodded with a smile, pretending not to understand Zorua’s eagerness.

"Well, it's a new week now, Trainer. Do you have any plans for the new week?" Zoroia was hinting wildly.

"Hmm? Probably eating well, drinking well, and living well?" Heath scratched his head, speaking uncertainly, only to be met with a death stare from Zoroya. Zoroya glared angrily at Heath, looking like he was about to bite Heath's neck off.

Seeing the angry and frustrated Sororia, Heath smiled and then drove the food truck toward Officer Jenny's apartment.

Heath knew perfectly well what Zoroia was implying. She was implying that it was a new week, Zoroia's salary should have been paid, and she wanted to buy other novels. If it were before, Heath would have agreed without hesitation. But now, Heath had to make dinner for the Officer Jennys first before taking Zoroia to the bookstore.

Heath arrived at Officer Jenny's dormitory with practiced ease. After taking out the pass given to him by the old Officer Jenny and hanging it around his neck, he walked in without any hindrance and went straight to the Officer Jennys' dining hall, which was very quiet.

Heath glanced at her phone. There was still some time before the Officers got off work, but in reality, Heath already had to start preparing the food. After all, with such a large canteen and so many Officers, it would take a long time to prepare enough food to meet their needs.

Heath also studied his chef's eye and found that only customers who came to him with a tendency to make a deal would show their preferences; others would not.

None of the passersby had those two-character frames on their heads. Only those who wanted to eat and planned to buy from Heath would have those two-character frames on their heads, thus completing their purchase with Heath.

It has to be said that this setting is quite good. Heath likes it very much. He doesn't want his preferences to grow on the heads of random passersby every time he sees them, as that would be quite annoying.

"With so many ingredients... Farfetch'd, come out! Snorlax, come help me too!" Hiss released two Poké Balls, and after thinking for a moment, he released Charmander. Only Zoroah was still sulking and didn't want to come out.

However, there was nothing Zorua could do to help Heath right now, so Heath wasn't too bothered. Anyway, once dinner was finished and Zorua was taken to the bookstore, the little guy wouldn't be angry anymore.

The Sherbet looked at Hiss curiously, not quite understanding what it needed to do.

"Snowball, do you remember that meat jelly we had last time?" Heath smiled at Snowball. Snowball was a great help to him, especially when making dishes, and even when making desserts, Snowball could help him.

"!" Shokaboom waved its paws excitedly, waving them around happily. It seemed to remember the meat jelly it had eaten last time. It had come to Heath to find food because of that rich aroma.

"I'll have to trouble you again today. Although we don't have snow mushrooms, this mushroom jelly won't taste too bad." Heath smiled. Snow mushrooms are really hard to find. He tried to find some later, but only after he found them did he realize why they're called snow mushrooms.

The snow mushrooms actually melted like snowflakes after leaving the icy environment, leaving Heath stunned. No wonder even the Quartz Alliance couldn't find such a delicious food as snow mushrooms.

Heath later looked up some information and found that people in the Pokémon world had long discovered the deliciousness of Snow Mushrooms. However, due to the extremely demanding growing conditions of Snow Mushrooms, they can only be found in places where snow never melts all year round. But those places are all special specialty shops, known as Pokémon restaurants that you must visit at least once in your life.

Hmm, Baojiale, who knows why it's called that? It took Heath a while to realize that this thing might refer to a farm stay? But in this world, because it's the world of Pokémon, it becomes Pokémon Farm Stay, or Baojiale for short?

Farfetch'd's job is simple: to help Heath cut all sorts of ingredients. Heath the little dragon, on the other hand, has given it a special task.

"Little Charmander, how's your control over fire?" Heath asked with a smile as he looked at Charmander. Charmander had been training his muscles and, besides that, his focus was on improving his control over fire.

To Hiss's surprise, Charmander actually had an extraordinary talent for fire. Hess had originally planned to train Charmander to be a physical attacker because he saw how much Charmander liked to train its muscles. However, Charmander's talent for fire was what surprised Hess the most.

Charmander nodded seriously. That's just how Charmander is; it's serious about everything it does and is a very mature, stable, and reliable Pokémon.

"Then I'll trouble you to help me grill these skewers. I mean, grill these barbecue skewers, but I need you to evenly coat every corner of these skewers with flames, without burning them, just grill them until they're crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Can you do that?" Heath looked at the little dragon with some expectation. The little dragon hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Chapter 145 The Unique Officers

Heath scratched his head. Charmander was grilling meat, and Heath didn't have anything to do for the time being. Although cooking for a large group of people was difficult, it wasn't the first time Heath had done it. Back in Evergreen City, Heath was responsible for cooking for Officer Jenny every day.

There were just more Officer Jenny here, and the dining hall was bigger, so Heath had more to do, but these were things that Heath was already very good at.

Looking at Charmander's muscular physique, Heath admitted that he had mixed feelings. Although Charmander would not be going down the path of battle in the future, after all, Heath did not plan to collect badges and challenge gyms, nor did he plan to participate in the Indigo League and compete with Lance and Elite Four for the title of strongest.

Even Hiss wasn't interested in being a champion. Becoming a champion wasn't a good thing. Just look at the champions of the Kalos and Hoenn regions. For these people who had their own hobbies, the title of champion was just a burden, a heavy burden.

Otherwise, Steven wouldn't have needed to step down as the Hoenn Champion, and his friend Wallace would have become the next Hoenn Champion. After that, Steven would spend all his time digging and searching for rocks.

Just thinking about Mikuri made Hiss's expression a little strange. Hiss originally thought that Mikuri's Grand Contest only existed in the Hoenn region, but he didn't expect that there was a Grand Contest in the Kanto region as well. Today, Hiss saw a Grand Contest tent on the road.

"Awooo~" Charmander roared happily. Heath glanced at it and saw that Charmander's large handful of meat skewers were all grilled. However, the downside was that all the bamboo skewers were burnt, which made Heath feel a little regretful. Nevertheless, Heath threw away the bamboo skewers and put the grilled meat on a plate.

"That's impressive, little Charmander! But you can keep working hard in the future. If you can grill meat without the bamboo skewers breaking, then you'll be really strong." Heath smiled at Charmander, patted its head, and Charmander nodded happily.

However, seeing Charmander's happy expression, Hiss admitted that he had a stomachache. After all, he had promised Charmander that once Charmander's fire power and control were stronger, Charmander could participate in Pokémon battles. But now Charmander's fire control was indeed very strong, so Hiss could only appease Charmander for the time being.

After all, this is the Indigo League, and the trainers who come here are basically all strong opponents. Heath felt that it would be very difficult for him to fulfill his promise to Charmander.

Then Heath began preparing food for the Officers. When the Officers returned to the canteen after get off work and started preparing for their meals, they were surprised to see Heath standing at the food station, as it was usually the older Officers who stood there.

Heath now understood why Old Officer Jenny had made him work in the cafeteria. Serving meals to the Officer Jennys was the best opportunity to get to know each of them as quickly as possible. However, as he served the meals, Heath became somewhat nervous looking at the Officer Jennys in front of him.

"Um... is there anything I can help you with?" Heath asked, looking at Officer Jenny, whose eyes seemed to be shining.

He didn't quite understand why Miss Officer Jenny was staring at him. Heath touched his face; there was no dirt or grime. He looked down at his pants; the zipper was still on.

"Please don't mind her, Chef, Ellie is just too nervous." Another Officer Jenny came out from behind this one, pulling her friend along with a helpless expression, and serving both of them a bowl of rice.

Heath felt a little confused, but didn't pay much attention, since the Officers were still queuing up behind her. Judging from the reactions of the Officers who had already started eating in the cafeteria, Heath's cooking tasted quite good, which surprised them.

Heath's hearing was good; he could hear the Officers' whispers discussing why the food looked so delicious today, and one Officer's remark that it was completely different from the food made by the old Officer's wife. This made Heath want to laugh.

"It seems your cooking is quite good; everyone likes it." The familiar voice belonged to the old Officer Jenny whom he had met that morning. She stood smiling in front of Heath, holding an enamel bowl with the slogan that the Officer Jennys often chanted written on it.

“After all, I’m a professional chef.” Heath smiled. His culinary skills were no joke; he even had a chef’s certificate and was the type of chef who could work in a five-star hotel in his previous life.

"Were you scared by Ellie just now?" Old Lady Junsha looked at Heath with a smile, her eyes full of gossip. Heath was stunned for a moment, then remembered Ellie staring at him intently earlier.

"Actually, Ellie is quite nice, and she's very young, but I don't know if it's because she read too many romance novels at school, but she always wants to find someone to date." Old Officer Jenny shrugged. She was the last one to get her food, so there were no other Officer Jennys in line behind her.

Heath was stunned for a moment. He really hadn't expected this to be the case. Thinking about it, it was quite unique. After all, Heath had seen marriage fanatics in TV shows before, but he had never seen a love fanatic like Ellie.

"It's a pity, though. Ellie is too strong, and she can't help but use the bridge fall when she's nervous, so no one dares to date her." After saying this, Old Lady Junsha left with her enamel bowl, leaving Heath standing there dumbfounded.

This isn't just a love maniac, she's a total heartbreaker! After all, dating other girls might just cost money, but dating Officer Jenny is a matter of life and death. Heath doesn't even dare to date Jenny herself. Heath knows very well how terrifying a strong woman like Officer Jenny can be.

Heath shook her head, then filled a bowl with rice for herself and went to get some dishes. Heath made a lot of dishes, since Officers' wives often had big appetites, even gluttonous ones. Every time, Officers' wives would eat a huge amount, and Heath never complained.

After all, Officers are very tired. Perhaps it is because they are tired every day that they eat a lot in order to replenish the nutrients their bodies need. They take big bowls of food when they eat.

Therefore, there is never a situation in Officer Jenny's canteen where the aunties serving the food have shaky hands; every spoonful is generous, as if they're afraid you won't be able to finish it.

Chapter 146 Retro, Oh Retro

Heath stretched. Officers had already finished eating, and Heath didn't linger in the dining hall. Instead, he went to his food cart, where he had already set up some of his small furniture. Tonight, he could finally get rid of the hassle of sleeping in a sleeping bag every day.

Heath didn't live in the Officers' dormitory. The old Officers reserved a spot for Heath in the Officers' parking lot, which Heath was quite happy about. After all, parking in the Quartz Federation was really expensive, so saving some money was a good option.

Actually, buying a car is not a big deal nowadays, and many people can afford to buy one. There are even cheap cars available. However, while buying a car is easy, maintaining it is expensive. The parking problem alone is enough to give many car owners a headache.

Parking spaces are hard to find, parking fees are expensive, and even paying for a parking space isn't without its problems. News reports often feature stories of people who bought parking spaces only to find that others were constantly occupying them, leading to numerous conflicts. The headquarters of the Quartz Alliance is, after all, merged with the City Alliance, making this city a metropolis with a large population.

If it weren't for the parking space provided by Old Lady Jenny, Heath felt that finding a place to park would have taken him a long time, and it wasn't impossible that he wouldn't be able to find one at all.

"Let's go out for a walk." Heath ruffled Zoroya's hair. Zoroya snorted and turned his head away, ignoring Heath.

Farfetch'd watched curiously from the side, Charmander was practicing his control over fire, and Snorlax was asleep again. Heath thought that Snorlax was probably a feline, and that it could sleep for 20 hours out of 24.

"Aren't you going to buy books?" Heath asked with a smile, feigning confusion as he looked at the sulking Zoroya. Upon hearing Heath's words, Zoroya jumped up from the bed and excitedly turned his head. However, after seeing Heath's amused look, Zoroya snorted and turned his head away again.

Heath looked at the guy with a mix of amusement and exasperation. This little guy, Zorua, was just too arrogant. He clearly wanted to buy his own novel, but he just wouldn't back down.

"If you're not going, then we won't buy it?" Heath deliberately turned around to leave, but before he even reached the door, he felt a weight on his head, and then Zoroya was lying on his head.

"Hmph, I won't be happy just because you took me to buy novels." Zoroya said reluctantly. Heath didn't mind. Anyway, this little guy has always been like this, and Heath is used to it. If Zoroya were not like this one day, Heath would feel a little uncomfortable.

At night, the Indigo League is ablaze with neon lights and bustling with pedestrians, a stark contrast to Evergreen City. While some stars can still be seen in Evergreen City, the Indigo League is completely devoid of stars, with only the moon visible.

This is due to the severe light pollution in the Quartz Federation. The light pollution in this region is extremely serious, even to an unimaginable degree. Heath felt that only by leaving the Quartz Federation at a certain distance could one see the most beautiful starry sky.

However, it's quite nice that it's lively. The Quartz Federation is now like those first-tier cities from my previous life, with people everywhere, and Heath can also see some Officer Jenny patrolling.