The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 87 The Arrogant Waiter
The train is running on the Mongolian plateau. The sand dunes, soil, and low barren mountains outside are all a piece of earthy yellow, dotted with green dots, which is particularly conspicuous.

After passing through Linxi and entering Hexigten, the loess on the plateau is thicker, and the train passing on the wasteland-like land is easy to remind people of the deserted scene.

Yes, this is the case on the Mongolian Plateau in May. There are only mottled greens on the ground, and the grasslands in July are the most beautiful.

After Director Wu contacted his comrades, another ten days later, Meng Restaurant changed owners, and Mulan came down.So Lao Tan and Sister Yuan asked for leave and set off for Hohhot with Mulan.

After sitting on the train for [-] hours, the train stopped at [-]:[-] the next morning, and the two of them walked out from Hohhot East Station.

Director Wu's comrade-in-arms Zhang Yu had already been waiting at the station.

Zhang Yu, 45 years old, is not tall, smart and capable, with piercing eyes, he looks like a businessman.The native of Heilongjiang, after changing jobs, went to Hohhot to work and married a local wife.

Because of his economic acumen, he first opened a restaurant, and after earning his first pot of gold, he partnered with his friends to start a coal business.

The coal business is more profitable than the restaurant, and gradually there is less management of the restaurant.But the restaurant was the base of his fortune, and he didn't want to just leave it behind. That's how Mulan and Lao Tan's trip to Hohhot came about.

Old Tan and Mulan were quite tired from the overnight train ride.Zhang Yu first took the two of them to have breakfast, and then opened two rooms in a hotel near the hotel, letting the two of them rest first, and then clean up the dust at night.

Lao Tan was indeed a little tired. Although he was a sleeper, he slept uncomfortable and did not recover from fatigue.After taking a hot bath, I lay in bed and slept until four o'clock in the afternoon. I didn't wake up until Mulan knocked on the door.

Mulan woke up early and went for a stroll outside.

"How was your sleep?" Mulan asked with a smile.

"Very good, comfortable." Old Tan said.

"This place is hotter than ours."

"is it?"

"I went out for a walk before I came back. I couldn't wear the long sleeves anymore."

Old Tan didn't go out and didn't know what it was like. He went to the window and looked outside. It happened to be the sun in the west, and the sun was high and sunny.

At this time in the provincial capital, the sun was already a little westward.The sun rises one hour later than the provincial capital, and the sunset time is naturally one hour later.

"Are there many people on the street?" Old Tan asked.

"Not many, not many people. The street is quite wide, and there are few cars. Standing there, you can see far away." Mulan said.

"What is this street?"

"On Hailaer Street, not far to the west is Boss Zhang's Restaurant, called 'Northeast Restaurant', on the first and second floors, [-] square meters, it looks okay." Apparently Mulan has already familiarized herself with the terrain.

"Didn't you go in and take a look?" Old Tan asked.

"No, just look outside."

"Go and have a look in a while."

Lao Tan and Mulan left the hotel.

The Hailaer Street where they are located is located in the north of Hohhot, close to the Daqing Mountain behind.

Daqing Mountain, belonging to the Yinshan Mountains, starts from the valley of the upper reaches of the Dahei River in Hohhot in the east and ends at the Kundulun River in Baotou in the west.Deshenggou Township in Wuchuan, at the northern foot of Daqing Mountain, is the famous Daqingshan Revolutionary Base, [-] kilometers away from Hohhot.

The sky was cloudless, clear and blue.Such a sky is rare in the provincial capital, and there is a feeling of relaxation and joy, as if the heart has been opened.

The street is very wide and there are very few vehicles. As I told Mulan, you can see far away from where you stand.

There are restaurants, barbershops, pharmacies, optical shops on both sides of the street - the Northeast restaurant is not far away.

When the two came to the front, the door of the store was closed, so it didn't look like it was open.

The two of them opened the door and went in. The lights inside were not turned on, so it looked a little dark.A waiter in red overalls was sleeping on the table at the door. He woke up when he heard the door opening, and rubbed his sleepy eyes with his hand.

"It's not open now, it's not time yet." The waiter spoke with a local accent, looking a little impatient, and Lao Tan still couldn't hear clearly.

Old Tan was taken aback, and looked at his watch, the time was half past four.

"What time does it open?" Old Tan asked.

"Five o'clock." The waiter replied.

"Can you take a look at the private room first?" Old Tan asked.

The waiter looked at Lao Tan and Mulan with reluctance on his face.

"We are friends of your boss." Mulan said.

Hearing that he was a friend of the boss, the waiter changed his expression, but he was not very enthusiastic, and said, "Come upstairs with me."

Lao Tan and Mulan followed the waiter to the second floor.

There are six private rooms on the second floor, which don't feel as big as the first floor.Lao Tan looked around and found that the kitchen was on the second floor.

The two quickly came down from the second floor, without staying any longer, and went straight out of the hotel.

"His waiter is quite rude," Mulan said.

"Lack of management." Old Tan laughed.

"It seems that business will not be very good."

"Well, I heard it's not good, but I don't lose money."

The two continued to walk forward and came to a restaurant called "Fulai Home Cooking". Lao Tan said that he would go in and see if his waiter was rude.

It was exactly five o'clock.

Open the door and come in, it looks like he just went to work, two waiters are cleaning, and a young man who looks like a food delivery waiter is standing in front of the bar talking and laughing with the little girl inside.

Seeing someone coming in, a cleaning waiter called to the food passer, "Bilige, there's a guest."

The boy turned his head, and immediately changed his expression from the chattering and laughing just now, and said to Lao Tan and Mulan, "I just went to work and I'm cleaning up. It's past five thirty for dinner."

Old Tan was stunned for a moment, thinking that this was too rude, and he had to wait for them to clean up the food, and if they couldn't clean up, they wouldn't be able to eat.

Mulan was also stunned by Chuan Caisheng's words, and she couldn't help but looked at Lao Tan suspiciously.

The two thought they entered the wrong place, this was not a restaurant, it should be a public canteen from the 70s.

"We're not here for dinner," Old Tan said.

"Oh. My bathroom is not open to the public." The guy replied.

It was quite humorous, it made Lao Tan and Mulan laugh, and they turned around and came out at the same time.

It seems that the waiters in this place are professional and arrogant.

Mulan became a little worried, and said to Lao Tan, "If the waiters are like this, it will be difficult to manage."

"No, how can it be like this, there are good things." Old Tan said.

"This place should go to work at five o'clock, one hour later than ours." Mulan said.

"Well, this place is late for dinner."

Going further is the traffic post. Standing at the traffic post and looking north, you can clearly see the village at the foot of Daqing Mountain.

The two of them were not in the mood to wander around, so they turned around and walked back.

When passing by Fulaiju and Northeast Restaurant again, Mulan couldn't help but say, "The waiter is like this and there are still people eating. It seems that the restaurant in this place is easy to open."

Old Tan said: "Maybe the people in this place are like this. They talk harshly and the customers are not picky." Then he said: "If you train the waiters like the Mongolian restaurant, it is estimated that the customers will be full."

"Master Tan, I don't know. I don't have the heart to do what I did just now. Besides, there are not many people on this street, and it's not prosperous. It feels like it's not as good as Gan Qika." Mulan said dejectedly.

"You're wrong. It's the capital after all. It's bigger than Ganqika. It's just that this place is almost on the edge of the city, like a suburb. You can adapt to everything, and it will take a long time." Old Tan said.

"Hey, look, I'm here, I have to try it for two days, I can't just leave after a day, I can't afford to lose that person—" Mulan looked at Lao Tan after speaking, and said in a begging tone : "Master Tan, don't leave in a hurry, you have to help me straighten this out."

"Well, don't worry, it's necessary. Besides, Director Wu is on the side. It's not easy to deal with if it's not in order." Old Tan said.

Mulan looked at Lao Tan gratefully, and felt happy.

In the evening, Zhang Yu came to pick up the two of them, and the three of them came to the hotel first.

There are not many people eating, there are four tables in the hall and three tables in the private room.

After Zhang Yu introduced Xia Juan, the front desk supervisor, to the two, he led Lao Tan into the kitchen on the second floor.

The kitchen is not big, no more than fifty square meters.

The cold dish room is eight square meters, and the cold dish master is a young man in his twenties named Baojun.

In the hot dish room, there are three sets of stoves for eight people, three stove masters, three chopping boards, and two lotus tables.

There are two people in the pastry, and there is one who washes the dishes and the other who picks vegetables.

There are 13 people in the whole kitchen.

The head chef is Yan Dahu, a 30-year-old chef who cooks on the innermost stove, from Shanxi.The physique is quite good, but the eyes are small.Originally quite simple and honest appearance, coupled with this pair of small eyes, it looks quite sophisticated and very scheming.

Zhang Yu introduced Lao Tan to Yan Dahu, and the two shook hands.

There was a hint of wariness in Yan Dahu's eyes.This is also a normal reaction. Any head chef will think more about the boss leading a chef into the kitchen-either to change himself or to prepare for newcomers.

The sanitation of the kitchen is poor, the white tiles on the walls are yellow, and there is a thick layer of grease on the exhaust hood. It is estimated that it has not been cleaned for three months.The ground was dripping with water, and under the feet of the cutting board were trampled vegetable leaves.

This kind of hygienic situation is rare in restaurants in provincial capitals, and the Food and Drug Administration came to check and seal it.

Lao Tan thought that maybe the management here is not strict, or the boss has a good relationship with the Food and Drug Administration.

From the hygiene point of view, it can be seen how the management is, and the head chef is not qualified.

(End of this chapter)