Expectations Are Always (part 2)
[ …An interview? ] Lisa asked in a bewildered voice.
Jo Minjoon nodded his head1.
“Ella won’t be the main interviewee. You know Sara? She’s been doing a food show these days and wanted to introduce our restaurant on it. And in the process, of course she heard about Ella.”
[ Ahh…]
Lisa finally understood. She did not believe that reporters would have come just to interview Ella, after all. However, if they were coming to do an interview with Lotus Bridge, they could not simply ignore Ella’s presence.
“This looks like something you will have to decide, Lisa. What should we say? I guess saying no would be better?”
[ No. Let Ella decide for herself. ]
“…Ella?”
[ If there is something she wants to do, please let her do it. ]
Kaya, who was standing to the side, pursed her lips for a moment. Without having to think about it, she could already tell that Lisa telling them to let Ella do what she wanted was not a reflection of her style of upbringing for Ella. On the contrary, Lisa had been a bit of a strict mother to Ella.
However, she could no longer maintain that. Lisa was thinking that she could die any time now. And so she wanted Ella to be able to think and judge for herself how she wanted to live.
When asked if she wanted to do an interview or not, Ella looked confused. She looked up at Jo Minjoon and Kaya with a pure and innocent face.
“But aren’t interviews done by famous people?”
“You’re famous, too, Ella.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you’re so cute and nice.”
At Jo Minjoon’s words, Ella smiled brightly, as if she had just met Santa Claus, and giggled. He did not forget to glance over at Kaya a bit gloatingly. It was not a hateful type of coyness.
Jo Minjoon wished Ella could spend her days just like this. He cannot do anything about her feeling down from time to time when she thinks about Lisa, but he wishes she would be able to spend her days smiling and laughing when possible.
And so, time went by.
It was time to begin shooting the interview.
“And so, Ella, is that why you come to the restaurant once school is over?”
“Yes…”
Ella was shyly wearing an awkward smile and glancing about. She wished Jo Minjoon, Rosa or anyone else would stand next to her. The camera was a lot bigger and more intimidating than Ella had been expecting, and even Sara’s soft voice was making her nervous.
“Do you like the restaurant staff?”
“Yes. I like them all.”
“Who do you like the most?”
“Uncle Minjoon…”
Ella looked so exceedingly embarrassed that it was hard to believe it was her. She looked really flustered to have the camera on her. Being on TV was every child’s dream.
After an initial conversation one would have with any child, Sara began tossing Ella some more serious questions. Why was she living with Jo Minjoon and Kaya? How was being at the restaurant every day? What does she wish for?
And her wish turned out to be what everyone expected. After hearing Ella’s wish, Jo Minjoon headed outside and soon came face-to-face with Jill, who was nibbling on the end of an unlit cigarette.
“…Jill?”
“Ah, Ch-Chef! I’m sorry. I didn’t light this.”
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“I don’t smoke anymore. Maybe a little bit in the past… When I think about smoking, sometimes I’ll chew on it like this.”
“Chefs in particular smoke a lot,” Jo Minjoon said, nodding his head.
Smoking is something unimaginable among Rachel’s kitchen staff, but it is actually not that difficult to find a chef who smokes. Some people would probably not understand why, since it is well known that smoking dulls one’s sense of taste. However, despite that, the profession boasts a pretty high rate of smokers.
The reason for that is simple: they receive a lot of stress. It is not surprising that chefs rely on smoking when they have to spend every day dealing with customers during the restaurant’s rush hour, have fire and splattering oil all around them, and be around sharp knives.
“No worries. I understand. Even a non-smoker like myself could probably use a smoke right now. It’d be even harder for you.”
“…Sometimes reality really sucks, don’t you think?”
“I guess.”
“Ah, this is depressing. Let’s change the subject. What are your dreams for the future, Chef?”
“My dreams?”
“I guess it would be more accurate to say goal rather than dream here? Since there wouldn’t be such a thing as a dream here.”
Even though she had changed the subject because she did not want to have a depressing conversation, it was still not a very cheerful topic. However, Jo Minjoon gave it some thought for a moment. What is his goal now? Is obtaining a Michelin Star his goal? Of course, that could be a secondary goal of his, but that is not the reason he cooks. Additionally, Michelin Stars are not what can fully evaluate his cooking.
Jo Minjoon wanted to say, “To make the best possible restaurant.” However, the moment he was about to say it, it suddenly felt too shallow. Is the reason he has done all this merely to reach a higher standing? How is that different from June?
And that is why—
“A restaurant where each and every person is happy,” Jo Minjoon replied without thinking.
He was not sure whether that response of his was really where his heart lay or not, but he managed to spit it out.
“So that once everything is over, I’ll really be able to say I have no regrets.”
The reason Jo Minjoon and Kaya decided to appear on Sara’s program this time was for recognition. Of course, this does not imply that Lotus Bridge is lacking in fame. Actually, if you exclude Rose Island, Lotus Bridge is among the top restaurants in LA you can count on your fingers.
However, that alone was not enough.
The reservations that were jam-packed when it first opened were slowly dropping off. With that said, the majority of the tables are filled every day. However, that too was still not enough.
“People don’t know of Lotus Bridge,” Kaya said.
She put her arm around Jo Minjoon’s shoulder and continued, “They have no idea how much thought and effort this guy right here puts into a single dish. They still don’t quite understand what our approach is to managing our restaurant. And that is why we want to show them—what type of restaurant ours is.”
“How are you going to show them?”
“Sara, today you’re going to try our full course menu from start to finish. And after that, we’ll show you just how we made each and every one of the dishes.”
“…Is that all?”
“That should be sufficient.”
Kaya crossed her arms.
“Honestly, words won’t be necessary. Just from seeing each one of our dishes, you’ll be able to see what kind of chefs we are and understand what kind of restaurant we are fostering here.”
“Just for your reference, I don’t give positive reviews just because I’m close to the person,” Sara smiled. It was a pretty but restrained smile.
“It won’t be easy to leave an impression on me.”
“People will sometimes say that they won the Paris International Culinary Competition or that they did well at Jotus… But when it comes to restaurants, it’s not so easy to believe them. That is probably why the reservation rate at Lotus Bridge is so low compared to its achievements.”
Actually, Kaya was able to understand why. No matter how impressive Lotus Bridge is, it still has not received a Michelin star. That means it has yet to receive official recognition. When people decide to splurge money on a restaurant, they cannot help but hesitate a bit when considering Lotus Bridge as a choice. Given that Rose Island is right next door, why would they want to pick Lotus Bridge?
At the beginning, people came because they were fans of Jo Minjoon and Kaya. But those fans have already come and gone. Now they had to convince everyone else that their cuisine was far from ordinary.
“Today, you will be able to see who we truly are.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Sara said, laughing softly.
Sara had, in fact, already had some idea as to what Jo Minjoon and Kaya could cook, given that today is not her first time at Lotus Bridge. The last time she had been here, she had the impression that the cuisine at Lotus Bridge had not yet been completed.
It was not a matter of quality. It was an issue of harmony. There are two head chefs at Lotus Bridge. No matter how similar the composition of the courses the two of them want to make is, there are bound to be subtle differences.
If one were to insist that subtle differences were part of their charm, one would have to face that there were more drawbacks than advantages to them. First off, their individualities were not clearly defined. Kaya and Jo Minjoon themselves are distinct individuals as chefs. If the two of them could not capture their individualities fully, then their partnership would, in effect, be worse than if they had stayed separate.
‘I wonder if they have evolved?’
Sara licked her lips. Inwardly, she was actually wondering if they had evolved and how much they could have changed. It was not all that long ago since the last time Sara came to Lotus Bridge. Since she had come in its opening days, about three months had passed. People are unable to effect a large change in the span of three months. Change is something that occurs gradually and not instantaneously, after all.
Of course, there will have been progress made. The three months notwithstanding, noticeable progress must have been made, and that is why they looked so confident in themselves.
‘Guess I will just have to see,’ Sara smiled brightly.
And it was during that evening’s dinner when that smile was lost2.
“That Sara. She’s underestimating us,” Kaya whispered to Jo Minjoon in the kitchen.
Jo Minjoon smirked and replied, “Let’s show her up tonight.”
“Tonight’s should be pretty good, no?”
“Pretty good won’t even be able to cover it.”
Sara was probably thinking that there was a limit to how much they could have changed compared to the last time she was here.
However, that line of thinking has a fatal flaw in it. Three months of time could feel like not much time at all, but those three months are where the fatal flaw lies.
Sara had come to Lotus Bridge during its opening days. It is still pretty early in the restaurant’s establishment, but they have accumulated an incomparable amount of experience since then. If converted into a percentage, the amount of experience they had collected since then would be, by number, in the several hundreds.
And that was not all. Ever since the day before they opened, Jo Minjoon felt there had been something lacking and continued to develop new recipes every day. It goes without saying that Kaya followed along, pouring her heart into it.
The course menu Sara will get to experience this day is magnitudes better than what has been offered at Lotus Bridge so far.
Of course, this is assuming there will be no mistakes. On this day, there would be no opportunity to alleviate the tension. Jo Minjoon and Kaya exchanged looks. Soon, the kitchen began to heat up. The cameramen took pictures of them from various angles.
‘What a picture-perfect couple.’
There are quite a number of people who looked more impressive or beautiful than these two. However, just how many people out there in the world could outshine these two when wearing a chef’s outfit? They had a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to them that chefs have. You could see their passion and talent overflowing from those chef outfits.
You could probably call that ‘star material.’ You could tell from just seeing how orderly the chefs, who are much older than they are, were moving in response to these young chefs’ words. There was something different about Jo Minjoon and Kaya. They looked to be from another planet.
Gulp.
The cameraman swallowed some saliva. Unfortunately, watching them cook was making him hungry.
And it was at that time that a server approached Jo Minjoon with a serious look on his face and whispered something. The cameraman had a puzzled look on his face and directed the camera at them. What could have happened for the server to look like that?
He soon learned the reason. At some point, everyone in the kitchen was whispering about the news the server had brought.
Michelin had arrived.
CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato