New Menu Test (3)
“Because starting next month, Do Eun-seong's salad will be officially included in our restaurant's lunch course.”
At Head Chef Yang Geon-ung's shocking declaration, all the seniors froze.
And, as expected, there was opposition.
“Chef, doesn't that make no sense?”
Kim Jun-ho was the first to react to his words.
“Why? What rule did it break this time?”
Yang Geon-ung answered in a slightly irritated voice.
“......”
“Wasn't it always our Ayeon's rule that if you take first in the new menu test, it's added as a new menu, and the cook who made it gets promoted?”
Kim Jun-ho thought for a moment, then lowered his head.
“That's right, Chef.”
A fairly long silence followed.
From that silence, I could tell. Though no one was saying anything, nobody could easily accept this situation.
And I figured I'd feel the same way in their place. I, who'd been a kitchen assistant for two whole years, had suddenly been promoted to cook. And a section cook who'd make his own menu, at that. Truthfully, this made no sense.
“......”
Maybe that was why the seniors still kept silent.
That was when.
“Chef, couldn't you let us taste Do Eun-seong's salad too?”
Once again, Lee Seong-min of the fish section stepped up. At his words, Yang Geon-ung nodded.
“Right, it has to go into the new course. Naturally you all should taste it too.”
Yang Geon-ung looked at me.
“Do Eun-seong, serve fourteen plates of your salad right now.”
Fourteen plates of salad. Truth was, I'd never made that much salad even once, but-
“Yes, Chef.”
I answered briefly and quickly went into the kitchen. I was just going to go for it. For now, I'd do my best.
Before I knew it, the seniors who'd been in the hallway had all come into the kitchen and begun watching me. Even Head Chef Yang Geon-ung. It was the first time I'd cooked with this many people watching. Honestly, I was nervous. Still, to get my menu onto the course, I had to prove myself.
First, I calmly thought through the order again. But for a moment, the order tangled in my head.
‘Let's start with what I'm most confident in.’
So I started cutting carrots. This was familiar. It was something I'd done more than anyone at Ayeon for the past two years.
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
Once I started cutting, I found my rhythm and began riding it, and the carrots were cut to exactly the size and shape I wanted. I couldn't even hear the seniors talking anymore. Like that, step by step, I began to focus entirely on my own cooking.
At the same time, I calmly looked back on the feeling from yesterday, when I'd seen the fluorescent line, that kick. When I'd just emulsified the white wine and butter, and the very moment it had connected to the carrot.......
‘I saw the fluorescent line.’
To recreate everything that had appeared before my eyes, I carved the carrots nonstop.
I'd practiced all night to create the carrot shape that would make a perfect bite with this sauce. And at exactly six in the morning, the fluorescent line had drawn a perfect circle and vanished.
***
Lee Seong-min of the fish section watched the situation, thinking it over carefully.
Do Eun-seong, who'd been a kitchen assistant for two whole years, had become an official cook in an instant. Just what kind of menu was it? He was dying to know. No, honestly, he wanted to confirm it for himself.
Up until yesterday, Do Eun-seong had definitely been a novice who couldn't even come up with his own menu. He'd been nothing but a kitchen assistant who only knew how to work hard, showing no skill, no knowledge, and no talent. He couldn't even emulsify.
But he had started to change.
“Yes, Chef.”
Do Eun-seong said just that and went into the kitchen. Following him, all the cooks except Do Eun-seong went into the kitchen to watch his cooking process.
No, to be exact, from one to ten. From his start to his finish. They went into the kitchen to thoroughly evaluate his every move.
A novice usually couldn't handle a situation like this. Cooking while fourteen professional cooks watched was a burden and a test in itself.
But.
‘Why is he so relaxed?’
Do Eun-seong was different. Starting with the hand gripping the knife, he was very steady. Slowly but surely, Do Eun-seong cut every vegetable, from carrot to cucumber, into uniform sizes.
“His knife work, at least, is remarkable.”
Baek Seon-woo of the cold section, who'd kept silent the whole time, spoke up. If things went the way the head chef said today, Do Eun-seong would be working under Baek Seon-woo in the cold section.
Perhaps that was why Baek Seon-woo opened the notebook he always carried around. He began giving star ratings to each step of Do Eun-seong's cooking.
That made Lee Seong-min laugh a little. Baek Seon-woo had always been like that. He rated not just every dish made in the kitchen, but even the cooks. Even the frames of his glasses were red.
“Knife work, five points. He'll be useful.”
And Baek Seon-woo's ratings were always accurate. He was always an objective person.
As Baek Seon-woo said, Do Eun-seong had always been good at knife work, if nothing else. It did sound like a legend that he'd gotten into this 2-star restaurant on that alone. It had been a while since he'd watched Do Eun-seong's knife work this closely, but.......
With two years of experience built up, his knife work was even more impressive. It had become much faster and more precise than when he'd first come in. But there was no doubt he was a kid who'd had nothing but knife work.
“But why is he cutting the carrots like that?”
Then Kim Jun-ho, who'd been watching quietly, said something.
“Right. It's strange.”
Lee Seong-min thought so too.
As soon as Do Eun-seong had cut all the carrots to a uniform size, he suddenly took out a thin knife and began creating shapes with its tip, as if sculpting. Into strange star shapes, no less.
“He's suddenly started sculpting carrots.”
Do Eun-seong's actions were definitely unusual.
Usually, when carrots went out to a guest's table, there were two main ways. A uniform stick shape called Batonnet, or a rugby-ball shape called Tourné.
But Do Eun-seong began carving them into strange shapes that were neither.
“He's shaping the other vegetables too.”
Baek Seon-woo tilted his head and began writing something in his notebook.
As he said, Do Eun-seong shaped the other vegetables too, paying attention to every direction. And every one of those shapes was... strange. To the point that the intent couldn't be grasped.
“Now he's moving on to emulsification for the sauce.”
The moment he saw that, Lee Seong-min was startled. Do Eun-seong's emulsification process, which had definitely been clumsy until yesterday, had become perfect. As if he'd completely absorbed the form Lee Seong-min had shown him. From the posture to the timing and even that particular sense of rhythm, it was identical to his own. Just how much had he practiced?
In Do Eun-seong's hands, the butter and white wine emulsified perfectly. On top of that, the sauce combination was no joke either. Orange glaze in a perfectly emulsified sauce.
He could feel it even without tasting it.
That would definitely be delicious.
The other sauces were the same.
Lemon truffle sauce.
Blue cheese cream sauce.
Even the sauce with cognac added at the end.
They were familiar sauces, surely, yet somehow it felt like each one had a kick. That feeling struck Lee Seong-min strongly.
Soon, Do Eun-seong plated the vegetables carved into seven shapes with a sauce for each. It was delicate. Judging by the movements alone, you could already call him a pro rather than an assistant.
Finally-
“Everything is ready.”
And so, earlier than expected, Do Eun-seong's cooking was finished.
But.
“If you do it like this, you won't be able to serve customers on time. Go thoroughly research ways to speed up.”
As expected, Head Chef Yang Geon-ung was no pushover.
“Yes, Chef.”
Do Eun-seong answered briefly.
“Everyone, come and taste one each.”
At Yang Geon-ung's words, the cooks from every section began tasting Do Eun-seong's salad as if they'd been waiting.
Lee Seong-min did too. And he could feel it right away. That the strange carrot shape was a precise intention, and that it went so well with the perfectly emulsified sauce. So he could nod in understanding at why a mere kitchen assistant had been made a cold section cook without any further verification, and allowed to serve his own dish right away, no less.
“Hmmmm.”
Meanwhile, Baek Seon-woo of the cold section tasted Do Eun-seong's salad more carefully than any of the cooks and gave it a rating in his notebook. Then he offered an analysis that was very much Baek Seon-woo.
“It matches our restaurant's current concept of localism exactly. So much that it feels like a menu that already existed.”
He was right. Ayeon currently pursued localism. And Do Eun-seong's plate reflected that perfectly. Domestic. A salad made entirely of seasonal ingredients, at that. On top of that, sauces that brought out the vegetables' natural flavor freshly.
Usually, even if a menu passed the new menu test, it generally went through Yang Geon-ung's touch. No matter how excellent a mid-career cook's menu it was.
But Do Eun-seong's dish didn't need that. His menu itself was Ayeon's identity.
“......”
Maybe that was why Kim Jun-ho, too, silently and quickly ate all seven kinds of vegetables. That was strange.
But what was truly strange was Yang Geon-ung. He must have already tasted it all in the blind test... yet here he was eating it again.
The Yang Geon-ung that Lee Seong-min had seen all this time was not someone who ate the same food twice in one day. For someone like him to eat it again was the highest praise.
It made sense. It was food so delicious that even Lee Seong-min wanted to eat it again.
“How does it taste?”
Yang Geon-ung asked Lee Seong-min.
“It's perfect.”
“Any objection to Do Eun-seong's promotion?”
“None, Chef. This plate alone is perfect, and it blends exquisitely with our course.”
Yang Geon-ung nodded as if satisfied with Lee Seong-min's answer.
“Kim Jun-ho? Anything more to say?”
“No, Chef.”
Finally, Yang Geon-ung looked at Baek Seon-woo.
“Baek Seon-woo, then help get this menu ready for service right away.”
“Yes, Chef.”
And so Do Eun-seong's salad passed immediately, without any opposition.
“But, Chef.”
Then Baek Seon-woo pushed up the red glasses he was wearing and spoke to Yang Geon-ung.
“What?”
“Aren't you announcing the other rankings for this new menu test?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“The scores for the other menus were all so similar that the rankings were meaningless.”
“I see.”
Baek Seon-woo took out his notebook again and wrote something down.
“Then everyone take a short break and get ready for dinner service.”
With that, Yang Geon-ung left the kitchen.
Kim Jun-ho swept out of the kitchen without a word. Kim Jun-ho had always been that kind of guy. The kind who couldn't stand to see others do well even if it killed him. He never talked about himself, so the reason was unclear, but anyway, he'd always been like that.
The overseas faction followed Kim Jun-ho out one or two at a time. They said nothing. Their silence itself also meant they recognized that dish as a menu.
Baek Seon-woo, done with his notes, followed them out too, and before long only Lee Seong-min and Do Eun-seong were left in the kitchen.
Do Eun-seong began cleaning up on his own. He was quick with his hands at everything. Because of him, the kitchen started getting clean again.
“Thanks for the meal.”
Lee Seong-min held out his cleanly emptied plate to Do Eun-seong. Do Eun-seong looked at the plate and smiled slightly.
“This is all thanks to you, Senior.”
“Hmm. I don't think so at all?”
Truth was, Lee Seong-min had helped because he'd been worried Do Eun-seong would naturally come in last in the new menu test; he'd never expected him to do this well.
“No, it is. Thank you so much for yesterday. Senior, please teach me again next time.”
To that, Lee Seong-min-
“Sure.”
Answered like that without even realizing it.