“No name?”

“Well…”

Wang Peng glanced at Xue Zhebin and noticed that Xue Zhebin, just like the server, was smiling without saying a word.

Wang Peng felt a sense of contempt, as if he were an unsophisticated country bumpkin.

“That’s not right. How can a restaurant register without a name? Or is deliberately not telling customers the restaurant’s name some kind of strategy?”

Wang Peng felt particularly frustrated today.

As a co-founder of Public Reviews, he had visited many restaurants and seen quite a few with unique characteristics.

But incidents as bizarre as today’s were truly rare.

Generally speaking, even some very low-profile private kitchens would mostly have names, such as using their address number as the restaurant name, like “Kitchen No. 45” or “Restaurant No. 78” and so on.

After all, no matter how low-profile one might be, there still needed to be a name. Otherwise, when people wanted to come for a meal, they wouldn’t know how to describe the restaurant, which would be too inconvenient.

Moreover, having no name was not conducive to word-of-mouth among diners and increasing popularity.

Unless the restaurant owner completely disregarded popularity or had extreme confidence in their establishment, it would be impossible to operate this way.

Xue Zhebin, seeing Wang Peng’s confused expression, felt quite satisfied, and a strange sense of superiority arose spontaneously.

“Stop thinking about it. Hurry up and eat, or the food will get cold soon,” Xue Zhebin urged.

Wang Peng nodded, temporarily putting these thoughts aside, and took out his phone to take photos.

Just as the server was about to speak up, Xue Zhebin spoke first.

He pointed to the sign beside the table: “No photos allowed.”

Wang Peng: “?”

This restaurant wasn’t very large, but it certainly had many rules!

Wang Peng had heard of some restaurants not allowing photography, but those were extremely rare cases, and mainly in foreign countries.

In China, if a restaurant didn’t allow customers to take photos, it would be considered very user-unfriendly. Taking photos before eating had almost become a ritual for domestic customers. If photography weren’t allowed, how could one show off?

Spending so much money on a meal but not being able to show off—what difference would that make from never having visited the restaurant?

Of course, rules like “no photography” were certainly not mandatory. If you insisted on taking out your phone to take pictures, the server wouldn’t smash your phone.

They would only come over and very politely remind you once, and if you insisted on taking photos, there was nothing they could do.

But a server coming over to remind you, “please don’t take photos,” would already significantly affect the customer’s dining experience, and most restaurants wouldn’t do such a foolish thing.

Moreover, customers taking a few beautiful photos of the food and sharing them would attract more customers, essentially providing free advertising for the restaurant. Why not allow it?

So, from any perspective, restaurants not allowing photography was an extremely baffling matter.

Wang Peng was very confused: “What does this mean? These dishes look so good. Isn’t it a waste if we can’t take photos?”

Looking at the dishes before him, each one was perfect in appearance, aroma, and flavor. Not being able to photograph them to tell others he had eaten these dishes made him feel like he was missing out badly.

Xue Zhebin’s smile grew increasingly rich. Wang Peng’s confusion gave him a sense of inexplicable superiority, so he explained on behalf of the server.

“This is the wonder of this restaurant.”

“The owner believes that taking photos distracts from enjoying the food.”

“If your mind is full of thoughts about finding a good angle and good lighting, you won’t be able to concentrate on enjoying the aroma, taste, and carefully crafted details of the food itself.”

“Putting away your phone allows you to better focus on enjoying conversation with friends, savoring the food, and having a completely relaxed time.”

“So today, let’s follow local customs. I know you’re busy with work, but a meal won’t take much time. Put your phone away.”

Wang Peng still felt it was a pity, but since Xue Zhebin had already spoken, it would be very awkward to insist on taking photos with his phone. So he put his phone away and began to enjoy the food.

Tomahawk steak, matsutake mushrooms, caviar… none of these were cheap items. This meal would cost over ten thousand yuan.

And Xue Zhebin hadn’t even ordered the most expensive dishes here, because he wasn’t sure if these ingredients that required a reservation were genuine or not.

Wang Peng tasted each dish, savoring them carefully.

“Indeed, these are not ordinary ingredients.”

As an executive of a review website, Wang Peng had tasted quite a lot of fine cuisine, as this was also part of his job.

Whether a dish tastes good depends first on the ingredients, then on the chef’s culinary skills, and finally on the dining environment, atmosphere, and the diner’s state of mind.

Among these, good ingredients are the most important prerequisite.

Wang Peng could tell with just a small taste that these ingredients were genuine!

Of course, they couldn’t be called the absolute top-tier ingredients, because many precious ingredients from abroad are not for sale in their countries of origin. Limited in production, they can only supply a small portion of the nearby areas and can’t be transported to China.

But clearly, this nameless restaurant was using the best ingredients available in China.

Xue Zhebin observed Wang Peng’s expression: “How does it taste?”

As a second-generation rich kid, Xue Zhebin had indeed eaten many good things and had a good ability to discern the quality of some dishes, but he was not a professional after all and still had some gap compared to Wang Peng.

Wang Peng nodded with satisfaction: “Very good. I even think it might be better than what I’ve had before.”

“Take this caviar, for example. Currently, 30% of the world’s caviar production comes from our country, and 21 out of the 26 three-star Michelin restaurants in Paris use our country’s top caviar.”

“Our country’s farmed caviar can fully compare with wild caviar.”

“I’ve also eaten at some restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai, and they should be using the same ingredients.”

“But somehow, I just feel that the caviar here is more delicious.”

“Could it be due to the psychological effect brought by the tableware and environment?”

Xue Zhebin thought about the changes in the private room’s arrangement and said, “Come to think of it, this private room has obviously been redecorated. Everything from the decorations to the dining table and tableware is very different from my last visit.”

He looked at the server beside him: “Why did you replace these things?”

The server smiled and replied: “Because our boss believes that the environment is also a key part of the dining experience.”

“Just like how ancient scholars drank wine—different wines required different cups, with many complex and elaborate steps. This isn’t just about creating a sense of ceremony; it’s also because suitable tableware better showcases the special characteristics of the wine and better enhances this special atmosphere.”

Wang Peng was speechless, and after a moment of silence, he nodded: “Meticulous.”

If he had heard such an explanation in other contexts, Wang Peng would have snickered and evaluated it with four words: unnecessarily flashy.

Changing indoor decorations, dining tables, and tableware for different foods was nothing more than superficial. If the food didn’t taste good, all of this would be meaningless.

But what if the ingredients themselves and the chef’s skills had already reached a very high level?

This place used first-class ingredients, and the chefs they hired were also top-tier. Compared to other high-end restaurants, it had no disadvantages but also no particular advantages.

At this point, what could leave a deep impression on customers’ minds might only be some minor details.

Such as a special dining environment, attentive service, suitable tableware, and so on.

Combined with the fact that photography wasn’t allowed here, everyone would focus all their attention on the food, unconsciously creating a psychological suggestion that “it tastes good.”

In this way, two identical dishes would leave different impressions on diners!

“How much is this meal?” Wang Peng asked again.

Xue Zhebin smiled: “Thirteen thousand.”

Wang Peng sincerely sighed: “Quite worth it.”

…

…

Walking out of the doors of Mingyun Private Kitchen, Wang Peng still felt somewhat reluctant to leave.

Although today he had been “fleeced” by Xue Zhebin, spending over ten thousand to treat him, he still felt it was too worthwhile.

If not for Xue Zhebin’s introduction, Wang Peng wouldn’t have known that there was such a high-end restaurant in Jingzhou.

It wasn’t just about the food being delicious.

The location was hidden and low-profile, the environment was very high-class, the service was very attentive, and with rules like no photography, it exuded status.

This place was perfect for business dinners.

Although the price was high, as long as the style was elevated and could make business partners happy and feel valued, it was very cost-effective!

Moreover, Wang Peng looked at the prices on the receipt and found that they were completely within an acceptable range.

Because high-end ingredients themselves are expensive, plus first-class chefs, venue, the labor cost of changing tables and tableware, etc…

This pricing was quite conscientious!

It was just a pity that he couldn’t get the restaurant owner’s contact information.

After the meal, when settling the bill, a manager surnamed Lin came over very politely to ask if the two had any opinions or if there were any areas where the restaurant could improve.

Wang Peng took the opportunity to ask for the owner’s contact information, hoping that this restaurant could become a partner merchant of Public Reviews.

However, Manager Lin declined.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Manager Lin who declined, but Manager Lin who declined on behalf of the restaurant’s owner. He only gave his phone number to Wang Peng, not the owner’s.

Moreover, Manager Lin also declined Public Reviews’ partnership proposal on behalf of the owner and was even unwilling to disclose the restaurant’s name.

Wang Peng didn’t press the issue, because judging from the restaurant’s location, early promotion, and other aspects, the owner behind the scenes was indeed a low-profile person. Not providing contact information was consistent with his style of doing things.

So Wang Peng only recorded Manager Lin’s contact information, so that in the future, when there were important business dinners, he could make reservations in advance.

It was just a pity that he couldn’t establish a partnership with this restaurant on behalf of Public Reviews.

But… did not establishing a partnership mean the restaurant couldn’t be displayed on the review website?

Of course not.

Public Reviews had an “Add Store” function, where users could add business information themselves.

However, the store name was a required field, and this aspect needed to be handled by staff.

Wang Peng directly recorded the location and then made a call to the technical staff: “There’s a high-end restaurant at this location. Update it on the website, and I’ll write the review myself later.”

“It has no name, just leave it blank.”