Universe Infinite Canteen

Hearing Old Wang say this, Ma Lu felt that directly putting this item on sale would be a bit too wasteful.

Then he remembered something else and asked Boggy, who was preparing to go out on business, "Right, you mentioned a big order last time, what were the client's requirements again?"

"To host a BBQ party, with at least ten types of grilled meat and special drinks provided. The client is willing to pay 8,000 Star Currency," Boggy answered.

Ma Lu's eyes lit up at this, "Speaking of BBQ, the drink that goes best with it is beer, right? And ten types of grilled meat, I can just manage that, but I'm not sure how many people will be at the party."

"I asked about that last time. The client said he needs to know whether we can take the order before he can invite his friends," Boggy said, "But he also gave me a rough number, saying it won't exceed 30 people."

"30 people." Ma Lu stroked his chin. Last time Chen Zhengyi came to eat, he spent a total of 700 Star Currency, but 200 of that was to see Old Wang and ask about his hometown, which means he spent a total of 500 Star Currency for the meal.

If it's for 30 people, that's 15,000 Star Currency. However, hosting a BBQ might not require dishes as exquisite as when Chen Zhengyi was entertained, so a price of 8,000 Star Currency for 30 people seemed acceptable.

Ma Lu was also planning to return to Giant Curtain this week to check on how Boggy and the others were doing, and incidentally stock up for Desktop Farm.

So he said to Boggy, "Go negotiate with them again and see if you can persuade them to add a little more money. Tell them we have exclusive drinks here that you can't find anywhere else."

Boggy nodded and then left through the sewer.

At 11 o'clock, He Xiaoqian opened the door to the restaurant on time, only to find that today's first customer was actually Wang Feng, the owner of the grocery store across the street.

"Boss Ma, where's the Cat Pee Beer?"

The moment Wang Feng entered, his gaze darted to the small blackboard, and not finding what he was looking for, he couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, the release of Cat Pee Beer has been postponed," Ma Lu said.

"Ah, why?!" Wang Feng was as if struck by lightning upon hearing this.

His reaction did not go unnoticed by the other patrons entering the door, who then began to ask out of curiosity, "Cat Pee Beer, what is that? Is there a new dish in the restaurant?"

"It's a drink we've been developing recently, still in the trial phase, not yet formally for sale," Ma Lu said, unable to keep it a secret any longer.

"A drink, I like it. When can we try it?" Suddenly, many others became interested, "And it's beer, did you brew it yourselves?" Read latest stories on empire

"Sort of," Ma Lu said ambiguously, "The new drink is pretty expensive, not really cost-effective; you all should probably not wait for it."

He had hoped to dismiss the crowd's curiosity about Cat Pee Beer with these words, but it had the opposite effect, stirring up their contrarian spirits.

Someone snorted, "Boss, are you looking down on us? We all come here to eat; wouldn't we have the money? If you have something good, don't keep it to yourself. Bring it out quickly."

This week's signature dish at Ma Lu's was Demon Stew Rice, which used a five-star ingredient, Demon Grinder Pumpkin, as the main component, and thus he had raised the price slightly, by a symbolic 20 bucks, bringing the cost of one serving of stew rice to 418.

The customers who could still afford to eat there indeed had some financial backing.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Actually, after just over two weeks, there were far fewer familiar faces among the clientele, especially from the more than twenty WeChat groups of fans that Ma Lu had accumulated from his snack stand outside Aerospace University; already a third of them had left the groups.

Many of those who remained in the group were just there to chat or to watch the excitement; the number of customers who were truly willing to visit the restaurant had greatly decreased.

However, on the other side, thanks to the continuously fermenting reputation and the strong recommendations of veteran foodies who had dined there, the number of new faces had increased significantly.

Most of these people were veteran foodies who had already tasted many delicacies before and had become increasingly discerning towards restaurants and chefs. Yet, deep down, they were more desperate than ever, intensely longing to try dishes that could dazzle them.

And they were willing to pay a high price for it.

Zhang Yang was one of them; he came from a family of chefs, with his grandfather being a state banquet master and his father a top-level local chef.

However, in his generation, he had little interest in cooking and deliberately chose interior design in university to avoid following in his father's footsteps.

He later went abroad to study, completely distancing himself from the family business and embarking on a path utterly different from that of his ancestors.

Having grown up eating his grandfather's and father's cooking, Zhang Yang had become exceedingly picky about food. During his two years of studying abroad, he spent most of his money on dining, eating at every famous restaurant in Europe, and tasting countless masterpieces.

While satisfying his culinary cravings, he also gained a new understanding of cooking. He realized that the cooking he once detested shared many similarities with the interior design he now enjoyed.

Both contained the creators' unique insights and pursuits of beauty, which slowly allowed him to understand his grandfather and father better.

However, the pursuit of beauty is always a lonely path, and the further one goes, the more so it becomes.

Whether in interior design or gastronomy, the things that moved him became increasingly rare.

More and more new restaurants focused on chasing trends, continually innovating in form, but neglecting the most important aspect of food—the taste. Even many Michelin Restaurants that succeeded in earning stars seemed to prioritize gimmicks over flavor.

On the other hand, those longstanding establishments were often complacent and content with their past glory, resistant to change, unwilling or afraid to keep pace with the times, and gradually left behind by the world.

Zhang Yang found eating out more and more tedious, so in his spare time, he casually created an account to review the restaurants he had visited.

Originally just random musings written for himself, his candid, incisive style that pulled no punches and was substantial in content unexpectedly attracted many readers; now, each of his articles had over a hundred thousand views.

The reason Zhang Yang came to Universe Infinite Canteen today was also because someone recommended it to him, swearing earnestly to him that the food here would not disappoint.

But Zhang Yang had heard plenty of such promises over the years and didn't take them too seriously. He only swung by to try it out because he was bored and happened to be passing nearby.

After entering, he took a look around at the decor and couldn't help but frown.

The interior design here could only be described as horrendous, with no sense of beauty, each tile, each wall seemed to proclaim thriftiness.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang couldn't help shaking his head, finding it hard to imagine how a restaurant run by a boss with no pursuit of beauty could create any dishes worth tasting.

It looked like it was going to be another wasted trip.

But since he was already there, Zhang Yang sat down to get ready... huh?

He looked around once more and noticed that within the short time he had been assessing the restaurant's decor, there were no seats left.