Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 220
Only Krnovel
Episode 220 – Rest – Hell’s Hotel Kitchen (2)
– Eunsol Lee
I was shocked to hear that I had to eat 12 plates of food, even though the quality of food ingredients was already terrible.
“hey! hey! Make sense. “I’m not a food fighter. How can I eat 12 plates?”
“Why can’t I eat?”
Has this man, or rather the monster, finally gone crazy?
“Are you telling me to judge you fairly? “I’ve never eaten more than three plates at a buffet, but if they suddenly tell me to eat 12 plates, can I eat them?”
“aha! “Are you saying your stomach isn’t big enough?”
“That’s it.”
“If that’s the case, you don’t have to worry.”
The merchant took out a number of pills from his hand with a proud expression.
“…”
“You can take this medicine every time you finish a plate. Then your stomach problems will be completely solved. It also solves the problem of the influence of the previous dish remaining after eating it and affecting the evaluation of the next dish. Please note that all dishes will be served on the hotel’s special plates, so the dishes behind you will not get cold or taste bad while you are eating the dishes in front of you.”
Once again, I didn’t say anything like whether such a medicine or such a dish could exist in the world. It’s a hotel, so you can do that. Rather, I closed my eyes at the thought of having to eat 12 plates of food prepared in a kitchen where ominous sounds were coming from.
“brother! “Do cows actually have noses on their legs?”
“Wow, this is crazy! Seungyeop! “I told you to throw that away!”
“Sister, do mushrooms actually move?”
“Eeeee! “Song, that’s not a mushroom!”
“I don’t need to eat this, right? I’m glad.”
“Eunsol eats it.”
Gain, please! Are you glad I don’t have to eat? My stomach was already upset before I even saw the food!
“Merchant~~! Merchant~~!”
“Ohh? “Participant Ari Kim, do you have anything to say?”
“Please extend the cooking time. The material is strange, so it takes a long time to prepare. oh! “The shrimp just split in two and another shrimp came out from inside!”
“The hotel’s specialty is ‘split shrimp.’ In case of extension of time, if all participants agree -”
“Everyone agreed.”
Cooking time was increased to 1 hour and 30 minutes. However, I don’t know if it will be possible to produce food that people can eat.
Can’t there just be shrimp instead of something like ‘split shrimp’? Covering my face with both hands, I lowered my head and waited and waited. 1 hour and 30 minutes wasn’t that long.
*
After cooking time, colleagues gathered around with eight plates covered with silver lids.
— Rumble! Rattling!
“…”
“haha! Participant Park Seung-yeop? “The food is very fresh, isn’t it?”
“Strangely, even if I hit him, he doesn’t die.”
“So you just brought it on a plate?”
Buddha! Did I not practice enough?
“Chef Eunsol Lee.”
“…”
“Chef Eunsol Lee?”
“huh… .”
“Please put your hat on for the evaluation. “It will help you make an honest evaluation.”
hat? Come to think of it, there was a hat on the table from the moment I arrived here. Do hats have some meaning? Or is it a meaningless concept? What does it mean to ‘help with honest evaluation’?
“Participants, please bring your dishes in the order I call them. First, who is the participant Kim Muk-seong?”
When my grandfather’s name was called, my mind calmed down. As I’ve been talking to you over the past few months, I’ve felt that your grandfather has a lot of experience in the world and is also a person with a knack for cooking!
Sure enough, the dish in front of me already smelled good even before the lid was opened.
“Grandpa, what is this dish?”
“You know it when you see it. “It’s just steamed seafood, so don’t worry.”
As said, the food on the plate was steamed seafood with a variety of clams, octopus, and fish. Is this a consideration for people who have to eat large amounts of food? I also liked that the amount of dishes was very small.
…
“How do you rate it?”
“You can do it yourself.”
“Grandfather! Thanks for your efforts. What is my score? It’s an 8 out of 10. There was no fishy smell at all from the seafood, the seasoning was good, and the umami and rich flavor were still there. “The chewy flavor of the clams and the refreshing taste of the soup were both excellent.”
My grandfather tilted his head when he heard what I said.
“I am confident in my seafood steaming skills, so I feel like 8 points is somewhat disappointing… . “You said the taste was good, but may I ask why 2 points were deducted?”
Before I could answer, the merchant next to me suddenly intervened.
“Participant Kim Muk-seong!”
“…”
“Please use an honorific title for the chef.”
“… May I ask why 2 points were deducted?”
The answer to that question was very easy.
“Because the octopus is so fresh.”
The octopus I picked up with chopsticks was clearly white and fully cooked, but its legs were slowly writhing. If I weren’t someone who enjoys eating live octopus, I’m sure I would have thrown up just looking at this!
“No, I cut off the head and legs of that octopus and boiled it for 20 minutes, but why doesn’t it die?”
The merchant next to me gave me a word of advice.
“haha! Dear participant, the hotel’s specialty octopus is very resistant to heat. However, since it is weak to cold, it must be frozen beforehand and then killed -”
“Stop being so fucking stupid!”
Grandpa grumbled for a while and left the table. When I took the pill next to me, the feeling of food in my stomach disappeared and my mouth felt refreshed. Now it’s the next turn.
The next person to carry the plate was Elena.
“after! Did other people have a hard time choosing strange ingredients? But not all the food ingredients in that warehouse were strange. “I cooked with mainly ordinary ingredients, so I think you’ll like it.”
I feel reassured just by hearing it.
As soon as I saw the pink color of the soup on the plate Elena held out, I recognized its identity. It is none other than borscht, a traditional Eastern European soup. This unique pink color comes from the red color of beets, a type of Western sugar beet, and the addition of smetana (sour cream), which is made by fermenting whipped cream.
As Elena said, only ordinary ingredients were used, and there were no unfortunate incidents such as squid swimming in the soup. She slowly moved her spoon to empty her plate.
“Elena, first of all, I’ll give you extra points because the ingredients are good. “It was nice that there was no wriggling onion or anything.”
“thank you!”
“Did you learn the recipe from your mother?”
“It’s not necessarily like that, I learned it naturally as I grew up. “It’s a food that we eat a lot.”
“You must have done this to other people several times, right?”
“yes. “I did it for his father a few times, and I also did it for the friends I made in Korea.”
“Did everyone like it?”
“sure.”
“It’s a shame.”
“yes?”
“Everyone couldn’t look at Elena’s face and tell her the truth. Or maybe I’ve never tried borscht before and was mistaken in thinking that it had this strange taste. Sorry, I tried borscht. I’m glad to hear that I didn’t learn the recipe from my mother. In fact, your mother will be surprised if she eats this.”
“yes? yes?”
“The ingredients are very good, the plating is neat, and I can feel that they care about me. They’re all good, but there’s just one thing missing. ‘taste’. From now on, I will only make borscht to close people. “Those people will continue to eat all of this without saying a word.”
“Eeeeeee!”
“My score is 5. Now get out of my way. Next person!”
At my harsh evaluation that continued for a long time, Elena gaped in shock and her colleagues also looked dizzy. Soon I also became dizzy.
“Aaaah! What is this? Hey merchant! “What is this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Bang, room, room, as soon as I ate the dish, my mouth started moving on its own! “I didn’t say anything and was just choosing my words -”
“haha! Didn’t I tell you when I gave you the hat? “You said it would help you make an honest evaluation, right?”
“What on earth is that -”
“Hotels are always concerned that academic ties, local ties, personal connections, etc. may interfere with fair evaluation of participants. “It’s not okay for someone to say nice things to me because they’re close to me, but then throw harsh words at me because we don’t have a good relationship.”
I was speechless!
Next, Songi’s plate was placed in front of me. Songi was very cautious, perhaps because she saw me, or rather this crazy hat, make Elena cry in real time a little while ago.
“Uh, sister. I originally wanted to make kimchi fried rice… .”
“But there was no kimchi?”
“Yes… . “There is no kimchi, and there is red pepper powder, but there is no red pepper paste.”
“So what is this? Cabbage instead of kimchi? “The seasoning is soy sauce?”
“yes. “Think of it as cabbage and soy sauce fried rice.”
“It’s a dish without any roots.”
“…”
I emptied my plate.
“First of all, it’s good because the material doesn’t wriggle. “The degree of roasting is just right.”
“I’m glad everything happened.”
“But have you tasted this?”
“yes?”
“Did the cabbage come from swimming in sea water? This is my first time eating fried rice so salty in my life! Also, what is the state of fried eggs? The outside is all burnt! “Even people from the Stone Age could handle fire better than you!”
As Songi heard my shout, she made a pitiful expression as if she was going to fly away somewhere, and then ran away. The score was 4 points.
A kitchen full of chaos! The next person to bring a plate was Ari.
“I’ll just not say anything.”
When I opened the plate, what appeared was beef stew.
As soon as I swallowed just one spoonful, the inexplicable vitriolic energy that the hat was constantly giving me disappeared!
Meat that is so soft that it melts, the fragrant aroma of bay leaves, and various vegetables that will make your mouth happy! The oily yet flavorful stew is so full of flavor that it feels like a shame that there is only this much.
“Ah, Ari!”
“huh?”
“It’s so delicious! What is this? Is it very delicious? Have you ever worked as a chef?”
“after. my score is?”
“Needless to say, 10 points! 10 points. “It’s my first time eating food like this in my life.”
The corners of Ari’s mouth turned up!
Where did he really learn to cook? It’s not strange for a colleague to say that he’s done something, but is this too much?
It’s not a joke. Every time I took spoonful after spoonful, I felt like lightning was hitting my head! How can a dish like this come out? As a child of a noble family, I have eaten a lot of expensive food since I was young, but it is difficult to compare with those foods.
…Does this make sense? Aren’t you a full-time chef who has been honing his beef stew for 30 years?
“I have an objection!”
I heard a loud voice behind me and raised my head. Ga-in was holding her hand.
“I saw it earlier -”
“Quiet!”
“Ari, you be quiet. “Gain, tell me.”
“Ari added her own blood just before finishing the dish. “I think there must be some evil trick using the power of old blood.”
… Everyone looked towards Ahri with blank expressions.
“Eight! Defense time!”
“… say it.”
“Isn’t this cooking competition as long as the food is delicious? no? “I didn’t say anything about not adding my blood?”
“No, that’s just common sense -”
“There is no place in this world that asks you to cook with live beef, even if only the feet are left! “Maybe I’m right according to the hotel’s common sense?”
In the midst of my confusion, there was a voice that added to my confusion.
“hmm. “That is correct.”
“What is right?”
“There’s nothing in the rules of Hell’s Hotel Kitchen that says you can’t use legacies. I didn’t ban that part either. Moreover, since the hotel ingredients are inherently somewhat ‘special’ ingredients, Miss Ari’s blood could be seen as ‘her own special secret ingredient.’”
This cooking competition must be crazy. Didn’t you say a little while ago that hotels exclude elements such as ‘school ties, regional ties, and personal connections’? A cooking competition that excludes school ties and regionalism, but allows brainwashing through heritage. excellent.
“Furthermore, Chef Eunsol has already announced that the score is 10, so the judging is over.”
“Haha! Did you hear? Cain! “If you wanted to protest, you should have done it in advance.”
“and! “Isn’t the real world crazy?”
It wasn’t the world, but the hotel was a bit busy. She answered in a dazed mood.
“Well, okay. “I understand, but next time you put blood in, I’ll give you 0 points.”
“yes~!”
“next!”
The next thing placed in front of me was Ga-in’s plate.
— Rumble!
I have an ominous feeling. I have an ominous feeling that ‘a very fresh dish’ will come out!
See next episode