Chapter 389: Eighty-Flavor Food System (27)

Just at this moment, an alluring fragrance drifted from the direction of the back kitchen, smelling of milk and as if a jar of honey had been overturned.

It turned out that bread had come out of the working baking oven!

With golden, crispy crusts and soft, milky-white interiors, the Honey Bread's aroma drifted for miles the moment it left the oven, drawing the residents of the nearby Tube Building to poke their heads out from windowsills and balconies:

"It's not a holiday or a festival, so whose house is making something delicious? Why does it smell so good!"

Hearing that it was the opening of the Hongqi Snack Bar, which had been converted from the Da Shitang, not only did they have crispy-skinned and tender Hanging Oven Roast Duck and rich, savory Braised Dish Rice Bowl, but they could actually make Honey Bread, which used to be sold only at Western-style pastry shops and now only at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative?

"How much for one? Is it expensive?"

Someone at the entrance of the lane shouted in response: "Not expensive! Two mao for one! Five mao for three!"

Residents with children clamoring to eat bread heard this, immediately grabbed their wallets, and ran downstairs to line up.

However, before they could even get in line, they heard from those in front that it was sold out.

Because this type of bread was also the snack bar's giveaway for the day.

The quantity of one oven of bread was not small, but there were also many customers consuming it; more than half was given away, and the rest sold out very quickly.

"Then when will there be more?"

"Don't rush, don't rush, the Roast Buns in the number two oven will be out soon."

The masters of the Third Canteen: "..."

Lost, we lost!

Their Third Canteen had completely lost!

The Chunhe Lane Red Flag Snack Department had become a hit!

At six in the morning, many residents and workers were already lining up to buy Fried Dough Sticks, Fried Cakes, and savory crepe rolls; at nine in the morning, the first batch of Honey Bread came out of the oven, and residents from nearby streets and lanes brought their children to buy bread one after another; at ten in the morning, the first batch of Hanging Oven Roast Duck also came out, and the line of people grew even longer; at eleven-thirty in the morning, it was the workers' lunch time, and the snack bar was packed with people.

If there were no seats, they stood and ate, or they took their lunch boxes and packed them to eat back at the workshop.

If they couldn't afford the one-yuan-five Braised Dish Rice Bowl with large portions of meat, weren't there still the five-mao or three-mao Braised Egg Rice Bowl or Braised Dried Tofu Rice Bowl?

Drizzled with the same gravy as the large meat rice bowl, it was much more delicious than the bland, mass-cooked dishes of the Third Canteen!

At two in the afternoon, the takeout window not only sold bread and Twisted Dough Sticks, but also supplied Mung Bean Soup, Sour Plum Soup, and free tea.

Having a cup of cool, refreshing drink chilled by well water in the sweltering summer was simply one of life's great pleasures.

Although the tea was brewed with old tea stems, the key was that it was free!

Passersby would stop to get a cup to drink, quenching their thirst and cooling off.

The older generation in the nearby residential area praised this newly opened snack bar for knowing how to handle things.

At three in the afternoon, the salty, fragrant, and crispy Roast Buns came out of the oven! It made the children playing nearby howl with hunger.

Around four o'clock, another batch of roast duck came out, and the takeout window facing the lane was the first to form a line.

At four-thirty, the workers of the Gad Steel Factory finished their day's work and, before going home, stopped by the snack bar to look around.

Some brought half a roast duck home; others didn't buy a meal, but just bought a portion of Braised Large Intestine or Braised Chicken Feet, and incidentally brought two liang of freshly fried Peanuts home to eat with liquor.

The surrounding residents, especially those with children at home, would lead their children to the snack bar to look around every day.

It wasn't certain that they would consume something every time, but if they didn't come to take a look, it felt as if something had not been completed that day.

Every time Xie Yang saw children who were sensible and cute, just like her own two kids, she would casually give them a Twisted Dough Stick or a Small Bread.

Of course, when she encountered some old men and women who loved to take advantage, leading bossy children who were used to rolling on the ground, she would just pretend not to see them.

These old men and women often cursed her behind her back for being stingy, threatening never to come and buy things from her again.

But after a few days, they would obediently come to line up again.

It was really because the children at home were making a fuss, insisting on eating her Twisted Dough Sticks, bread, Roast Buns, and the sweet and sour Sour Plum Soup that was appetizing and cooling.

Little children loved these things.

The adults, on the other hand, preferred the Hanging Oven Roast Duck.

In the past, when guests came to the house, they would go to the State-run Restaurant to order red-braised pork or traditional roast duck, but now they all came to the Chunhe Lane Red Flag Snack Department to buy Hanging Oven Roast Duck.

The price was a bit more expensive than traditional roast duck, but it came with many side dishes! Not only did it come with flour wraps, dipping sauce, shredded Cucumber, and shredded green onion, but the duck frame was also deep-fried for free and sprinkled with Sichuan peppercorn salt, or processed for free into Duck Frame Rice Porridge.

At first, no one chose the Duck Frame Rice Porridge, thinking what could be so delicious about rice porridge! It must be better deep-fried and sprinkled with Sichuan peppercorn salt!

Until one day, a customer said he had mouth ulcers but still wanted to eat roast duck, so Xie Yang recommended he try the Duck Frame Rice Porridge; after all, salt-and-pepper duck frames were more likely to cause internal heat.

Once the customer tasted it, his eyebrows flew up.

Fresh!

Damn fresh!

He had never eaten such fresh rice porridge!

This was equivalent to buying roast duck and getting rice porridge for free; both the rice and the dish were there!

From then on, more people chose the Duck Frame Rice Porridge.

The reputation of the Chunhe Lane Red Flag Snack Department was also completely established.

Not only did the surrounding residents patronize it, but even people from several blocks away, hearing that there was a newly converted private canteen here selling Hanging Oven Roast Duck that was very unique and especially delicious, would make a special trip on their bicycles from far away to buy it during their time off.

After arriving, they discovered that not only was the roast duck very unique, but the braised dishes and snacks were also very tempting; it wasn't easy to make such a long trip, so they simply bought a little of everything.

Sharing it with family and friends after bringing it back, even more customers came looking for it.

Business was getting better and better, and the manpower was stretched thin.

After discussing it with Xiao Rong, Xie Yang planned to hire a few more helpers.

The first person Xie Yang thought of was Liu Shen.

Liu Shen had no job; she used to have one, but later let her eldest son take over, and now she relied on doing some manual work at home to supplement the household expenses.

"Dani, what did you say? You want me to go there and help you? Is it true?"

Hearing Xie Yang state her intention, Liu Shen stood up excitedly.

Xie Yang knew the wages of the two kitchen assistants at the Snack Bar; they earned far more than she did pasting matchboxes at home.

However, she quickly calmed down: "But I don't really know how to cook..."

Xie Yang smiled and said: "You don't need to cook. You are good at flour-based foods, so I plan to have you be in charge of the baking oven. I will teach you the specifics when the time comes."

When Liu Shen heard this, she realized she was being taken on as an apprentice?

"Dani, is this appropriate? I'm at this age already..."

Xie Yang laughed: "There's nothing appropriate or inappropriate about it. Our Snack Bar isn't a State-run Restaurant, so we don't stand on such ceremony. Hiring you is also to lighten our own burden."

As for the saying "once the apprentice is taught, the master starves"... well, there is still the contract.

She had signed a five-year contract with the Gad Steel Factory, so the assistants she hired also started with a five-year term.

Five years later, if they chose to go out and work for themselves, she would not stop them.

After all, five years from now, the major factories would be facing their first wave of layoffs, and a large number of employees would be entering the private sector.

Even if it wasn't Liu Shen and the others, there would be other people throwing themselves into the catering industry to compete with her.

Xie Yang never shied away from healthy competition.

On the contrary, the more peers there are, the more opportunities there are for gourmet food to truly shine.

Her mind was filled with delicacies that were popular across various worlds.

Even if someone opened a Roasted Duck, braised food, and fried food shop with a style extremely similar to hers and affected her business, she could just switch tracks.

For instance, Grandpa Ken's fried chicken, which hadn't been introduced to the country yet at this time.

She knew how to make it.

She forgot which plane she was in when she was retiring, but she had tinkered with fried wings at home and also baked Fruit Pie.

It just so happened that a few days ago, Shuisheng had received a recipe for fried food as a reward; otherwise, she wouldn't have thought of selling Fried Dough Stick, Twisted Dough Stick, and the like at the Snack Bar.

If the fried chicken track didn't work out, there were still frog pots, Hot Pot, and Shrimp that people would line up to eat in later generations!

The world is vast and food is diverse; she believed there would always be one that could lead the trend and take the streets by storm!