Cold Section (2)
“What is it?”
Baek Seon-woo asked.
“Well... the guest says they have a tomato allergy and is asking if you could swap it for a different vegetable.”
At his words, Baek Seon-woo opened his notebook.
“An allergy all of a sudden? Didn't we already check for allergies over the phone in advance?”
Checking for allergies in advance at the time of reservation was the standard procedure in fine dining.
“Yes.... But they said their party suddenly changed. The new member of the party has a tomato allergy, and also dislikes cucumber.”
“Cucumber too?”
“Yes. So they're asking if you could swap the tomato and cucumber for other vegetables.”
The server spoke even more carefully, reading from the checked-off paper he'd brought.
“If we'd confirmed it in advance, we could have handled it, but.......”
Baek Seon-woo deliberated.
“Ah, and they're asking to leave out ingredients with alcohol, too. One of those sauces has cognac in it, right?”
Wait, no alcohol either?
“By any chance, is the guest a young child?”
I asked the server.
“Yes. An elementary school guest who came with her mom.”
“Could I see that paper just once?”
I was handed the allergy checklist. The paper marked the vegetables the child disliked, along with nuts, alcohol, and so on.
“Then just leave out those vegetables and sauces, and plate only the remaining four vegetables for her.”
Baek Seon-woo said simply. That was the standard response.
But.
‘If it's a menu for a child.......’
What if I kept the carrot and napa cabbage, added radish, and kept the Korean wild parsley? It felt like with just a little more, I could change it into something a child would enjoy too.
And at that moment, I saw that fluorescent line.
This is it.
“Um, Senior.”
I quickly went up to Baek Seon-woo.
“What?”
“Could you give me just four minutes?”
“To do what?”
“I'd like to try making a salad for the child.”
I said it confidently, and Baek Seon-woo stared hard into my eyes, then.
“3 minutes 45 seconds. Not a second more.”
“Yes, Senior.”
And so I moved as the kick showed me.
First, the first kick was the shape of the vegetables. For the child, I made the carrot into a perfect star. The other vegetables were the same. I trimmed the napa cabbage into a heart and the radish into small flower shapes.
The second kick was sweetness. Considering the allergies and the little guest's preferences, I had to make the sauce anew. I poured agave syrup into the existing recipe.
And so, when 3 minutes 45 seconds had passed-
“Senior, please give it a taste.”
I held out three finished plates of salad to Baek Seon-woo.
“Three whole plates?”
“Yes. Two plates are for you and the head chef to taste.”
“Hmmm.”
Baek Seon-woo picked up the plate I held out and ate quickly. Soon, he took out his notebook.
“From the visual fun at a child's eye level to the ingredient choices that consider allergies and taste. Then using agave syrup to balance the sweetness... five points. Perfect.”
“Thank you.”
“It passes with me. So give it to the head chef yourself. And get his permission.”
“Yes, Senior.”
I held out the salad plate newly made for the child to Yang Geon-ung.
“What's this?”
Yang Geon-ung asked, looking at the plate I held out.
“There's a child guest, so I changed it into a salad for a child.”
“That wasn't on the list?”
He checked his notebook too.
“They said they suddenly changed their companion. She's allergic to tomato and dislikes cucumber... so I changed it into a different salad.”
Yang Geon-ung silently examined the two plates of salad I'd held out. Next, he lightly dabbed and tasted only the sauce that went with the carrot.
In that instant, his eyes changed subtly.
“You really just made this right now?”
“Yes, Chef. I just made it.”
Yang Geon-ung stared into my eyes for a moment. Those frightening eyes. A gaze that, when you faced it, made you feel like you'd be swallowed whole. My heart felt like it was being squeezed.
But I didn't look away. Yang Geon-ung then picked up the plate and quickly tasted every vegetable.
It was when he'd chewed every vegetable.
“Serve it just like this.”
“Thank you, Chef.”
I handed the salad I'd newly made to the server.
“Do Eun-seong.”
Yang Geon-ung called me.
“You go out yourself.”
“Pardon?”
I asked, surprised.
“Go serve the guest yourself and come back. Explain it too.”
***
When I followed the server out into the hall like that, I understood why the chef had given me this chance.
“It's this table.”
The server led me to a table with a young girl. The child seemed to have come with her mom.
“Wow, stars!”
The moment the child saw the salad I'd made, her eyes went round and she shouted.
“Did you make this, Mister?”
The child picked up a carrot with her hand and smiled brightly.
“Yeah. I made it.”
“Wow. That's so amazing.”
“Want to try dipping those stars in this sauce one at a time?”
The child did as I said, dipped it in the sauce, and brought it to her mouth. Then she took one small bite, and her eyes went even rounder.
“How does it taste?”
“It's... the taste is.......”
The child began chewing the carrot again, munch, munch, very slowly.
I was a little nervous. Carrots... honestly, they were an ingredient kids couldn't like.
“Wow! It's like picking a star and eating it! The taste sparkles!”
“......”
“Thank you for making such yummy food!”
The small words of this small child settled heavily in my chest.
The tears that hadn't fallen when I got the name badge engraved with my name, or when I got a place of my own, finally began to well up. At the same time, my two years at Ayeon flashed by. Those long, long two years, all for this one moment.
I couldn't say anything and just watched the child happily chewing my salad.
“Huh? What's wrong, Mister?”
Both the child and her mother looked at me.
“Chef, are you crying right now?”
“...Ah, n-no. Thank you so much for enjoying it.”
I hastily wiped away the tears that had finally escaped, gave a quick bow, and turned around. It was the moment I turned around.
“Wow.... This salad is really good.”
“I know, it's just vegetables, so why is it this good?”
“I think it's the best salad I've ever had.”
“And it's so pretty. The plate itself is like modern art.”
“Wow. I'd buy this even if it was 50,000 won a plate.”
“The taste is... on a different level. It's legendary.”
Every guest at Ayeon was eating the salad I'd made. And every one of them was smiling.
“...No way.”
I couldn't believe this scene.
“Today's the first time. That every salad plate at every table has been emptied this clean.”
The server said to me with a smile.
This was why I'd endured two years. Someday giving food I'd made to guests who came to our restaurant, and making them smile. That had been my longtime dream.
“You worked so hard for two years, Chef.”
The server gently patted my shoulder.
“Thank you.”
I took in the faces of the people enjoying the salad once more, then returned to the kitchen.
“Good work.”
Baek Seon-woo said to me briefly.
“Thank you, Senior.”
Only then did I feel I understood. Why the head chef had sent me out to the hall, why he'd told me to explain the dish myself. Today would probably... stay with me for the rest of my life.
And so, the first service of my first menu ended successfully.
***
Head Chef Yang Geon-ung. These days, his kitchen was getting more and more fun. And it was because of Do Eun-seong.
A kitchen assistant who'd become a section cook overnight served his salad as if he'd been doing the job for three years. He'd naturally assumed he'd put out wilted vegetables sculpted ahead of time, but.......
He hadn't. He sculpted the vegetables right there on the spot. And in just two minutes. Thanks to that, his salad kept the freshness that was the life of the cold section without losing speed.
But it didn't end there. Today, he'd improvised a sauce for a child who'd suddenly been added to the list. And its flavor was top-notch, too.
Honestly, the salad he'd put forward in the new menu test wasn't all that surprising. It was his first menu, after all. Every cook has a menu like that. Each one's signature, carved out over a lifetime. Do Eun-seong was the same; Yang Geon-ung had thought that salad would be the only thing he had.
But the sauce he'd made on the spot was even better. He'd definitely been a guy who didn't stand out at all during his two years as a kitchen assistant, and so he'd definitely been a kid who'd be fired after a month... but suddenly, the kid had become strange.
So now Yang Geon-ung was curious. Just how far he could go. So he wanted to make him do something more.
That was when.
Bzzzzzzt.
Yang Geon-ung's phone rang.
“Yes. Yang Geon-ung speaking.”
-Chef. This is Park Eun-young, head writer of <Banquet of Chefs>.
It was the head writer of ‘Banquet of Chefs,’ the show he filmed every Tuesday.
“What can I do for you?”
-It's nothing much, but for a Teachers' Day special, we're planning a broadcast with a mentor-and-disciple avatar concept. Would any of the junior chefs at your restaurant be able to appear on the show with you?
“One of the juniors?”
-Yes. A junior chef who's held a pan at a restaurant for less than two years would be perfect.
A junior with less than two years.......
“Well, there is one, but.......”
In that instant, Yang Geon-ung thought a good opportunity to test Do Eun-seong had come sooner than expected.