Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 490 - 402: Sneaking a Bite Is Even More Delicious, Ultimate Value for Money

"Right, right, I also think Chef Lin’s food here is very affordable, with large portions and delicious taste."

During this back-and-forth moment, Daniel had already finished his sandwich and was now munching on a beef burger.

He ate with great care, having seen everything that happened in the kitchen earlier, he knew how juicy these burgers could be.

He took a bite, feeling the extremely tender beef patty easily sliced by his teeth, with the flavorful juice flowing out instantly.

Though tender, it still maintained enough elasticity, clearly resisting against his teeth.

Instead of letting go, he maintained this position and started sucking vigorously.

"Sluurp~"

"Sluurp~"

With a puzzled look, Meng Qi glanced at him several times. Why was he making such a noise while eating a burger?

The next second, he suddenly recalled the soup dumpling shrimp potstickers he ate before, as if he understood something, he pulled out the beef burger from the bag without another word.

The packaging of the burger was simple, just wrapped in a piece of wax paper, which is the standard for most fast-food restaurants here.

Holding it, he could clearly feel the scorching heat coming through the wax paper, making it almost too hot to hold, so he quickly used a napkin to ease the discomfort a bit.

"This burger?"

It was then he noticed the bun of the burger looked completely different from what he remembered.

Looking up suddenly, he realized that Daniel’s burger was the same.

The flat bun looked like a regular burger bun that had been pressed flat, only about a finger’s thickness, with some parts even thinner, yet the beef patty in the middle seemed the thickest.

At first, he thought Daniel liked to press his burgers flat before eating, but didn’t expect the burgers to naturally look like this.

Did Chef Lin even start innovating with the buns??

Is he planning to venture into the baking and dessert industry next?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt his decision to quit his job and join them here was the right one.

Remembering that old customers in Amiens could only fill up with Lunard’s wraps, while he had the opportunity to enjoy Lin Chen’s cooking almost every day or at the very least every other day, made him grin from ear to ear.

With little time left, he could no longer worry about the heat and took a big bite of the burger.

"Pew!"

The freshly baked beef patty was in its juiciest state, and before he could bite through it, the moment his teeth touched it, a surge of scorching meat juice burst out, numbing a small area of his upper mouth instantly.

So bouncy!

So tender!

These were the only two thoughts in his mind.

The concept of juiciness no longer surprised him, not just because Daniel had warned him, but also from his previous experiences made him somewhat used to it.

In fact, if Lin Chen’s dishes weren’t tender and juicy, it would seem odd.

As he gradually adapted to the beef patty’s texture, the unique resilient texture of the burger bun began to emerge.

Earlier, the craving was so intense that he didn’t pay attention and bit down hard.

Now, as he relaxed, he started chewing slowly and discovered that the two thin buns were surprisingly chewy, completely different from their appearance.

Aside from the resilience, the soft bun surface was sprinkled with lots of black sesame seeds, which emitted a strong sesame aroma after baking, further highlighting the wheat fragrance of the bread itself.

Inside, the cold and thick layers of lettuce made a crisp cracking sound when bitten, followed by the burst of rich, slightly acidic mayonnaise, neutralizing the somewhat dry texture of the bun.

The mix of cold and hot, the sweet and fresh vegetables combined with the savory beef patty, created a hot and cold sensory experience that nearly drove him insane.

After swallowing a mouthful, he eagerly took another big bite to continue the satisfaction.

Only then did he realize there were other hidden ingredients inside the burger.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered a layer of sautéed mushroom slices in the middle!

No wonder it was so juicy and delicious; the mushroom juice was used to enhance the flavor, making perfect sense.

There wasn’t anything special in the other seasonings; the main focus was on the texture of the bun and the beef patty. Both were unique on their own, but combined, they created a wonderful explosion of flavor.

Meng Qi felt it had been a long time since he experienced such intense satisfaction from a burger, and even after finishing the whole thing, he was still left wanting more.

"How is it, tasty?"

Daniel had already finished all his food, but the bag didn’t seem any lighter, probably because he restocked a bit while going back to buy him breakfast, preparing to take something back for his sister to try.

"It’s indeed delicious, truly Chef Lin’s masterpiece."

Meng Qi nodded vigorously, "If I had to point out a flaw, it’s that it’s a bit small and doesn’t fully satisfy my craving."

"But a lot of famous restaurants are like this, even calculating the volume and portion of the food so that diners can’t get enough, prompting them to return next time."

"That’s definitely true. You go ahead and eat, I’ve got to go back and wrap things up."

Daniel waved at him, tucked the bill into his pocket, opened the car door, started the engine, and slowly disappeared at the end of the road.

At the moment, Meng Qi didn’t have time to say goodbye to him; after tasting the delicious burger, he quickly grabbed the remaining fried chicken flavor one, not even thinking about it, and aimed at the thickest part of the meat, opening his mouth wide.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch"

Under the expected crispy coating was equally tender and juicy chicken, seasoned distinctly from the beef patty earlier.

The beef patty had more of its original beef flavor, only slightly spicy with black pepper, whereas the fried chicken revealed some seasoned powder flavors.

He couldn’t exactly distinguish what it was, but he could taste a faint spiciness that perfectly stimulated his appetite, making his mouth keep watering.

Apart from iceberg lettuce, this burger was also packed with mayonnaise-mixed red cabbage.

This stuff is a frequent guest in many sandwich shops, crunchier than lettuce, vibrant in color, and rich in nutrients, with anthocyanins being essential for the human body.

Abroad, there’s hardly any entertainment, aside from drinking, it’s all about traveling or fitness, so health knowledge is relatively well spread.

In face of nutrition and health, that weak bitterness is hardly anything.

Moreover, the bitterness of red cabbage can be removed through pickling.

The red cabbage strands in the burger were prepared this way, pre-mixed with mayonnaise, using the milky and sweet-sour flavor of the mayonnaise to cover the slight bitterness of red cabbage, preventing oxidation that could make it more bitter.

Besides pickling with mayonnaise, you can soak it in vinegar with a bit of sugar, which also works well, turning it even wine-red or pink.

Each burger has its own distinctive characteristics, completely incomparable, all one can say is they are both delicious.

Also, the flavors of these two burgers are noticeably different from Western-style ones, without pickles, pickled peppers, raw onion strings, and not overwhelmed by excess mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise, achieving a superb balance in all aspects.

There are only those quite famous burger shops that can produce such exquisite flavors.

But the prices at those burger shops...

This place is still the best!

After finishing the two hot burgers, Meng Qi licked the remnants of sauce and grease from the corner of his mouth, and hurriedly took out the last sandwich.

This sandwich appears cut in half, only a half-piece, but the cross-section is quite appealing, exactly the one he saw some head chefs eating while patrolling earlier.

Curiously tearing off the surface bread, he indeed saw layers of film-like structures.

Stuffed a slice into his mouth, before he could react, the soft bread melted right on his tongue, sweet and carrying a strong aroma of wheat and milk.

The majority of ingredients in the sandwich looked familiar, except for those few sausages and large chunks of chicken thigh which didn’t seem to match any flavor he knew.

The color of these sausages leaned towards pink, not the usual meaty red of regular sausages, possibly a type of sausage from Great Xia.

The chicken thigh patty’s color was even stranger, showing a reddish-orange hue, bringing to mind the butter chicken from Indu.

Not thinking much, he opened his mouth and bit down.

Anyway, he’s not one to cook, studying all of this is useless, as long as it tastes good, that’s enough.

Layer by layer, the vegetables shattered, soft, hard, crunchy, juicy, elastic, everything was present.

The most distinctive texture was from those few sausages!

In his mouth, they had a significant bounce, similar to handcrafted meatballs made a few days ago, but lacking strong meaty taste, seemingly mixed with other components.

It wasn’t a purely handcrafted sausage, but a semi-finished product.

But in any case, it was much tastier than the starchy sausages made last week; those were really hard to eat, mushy and sticky, like deep-fried dough.

Quickly, after getting familiar with the sausage’s flavor, the taste of the Orléans chicken thigh patty began to become apparent.

As he ate, Meng Qi’s eyes gradually started to shine.

"This chicken thigh marinade is quite tasty, isn’t it? Sweet, could it be honey?"

"Doesn’t seem like it, honey’s sweetness is too distinct, this chicken thigh’s sweetness is very light."

"Forget it, can’t figure it out, just eat."

Gobbling up the last sandwich like a wolf, wiping the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand, confirming no traces were left, he then walked in the other direction.

Circled back to the restaurant entrance, the queue here was now almost twice as long as before, all diners eagerly anticipating, standing on tiptoes, curiously looking around, wanting to see what kind of delicacies they’d get to eat today.

"Strange, it’s this late, why hasn’t the food truck opened yet?"

"Is queuing here okay? Don’t want to have to re-queue at the food truck later."

"When I just came, I think I saw a few head chefs eating sandwiches on the beach; they looked quite nice. I wonder if they made them themselves or if it’s today’s breakfast?"