Theo still didn't understand what the data levels for the food were based on, but he was sure that at the very least, the pad krapao he'd made scored higher than the capsule food he'd had earlier.
Theo turned to open the perfectly cooked rice cooker; the rice itself also had a D rating.
Everything was nearing completion, but as a food critic, Theo understood well that truly good food, beyond its taste and the ingredients used, possessed one other crucial element: its presentation. Beautiful plating always captivated the diner's attention first. It was an art form that allowed the diner to visually savor the dish before even tasting it. And, luckily for him, his decoration skill was currently at D-rank.
This was likely a result of his S-rank Food Knowledge. Even if he couldn't yet employ highly complex techniques, Theo could recall almost every plated dish he'd ever tasted from around the world. He therefore had a good idea of how proper plating should be done.
He started by looking for a plate suitable for the krapao dish.
Unfortunately, his house didn't have many plate options since, in daily life, capsule food didn't require elegant servingware. Even so, he was lucky to find four black ceramic plates, which would pair well with the spicy pad krapao, their dark color contrasting sharply with the red of the chilies.
Once he'd chosen the plates, Theo carefully spooned rice into a soup bowl, then inverted it onto the center of the plate to form a perfect dome. He meticulously placed a fried egg on top of the rice and dished the stir-fried pork with holy basil beside it, using a spoon to lightly spread it, revealing some of the ingredients. This style of plating was common for roadside eateries. To make the colors more appetizing, Theo selected two or three red bird's eye chilies, then carefully used a knife to slit the middle of their skins, scrape out the seeds, thinly slice them diagonally, and sprinkle them over the krapao for added color.
Normally, bell peppers would yield a more vibrant color, but with only one type of chili available, he couldn't do much more. Next, Theo put the pan back on the stove and poured in the remaining oil from frying the eggs. He then turned up the heat until the oil was smoking hot, tossed in some holy basil leaves for five seconds, and quickly scooped them out. Crispy holy basil would add depth to the simple dish and provide a pleasing crispy texture. He finished by plucking a fresh, vibrant holy basil leaf and placing it on top of the fried egg for a final touch of color.
[Rice with Synthetic Holy Basil Pork + Fried Egg (with Original Ingredient)]
Ingredient Quality: D+
Cooking Level: C-
Decoration Level: D+
Components: Synthetic nutrients, withered holy basil leaves, synthetic egg, etc.
Overall Score: D+/C-
"Done!!"
His father, mother, and older sister Hani, all at the dinner table, stared unblinkingly at the dishes in front of them before turning to Theo with the same astonished gaze.
"Did you... really make all this yourself?" Halina asked with a surprised tone. She knew Theo was interested in food, but she was certain her son had never set foot in a kitchen before. At least, she'd never seen Theo even touch a knife in the kitchen.
"Of course, I did... even if it looks a bit simple, I made it myself, right from choosing the ingredients."
"It's not simple at all, Theo... I once saw a friend show off a similar dish when they ate at a real restaurant, but that plate didn't look as good as what you made." Hani turned to face her younger brother. "You didn't buy this from outside, did you?"
Theo began to look exasperated. He'd been asked variations of this question for almost ten minutes, and if it went on any longer, the food's taste would surely diminish.
"How would I be able to afford four plates of this? Just buying the ingredients used up over thirty thousand of my savings." As he finished speaking, Theo was the first to use his spoon to break the egg yolk, letting it slowly ooze and coat the rice. Then he scooped up some rice coated with yolk and the stir-fried holy basil pork onto the same spoon and took a bite.
Mmm...
This is it! This taste!
The fragrant scent of holy basil and garlic was the first Theo perceived after beginning to chew. Then, salty, sweet, and a subtle spiciness from the chilies swiftly followed. When combined with the creamy yolk, the spiciness mellowed slightly. The texture of the synthetic pork differed considerably from the pork in Theo's memory, making it easy to distinguish. The synthetic pork had a texture similar to some plant or mushroom; it was soft but not as chewy. In terms of taste, it was quite close.
[You have successfully recalled the original taste of 'pork'. Your food taste memory has increased to 17%.][You have met the conditions. Your taste perception has slightly increased.]
Theo's joyous expression made everyone turn back to their own plates. Then, they slowly used their spoons to break their fried eggs, just like Theo. His sister, whose egg was crispy, separated the white. Then, she combined the rice, yolk, and pad krapao onto a single spoon and began to eat.
Theo turned to look at his family and smiled.
Now, his father, mother, and sister all wore expressions of pure bliss. They closed their eyes and chewed slowly, as if unwilling to let that sensation be swallowed. Then, everyone at the table began to eat without exchanging another word, until a system notification chimed in Theo's head.
Make at least one family member understand the true taste of food. (Quest Completed)
Reward
Access main quest to uncover the secret to the past (Received)
After dinner, the atmosphere at the table returned to being tense.
Theo understood why everyone seemed especially serious about this. That's because studying at Argus Academy came with extremely high costs. Of course, everyone agreed that Theo had cooked the most impressive meal they'd ever tasted, but ultimately, the expenses still had to be considered. It cost almost 10 million Seras per semester.
His father, mother, and Hani's combined income was only about 5 million per year, which was considered a mid-to-low income. One academic semester, however, was six months, meaning the tuition alone was equivalent to two years' total income for the entire family, without deducting any living expenses. Given the current situation, there was no way an ordinary person like him could afford to study there.
Ultimately, there was only one path for Theo to attend without financial issues: applying for a scholarship. The academy held an annual competition and exam, selecting 20 outstanding students from around the world to study without tuition fees, three months from now.
"At least the first hurdle's cleared, then..."
Theo collapsed onto his bed.
He recalled his mother's encouraging words: "If you think you can do it, then give it your all..." He wasn't sure how long it had been since someone last told him to give his all. The last person he could remember was his first food critic mentor, a Frenchman.
Enter Argus Academy by ranking in the top 3 of the scholarship competition.
Reward ?????
The main quest had begun...
"Three months... I only have three months. What should I do first?"
Naturally, someone with an E-rank cooking skill should be practicing cooking. But in reality, Theo had more to do than that. Because if he considered the scenario where the main quest failed and he couldn't attend the academy on scholarship, he needed to at least have enough money to pay his own tuition, which was currently impossible.
"I should earn money while practicing cooking."
The Encyclopedia System window opened.
Under the "Cooking Skill Training" category, there were videos demonstrating various knife skills and basic ingredient management techniques. These should provide him with a good foundation. The problem was, he didn't have ingredients to practice with. If he chose to practice peeling apples proficiently, he would have to buy real apples and sit there peeling them, and he had no idea how many it would take to become skilled.
"Garlic, onions, fruits with peels... slicing, dicing, cubing... everything requires ingredients. If I had enough money to buy ingredients just to chop for practice, I wouldn't be worrying about tuition fees."
"Theo, can I come in?" Hani's voice came from outside.
Theo closed the system window and sat back upright.
"Is something wrong?"
Hani sat down on the chair in front of the computer and turned to face Theo.
"I have something important to talk about..."
"What is it?"
Hani seemed hesitant to speak, but Theo nodded, signaling her to go ahead, so she pulled the chair closer.
"You know my boyfriend, right?"
"Your boyfriend?"
A mental image of a polite-looking young man with short brown hair and glasses flashed in Theo's mind. He remembered having casually met this man once or twice.
"The quiet one, who's not like me."
"You want a punch, don't you?!"
Hani's right fist raised, and Theo quickly recoiled, fearing a knock on the head as usual.
"Just kidding... Why? Are you going to brag?"
"Why would I brag?" She lightly touched the device on her ear with her left hand. A hologram projected in front of Theo.
"I haven't told Mom and Dad yet, but actually, Shawn and I have been dating for a long time, and we've started a business together. We've invested in renting a small building in town to prepare to sell ingredients..."
"Selling ingredients? That would require a lot of investment... And have you researched the location well? Ingredients aren't something you can just sell to anyone. If that area doesn't have wealthy people, your shop will be quiet, dead quiet..." It was good that his sister could open an ingredient shop, because ingredients in this era were like gold in the previous one. But even so, if the shop wasn't in the right location, even gold couldn't be sold.
"Don't worry... Shawn used to be in real estate. He chose a location not far from the train station, because it's a place with a lot of foot traffic, both ordinary people and those with means."
"That's good, then. So why are you telling me all this?" Theo looked puzzled.
"After I ate the food you made just now, I finally understood what real food tastes like. I want to eat food like that for every meal. I think I'm starting to understand why you're so fascinated by food. Because I don't think any capsule food, no matter how expensive or luxurious, will ever taste as good as that dish you made."
Thump! Thump!
Theo's heart pounded faster. He felt an indescribable joy at someone complimenting his cooking like this. Theo had never imagined that in this lifetime, he would have to step into a kitchen to cook for others. He had always been a food critic, whose job was to taste food from chefs. But the feeling of being the one who created it was a good feeling he had never experienced before.
"So I told Shawn about the dish you made just now. We had a new idea."
"What idea?"
"Let's open a restaurant, Theo..."
!!!
"Are you crazy?! Opening a restaurant requires even more capital than an ingredient shop! Do you and your boyfriend even have that kind of money? At a minimum, to open even a small place, you'd need no less than 100 million Seras per year! That expense is more than my tuition fees...!"
A restaurant was every chef's dream, even those who graduated from Argus Academy. But Theo thought it was too soon to open one now. Plus, he only had three months.
"Listen..."
"Yeah, I'm listening..."
"Shawn and I have already invested some. The ingredient shop we initially planned to open was for eggs and tomatoes. Shawn and I invested tens of millions to buy chicken breeds to raise behind the building. We now have six chickens, and they lay 3-5 eggs every day. As for tomato plants, we have ten in total. We can freeze them using the XQ 708 cold storage unit, so they can be stored for over a year. We currently have about 200 tomatoes in our warehouse."
Theo tried to visualize it.
Eggs were a basic ingredient commonly traded by both ordinary people and those with means. Tomatoes were easy-to-eat plants that could also be used for sauces or desserts. The fact that they could be stored for a long time made them an excellent choice for people to buy. So, Theo thought their business idea was quite good.
"We have ingredients that we can produce ourselves every day, plus 200 more in storage... Is it possible for you to come up with a menu that uses eggs and tomatoes?" Hani looked at Theo. "If you can, we might actually be able to open a restaurant without any additional investment, and we wouldn't have to pay for ingredients either because we have them ready to use."
It was as if God was trying to help him.
There was nothing better than this offer. He could earn money and train his skills for free, without spending a dime.
Tomatoes were fruits with peels. He could practice various peeling methods and knife skills for all kinds of cutting, each technique leading to a different texture for the tomato. And eggs could be used to make countless dishes, being a basic ingredient every chef needed to master, whether it be boiled eggs, fried eggs, Thai-style omelets, scrambled eggs, etc.
Make 0/1000 people know about Hani's restaurant.
Reward
Activate Reputation System
Greatly increase Cooking Skill
Gain Chef Wolfpak's approval
A smile bloomed at the corner of Theo's lips.
With his S-rank Food Knowledge, beyond the basic understanding of the dishes he'd tasted in his memories, he was confident he had enough knowledge of what a good restaurant should be like, and what kind of restaurant people could access. So, if he were to open one, there was no way that restaurant would easily fail.
"Sis..."
"What should we name the restaurant?"