Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Endless Choice

In fact, I was half-confident in the success of Chicken and Chips.

Britain already had the dish called fish and chips, and there was another traditional dish called Scottish chicken frying, so I thought London society would accept it without resistance.

From the start my specialty is Korean food, but in 1901 Britain, Korean food is hard to guarantee success.

The reason Korean food was accepted worldwide in the 21st century was largely due to the rise in Korea's status from various cultural contents like K-Pop and dramas.

Korean food without such a background is just the food of an unfamiliar ethnic group to Europeans.

That Korean food wouldn't be easily accepted was already confirmed with a simple test. The gamjajeon I put out as a dessert for Chicken and Chips as a trial showed a lukewarm reaction. So I immediately removed it from the menu.

Of course the combination of Chicken and Chips and gamjajeon might have been bad. But it was a menu I prepared with some thought. Chips and gamjajeon, both are foods of frying potatoes in oil, the same category, right?

Yet the reason the reaction wasn't great was clear.

First, hash brown similar to gamjajeon already existed as a traditional British dish.

Hash brown had a strong perception as commoner food, so the gentry who were the main customer base of my restaurant showed no particular interest.

Second, unfamiliar texture. Koreans like chewy textures like jeon or tteok, but to the British of this era, chewiness is a completely unfamiliar texture.

Well, they might have liked it if fed separately, but people already full from chicken almost took one bite and didn't touch it.

Then perhaps introducing a modern-style pasta menu would be easier.

But the problem is that the only thing I'm confident in is Korean food! I could recite almost most Korean recipes, but Western food I hadn't done many times so the recipes were vague, and of course the French dishes made by French chefs would be more delicious.

Even that, if it wasn't made for YouTube content, I might not even remember. I'll have to practice Western food separately later.

Anyway, I clearly had a reason to succeed other menus besides Chicken and Chips.

For my Korean restaurant that had just started growing to properly establish itself, it was good to absolutely avoid having scores deducted by experimental menus.

In 20th-century London there were no professional food critics like in modern times, but there were people who played a similar role.

Writers and journalists. The food evaluations they occasionally left in columns or essays were no different from a kind of food criticism in modern terms.

A restaurant made with capital from the famous banker Mr. Henry, moreover a place the Earl of Derby has been frequenting every day recently.

So until now there was no writer with the courage to throw criticism at my restaurant, but honestly in my view that was also a matter of time.

There are overflowing people in the world who envy others' success, and many malicious ones who try to tear down and make them fall somehow. My Chicken and Chips will also eventually attract someone's jealousy.

Moreover, there's no law that the Earl of Derby has no political enemies. It's talk that an upper-class figure who dislikes the Earl might try to smear my restaurant.

So the new signature menu of our restaurant must succeed. Then no one will doubt the future of my restaurant.

For such reasons, the safe choice I finally picked was...

"Th-this dish's name is what?!"

"Donkatsu. And this is galbijjim."

It's donkatsu and beef galbijjim.

Why? Well, because it's safe. And I make them amazingly well. Rather than making Western food I'm not confident in and failing, it's better to make proper Korean food and leave a strong impression.

The gyeongyang-style donkatsu that a modern Korean eats at least five times a month.

And the representative regular food of Korean holidays, galbijjim.

The foreign panelists who participated in my YouTube tasting team in my previous life all liked these two? I even confirmed with the status window so it's accurate.

The reason for choosing donkatsu was clear. The original form of donkatsu, Wiener Schnitzel, already existed in Europe, and Germany and Italy also had similar traditional dishes.

The method of coating meat in breadcrumbs and frying is in line with chicken. Korean gyeongyang-style donkatsu just needs to top it with sweet and sour Worcestershire-style sauce. In fact the sauce is the main, but.

Galbijjim? Is there anyone who dislikes soft beef dishes? This is an area where there's no need to even discuss likes and dislikes.

The umami from the harmony of soy sauce, sugar, and garlic might open a world of new flavors to the British.

That is, it was talk of aiming for the repeat quest achievement this time too.

【 General Quest: Impress celebrities with special food (1/99th cycle)】

I might achieve the 2nd cycle with the leftover beef, right?

Anyway, that was the thought.

And this time too my prediction hit the mark.

"Chomp chomp, munch munch!"

"Wagoo wagoo, hoo hoo!"

"Munch munch, oh, Holy Mary...!"

Somehow it feels like d�j� vu? I don't think further explanation is needed. Looking at the status window was enough.

【 Acquired 40 Cooking Points. 】

Mom, Dad, Grandma Main, Mr. Thomas.

The four of them completely scraped clean the donkatsu and galbijjim I made without leaving any. To the point I wanted to applaud.

Anyway, if I fed the food I should receive feedback.

"So which of the two was better?"

They only looked at each other. Dad who said he would confidently evaluate avoided my gaze and lowered his head.

"Honestly speaking, cough, if it's food our son makes, we can eat even hard rye bread deliciously, Jean."

Unfortunately, Mom's asthma didn't seem completely healed yet.

"Oh, Lord! Both are foods I'm seeing for the first time in my life, so telling me to choose one among them, I really don't know what to do. By the way, are the recipes of these dishes also secret? Can't I show them to my granddaughters too?"

It was Grandma Main's statement.

So I sighed.

"I know both are good... but there's no such thing as exactly which was better, right?"

Everyone in silent prayer.

In the end the family tasting session failed successfully as if showing off. Damn.

###

"Now, what to do... Should I form a tasting team again?"

On the way back to my restaurant.

Various figures like Mr. Henry, the Earl of Derby, Emily, Edith floated in my head. But even if I asked them, it didn't seem like it would be much different from this time.

In fact, even in my previous life, when releasing the second menu I always took great care. There were overflowing chefs in the cooking world who ended as one-hit wonders. There's no law that I won't become that, right?

Never losing vigilance was my motto. No matter how much I ponder, there's no lack when it comes to choosing the signature menu.

Target of sales, price, ingredient supply route, quality of ingredients, cooking time, even the level of the plate holding the food and decoration... There were endlessly many factors to consider.

In the end, I decided to hand this complicated homework over to tomorrow's me.

Now, tomorrow's me, work!

While walking like that chuckling... my vigilance really rang an alarm.

"..."

Man, this is... a sensation I feel after a long time?

Someone stuck behind me. One on the left and right, three behind, and two walking in front right now. Total of 7.

It was clear they were targeting me.

[ Arthur Blackwood: Is this guy the main chef of Culina Divina? / Emotion: Cold / Satisfaction: - ]

[ Geoffrey Ashford: Chicken and Chips. What on earth is that to go this far? / Emotion: Irritation / Satisfaction: - ]

The messages were only one line each, but it was enough to grasp the situation. The remaining people might not have been thinking about food, so their thoughts didn't appear in the status window.

It was certain. The walking motion, disciplined posture, these are trained people.

Why on earth are they targeting me? Is it a prank of the Earl of Derby? No, that can't be.

For now, what I'm walking on is a busy street with some people. I was convinced I couldn't do anything here.

I pretended not to know and walked while paying attention to my expression. In case there was a way to escape this encirclement.

'There are trams around... none. Omnibus (*Omnibus, public transport carriage) also... not visible.'

Unluckily, there were no means of transportation in this section at all. It was clear they had deliberately aimed for the moment I went home and came back.

'Should I shout? No, it might just stimulate them unnecessarily.'

There's no weapon in my hand, but 7 adult men could beat a teen boy like me until bones break. And if they run away before the police come, that's it. What a barbaric country.

There was only one way to break this situation. When they narrow the encirclement further and try to restrain me from both sides... right now!

"Whoa!"

"This guy!"

I overtook one on the left with a possessed Marseille turn. And ran at full speed toward any alley visible in front of my eyes.

The alleys of 20th-century London are truly a labyrinth!

As befitting a city that only expanded without redevelopment since the Middle Ages, most alleys are entangled like a spider web, so unless you're a nearby resident it's hard to find the way.

It's not for nothing that newspapers or magazines warn 'Don't enter unfamiliar London alleys.' Especially the East End area that was metaphorically described even in Sherlock Holmes novels is notorious as a den of criminals and the poor.

This was a perfect gamble. Either I get lost, or they get lost!

"This guy! Stop there!"

"Catch him! Go around and block!"

Crash crash!

"Kyaak!"

"I'm sorry! I'll compensate later!"

While running I overturned street stalls to hinder their pursuit. If a box was visible I jumped over it, if a low wall I climbed over it and ran.

A feat that would have been impossible in my previous life. But the current me has a body trained from long newspaper selling life. To sell newspapers there were many times I had to run around, and I often had to go around alleys.

Anyway�

"Huff huff... Phew..."

I ran for a long time. Did I shake them off? The surroundings became quiet.

At that moment,

-Click.

"I didn't want to go this far, but since it's his order, it can't be helped. Come quietly."

At the cold muzzle of the gun pointed at my back, I had no choice but to quietly raise both hands.

###

"Where are we going now? Who are you people?"

"..."

"Hey, it's a bit stuffy, can't you just let me breathe?"

"..."

"Can you free my hands a bit? Anyway I can't run away now."

"..."

Silence.

Fortunately, these people didn't use violence even after catching me. They just put a sack on my head, linked arms on both sides, and slowly walked.

'Left? Right? Left again?'

Ah, I'm screwed. In movies everyone does it well. It seems we've turned alleys more than ten times.

I tried to guess where they were taking me, but in the end it was useless.

"Be careful. There's a step in front."

"..."

Snort snort, neigh!

A carriage. They put me on a carriage and ran for about ten more minutes.

"Get down."

"Ahem. The guest treatment is quite stingy."

"..."

Fortunately, seeing that we only ran for ten minutes, it seems we didn't leave London.

If I could only see forward, I could have guessed their thoughts a bit with the status window. Unfortunately, the current me only had the fragmentary information I confirmed earlier.

The names of two people, and their emotional states.

One was cold, the other was irritated. The reason unknown.

Names? Were the surnames Ashford and Blackwood?

I said last time too, but I'm confident in my memory at least. Even while distracted running away, I tried to remember the surnames. In case of the worst situation, to leave a dying message.

It would have been nice if the status window also showed their occupation or status. Unfortunately, the information confirmable in the status window is only name, thought, emotion. With just the name I couldn't guess anything.

Anyway, for now I have no choice but to follow as they lead. They arrived in front of some room and knocked.

-Knock knock.

"Your Highness, this is Blackwood. I've brought him."

Huh? Your Highness?

And they took the sack off my head. At the light that suddenly poured in, I had to close my dazzled eyes for a moment.