The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

During the lunch rush, the kitchen was receiving a lot of orders.

Zhao Meng returned, and Sun Qingning had no station to occupy, so he continued assisting Fu Yu.

After finishing a dish, just as Fu Yu was about to plate it, he heard the food runner come over to report: ”Chef Fu, the guests in private room 209 requested to see the chef in charge of the cooking. Could you go over and take a look?”

The order for table 209 was a small set meal, with four dishes, including three main courses and one soup.

At that time, Zhao Meng was busy cooking, and Fu Yu saw that the dishes were not particularly difficult, so he agreed to take over himself.

”Sure, I’ll go check it out.” Fu Yu replied, turning to report to Zhao Meng: ”Chef Zhao, a customer wants to see me. I’ll head over for a moment.”

Zhao Meng turned and asked the food runner, ”Do you know why the customer wants to see the chef?”

The food runner replied truthfully: ”They said the food was delicious and they wanted to order another dish, but due to the elderly guest’s special condition, they need to discuss the cooking method with the chef.”

Zhao Meng breathed a sigh of relief, relieved it wasn’t a complaint.

”Alright, you go ahead. If there’s anything, make sure to hold it first, and we’ll discuss it when you return.”

Fu Yu agreed and left the kitchen.

Private room 209.

Two guests were seated at the dining table, with the older one being an elderly gentleman gently poking the fish on his plate with chopsticks.

Sitting next to him was a middle-aged woman, the two bearing a striking resemblance to each other.

The middle-aged woman was fiddling with her phone, her plate in front of her completely empty, indicating she hadn’t started eating.

The server knocked on the door, drawing the attention of both guests inside the room.

The server introduced, ”This is our head chef, Chef Fu. If you have any concerns, you can address them directly with him.”

Fu Yu stepped forward appropriately: ”Hello, is there anything you need my help with?”

The elderly gentleman continued to focus on poking at the fish on his plate with his chopsticks.

The middle-aged woman apologized, ”My father has mild dementia and can’t clearly express his wishes, so I wanted to discuss the dish with you before ordering.”

Fu Yu understood, nodding: ”Alright, you can let me know any specific requests you have.”

The middle-aged woman explained, ”My father has been craving fish recently. I tried cooking it twice at home, but he wasn’t satisfied, so I thought of bringing him here to try.”

”There was a gourmet show on TV earlier, featuring a fish dish. I thought it looked like a sweet and sour fish, so I made it accordingly, but my father refused to eat it. He can’t articulate his cravings clearly, which has led to him refusing to eat.”

As she spoke, the middle-aged woman couldn’t help but grumble, ”Elderly people are just like children, unreasonable! No matter how much I persuade him, he won’t listen. See, I ordered four fish dishes, and he refuses to eat any of them.”

The woman sighed, ”I just wanted to see if there’s any special fish dish the restaurant offers.”

Fu Yu paused; there were plenty of fish specialty dishes, especially since Qianlima was known for its seafood.

But communicating with someone with mild dementia like the old gentleman, how could recommendations be made?

Fu Yu thought for a moment and asked, ”Earlier, you mentioned your father was inspired by something he saw on TV. Do you think he might want to select a dish by looking at pictures?”

The middle-aged woman was uncertain: ”I’ve already looked up many images online for him to see, but none match what he wants.”

Fu Yu turned to the server and asked, ”Do we still have the older version of the menu? The big, thick one?”

The server quickly said, ”Sister Gao should have one. I’ll go check!”

The old-style menu was used by Qianlima until a few years ago. At that time, there weren’t as many new dishes, and the menu hadn’t been replaced with the current hardback version, so almost every dish was accompanied by a photo.

Because it was too cumbersome, it was later replaced with the current format.

The server quickly returned with the old-style menu.

Seeing the old and bulky menu, the middle-aged woman furrowed her brow, prepared to say something, but held her patience, perhaps understanding the difficulty of her own request.

The server deftly moved the utensils aside in front of the gentleman and placed the menu in front of him, opening it to the first page of the fish dishes for easier browsing.

The old gentleman’s attention was quickly captivated by the photos in the menu.

The middle-aged woman asked, ”Dad, is there anything you want to eat?”

The elderly gentleman remained indifferent.

The middle-aged woman turned a page and asked again, ”This one? Anything here?”

The old gentleman remained unresponsive.

The middle-aged woman turned several more pages, with the old gentleman showing no interest.

The middle-aged woman, losing patience, said, ”Forget it, just bring us two random dishes.”

As she spoke, she closed the menu carelessly, but in doing so, some of the pages slipped.

As everything paused for a moment, the previously indifferent old gentleman suddenly reached out, stopping the falling page, pointing excitedly at one of the photos, opening his mouth with incoherent sounds: ”Ah... ah... ooh... ooh...”

The middle-aged woman leaned in to see and knitted her brows even tighter.

The picture the old gentleman pointed at showed a platter with dipping sauce, artistically arranged with various greens and a large bowl of traditional meat sauce that seemed quite appetizing.

But what the elderly gentleman pointed at was not the platter of greens but the bowl of meat sauce beside it.

The middle-aged woman said, ”Dad, that’s a sauce, not a dish!”

The elderly gentleman intensely pointed at the photo of the sauce, mumbling something indecipherable.

The middle-aged woman explained again, yet the elderly gentleman persistently pointed at the photo.

The middle-aged woman resignedly said, ”Alright, we’ll order this dish. But if you don’t eat it when it comes, we’re leaving! Is that agreed?”

The elderly gentleman paid no attention to her, fixated solely on the photo of the meat sauce.

The middle-aged woman told Fu Yu, ”Alright then, bring us this platter with the traditional dipping sauce.”

Fu Yu looked at the elderly gentleman, feeling that it wasn’t quite like he was interested in the meat sauce.

After all, the middle-aged woman mentioned that the elderly gentleman wanted fish because he saw it being cooked on television.

It had already been a struggle over this issue for a day.

Now, suddenly wanting something different?

It seemed unlikely.

Fu Yu didn’t know much about dementia, but his neighbor once had someone with autism.

Such individuals often have strong fixations.

Even a small matter can become significantly important or even the only thing they focus on in their world.

Fu Yu said, ”Could I possibly try to communicate with the gentleman to confirm his choice? You came all this way, and we naturally want to make sure you’re satisfied.”

The middle-aged woman was about to speak when her phone suddenly rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, her expression changing, signaling to Fu Yu to do as he saw fit while she answered the call away from the table.

Fu Yu exhaled in relief and quickly stepped forward, pointing at the bowl of meat sauce, asking the elderly gentleman, ”Is it this sauce that you want?”

The elderly gentleman responded this time, mumbling incoherently, pointing forcefully at the photo.

Fu Yu attentively watched the elderly gentleman.

Thank goodness!

Above the elderly man’s head appeared: [...]

The Badge of Ingenuity was once again at work!