Chapter 228 A Problem Caused by Making Cantonese Cuisine

Chapter 228: Chapter 224: A Problem Caused by Making Cantonese Cuisine

The newly refreshed quest was a bit strange. It wasn’t about treating a certain number of people with medicine.

[Drug Research: Develop a new drug through the Research Institute.

Quest Reward: Special medicinal herb seeds.]

’Develop a new drug through the Research Institute... It actually involves the Research Institute. How strange.’

Lin Feng looked at the quest. Its connection to the Research Institute implied that the building was capable of drug development.

He had been wondering why a building like the Research Institute had appeared. Seeing this quest, he realized its role might be very important.

’I’ll just have to wait until the Research Institute is built and see what happens then.’

Leaving his house, Lin Feng headed toward the Restaurant. Hu Xia had just told him that Wan Qianqian had something to discuss with him.

When he arrived at the Restaurant, he found all the head chefs there, along with Hu Zhiming and Zhou Jun.

"Why is everyone gathered here?" Lin Feng asked as he walked in.

"The boss is here."

"Hello, Boss."

"..."

Wan Qianqian said, "We’re discussing matters concerning the Restaurant."

"Hu Xia told me you had something to discuss with me. Is there a problem with the Restaurant?"

"No, there’s no problem with the Restaurant. It’s just that the kitchen staff feels this building is too small."

"Didn’t you say you wanted to bring together the Eight Great Cuisines? That’s what we’re discussing today."

This piqued Lin Feng’s interest. He did still have an uncompleted quest related to the different culinary styles.

Wan Qianqian explained, "Today, Master Gu and Master Lu mentioned that the kitchen space is too small, and some of the equipment for Cantonese cuisine can’t be installed."

"I discussed it with my senior brother, and we decided to ask you, Boss, to come over and see how we can solve this problem."

With just four cuisine styles, the kitchen already feels extremely cramped. If we add more, there won’t be nearly enough space.

Moreover, as Lin Xian Village develops, the scale of this Restaurant is completely unable to meet customer demand.

The Restaurant is packed to capacity every day now, and many tourists have complained about this issue.

Additionally, due to kitchen limitations, we can’t increase the production of Medicinal Cuisine either.

Right now, we sell about 300 jars of Medicinal Cuisine daily, which brings in over a million in revenue.

Although a hotel was also built at the foot of the mountain, after Wan Qianqian and Huang Yi went to see it, they found that it also couldn’t keep up with Lin Xian Village’s development.

All one could say was that Lin Xian Village was developing too fast—so fast that its construction couldn’t keep up with its growth.

Lin Feng asked, "What are your thoughts? Feel free to speak your minds."

The Cantonese chef, Gu Wancheng, was a hot-tempered man and spoke directly. "I’ve looked into it. Expanding the kitchen isn’t an option. The residential area is right above it."

"The best solution now is to build a completely new Restaurant. It has to be massive, preferably with eight separate kitchens."

"Different cuisines require different cooking techniques, so we need to build facilities to match."

"Oh, and the pastries have become a major highlight of the Restaurant, especially our Cantonese-style pastries. I’ve noticed they’re very popular."

"So, this time, we also need a dedicated kitchen just for making pastries."

Lu Yiming nodded in agreement. "Master Gu is right. The new Restaurant must have a large area."

In truth, what he wanted to say was that they should build the most famous restaurant in all of Huaxia right here in Lin Xian Village, a restaurant that would become the center of Huaxia’s culinary world.

This wasn’t just wishful thinking. With the improvement in his culinary skills over this period, he believed the Lin Xian Village Restaurant would become a sacred ground for chefs to hone their craft.

Just by working in the Restaurant, one’s cooking skills would grow. ’The effect is like having a cheat code for cooking!’

Before the others could speak, Zhou Jun cut in, "I also think you need to build a large Restaurant here. And its footprint needs to be big enough."

Lin Feng glanced at Zhou Jun, feeling there was a hidden meaning in his words. But with so many people around, it wasn’t a good time to ask.

"Brother Lin, why don’t we build a unique Restaurant, one designed according to a bagua diagram?"

"The central area will be for guest dining, with eight kitchens built in the eight cardinal directions. I’ve even thought of a name: the Eight Flavors Building."

After hearing Hu Zhiming’s words, Lin Feng glanced at the current Restaurant.

He had initially thought it was big enough, but in just over a month, it was already inadequate.

He recalled the geography around Lin Xian Village. Building such a restaurant wouldn’t be easy.

"Where would we build it? Even if I agree, given the current situation in Lin Xian Village, there’s no suitable location for a restaurant like that."

Hu Zhiming said excitedly, "Brother Lin, there is a place! There is! Look here!"

He took out his phone and pointed to an area on the map, a plot of land south of the residential area below the Barracks.

"Brother Lin, we plan to clear a road from South Mountain to this spot. In the future, after tourists visit South Mountain Valley, they can come directly here to eat at the restaurant."

"That’s a massive undertaking. I’m afraid it would be difficult to build it in a short amount of time."

According to Hu Zhiming’s plan, they would need to excavate a huge platform just to build that giant Restaurant.

"Brother Lin, we’re also planning to use prefabricated wooden structures. The main work in the initial phase will just be leveling the site."

"Once the site is ready, we can quickly erect the Restaurant. According to our calculations, we can have it done by June."

"Alright, if you want to build it, then build it."

"See? I told you the boss would agree. He’s so generous with salaries."

"This is great! Once the new Restaurant is built, we’ll be able to earn even more money."

Wan Qianqian said, "Boss, building a Restaurant like this will cost a lot of money."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s just money. The one thing we don’t lack in Lin Xian Village is money."

Zhou Jun commented, "If Lin Feng were willing to accept investments, he wouldn’t need to spend a single penny on this Restaurant."

Once everyone had dispersed, Lin Feng asked Wan Qianqian for the details and finally understood what was going on.

The main issue was with classic Cantonese dishes like open-flame roast suckling pig and hanging-oven roast goose, which require special preparation methods.

The current Restaurant’s kitchen couldn’t be renovated, so when Master Gu Wancheng wanted to add these two dishes to the menu, he found it was impossible to make them.

Lin Feng was quite surprised to learn that seafood was not, in fact, the representative feature of Cantonese cuisine.

In his mind, since the region was close to the sea, its cuisine should have been developed around marine products.

After the two Cantonese chefs arrived, he learned that aside from Chaoshan cuisine which features seafood, Guangfu and Hakka cuisines rarely do.

Even among its ten most famous dishes—White Cut Chicken, Roast Suckling Pig, Braised Squab, Guangdong Wenchang Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Hakka Stuffed Tofu, Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens, Salt-Baked Chicken, Roast Goose, and Honey-Glazed Char Siu—there wasn’t a single seafood dish.

All he could say was that the development of Cantonese cuisine was somewhat strange; despite being by the sea, it hadn’t focused on seafood.

Lin Feng highly suspected that the reason this cuisine formed this way was related to the region’s history as a foreign trade port.

Merchants pouring in from the inland had influenced the development of Cantonese cuisine.

Currently, the Restaurant in Lin Xian Village also had very few seafood dishes, mostly dried goods like abalone.

There was no helping it. It was too far from the sea, and since Jiangcheng City didn’t have an airport, there was no way to fly in fresh seafood.

To make authentic Wenchang chicken, Master Gu and Master Lu had even brought some of the birds over to raise in Lin Xian Village.

They also brought over some Lion-head geese to raise in the village.

What the chefs who came to Lin Xian Village admired most was the quality of the local ingredients, which were simply unobtainable outside.

Lin Feng heard from Wan Qianqian that more than one state banquet chef had expressed a desire to purchase ingredients from Lin Xian Village.

Unfortunately, Lin Xian Village’s current animal husbandry operations were still too small, to say nothing of its vegetable cultivation.

They weren’t even producing enough for the village’s own use, let alone selling to outsiders.

Once the village reached Level 3 and its covered area was large enough, Lin Feng planned to establish proper animal husbandry and cultivation zones.

After leaving the Restaurant, Lin Feng found Zhou Jun and asked, "Brother Zhou, back in the Restaurant just now, was there something more you wanted to say?"

Zhou Jun said in astonishment, "You’re a sharp one. I did indeed hear some rumors."

"What rumors?" Lin Feng asked curiously.

"Remember how that fellow Huang Yi mentioned that some state banquet chefs wanted to come over?"

"Well, word got out about the miraculous properties of your Restaurant, and now they want to use your place to train their chefs."

"Haven’t you noticed that none of those state banquet chefs have shown up yet?"

Lin Feng asked, puzzled, "Is there a connection? If they haven’t come, they must be busy with other things."

"That’s where you’re wrong. They haven’t come because they found out your Restaurant is too popular, and they’d feel embarrassed to take up space."

"If you had a big enough Restaurant now, the master chefs of all eight cuisines would come."

"Of course, besides my support for bringing those chefs here, I also just want to taste what the Eight Great Cuisines are like when made with ingredients from Lin Xian Village."

"So that’s how it is. In any case, for the Restaurant’s construction, I’ll just provide the money. I’ll leave the rest of the work to you all."

Lin Feng knew very well that this matter wasn’t so simple. The design phase alone would require solving many problems.

The land would also have to be submitted for approval, but that was the easiest part; as long as they submitted it, it would be approved.

"Don’t worry, you don’t need to trouble yourself with this kind of thing."

Some people, upon hearing that the Lin Xian Village Restaurant was expanding—especially if it meant more Medicinal Cuisine could be produced—would definitely volunteer to help solve any problems.

The construction might even be faster than Lin Feng imagined. Those people would even pay out of their own pockets to get this Restaurant built as quickly as possible.

Take the Medicine House in Lin Xian Village, for example. If Lin Feng announced that expanding it would speed up drug production, the state would absolutely step in and help him build a larger one.

There were many people outside Lin Xian Village, cash in hand, just waiting for the village to ask for their help.

Lin Feng had just returned to his courtyard when, not long after, Hu Zhiming came running over.

"Brother Lin, I took matters into my own hands today and didn’t tell you about the Restaurant plans beforehand."

"You came running all the way here just for that?"

"You’re overthinking it. You’re building a Restaurant for Lin Xian Village, and you all are the ones doing the work anyway. Did you think I’d be angry?"

"Brother Lin, building this Restaurant will cost a lot of money, maybe one or two hundred million!"

"Then let me tell you today, as long as Lin Xian Village is here, the thing I care least about is money."

"If I don’t spend all that money, it’s completely useless sitting in my hands."

Hu Zhiming said with admiration, "Brother Lin, your mindset is so elevated. Many people who earn money only know how to earn more."

"They earn enough money for dozens of generations but still hoard it like old-timey misers, unwilling to spend a dime."

Lin Feng smiled and said, "That’s because they’re afraid that if they spend the money, they won’t be able to earn it back."

"I’m not afraid of running out of money and being unable to earn more."

"However, having too much money on hand really isn’t a good thing."

It’s just like how the country encourages spending. If you have that much money and don’t spend it, wouldn’t you say that’s a problem?

"By the way, building the Restaurant is one thing, but you need to hurry up and finish the other tasks I assigned you."

"Don’t worry. Apart from the Mountain God Temple, which Brother Zhou is handling, everything else will be finished soon."

Hu Zhiming could still distinguish priorities. The work his boss assigned would definitely be completed first.

The two chatted for a while before Hu Zhiming left. Lin Feng then went to the nearby Warehouse.

He went inside, turned on the light, and looked at the various parts arranged on the shelves. He began placing the parts delivered from the Woodworking Workshop today onto the racks.

A new batch of these parts arrived every day, meant for building Mechanical Beasts. He had no idea when they would ever be used.

After dealing with the parts, he had just returned to his residence when he received a call from his father.

"Xiaofeng, I forgot to tell you, something’s not normal with those mutated tea trees in the South Mountain Tea Garden. You should go take a look tomorrow."

"Not normal? I understand. I’ll go check on them tomorrow morning."

Lin Feng was a little puzzled. ’Could something be wrong with the Lin Xian Tea? That shouldn’t be possible!’

He glanced at his data panel but couldn’t find any information related to the Lin Xian Tea.

’Oh well, I’ll find out when I go see it tomorrow morning.’