Chapter 18: Chinese Restaurant on Food Street
After receiving Kuriko's answer, Naoto stood stunned in place for nearly three minutes.
When his brain finally understood Kuriko's meaning, Naoto immediately jumped up from the ground.
"Woohoo! This is awesome!"
Naoto now wished he could run straight home and immediately draw the entire Bloodline series.
"Next time's popularity ranking number one! I'm going to get it!"
But after the excitement, came an even more intense feeling of hunger.
With his emotional burden lifted, accompanied by intense excitement, Naoto realized that he was—hungry.
(○△○) Rumble!
(○△○) Rumble!!
(○△○) RUMBLE!!!
Naoto, who hadn't eaten for two meals, didn't even want to go home now. He immediately rushed towards the nearby food street without stopping.
Eating is the most important thing in the world. As his Chinese ancestors said, "People are iron, rice is steel; one meal missed, and you're hungry and reeling."
Now that he had nothing else to do, of course, he had to treat himself.
"Where, where is there food? Udon? I don't feel like noodles right now. Grilled meat? My wallet probably can't handle it, and I haven't gotten my paycheck yet. Sukiyaki? I don't want anything sweet. White rice, I want white rice, steaming hot white rice."
Just as Naoto was searching for food around him like a hungry dog, he was suddenly attracted by a red signboard.
On this street filled with many Japanese delicacies, the red signboard stood out so incongruously.
The unique charm of Chinese patterns made Naoto feel as if he had returned home for a moment.
"Bamboo Moon?" There's a Chinese restaurant here? Never mind, this is the place."
When he first arrived here, Naoto had eaten Chinese food in this vicinity before.
But honestly, the localization was a bit too much. While he couldn't say it was bad, for Naoto, it couldn't really be called "Chinese" cuisine.
So, Naoto had never thought about eating Chinese food outside. Even if he wanted to eat it, he would always cook it himself.
However, today, ravenously hungry, he didn't care about such things anymore. All he wanted now was to heartily shovel rice into his mouth.
"Nǐ hǎo, huānyíng guānglín." (Hello, welcome, come in.)
As soon as he entered, the waitress greeted Naoto with a strange accent that Naoto couldn't understand at all.
If you said it was Japanese, it sounded a bit like it, but please don't trouble Naoto. Naoto couldn't understand such words accompanied by grammatical errors and accent problems.
"Oh no, what was the next line?"
Just as Naoto was wondering what the person was saying, the waitress suddenly switched to Chinese. It turned out the waitress wasn't from Japan, but from China, no wonder her spoken language felt so strange.
"Um... Miss, if you're not comfortable with Japanese, you can also use Chinese."
Seeing the waitress struggling just like he did when he practiced English speaking, thinking of one sentence and forgetting the next, Naoto quickly spoke to the waitress in standard Mandarin.
"Huh? You speak Chinese, customer? Could it be, you're also from China?"
Hearing Naoto's standard Mandarin, the waitress was stunned.
"Ah? This, is it considered an overseas Chinese? Never mind, my hometown is Qingqing."
Naoto paused for a moment at the waitress's question. His current soul was China, and his body was Japan, so he should be considered an overseas Chinese, right.
"Oh, a fellow countryman! I'm from Chengdu! Sichuan and Chongqing are one family!"
Seeing that the customer who came today was a fellow countryman, the waitress immediately became exceptionally enthusiastic, quickly ushering Naoto to a seat and pouring him a cup of bitter buckwheat tea.
Naoto took a sip of the bitter buckwheat tea, savoring the unique aroma lingering in his mouth. Although Japanese matcha was also fine, the taste of home was indeed the best.
"Meili, what happened? Do we have guests?"
Just as Naoto sat down, ready to look at the menu, a young man in a chef's uniform walked out from the back kitchen.
He didn't look much older than Naoto.
"Boss, we have guests, and they're fellow countrymen!"
"Oh? That's great. Sir, all the dishes in our restaurant are traditional Chinese cuisine. We have Sichuan, Shandong, and Cantonese dishes for you to choose from. We can make anything you want."
"That's amazing, Boss, to know so many dishes."
After hearing what the young restaurant owner said, Naoto was very surprised.
These dishes, especially Cantonese and Shandong cuisine, are not simple at all.
The boss is so young, yet he can master three types of cuisine simultaneously and open a Chinese restaurant in a place like Japan. He seems very confident in his abilities.
"Since that's the case, I'll have Shredded Pork with Fish Flavor, Braised Pork with Green Vegetables, and Tofu Soup. For a vegetarian dish, a Hot and Sour Shredded Potato will do."
"So, for the Shredded Pork with Fish Flavor, do you want green onion or wood ear mushrooms?"
"Wood ear mushrooms, please."
"Alright. And for the Braised Pork, which style would you like?"
"Mao-style Braised Pork, a little sweeter."
"For the Hot and Sour Shredded Potato, do you want it crispy or soft?"
"Crispy."
After asking Naoto about his order preferences, the boss returned to the back kitchen.
Seeing the boss's confident demeanor, Naoto couldn't help but look forward to the upcoming dishes.
While waiting for the food, Naoto couldn't help but survey the restaurant.
From the decor, it seemed the restaurant had only recently been renovated. Perhaps it was for this reason that the dining room was deserted.
It's not easy for a new restaurant to establish itself in Tokyo.
Especially since the boss is also a young man, it seems even more difficult.
"Sir, your dishes."
Soon, in less than twenty minutes, all the dishes Naoto ordered were served.
Hot white rice paired with colorful, fragrant, and flavorful dishes. In no time, Naoto's mouth was already watering.
At this moment, Naoto eagerly picked up a piece of Braised Pork with a good balance of fat and lean meat and put it directly into his mouth.
The slightly sweet sauce, combined with the rich fatty flavor, made Naoto instinctively take a large mouthful of rice.
The crispy wood ear mushrooms paired with the sweet and sour Shredded Pork with Fish Flavor further stimulated Naoto's appetite.
Every dish here perfectly suited Naoto's taste. And in terms of flavor, it was even among the best Chinese food Naoto had eaten in his previous life.
Few chefs could make these dishes to such a high standard.
After finishing all the food, Naoto still felt a lingering desire for more.
To eat such authentic Chinese food in Japan felt like a dream.
Even the tea served was not left untouched by Naoto when he left the restaurant.
"Burp. Bamboo Moon, I found a good restaurant. In a few days, I'll bring Kuriko here for a meal."
Naoto hummed a tune and slowly walked back.
Little did he know, his connection with this restaurant was far more than just this.