The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Fu Yu had just started grilling, and Yao Shi and Zhao Meng received the news simultaneously.

A customer ordered five identical takeout dishes in one go, requesting them to be grilled in five different flavors, without specifying which flavors.

Fu Yu was in the grilling area, undisturbed, allowing him to focus on the task at hand.

The atmosphere in the Red Case District turned oppressively tense from the moment the news arrived.

Zhao Meng was busy cooking and didn’t have the time to divide his attention.

Yao Shi found Bo Ming’s live streaming channel, seeing there were as many as six viewers, he fell into contemplation and dilemma.

Among the seven restaurants, aside from three smaller ones where news traveled slowly, the head chefs of the other four had already exchanged information and were in touch about the news they’d received.

Bo Ming’s review event was quite grand this time, being promoted for half a month in advance.

Several renowned restaurants in Bei’an quietly watched this unfold.

Today, when the participating restaurants for the review were confirmed, they began communicating and strategizing.

Compared to the frantic state of the other two barbecue restaurant chefs, Luo Rang and Yao Shi of Four Seas Banquet were relatively calm.

They had seen these types of live-streamed evaluations before, nothing more than the host taste-testing and comparing afterwards.

One was famous for lamb spine hotpot, the other for traditional seafood cooking.

Barbecue for them was just a supplementary enhancement.

Even if it went terribly wrong, it wouldn’t greatly affect the restaurant.

However, it would be somewhat embarrassing.

Luo Rang contacted Yao Shi by phone.

The Four Seas Banquet takeout order was their specialty grilled lamb spine, also ordered in five portions, each to be grilled in different flavors.

There was nothing difficult about it.

Barbecue flavors have always been varied, so reaching five isn’t a problem.

Likewise, Yao Shi felt no great pressure.

When Master Chen initially came to teach grilling techniques, he also taught a few of the kitchen staff various barbecue flavors.

Knowing that Fu Yu was handling this order, Yao Shi was still very assured.

But being assured is one thing, worrying about any unexpected issues is inevitable.

Yao Shi didn’t want to pressure Fu Yu, so he restrained himself from going to the grilling area.

However, knowing well that these so-called reviews often have some underlying manipulation, Yao Shi pondered whether to use his connections to preemptively deal with issues.

After all, he hasn’t officially detached himself from his responsibilities at Qianlima, and any mishap would tarnish his reputation.

Meanwhile.

Bo Ming sat in the live stream room, skillfully warming up the atmosphere and smoothly interacting with several guests.

This event, hosted by him, featured two other locally famous influencer hosts.

One was Feng Xiaoxiao, an old-school restaurant explorer.

The other was Brother Hua, a former competitive eater turned host due to platform restrictions.

Bo Ming already had impressive traffic on his own, and adding Feng Xiaoxiao and Brother Hua boosted the popularity.

Within ten minutes of starting, viewer numbers in the stream room surged past six figures and kept climbing.

The hosts were delighted with this turnout.

Besides Bo Ming, both Feng Xiaoxiao and Liu Yiming are professional food reviewers, usually exploring cuisine from across the country. However, Bei’an being their base, they know local restaurants inside and out.

As they waited for the takeout, Feng Xiaoxiao and Brother Hua chatted with fans about the seven chosen restaurants.

"Zhang’s Barbecue has quite a history, originally starting as a night market stall before becoming a restaurant, known for its unique flavors..."

"The lamb spine hotpot at Four Seas Banquet is very famous, but their grilled lamb spine is also popular..."

"The seafood at Qianlima is quite authentic; as for the new seafood barbecue, I haven’t tried it yet."

Feng Xiaoxiao had just returned from exploring restaurants in Chongqing and hadn’t had the chance to taste it yet.

Mentioning Qianlima, Brother Hua humorously chimed in: "I did pay a visit, even streamed it live. Their barbecue is decent, well-cooked, and tastes fine, but not particularly stunning."

Feng Xiaoxiao, who was knowledgeable on the subject, nodded: "Seafood inherently is fresh and flavorful, whether steamed in its original taste or stir-fried in strong flavors. However, in terms of barbecue, it tends to be inferior since grilling can easily diminish seafood’s unique texture and taste."

...

While Fu Yu focused on grilling, he listened to Zhang Jinyu’s phone playing aloud.

No wonder they’re professional food streamers, truly expert, articulate, and precise in judgment.

They almost hit the mark spot-on with the downsides of seafood barbecue in terms of flavor.

After all, barbecue has primarily always focused on meats and vegetables, with seafood as a side addition, simply adding variety.

Bo Ming ordered five types of seafood barbecue, all popular items from the menu.

Grilled mackerel, grilled prawns, charcoal-grilled oysters, grilled squid, grilled abalone.

Fu Yu effortlessly grilled them.

He first prepared the classic original flavor, using basic cumin barbecue seasoning.

The second choice was the spicy flavor.

The third was honey sauce flavor.

The fourth was black pepper flavor.

For the fifth one, Fu Yu hesitated slightly.

Based on what Master Chen taught, he had two more options.

One was stewed grill, where the fish and seafood are specially stewed and then grilled.

The other was sweet and spicy flavor.

Both were good, especially the sweet and spicy flavor, which wasn’t inferior to the first four.

However, last time when Brother Hua dined at the restaurant, Fu Yu clearly remembered he had ordered the classic original and sweet and spicy flavors. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Savoring the same flavor in a short time doesn’t bring much surprise.

Especially since just now in the live stream, Brother Hua himself said that the seafood he grilled was delicious but not surprising.

To make barbecue surprising, aside from innovative flavors, there aren’t many better ways.

But making improvements to existing barbecue sauces on the fly isn’t easy.

It’s not that simple!

Fu Yu could confidently say he couldn’t guarantee a success on the first try.

To complete the task by improving the sauce, meant he had to seize this opportunity.

However, this takeout order is quite special. If messed up, it could affect the restaurant’s reputation.

Suddenly, Fu Yu remembered he had a very special reward unused.

A single-use cooking progress storage disk, with five in total.

But it’s single-use, once used, it reduces by one.

Fu Yu became decisively hesitant.

Should he give it a try?