Expectations Are Always (part 4)
“Not head chef. Head chefs.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Fred chuckled. Two head chefs. It is not completely unheard of, but it is a method hardly even chosen.
Ronald said in a quiet voice, “But you’re right about one thing. They really are crazy. Especially this Minjoon guy…”
“Minjoon? Is there a difference between Kaya and him? I can’t even tell who made this dish.”
“It’s not a matter of their cooking.”
Ronald looked at Fred with a serious look on his face.
“Normally you don’t partner with even your friends, but this man has partnered with his own wife! He can’t escape his wife’s gaze at work and even at home… Oh man, just thinking about it makes me want to die.”
“…Is that what you meant?” Fred shook his head in disbelief.
However, he did not blame Ronald. He had the right to say such nonsense. He is a married man.
“I’m really curious whose dish this one is.”
Ronald shed his playfulness and took a serious look at the codfish fritter. As it had done to Sara, Lotus Bridge had left a significant enough impression on the brothers. In fact, starting from when they ate the bread, their expectations had risen to the maximum since they believed no pâtissier capable of making such bread would team up with a mediocre chef.
And their expectations were right on the mark. The dishes that came out thereafter far exceeded the expectations they had held when they first arrived at the restaurant. Ronald had a look of ecstasy on his face while he munched on the codfish fritter.
“Ah, damn, this sucks. Doesn’t this mean we can’t come here again for a while?”
“It’s normally better to not. No matter how good a place is, if you go too often, you’ll get tired of the taste. And there’s a limit to the other courses you can order given that they wouldn’t be nearly as good as the chef’s tasting menu.”
“You don’t need to explain to me something I already know,” the younger brother said, looking poutingly at his older brother.
Fred continued on without paying any heed to Ronald’s complaints.
“They’re better than I was expecting.”
“You weren’t even expecting anything. Just who was it who dismissed this place by saying it was overhyped before even getting here?”
Fred’s ears turned red at Ronald’s retort. Ronald was right. Fred had believed that Lotus Bridge would not be a restaurant worth speaking of.
It was only natural that he had thought that. It had not been all that long since Jo Minjoon and Kaya opened the restaurant. On top of that, if you looked at their past experiences, except for the Paris International Culinary Competition, there was not much going on for them as chefs.
Of course, some people would argue the case for the six meats and Jo Reggiano and would those not sufficiently prove the qualifications of the two of them as chefs? Fred would agree with them. If you were to look at the entirety of Kaya and Jo Minjoon, they are talented people with the most promising future of anyone.
However, what he was expecting was their future. Right now, at this very moment, they are young chefs with not that many years of experience.
He thought that the dishes full of the inexperience particular to young chefs would welcome them. No matter how uniquely you come up with your recipe, you will not come close to existing chefs with depth in the end. There is a limit to the distance one can cover with talent alone. At the point when you are running a restaurant, experience becomes just as important as talent.
“Is this even possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be possible? It’s not like there haven’t been any chefs who received stars at this age before. And since there are two of them, they may even have more of an advantage.”
“You know very well that having two head chefs does not raise a restaurant’s level any higher. Rather, it becomes easier to have each other’s opinions clash. And even if their opinions align, the story is still the same. Because they will end up circling around the same level in the end. Of course they could give each other some more objective feedback, but…”
Fred did not continue and he shook his head.
“The head chefs here are still unbelievably crazy.”
Fred could see their madness evident in none other than the fried codfish. That they deliberately included fried foods as a part of the appetizers when normally people disdain them in fine dining shows just how much they are willing to challenge the status quo in the culinary world.
“I can tell they have an incredible amount of confidence in their opinions. Something to the effect of: when the gourmands of the world say that fried foods don’t fit in a fine dining setting, they retort, ‘Those are your thoughts, and I have my own. And mine are correct.’”
“Chefs should have at least that much self-confidence.”
‘This doesn’t go well with that.’ ‘This isn’t worthy.’ ‘This is how it should be cooked.’ If you are a chef who only listens to what others say, in the end you will just be another common chef you can find just about anywhere.
Do what others do not. Of course, what others say is not always wrong. Typically, it is hardly the case that fried foods are appropriate for fine dining. The richness of it could overwhelm the taste of the food that has yet to come out. And the taste of the fried part of it, itself, stands out so much that it does not go well with other parts of the course.
However, this is where the real ones can be distinguished from the fakes. Normal people would give up at this point and think, ‘Ah, fried foods do not go well in fine dining,’ and conform to the common sense others speak of without giving it much thought.
But Kaya and Jo Minjoon had not done so. They questioned that common sense: ‘Does it really not go well? Is it really impossible, no matter what you do?’ They posed such questions and rejected the answers they got back. They had challenged the impossible.
Of course, he could be placing too much value on just this one fried dish. But Fred believed in his own judgment. It was not due to them simply challenging fried food. It was because they had the courage to approach that which others would not. It was because they believed in their own judgment and not in the judgment of others.
‘These two are going to get huge later on.’
Fred was sure of it. His reason was simple. It felt like he had already become a fan of theirs. There is no way for those who are able to make him their fan to fail at becoming huge later on.
And it was a bit later when his star approached them.
“Are you enjoying your meal?”
It was Kaya. She did not come across as overly polite, nor was she excessively rude. He thought she was from New York, but she had more of a free-spirited vibe of L.A. about her. Maybe because she lives in L.A.?
Ronald replied, “Indeed we are. In particular, I liked that fritter we just tried the most.”
“Is that so? I’m glad to hear that. But what about this one? If you try it, you may like this one even more.”
“…The pasta?”
Ronald made an interesting expression. Kaya was, at the moment, in front of them, mixing pasta with a sauce. And a moment later, she sliced black truffles directly on top.
Ronald’s eyes were sparkling while watching this. The normal person would think this was simple showmanship, but that isn’t true. The reason she had come was so that her guests could fully enjoy the scent of the truffle the moment it topped the pasta before it could have a chance to die off.
‘I see she’s properly taking her customers into consideration.’
It may not have seemed like much, but for the chef to come directly out like this was a bit of a stretch for her. Of course, Lotus Bridge, with its two head chefs, would probably have less of a problem with it, but that meant Jo Minjoon was currently covering everything Kaya had been controlling directly.
Knowing the lengths to which they are willing to go through to have their customers enjoy the fragrance more is what sets a restaurant’s level and class apart. Even though they could have had one of the chefs under them come out, the head chef came out herself. It was a difficult task to take on, even without taking their customers into consideration.
“The cod fritter from before was Minjoon’s creation.”
“…And is this one yours, Kaya?”
“That’s right. That’s why it tastes better,” Kaya chuckled.
She was smiling in a way that seemed to say that while what she had said seemed to appear playful, it had a hint of truth secretly mixed into it. Fred burst out laughing at that childlike attitude. It was an innocence one could not easily find in chefs these days.
“The sauce was made by boiling down a stock made from shrimp innards, artichokes, and shallots. You’ll be surprised by its unexpectedly savory taste. Additionally, the truffles that have been added on top will be enough to make you happy.”
Kaya’s way of speaking felt a bit awkward. For someone from the markets of New York, speaking elegantly in a high-class restaurant such as this must have made her feel out of place1.
However, even that awkwardness was incredible. Maybe because the dishes that had come out were all both incredible and delicious. Kaya bowed her head slightly before Ronald and Fred could lift their forks.
“Then, please enjoy your meal.”
“Ah, just a moment!” Fred called out to Kaya.
Kaya looked blankly at Fred, as if asking what he could possibly have to say.
Fred laughed awkwardly and asked, “Could I have your autograph a bit later?”
“Of course.”
Kaya smiled and nodded. Soon after, she headed to Sara’s table. Sara was looking at Kaya with sad eyes as one who had just finished her codfish fritter dish and was awaiting the next one. Kaya paused and stepped back without realizing she had done so.
“What’s with that look?”
“…Kaya, it tastes too good.”
“If it tastes too good, why do you look so defeated?”
“Because it tastes too good I want to eat far too much, but my stomach has a limit. And there’s a limit to the food as well.”
One could tell from looking at Sara’s expression while she was speaking that it did not look like she was forcing herself to say something she did not mean.
Kaya smiled self-satisfyingly and said, “You have a long life ahead of you. Just come often. I’ll make you something good.”
“Really?”
“Of course. You’re going to pay me, right?”
“…That is just like you. And what about my feelings?”
Sara bowed her head in disappointment. But then she took a look at Fred, Ronald, and Kaya, whom she had just been conversing with, and asked, “It looked like you were speaking with those two for a while. What were you talking about?”
“What could I possibly talk about with customers? Just that the food tastes good, I’m a fan, et cetera.”
“…Do you perhaps not realize who those two are?”
“Why, who are they?”
“From what I can tell, those two look like they’re from Michelin.”
“Ah… Them?”
Kaya’s eyes widened as if she had realized something new, but soon she shrugged her shoulders as if it was no big deal.
“But we didn’t talk about stars.”
“…Aren’t you a bit too calm?”
“I have nothing to be nervous about.”
“But we’re talking about Michelin here! The place who gives stars that every chef dreams of! If you got one of them, you probably wouldn’t have to worry about sales for a few years!”
“I have no worries about that. And we don’t need to receive any stars.”
“…Don’t tell me it’s because you think you’re a star already or something like that?”
Kaya flinched at those words. She had a look on her face like she had just been caught.
Kaya laughed unnaturally and said, “I’d never.”
Never say never.
It took a total of almost 3 weeks for the show Sara had filmed to be edited and released to viewers. While it took them 3 weeks, the time passed by so fast that they were not sure time had passed at all. And at the end of those three weeks, when they presented Lotus Bridge in its current form, everyone, without exception, expressed their admiration for it.
This interview was radically different from the brief interview they had done on Lotus Bridge on their program before. First, they went over how Jo Minjoon and Kaya analyze and approach dishes. And rather than saying, “oh, it looks pretty and interesting~” and moving on, they introduced the creative process of each. And that is why even the customers at Lotus Bridge came to exclaim, “Oh, so this is it!” when seeing an item on the menu they had seen on the show with a look on their faces as if they had spotted a TV star.
They thought it would be enough to just showcase Lotus Bridge in its current form, but the people’s reactions did not allow it to end there. The people were far more excited than they had imagined. Maybe they could finally see up close and in detail Jo Minjoon and Kaya, who had always felt distanced from them. The people could feel the greatness of the two more tangibly now that they could finally understand the two, who had previously been incomprehensible.
And it was in the mist of this commotion that a new Michelin guide was released.
CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato
- felt as if she was wearing clothes not fit for her. ↩︎