Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 459 - 371: A Sudden Business Opportunity and Price Gouging

"Captain, is that grilled oyster made by a Michelin Chef?"

"Was it made by you otherwise?"

"Haha, I didn’t mean it that way. It really looks great!"

"Stop talking nonsense, shut your mouth. Would I personally take action for low-grade food?"

The officer obediently shut his mouth, his gaze under the sunglasses fixed on Richard, watching him eat while shaking his head and making exaggerated gestures, swallowing his saliva again.

Although he hasn’t had grilled oysters, he has definitely had grilled meat.

The freshly grilled is definitely the tastiest state, you just have to eat it while it’s still hot, that’s what gives you the thrill.

Gillardeau itself is already a top delicacy, and after handling by a top chef, he can hardly imagine how delicious it would be once it’s in the mouth.

His gaze crossed the crowd and fell on his two colleagues opposite.

Though it was hard to see their specific situation through sunglasses, he was sure those two guys were surely staring at the delicious oysters and swallowing as well.

Before getting off the police car, he was somewhat indifferent, maintaining area activities is not a first-time job, especially food stalls which he’d seen plenty.

Thinking it was similar to previous situations, he never expected the food this time to be so tempting.

No wonder the captain’s statement before getting off the car was so strange, especially emphasizing not to queue up to buy food with the guests.

It really made sense!

Forcing himself to look away, knowing otherwise he’s only making it hard on himself, he had to shift attention to suppress the craving.

With a glance, he saw a pile of oyster boxes stacked like a small hill on the table beside him.

Through the holes in the plastic boxes, he could clearly see them filled with oyster shells.

How many oysters are here actually?

Being idle was boring, he surprisingly started counting the boxes.

"1, 2, 3, 4..."

"This box probably has about thirty or forty."

"Those two tables together have nearly a thousand, plus those in the food truck."

"There are still plenty stacked in the cold storage truck over there, seen earlier as well."

"Roughly estimated, there are at least three thousand oysters here?"

"Three thousand number 0 Gillardeau?"

"My God, never seen so many number 0s in my life, let alone ordinary ones!"

The officer stared dumbly at those boxes, subconsciously visualizing rows of oysters neatly lined on the grill rack.

Each surface covered with golden garlic sauce, sizzling and bubbling under the charcoal grill.

"Gulp"

Upon hearing this distinctly audible swallowing sound, Turion rolled his eyes dramatically.

He knew it would turn out like this!

Are sunglasses used for looking cool?

Bullshit!

They’re to obscure the food’s clear state from the underlings!

After returning last time, he deliberately researched Redison Restaurant’s situation, ending in an incredible conclusion.

As soon as this food truck starts operating, regardless of what’s being sold, it would incite guests’ curiosity and lead to long queues.

This Great Xia Head Chef seems to precisely grasp diners’ minds and intentions, offering food each time with the attributes of delicious looks, taste, and smell.

Most importantly, the food sold each meal is different!

Sometimes he even suspected whether Great Xia chefs’ brains function differently from others’, how are they able to concoct so many novel food practices?

Turion’s eyes under sunglasses scanned the scene quickly, taking advantage of diners’ attention focused on freshly made oysters, secretly lifted his left foot and harshly stepped on the team member’s toe.

"Uhmp?!"

A muffled grunt was made by the team member, his face twitched, quickly lowering his head.

"Watch your eyes. If you can’t handle such a small matter, don’t come to duty next time."

"Sorry, Captain! I will pay attention!"

Turion snorted coldly, further grinding with the toe for a bit, before slowly retracting his leg.

In the distance.

Rovena watched tourists rushing off fishing boats, puzzled, scratching the back of his head.

Having worked here for so long, never seen five or six boats go out and return simultaneously.

As if it had been scheduled in advance.

Watching these tourists join the queue army, he furrowed his brows, sensing he might’ve grasped something.

Remember correctly, these people went sea fishing, right?

Sea fishing isn’t demanding, nor does it involve physical activity, merely sitting and waiting, just a minor tug-of-war when bitten.

Why do they all seem like they’re starving, breakfast was just a few hours ago?

Normally, freshly returned fishing boats require brief rest before setting sail again to avoid unnecessary incidents.

But these boats went close by, close enough to see the silhouette from shore, no need for such preparations.

"Guests needing sea diving fishing, please come here to sign up~"

Aiming to book another order, he immediately lifted the megaphone calling towards the crowd.

Despite shouting for several minutes, these tourists seemed deaf, not even glancing in this direction.

"Stop yelling Rovena, it’s useless."

Several crew members unknowingly came by, faces full of helplessness.

"Huh? Why?"

"Isn’t it obvious? Because of that!"

The crew all pointed to the food cart, or more precisely, to the two rows of grills in front of it.

"While on the ship, we asked around. The reason people only choose near-shore fishing and not activities like diving and fishing is not because those projects are unattractive but because the round trip takes too long."

"Long round trips?"

Rovena wasn’t dumb, and after a moment of realization, a light bulb went off in his mind.

Right!

Why didn’t I think of this earlier?

The reason these tourists gather here is simply for the food from the cart.

So isn’t it natural for tourists to keep thinking about lunch after breakfast?

In other words, the allure of good food far outweighs the appeal of going out to sea for fun, which is why all the bookings are for fishing trips in the morning, with almost no diving trips.

I originally thought the flow of customers brought by Chef Lin could drive more visitors to the pier but now it seems like it was just my wishful thinking.

Even the fishing trips might just be something for guests to pass the time because they were bored.

If I want business to return to normal, we’ll most likely have to wait until this food stall shuts down.

After coming to this conclusion, Rovena held his face and let out a deep sigh.

How did things turn out like this!!

"You guys stay here, I’ll go see what exactly is happening."

With a casual fling, he tossed his megaphone onto the table and briskly walked toward the crowd.

He wanted to try this grilled oyster that somehow had more appeal than diving for fish.

Oysters... could people really not get tired of them?

"?"

Several employees watched as Rovena joined the end of the line and exchanged eye rolls filled with speechlessness.

This guy, he’s simply craving it, right?

"Since there aren’t any customers right now, let’s just leave one person here. I want to try those grilled oysters too and see just how tasty they are."

"That’s all well and good, but it’s work hours. Lining up with Rovena around might not be appropriate, right?"

"True, argh, so annoying!"

"How about we ask some tourists to help buy them for us?"

"Why would people help us out of the blue? Unless you got friends in the line?"

"Just add a five-euro tip. Who’d refuse free money? They just have to place an order, nothing else."

"We could try, but it’s best to stay out of Rovena’s sight. We’d have to circle around the other side."

The group had a quick discussion and soon reached an agreement.

Conveniently, the restroom was on the other side, so the trio left their spots, holding their stomachs with an urgent look on their faces.

Rovena glanced at them but didn’t pay much attention.

The work here was easygoing; they could stroll around the pier when not busy, as long as they could respond quickly when needed, he generally didn’t mind.

The three employees disappeared behind the food cart, appearing as if heading to the restroom but actually crouching down and sneaking to the other side.

They had a clear target and went straight to the tourists at the front of the line.

"Sorry to bother you, sir, have you ordered yet?"

"What do you need?"

The man looked at them quizzically and nodded, "I’ve ordered and paid, just waiting to eat now."

"Then never mind, sorry to disturb you~"

"This lady..."

"Not ordered yet? Nice!"

"Err, I mean, are you interested in earning a few extra euros as a tip?"

"Tip?"

The woman’s eyes lit up at this word, instantly intrigued.

"How do I earn this?"

"Here’s the deal. We’re employees at the pier—you might have noticed."

"It’s our work time now and not convenient for us to line up, but we’re a bit hungry."

"We came up with this idea: if you help us buy our food, we’ll give you an additional five-euro tip. We’ll pay for the oysters ourselves. How does that sound?"

"Five euros each?"

"Err..."

"Forget it, five euros isn’t even enough for one oyster. You better find someone else."

The woman was smart and quickly realized her advantageous position, refusing without hesitation.

The content of their conversation was overheard by other tourists nearby, who started to smile.

"Give me ten euros, and I’ll place the order for you."

"Twelve euros—I’m ahead in line, give me twelve and you can eat sooner."

The three employees never expected such a greedy situation and were momentarily stunned.

"Oysters are ready!!"

Just then, the two chefs started packing them, and the sight of those plump, hand-sized oysters made their mouths water uncontrollably.

"What do we do?"