Friendly Reincarnator Chapter 70: Massive Menu Restaurant

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　After breakfast, I made an advanced potion.

　I ask Huey to make 100 hardened mucus bottles and store 5 of my own cure grass high-grade potions.

　Even if I could use [Heal], I found that the potions are easier to use during battles.

　After finishing making the advanced potion, I first went to the Sinker Trading Company to get the order for the soap and delivered 1,000 pieces, then I met Robert-san in the back for a consultation.

“Louis-kun, can you help a restaurant I know to become the talk of the town? I’d like you to use the same skills that made Hank’s Bakery popular in another restaurant.” (Robert)

“Eh? I’m an adventurer, you know? Also, what restaurant…” (Louis)

“I heard you cooked the best steak there ever was in the kitchen of Wildcat Pavilion.” (Robert)

　I received a gaze like a ravenous beast that is after its prey.

“What? You know about that even though it just happened last night? What kind of intelligence network do you have?” (Louis)

“Fufufu, you can’t escape my intelligence network.” (Robert)

　Robert-san closed in with a super sinister look on his face and chuckled.

“Well, then, I’ll at least take a look at the restaurant before I decide whether or not I’ll take on the job. By the way, yesterday’s steaks were made with my unique spell, so they can’t be distributed to the public.” (Louis)

　After paying the bill, Robert took me to the restaurant.

　The restaurant faced the main street, but it was small.

　It had only 10 seats at the counter, so I thought it would be better to have a pub.

　Robert-san introduced me to the owner, who was apparently a woman.

　She was 25 to 26 years old, with flaxen, semi-long hair, large eyes, and a beautiful nose.

　If she told me she was a celebrity or a model, I would believe her as she was.

“Etta-san, let me introduce you. This is Louis-kun. This is the man behind the boost in popularity of Hank’s Bakery.”

　When I looked at Robert-san after being introduced, he looked like a middle-aged uncle trying to look good.

　Was that it? Does this old man just want to look good for Etta-san?

“What? You’re such a young boy? Oh, I’m sorry. Nice to meet you, my name is Etta. I’m the owner of the Massive Menu restaurant.” (Etta)

　I greeted her with a smile.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Louis. I’m small in stature, but I’m an adult. To say that I’m the man behind the scenes would be an exaggeration.” (Louis)

“What do you mean? It’s Louis-kun who has made them a thriving store where people line up every day, even though their shop doesn’t face the main street, with a variety of bread, the window, and the signs.” (Robert)

　I chuckled at Robert-san’s words and decided to ask Etta-san a few questions.

“Etta-san, tell me a little bit about your restaurant. Do you have as many items on your menu as your restaurant is named? And do you mainly serve lunch? Mainly for the evening? Do you have any recommendations?” (Louis)

“We have about 30 items on the menu, mainly for lunch, but we are closed at night. I recommend the Orc steak.” (Etta)

　I thought that if it was on the main street, it could be open at night, but it was far enough away from the colorful town that it wouldn’t attract many customers at night.

“I’ll order the Orc steaks for two, please cook them. I’ll make sure you pay for it, Robert-san.” (Robert)

　Robert sputtered out at the counter.

　“I guess it’s an expense that he needed to check, right?” I whispered a reply, “Yes, of course.”

　About 15 minutes later, two servings of Orc steaks arrived.

　My first impression was that it was “normal”.

　I finished eating and talked to her again,

“Thank you very much for the food. But this makes me think I could eat somewhere else.” (Louis)

“What was wrong?” (Etta)

“Don’t be offended, please listen to me. It took about 15 minutes for the Orc steak to be served. The taste was average and there was nothing special about it.” (Louis)

“Hmm… I wonder if that’s why only a few regulars come here.” (Etta)

“Why don’t you turn it into a restaurant specializing in some unique dish? Does it take this much time to cook other dishes?” (Louis)

“Why do you want to know the cooking time of other dishes?” (Etta)

“If it’s a thriving lunchtime restaurant, the ingredients are pre-prepared, and when an order comes in, the food is finished and served in less than 15 minutes. If they don’t know when the food will sell, they probably store the ingredients before preparation because they don’t want to waste them, and if they have a large menu, they spend a lot of time and effort storing the ingredients, so it takes a lot of time just to serve and put them away, right?” (Louis)

“You’re right, I can make 30 kinds of dishes, but people can eat Orc steaks anywhere. So, they are tired of it.” (Etta)

　Etta muttered to herself self-mockingly.

　It would have been bad to abandon her after having just told her the reason for the poor sales, so I decided to help her revitalize the store.

　We discussed having the restaurant close for the day and developing a new menu.

　Now, we have a menu that no other restaurant can ever copy, but there might be some resistance.

　Well, I thought it would be worth a try, so I went into the kitchen and started cooking rice.

　The kitchen was organized and clean.

　I was impressed by the cleanliness of the kitchen, which is to be expected since it would take more time if it were not organized to handle a large number of dishes.

　While the rice was cooking, I cut the Orc meat into bite-sized pieces and sliced some onions.

　I also took the Rock Hopper Horned Rabbit meat out of my storage and cut it into bite-sized pieces as well.

　Next, I took out a bottle of tsuyu, the same tsuyu I used for the pork bowl the other day, from my Infinite Storage and diluted it.

　My tsuyu is a combination of dried mushrooms, boiled kelp, and soy sauce. However, I wanted to use real bonito flakes. I searched every corner of the market but saw that they were not sold anywhere.

　I guess I would have to make my own dried bonito flakes to enjoy the taste of bonito stock.

　While the rice was cooking and steaming, I started cooking.

　Since I didn’t have my special cookware, I used my frying pan to make two servings each.

　One is a pork and egg bowl made with Orc meat, and the other is made with Rock Hopper Horned Rabbit, so a bowl closer to something chicken-like was made.

　The bowls were made by Huey using his hardened mucus according to my order.

　Both bowls were finished by covering them with an egg and cooking them in the residual heat.

“Well. Please try it. Oh, just so you know…” (Louis)

　I gave two to Etta-san and two to Robert-san before continuing.

“This is a grain called rice that I ordered from Robert the other day, and it is grown as animal feed on the Green Continent. If you have any resistance to it, you could refuse to eat it.” (Louis)

　Robert-san said with his eyes glued to his bowl of rice.

“I’m a little resistant because I knew about it, but I’m more interested in something new, so I’ll eat it!” (Robert)

“I have no problem with it.” (Etta)

　Etta-san didn’t know about it, so she didn’t have a problem with it.

　They both started eating it with their spoon but finished their two bowls as if they were sucking them in.

　And Robert-san exclaimed in surprise,

“So delicious! They’re gone! How?” (Robert)

　No, you ate them as if you inhaled them, you know?

　Etta-san asked with a surprised look on her face.

“What kind of dish is this? The cooking time was very short.” (Etta)

“I’ll tell you. First of all, the name of the dish is “Tanindon” [T/N: Stranger bowl, or meat and egg rice bowl, either pork or beef]. If you use chicken instead of Orc meat, it is called “Oyakodon”. It’s called that because it’s a chicken egg and chicken and it’s an oyako [A/N: parent and child]. As you can see, the ingredients are simple: onion, meat, and egg.” (Louis)

“Tanindon, is it? The rice soaked in the sauce was delicious, as was the meat. The eggs were tender and delicious.” (Etta)

　Etta-san said that it was good.

“Yes, it was good. It’s a dish to make the cooked rice taste good. It’s a sauce, or as I call it, tsuyu, and I am trying to make it even tastier.” (Louis)

　With that, I showed them a bottle of tsuyu and told them how it is made.

　I explained again the cooking process and how the tsuyu is the source of the umami, and how it goes perfectly with the cooked rice.

“I can’t believe that such a simple preparation can become such a delicious dish. It’s amazing.” (Etta)

“ The good thing about this is that it takes very little time and effort to cook, and there is almost no risk. Let’s try cooking it together.” (Louis)

　With that, I showed Etta how to prepare the dish and let her cook it.

　Etta herself was surprised at how easy it was.

　I also told her that she could chop green peas and beans to add color to the dish.

　The problems are that the rice gets cold when cooked in large quantities, soy sauce is needed to make the tsuyu, new bowls are needed, the supply of eggs needs to be stable, and above all, whether the rice can be eaten without resistance is a problem.

　The fact that rice is grown as fodder on the Green Continent means that there is no culture of cooking and eating rice on the Green Continent, so it may be the first-time rice is eaten as a normal meal in this world.

　It is probably the first time in the world to offer it as a product.

　Etta-san was motivated by the fact that she had experienced the cooking process and found it easy to make as long as she had all the ingredients.

　I am sorry to pour water over her raging passion but I should list the problems one by one.

　She would have to sell off her stock of dishes at the restaurant and get bowls of the same shape.

　I also solved a problem by creating a mechanism in the stove to warm the cooked rice in a double pot, with hot water on the bottom and rice on the top.

　The way to market rice can be solved by making “The World’s First!” a selling point.

　If people are not comfortable with it, they don’t have to eat it.

　I decided to sell only soy sauce wholesale while I am in the Royal Capital.

　I will discuss this with Robert-san at a later date.

　As for the eggs, if this menu item sells well, Etta-san will have to try her best to secure them through the Sinker Trading Company and other stores she knows.

　In the end, I was asked if they could change the name of the store to [Donburi House], I answered, “You can name it whatever you wish.”

　So the name of the restaurant will be “Donburi House” [T/N: They used the Katakana of Donburi or “Rice Bowl”, so I left it as is.]

　Finally, I made katsudon [A/N: pork cutlet served on top of a bowl of rice] with Jewel Boar Meat and served it to the two.

　I told them that it could also be made with Orc meat, but this was Jewel Boar Meat.

　I saw that the katsudon had disappeared from Robert’s bowl as if he had vacuumed the whole rice bowl.

　t takes time to prepare, so he decided to finish the remodeling and open the restaurant in a week.

　I wholesaled only 20 bottles of soy sauce, about 500 milliliters, which I recently made.

　I decided to meet with Robert-san at the Sinker Trading Company to discuss the rice purchase and the soy sauce.

　We proceeded over tea in the Sinker Trading Company’s reception room.

“First of all, you sold me the unhulled rice, but are you going to sell the same unhulled rice to Etta-san?” (Louis)

“I was going to, but what’s wrong with that?” (Robert)

“You can’t get the rice to that state unless you remove the husks from the unhulled rice and polish the rice by scraping off the germ and the outer layer of the rice. I can polish rice by magic, but it takes a lot of time and effort to achieve that state by hand.” (Louis)

“But the price will not be so high because the original price is already very low. Can you teach me how to mill the rice by hand?” (Robert)

　First, I asked about a workshop that makes flour to make brown rice out of unhulled rice.

　Next, I suggested putting the brown rice in a mortar and bashing it repeatedly with a wooden pestle to polish it, which I heard people did during the war.

　After some time, it would result in that white rice.

“And as for a steady supply of soy sauce, since I may be out of the country or even die as an adventurer, can I provide the recipe and have you make it in case?” (Louis)

“Can you sell me the recipe for that sauce?” (Robert)

“Yes, but I want to make a condition.” (Louis)

　With a contemplating look on his face, Robert-san answered.

“I’m listening.” (Robert)