Jessica shrugged. “I don’t want to be prejudiced against Chinese cuisine, but the dinner we had at Ming Fu Family Banquet the other day didn’t meet my expectations.”
Alina sighed helplessly. “I told you that wasn’t the best Chinese food in Jingzhou.”
Jessica replied, “But you were disappointed too, weren’t you?”
Jano smiled without involving himself too much in their conversation. He simply followed the pre-arranged plan, serving each dish in sequence according to the schedule.
First came a small appetizer: the Four Seasons Cold Platter.
The Four Seasons Cold Platter included four appetizers: pickled cucumber, vegetarian goose, braised bamboo shoots, and sugar-preserved plums, offering a variety of flavors—sour, sweet, salty, and aromatic.
Next came lettuce-wrapped shrimp, made with fresh shrimp, onions, and celery diced and stir-fried together, then mixed with golden crispy fried dough strips, all wrapped in fresh lettuce.
After that came a very famous traditional dish, Pagoda Meat.
Alina handled chopsticks very skillfully, while Jessica used them somewhat clumsily, though this didn’t prevent her from enjoying the food.
Before serving each dish, Jano would introduce its characteristics and details in English.
All the introductions had been prepared in advance and were very concise.
Too brief, and he couldn’t fully explain all the details contained in the dish; too long, and it might affect the customers’ appetite.
After all, most Chinese dishes should be eaten while still hot—they don’t taste as good after they cool down. And when guests are enjoying their food, they can’t focus on listening to complicated processes and steps.
Trying to do two things at once often results in neither tasting the flavor nor remembering the details.
So Jano’s introductions had been refined many times, with timing controlled precisely to ensure customers understood the dish’s characteristics without disrupting their dining experience.
Alina listened while discreetly touching the edges of the plates.
For high-end restaurants, details directly determine the experience.
Some high-end restaurants that don’t pay attention to details might not even notice whether water marks remain after washing stemware.
If water marks aren’t properly wiped away, even minimal dust in the surrounding area will leave traces on the glass once the water dries.
Of course, high-end restaurants that make such mistakes are quite rare nowadays.
Another common issue is plate temperature.
Cold dishes need cold plates, hot dishes need hot plates. If service is slow and the hot dish’s plate cools down, it should be withdrawn and remade.
Alina gently touched the edges of the three dishes that had been served and could immediately feel that the food temperature was within the most suitable range—everything was just right.
Beyond this, plating was also something Alina paid attention to.
The arrangement of shapes, harmony of colors, types of tableware… Like painting, chefs give dishes meaning and soul through plating. The plating of these dishes could be called works of art, leaving Alina very satisfied.
As for Jessica, she didn’t understand so many nuances, but simply felt that the Chinese food she was eating today seemed completely different from what she’d had before.
It looked more or less the same, but the subtle differences were difficult to describe in words.
Jessica ate while exclaiming with delight, “This so-called Pagoda Meat must be one of the two most complex dishes we ordered, right?”
Alina shook her head. “Clearly not.”
She looked at Jano. “Lucas, although the previous dishes were excellent, I’ve eaten them at other high-end private kitchens before. For example, I’ve had the Four Seasons Cold Platter at a top Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley, and the Pagoda Meat at a top private kitchen in Egret Island. In terms of flavor, each has its own merits. Although your versions are certainly not inferior to those places, they haven’t completely won me over yet.”
Jano smiled slightly. “Then you’ve probably also tried the Western dessert coming next. It’s called ‘verjus in egg.'”
Alina and Jessica looked at what was placed before them.
It was… an egg.
Jessica looked confused. “So, is it verjus poured over a boiled egg? Lucas, I remember you said this was a dessert.”
Verjus is a highly acidic juice pressed from unripe grapes, not commonly found outside England and not suited to most people’s tastes, but it was a pleasant surprise for Jessica and Alina.
Using an imperfect comparison, it was like someone from the capital drinking Arctic Ocean soda in Silicon Valley.
Alina’s face lit up with surprise. “Yes, it’s a dessert. Everything on this plate is edible.”
Jano smiled as he explained: “Miss Alina should be familiar with this dish. It requires nearly a hundred procedures, more than 70 ingredients, all to create this tiny ‘egg.'”
Alina suggested, “Jessica, you should eat the ‘shell,’ ‘yolk,’ and ‘white’ together—the flavors are most perfect when combined.”
Jessica tried a small spoonful, her eyes immediately brightening.
“Oh, this familiar taste! What are all these things that look like eggs made of?”
Jano answered, “The egg white is coconut-flavored milk pudding, the yolk is verjus cooked with spices, the shell is chocolate, the ‘nest’ base is made of honey and syrup, and the garnish around it is kabosu jelly, a citrus fruit native to East Asian islands.”
“This is an extremely complex dish. Every procedure is like a chemistry experiment, requiring precision from preparation to production. Many details—such as material proportions, temperature, and heating time—must be carefully controlled to laboratory standards. Otherwise, a small oversight, perhaps just a temperature one or two degrees too high, or an ingredient one or two grams too much, will lead to failure.”
Alina added, “Even in England, restaurants capable of making this dish are extremely rare.”
The dessert exceeded Jessica’s expectations. She exclaimed delightedly, “This is so delicious! Thank you for bringing me such a surprise! However… this dish has also made me more firmly stand on the side of Western cuisine.”
If Chinese people were to eat this dish, they might not find it particularly delicious, but would be amazed by the complexity of the craftsmanship and the ingenuity of the appearance.
This “egg” achieved perfect verisimilitude in its shell, white, and yolk. The shell was especially thin, identical to a real eggshell.
However, most Chinese people wouldn’t adapt well to its flavor because the verjus would taste too sour for their palate.
But for Jessica, this flavor reminded her of home.
Originally, there were to be two dishes with complex craftsmanship, but the first dish had already raised Jessica’s flavor threshold infinitely. Alina couldn’t help worrying whether the next dish could maintain the standard.
If not, it would do nothing to change Jessica’s stereotypes about Chinese food. Although she had enjoyed excellent food, in Jessica’s heart, clearly this Western dessert “verjus in egg” had made the deepest impression.
The server brought a tureen and placed it in the center of the table.
Alina’s eyes widened slightly.
In the tureen, four or five open leaves formed what looked like a water lily… cabbage?
The stems and leaves showed no signs of having been cooked, stewed, or blanched, looking just like raw cabbage.
The broth in the tureen was clear, without any oil streaks or color. One could only see steam rising from it, seemingly no different from ordinary boiling water.
At first glance, this dish gave the impression of a raw cabbage shaped like a water lily placed in a tureen with boiling water poured over it.
Alina was surprised because she knew cabbage was one of the cheapest ingredients, to the extent that when describing something as very cheap, people would say it was “cabbage-priced.”
Jano didn’t rush to explain the preparation method, but gestured and said, “This dish is called ‘Boiled Cabbage in Plain Water.’ Please try it first, and then I’ll explain.”
Alina picked up a small cabbage leaf with some doubt and put it in her mouth.
But the expected cool crispness didn’t materialize. Instead, there was a comfortably soft tenderness. It was clearly fully cooked yet surprisingly fresh and tender. This refreshing, delicate flavor was unlike anything she’d tasted before!
Alina gently scooped up a spoonful of broth, and an indescribably wonderful flavor stimulated her taste buds, surprisingly moving.
Jessica’s expression froze as well, clearly unable to imagine that this dish could taste so excellent.
Jano smiled and explained: “This dish originally required selecting cabbage just after the first frost in late autumn, when the cabbage heart has just tightened, harvested that very day. Though the season isn’t right now, we can achieve this effect through precise temperature control.”
“At least two outer layers must be removed, keeping only the inner part with white leaves and tender stems, about the size of a fist. The base of the cabbage is soaked in a prepared broth to soften the stems, then four or five leaves are peeled back like a blooming water lily and laid flat on a mesh strainer. Then silver needles are used to repeatedly pierce the cabbage heart deeply, creating invisible pores throughout the cabbage.”
“For the broth, a chicken that is neither too fat nor too tender must be selected—it can’t be too oily or fall apart when cooked. All abdominal fat is removed from the whole chicken and blood is thoroughly washed away. It’s first blanched in boiling water, then placed in fresh boiling water with abalone slices, white mushroom strips, and other ingredients, and simmered over low heat for four to five hours. When the broth becomes rich and flavorful, the whole chicken is removed. Chicken fibers are added to the broth to absorb oil, then ground chicken breast is boiled in the broth, and finally the broth is strained through fine gauze.”
“The combination of broth and cabbage is the most important step. It requires two fires and two pots—one pot holds the mesh strainer with the cabbage, the other contains the prepared superior stock. The pot with the strainer is kept warm over low heat, while the heat under the superior stock pot must be even gentler, keeping the broth at a constant 70-80 degrees Celsius without the slightest error. Then, using a large ladle, the warm broth is repeatedly poured over the cabbage. When the broth is nearly gone, the pots are switched and the process continues until the outermost cabbage stems are completely soft and tender. Then the cabbage can be placed in the tureen and the hot broth slowly poured in. Only when prepared this way can it truly be called ‘Boiled Cabbage in Plain Water.'”