Chapter 62
As promised, we decided to open the first location of the restaurant for the masses near the Klever Hotel.
The village in Monbel territory was incredibly crowded compared to how deserted it had once been, but thankfully, there were still some vacant storefronts.
As luck would have it, one of the residents was planning to close up shop, so Elysia paid him a fair price and bought the store.
Once the relocation was complete, I looked around the empty storefront and said,
“Table turnover is the lifeblood here.”
Elysia nodded.
“That means we can’t keep guests seated too long?”
“Yes. At Maison Monbel, we make money by keeping people seated for a long time. Here, we make money by having people eat quickly, leave quickly, and make room for the next customer.”
Marie looked around the shop and said,
“Then the chairs shouldn’t be too comfortable either.”
“Correct.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They can’t be too uncomfortable, but they shouldn’t make people want to linger, either.”
“I think I’m pretty good at running a business.”
“You’ve been learning well lately.”
Marie looked pleased with herself.
The shop’s layout was kept simple.
The kitchen needed to be spacious, while the dining area only had to be reasonably clean.
A large pot had to stay at a simmer, with the meat and potatoes prepared in advance, so that whenever an order came in, we could ladle out the broth, add the garnishes, and serve it immediately.
There was no need to give each dish its own story like we did at Maison Monbel.
We settled on three initial menu items.
The first was a clear yet deeply flavored meat broth.
It reminded me of gomtang from my previous life.
A broth made white and milky by simmering bones and meat for a long time.
It would be best to reduce the gamey smell and let customers add their own salt and herbs.
The second was a spicy broth with potatoes and meat.
It was somewhere between gamjatang and jjageuli.
We made it by simmering meat on the bone and potatoes until tender, then mixing in spicy seasonings and MSG.
Once the broth had reduced until only a little remained, it was good for dipping bread or pouring over a bowl of multigrain rice.
I still wondered why anyone here would dip bread into broth, but what could I do? This was a romance fantasy world, so I had to adapt.
The third was a saltier meat stew with some broth.
It was the kind of flavor working people liked.
Rich, salty, greasy, and a good match for cheap beer or low-proof liquor.
“Ha, it would be nice to add naengmyeon too.”
“What’s that?”
“Cold noodles.”
“…That sounds a little questionable.”
Judging by the reaction, among several other issues, naengmyeon was still premature.
We lacked the skill to produce noodles consistently, as well as the equipment to keep a cold broth at a uniform temperature.
More than anything, I wasn’t sure whether customers would immediately accept the idea of rolling noodles in cold broth.
Naengmyeon could wait.
For now, we would start with hot broth.
We spent a long time thinking about the shop’s name.
This time, even I struggled to come up with ideas.
Elysia suggested the name Monbel Broth House, but I rejected it.
If we brought Maison Monbel’s high-end image over too directly, both establishments could end up in an awkward position.
In the end, Uncle Bernard quietly said,
“What about One Bowl?”
“One Bowl.”
“Yes. This isn’t a place selling complicated courses; it’s a place that feeds customers with a single bowl.”
Marie nodded.
“I like it. It’s easy to remember.”
Elysia looked pleased as well.
“Then we can keep the sign simple too.”
And so, the first location was named ‘One Bowl’.
It was a completely different name from Maison Monbel.
But I liked it.
Count Klever came for a tasting before the opening.
The moment he entered the restaurant, he examined the chairs, the kitchen, the checkout counter, and the flow of traffic in and out.
“Not bad. The spacing between the seats isn’t particularly wide, but it suits the purpose of this shop. Were the chairs made uncomfortable on purpose?”
“You noticed that too.”
“That way, people eat quickly and leave quickly.”
I seated him at the table reserved for the first customer.
“There are three menu items for you to try today. You’ll be full if you eat them all, so you can just taste them if you like.”
“Oh? I’m looking forward to it.”
The first dish I served was the clear meat broth.
I ladled hot broth into a large bowl and topped it with shredded meat and herbs.
I served rustic bread, salt, and spicy seasoning separately on the side.
The idea was to let the customer adjust it to their own taste.
Count Klever picked up his spoon and took a spoonful.
Without saying anything, he took another spoonful.
I sensed our success in that moment.
It was rare for Count Klever to be silent.
If he thought something would make money, he said so immediately, and even if he thought it wouldn’t, he expressed it indirectly.
But now, he was simply eating. His hand had moved before he could begin analyzing.
That was a very good sign.
Marie whispered quietly beside me,
“Was it a success?”
“Yeah.”
“But you haven’t said anything yet?”
“He’s more accurate when he doesn’t say anything.”
Count Klever didn’t look up until he had eaten half the bowl.
“Very good. Where is this food from?”
“It’s food from my hometown. My mother used to make it often.”
“You come from a place with a splendid food culture.”
It was an utterly accurate assessment.
I served the second bowl.
It was something between gamjatang and jjageuli, with spicy meat and potatoes.
Count Klever raised his eyebrows at the spicy aroma at first.
But after one spoonful, he immediately scooped up a second.
He dipped bread into it, then later mixed in a little of the separately served multigrain rice and slurped it down.
“Workers will love this.”
“Aristocrats’ servants too.”
“Merchants too.”
“Even the day after drinking.”
Count Klever’s eyes shone.
“We could open for breakfast.”
I nodded.
“People who drank the night before will be looking for hot broth.”
“We could coordinate with the hotel. We could sell guests alcohol the night before along with breakfast vouchers, then send them here.”
Elysia immediately began taking notes.
“We could set the meal voucher price separately and include it in hotel stay packages.”
The two of them worked well together again.
It wasn’t even surprising anymore.
The third stew was more direct.
It was salty, greasy, and strongly flavored.
Count Klever took one bite, immediately drank some water, and then took another bite.
“You mustn’t sell this cheaply.”
“But it’s a restaurant for the masses.”
“Sell the basic dish cheaply, then add extra meat and alcohol. Customers will already be hooked on the broth, so they’ll have trouble refusing extra meat.”
“Your Excellency, you really know how to run a business.”
By the end of the tasting, three empty bowls sat in front of Count Klever.
I had thought he would only taste them, but this crazy man had eaten all three bowls.
Seeing a handsome middle-aged nobleman panting with his carefully groomed mustache quivering was startling every time.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and said,
“I was originally so thin that my retainers were worried about me. Eating was such a bother.”
“Weren’t you a gourmet?”
“A gourmet, yes, not a glutton. I like seeking out delicious food, but I don’t actually like food itself. You have no idea how tragic it is that there’s so little delicious food in the world. However…”
The count glanced down at his stomach and sighed.
“Since I started doing business with House Monbel, I’ve put on quite a bit of weight. There’s simply too much delicious food.”
“It would be nice if there were some kind of weight-loss medicine.”
“Ha-ha, indeed. Then we could fatten up the nobles and sell them weight-loss medicine at the same time.”
It was a good thing this world had no diet pills.
What a frightening man…
Anyway, the completely satisfied Count Klever hummed as he left, and I returned to the kitchen to put away the pots.
The gomtang, gamjatang, and jjageuli from my previous life were meeting the ingredients of this world and gradually transforming into something slightly different.
They weren’t exactly the same dishes.
But that memory was becoming the foundation for the food I made here.
Someday, I would serve naengmyeon too.
A dish of noodles in cold broth, with vinegar and spicy seasoning adjusted to taste.
I wanted to see people who had been sweating in the heat take one bite and open their eyes wide.
But not now.
For now, it was hot broth.
We had to start with something people could easily understand, make consistently, and turn a profit from.
Marie tasted some of the remaining broth and said,
“I think I’ll come here often.”
“There’s no employee discount.”
“That’s harsh.”
“But I’ll let you taste-test often.”
“Then it’s fine.”
“And just like Count Klever, you’ve been gaining weight lately too, you know?”
“…What?”
Marie looked deeply shocked as she stared down at herself, then ran out of the kitchen.
Elysia watched the scene with a knowing smile, then looked around the shop and said,
“This could be expanded to multiple locations.”
“There are conditions.”
“I know. The taste can’t fluctuate.”
“And we can’t take staff away from Maison Monbel.”
“I know that too.”
“We can’t expand recklessly either.”
Elysia smiled at me.
“Kyle, do you think I’m Count Klever?”
“Sometimes you seem similar these days. Are you planning to get into loan sharking soon?”
“…Kyle, that was a bit much.”
“I’m sorry.”
Elysia left the kitchen without another word, looking slightly displeased.
“…Am I bad at phrasing things?”
I was beginning to realize that I needed to watch what I said.