Chapter 54

Just one bite of the sardine tempura, and Eisaq fell silent.

What is this?

When Alnu said he had found a delicious restaurant, Eisaq had come along without a second thought, but could such a dish really exist in this world?

In the past, Alnu had occasionally found somewhat upscale restaurants.

Most of them were quaintly seasoned in the style of the Eastern Kingdom, and they were quite delicious.

They were quite delicious, but to Eisaq, all of them were flavors he could reproduce.

Born the son of a cook, Eisaq vaguely thought he would become someone involved in cooking in the future.

To avoid disgracing himself as a cook, he had also undergone rigorous training.

For Eisaq, a dish that he couldn't reproduce was nothing short of a surprise.

It wasn't that he didn't understand the cooking method.

Mix flour with eggs and water, coat the ingredients, and fry them. That's all there was to it.

However, even if he did it himself, he didn't think it would taste the same.

Eisaq suspected that there must be some incredibly labor-intensive preparation involved.

"Didn't it suit your taste?"

Shaking his head at the worried waiter, he threw the remaining sardine into his mouth.

Indeed, it was delicious.

The lager he had sipped to avoid choking was also as delicious as rumored.

It was still early evening, yet the izakaya Nobu was doing a brisk business.

The small shop was filled with regulars and first-time customers, each enjoying their food and drinks as they pleased.

Eisaq had visited many taverns in the empire, including the capital, but a place with this kind of atmosphere was hard to find even if you paid a fortune.

"Still, for Mr. Alnu's friend to come here..."

"No, did Mr. Alnu cause you any trouble here?"

"Trouble? Not at all."

The reason the crucial Alnu wasn't present was that the golden-haired playboy had stood them up.

Alnu, with his black hair and tall stature, was often compared to Eisaq, but their personalities were also contrasting. Eisaq was serious, while Alnu acted on a whim.

Perhaps that's why they got along so well, and Eisaq looked up to Alnu like a brother.

"It's a shame Mr. Alnu couldn't come today."

"Yes, with such delicious food and drink, I'm sure Mr. Alnu would have been delighted."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Eisaq had a pretty good idea of what Alnu was doing right now.

He was investigating the movements of the thugs who had caused a ruckus at this place.

The thugs who had been caught by the guards had paid a fine and spent only one night in jail, and were already back on the streets.

There were also rumors that they had teamed up with a man named Damian, who was a prominent figure among the thugs in the old city.

Eisaq was here as a precaution in case they came back for revenge.

After the sardine, he reached for the shrimp and onion tempura with his fork.

The shrimp and onion tempura, with its small shrimp and onions, made him want to cut it with a knife, but he decided to bite into it despite the slight vulgarity.

Crunch, crunch.

Crunch, crunch.

Crunch, crunch.

Before he knew it, he had eaten the whole thing without putting down his fork.

Eating this much fried onion should have made him feel greasy, but there must have been some ingenuity involved.

The soft, sweet flavor of the onions was irresistible.

Before he could order, the waitress started pouring more lager into his glass. When he tried to say something, she smiled.

This place would definitely win Alnu over.

Despite his tough exterior, Alnu was quite picky about how people were treated, but a place with such attentive service would make him feel at ease.

The mushroom tempura also had an interesting texture.

Until now, he had only thought of cooking mushrooms by boiling or simmering them.

In the northern lands where Eisaq's ancestors lived, some mushrooms had to be thoroughly cooked to remove their toxins.

Because of this wisdom passed down through generations, they never ate mushrooms any other way, but there were other cooking methods like this.

What surprised him the most was the root of a tree.

The waitress, Shinobu, called it burdock, but it looked like thinly sliced tree roots.

This was also mixed with carrots in the tempura.

The texture was incomparable to onions, but it was also delicious.

"The world of cooking is full of wonders. I never thought tree roots could be so delicious."

"Burdock is delicious, isn't it? It was my grandfather's favorite."

Eisaq couldn't find the words to respond to Shinobu's smile.

She must have come from a land so poor that they had to dig up tree roots.

In trying to make them at least a little more palatable, they must have come up with the idea of frying them.

By frying, the burdock became more than just a tree root.

This was cooking.

This cooking had matured into tempura over three generations.

As ingredients became more available, they must have started coating them in batter and frying them. When eggs became available, this dish was perfected as tempura.

If that was the case, the elaborate preparation made sense.

The noble spirit of not wasting a single ingredient had led them to apply what seemed like excessive effort to common materials, elevating them into a dish.

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but feel the love of God in the efforts of these people and their ancestors.

After finishing the plate of tempura, a curiosity as a cook began to well up inside Eisaq.

The tempura was delicious.

There must be many other delicious dishes.

He wanted to learn the techniques. If there was anything he could learn by observation, he would do so diligently.

"The tempura was delicious. Next, I'd like something with a richer flavor... maybe a stewed dish."

"Sure, a stewed dish with a rich flavor!"