Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 584 - 583: Limited Time Special Offer

All the contestants brought their A-game, turning the banquet hall into a street food paradise where delicacies from various countries were available.

Some even ventured beyond Asian cuisine, offering fish and chips and shawarma.

Ma Lu, however, wasn't in a hurry this time. Speaking of setting up a stall, no one among the contestants had more experience than him. Wait, that's not quite right—there was a night market granny from Taipei who, reportedly, had been working the night markets for over sixty years, earned a huge reputation, attracted countless food lovers, and even received a Michelin star.

She was the only street food vendor to have ever received a Michelin star and should have surpassed Ma Lu in setting up a stall.

But she had been eliminated in the first round of the signature dish competition, so now the venue was Ma Lu's home turf.

Ma Lu didn't rush into cooking; instead, he asked the staff for a small blackboard and some chalk.

He used the chalk to write down the snack he planned to make—Volcano Roasted Sausages, the dish that had previously made The Universe's Number One Snack Stall a huge hit.

The dish boasted both taste and visual appeal and was an original creation by Old Wang. Although substituting ordinary ingredients would somewhat diminish the flavor compared to the original version,

it still held its own against other street food offerings.

Besides Volcano Roasted Sausages, Ma Lu had other tricks up his sleeve. Through observation, he had identified the four most popular snacks currently at the venue.

They were Chuan Ye Zhengming's tempura, Cui Junxian's pork chop rice pancake, Luo Junkang's seafood lionhead, and Qi Shanzhu's fried fish cake.

Unlike Ma Lu, Qi Shanzhu had gotten up at seven o'clock sharp for yoga today, having slept for less than five hours, yet she looked surprisingly radiant.

This reminded Ma Lu of the rumor that Koreans don't need to sleep, all practicing immortal cultivation.

Maybe because she had passed the first round and felt no pressure, Qi Shanzhu was very relaxed. Upon seeing the theme, she decisively chose the very common Korean street food, fried fish cake, and got busy.

The traditional Korean fried fish cake primarily uses glutinous rice flour and fish paste, eggs, and vegetables.

Qi Shanzhu had made some enhancements to this base, wrapping the center with oysters and pickled radishes to further enhance the umami and crunchiness.

Additionally, she drizzled coconut fruit sauce over the fried fish cakes. Coupling that with her impressive looks, she unexpectedly attracted a lot of attention in this round.

There were long queues in front of the cooking stations of these four chefs.

Seeing this, Ma Lu wrote another offer below his Volcano Roasted Sausages: a limited-time special combo—tempura + seafood lionhead + pork chop rice pancake + Volcano Roasted Sausages. All for only three snack coupons, with a money-back guarantee if not satisfied.

Except for Qi Shanzhu, the other three copied his idea.

David was surprised, "Is that even possible?"

"Are you asking about him copying the other contestants, or the four snacks for just three coupons?"

"Both are pretty… outrageous," David said.

"But technically, neither violates the competition rules," Yu Yitong said. "His approach should attract quite a few customers, but I still don't think it's a good choice."

"The real challenge of this round is actually time," Yu Yitong pointed at the countdown on the big screen.

"Unlike the last round, this round is only 90 minutes, meaning the contestants must prepare at least 100 portions of street food and somehow manage to sell them all within that time.

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"Factoring in the time for choosing ingredients and pre-cooking, the actual cooking time is even less."

"And Boss Ma is now planning to sell at 25% below market price, which means he has to make 134 portions to pass the round."

"And he opened up four menus at once, which means he needs to prepare four batches of ingredients, increasing the difficulty of cooking."

"Listening to you say that, the competition time is indeed very tight." David didn't know until he calculated and was startled.

In this round, if Ma Lu wanted to pass, he had to control the serving time within 40 seconds, and if he reduced the preparation time, this time would be even shorter.

This was setting a high difficulty level for himself.

However, what Yu Yitong didn't understand was that it would be understandable if others made such a mistake, but Ma Lu, who had legitimate stall experience, shouldn't have overlooked the timing.

While cooking her own snack, Sun Mei was also observing the movements at Ma Lu's side.

Initially, in the God of Cooking Competition, the people she cared about most were only Seoul Magician Cui Junxian and Luo Junkang, the inheritor of Huaiyang cuisine.

The former was more famous, while the latter, like her, was born into a family of chefs and became famous at a young age. However, Luo Junkang chose to follow his parents and ancestors' arrangements, inheriting the family's ancestral skills.

He became a head chef at the age of 16 and a master chef at 19. Sun Mei had eaten his cooking six years ago and could say he had already surpassed his father and inherited almost all of his grandfather's true teachings.

His name wasn't as well-known as Cui Junxian's only because he didn't participate in international competitions as frequently, but his skills could very likely surpass those of Cui Junxian.

Additionally, Chuan Ye Zhengming and Master Long Po Sen were considered half-competitors by Sun Mei, because, for both, their culinary skills were impressive but noticeably imbalanced.

Chuan Ye Zhengming was exceptional in handling seafood, while Master Long Po Sen excelled in vegetarian dishes. However, once they stepped out of their areas of expertise, they became indistinguishable from the ordinary.

But to Sun Mei's surprise, the name that left the deepest impression on her at the end of the first day of the competition was Ma Lu, a name she had never heard before.

In fact, Sun Mei's attention had now completely shifted to Ma Lu.

Seeing Ma Lu hesitating to start the fire, Sun Mei immediately became cautious again.

What is this guy planning now?

But Ma Lu didn't keep her guessing for long. Soon he propped up a small blackboard and, together with the noise of the first batch of volcanic grilled sausages, immediately drew a lot of attention.

Quickly, the news that 3 snack coupons could cover 4 different snacks spread among the crowd.

Some people were immediately tempted.

—Discounts. An irresistible lure for the average person, evident from post-8 PM supermarket runs and Double Eleven sales, these two words have massive power, especially when there's also a uniquely fiery grilled sausage on offer.

Moreover, the queues in front of the cooking stations of Chuan Ye Zhengming, Luo Junkang, and others were already long.

Thus, many people approached Ma Lu's stall with a try-and-see attitude.

But in Yu Yitong's view, Ma Lu's real challenge had just begun.

Could he satisfy so many customers in such a short time?

The answer was definitely yes.

Ma Lu wrote down four dishes at once in order to save time.

By preparing to cook four dishes at the same time, he could also utilize the waiting periods.

Multitasking might be difficult for humans, but for a silicon-based life form like Old Wang, it's merely a matter of running multiple threads.

Ma Lu has asked the staff for 8 pots and 6 cutting boards, setting them up around him in a circle.