Chapter 6 — Tomorrow's Kitchen

Khoi uses a ruler to divide the room into three zones: people who eat after work, people who eat on a low budget, and people who want to try new dishes.

The second tasting did not take place at the Home Kitchen. Mr. Sau said that the restaurant already has answers from regular customers. If you want to know whether the dish can live beyond the restaurant's memories, you have to take it somewhere else.

They chose a small cultural house next to the market, which is often rented out to students in the evening for group study. Vy borrowed ten tables, Ha borrowed a thermo pot from a charity cooking group, Binh brought fresh second-rate vegetables, and Mr. Sau went to call people who often eat at cheap restaurants around the bus station.

Khoi is not allowed to call this session a market survey. Ha said that name makes people feel like they are being measured. They wrote on the cover:

CAN A MEAL BE REMADE?

Each person receives three colored slips. Green votes for items you want to keep, yellow votes for items that need to be replaced, blank votes for items you don't understand.

The group of night shift workers arrived first. They brought their own lunch boxes and sat near the door because they had to return to the workshop later. The group of students arrived later, each with only change and a phone placed face down on the table. A twelve-year-old girl walking with her mother kept looking at the pumpkin pot thinking it was sweet soup.

Khoi stood behind the table dividing the dishes. He read the name of each dish, clearly stating which parts used second-rate vegetables and which parts could be changed. Someone asked why the chef didn't taste it directly. I don't hide it.

"I'm recovering from an illness. My sense of taste hasn't fully returned yet."

A worker asked: "So how do you know the right dish?"

Khoi replied: "I don't know alone. So today I need everyone to talk."

The answer made a few people laugh, but not in derision. It makes the air lighter. Khoi was afraid that others would see him as a failed chef. For the first time, he talked about limits without feeling like he had to apologize.

The first dish is chicken rice braised with ginger, divided into two versions: less sweet and stronger. Khoi did not write any names on the tray, just used the symbols A and B. Ha stood at the end of the table, watching the diner take the first bite. Vy recorded the time from receiving the order to voting. Binh went from table to table asking if the amount of vegetables was enough.

The group of workers chose B. They said the stock must be strong enough to eat with cold rice if they don't make it back in time. The group of students chose A, saying they don't want to be thirsty after eating at night. One person in the older group asked for version C: less sweet, with more ginger, not too much stock.

Khoi asked: "Should we make two versions or one with extra spices?"

Ha replied: "One foundation, two ways to perfect it."

“The kitchen will take more time.”

“People eat in return by not leaving their plates.”

Khoi wrote it on the board. A twelve year old boy doesn't eat chicken because it has bones. Ha gave me tofu, but I only ate pumpkin. My mother apologized for not being able to buy her own portion. Vy said the restaurant could charge half the rate. The boy asked if he could have more rice. Khoi said yes.

When his bowl was clean, he pulled his mother's hand and whispered: "Let's eat here again tomorrow."

Khoi heard it. He looked at his blank slip. A statement about tomorrow is not a score, but has more weight than many compliments.

The second dish is tofu in tomato sauce with tangerine peel spices from Ha. A student named Mai took a portion, smelled it, and asked if she could buy the spice jar separately. Ha said it was just a test mixture, not yet bottled.

Mai said: "But if the shop sells it, I will buy it. I live in a rented room, and cooking noodles also needs a smell."

One person Another asked if tangerine peels were discarded goods. The shell of the landing vessel is dried from second-class tangerines, but must be checked for cleanliness. The story turns to utilization. Some people like that idea, some people say you shouldn't turn a cheap part into a beautiful story to sell at a high price.

Khoi did not dodge. He said the price must clearly state the cost and cleaning effort. Ha added that improperly dried tangerine peels can mold and should not be collected arbitrarily. The group started asking more detailed questions about how to do it. Khoi realized that when eaters hear the process, they not only decide to eat or not; They understand why an item has such a price.

When it came to the soup, a problem occurred. The pot of cabbage soup has a slightly sour smell. Khoi cannot smell. Ha tasted it, put the spoon down immediately.

“No service.”

Vy looked at the number of waiting customers. "Maybe it's the second type of cabbage. Cook it with ginger?"

"Are not."

“We lost eight hundred thousand materials.”

“It's still cheaper than letting ten people eat and get a stomach ache.”

Khoi heard that sentence and immediately remembered Binh's words: the person checking the goods has the right to return the goods. Ha called Mr. Sau to confirm. He tasted it and said the soup had a fermented taste. The soup pot is thrown away.

A worker asked what was going on. Khoi bluntly said the vegetables were not good. That person said what to change, they don't want to eat bread. Binh took the remaining pumpkin, Ha cooked a pot of pumpkin soup for twenty minutes. The group of students helped peel pumpkins, and the boy helped pick herbs.

Those twenty minutes made the program slow. Some people have to go first, some people have to wait. But when the pot of soup first came out, no one asked why it took so long. They asked if the squash could add pepper.

Khoi stood in the corner of the room, hearing the sound of knives, pot lids, and people calling each other. He couldn't taste the soup, but knew it was made under the control of more people.

After the meal, they did not give out coupons immediately. Ha divided guests into three groups to chat. She asked if they had ever skipped a meal because of high prices, had they ever eaten an unsuitable dish because they had no choice, had they ever avoided a restaurant because they found the staff disrespectful.

The answers made Khoi more upset than the criticism of the dish. A female worker said there was a restaurant that gave them extra rice, but they looked at them like they were begging. One student said he once ordered a half portion, but was asked by the restaurant owner why he didn't order the full portion. An elderly man did not want to eat the free food because he was afraid of being debited.

Mr. Sau said: "People don't just buy food. People buy the feeling that they have the right to sit down."

Khoi wrote that sentence in the column "cannot be measured in grams".

Vy heard this and said that if the shop wants to respect everyone, it must keep the price clear enough and cannot add more on a whim. Some guests object because they like to be flexible. The debate lasted nearly half an hour.

One student said: "There can be two prices: the standard price and the meal fund. Those who can afford to pay more can contribute to the fund. Those who need a discount do not have to apply directly."

Vy asked: "Who manages the fund?"

"Public."

“Who confirms who needs it?”

"No need to confirm. Buy fund interest like buying normal interest."

Ha looked at Khoi. “The dish can also have a different calculation.”

Khoi does not want to turn the shop into a charity place. He has seen restaurants use the word "giving love" to cover up low labor costs. But the meal fund idea doesn't require one person to get down on their knees and receive it. It just divides the risk between those sitting at the same table.

Lan's mother, who was silent from the beginning, asked: "What if someone buys the fund but doesn't need it?"

The student replied: “So they help the shop survive. The shop doesn't need to ask if they are poor."

Lan's mother nodded. “Okay.”

The tasting ended when it was getting dark. Each person is invited to write a sentence on the card. They write many different things:

“Can I add vegetables without paying extra?”

“Don't name dishes with too fancy words.”

“Let me know when the ingredients change.”

“Don't let the cook go without being told.”

“Can we open the shop earlier for people working the morning shift?”

Khoi read the last sentence. The current opening hours of Bep Nha Kitchen are determined according to old habits. If you open early, you have to pay an extra shift. If you don't open, you will lose new customer groups.

Vy said: "We don't have enough people."

Ha replied: "We can split shifts."

“Who will pay?”

“Included in price.”

Khoi asked the group of workers how much extra they could pay for early access. One person said two thousand more. Others say it's impossible to add every day.

There is no beautiful answer. But there is one specific question to count.

On the way to carry the pot back to the shop, Khoi sat behind Binh's car because Ha had to go with Vy. Binh drove slowly along the riverside road. On both sides are food stalls that open late, kitchen smoke mixed with yellow light.

“How do you feel?” Binh asked.

“I feel like I know little.”

“That's good news.”

“You talk like Mr. Sau.”

"Mr. Sau speaks like me, only he has more time to speak."

Khoi laughed. After a while, Binh asked if his sense of taste had returned.

“Not yet.”

“Are you scared?”

"Have."

“Afraid of losing your job?”

“I'm afraid people will think I'm no longer useful.”

Gas reducer before a bad road. “Delivery people don't always have new cars. But if you know the way, you can still deliver.”

Khoi looked at the empty barrels tied behind him. “Do you really know the way?”

"Are not. I know how to ask the person before me.”

When she returned to the shop, Ha posted the results on the wall. She does not rate dishes. She ranked them by “keep”, “replace”, “need to check” and “not enough data”.

The abandoned soup pot is in the "need to check vegetable process" section.

Khoi nodded. “Leave it.”

“Aren't you embarrassed?”

"Have. But if you delete it, someone else will repeat it tomorrow.”

Ha gave him a blank vote. “Someone said you should tell the guests about your loss of taste.”

“What do you think?”

“I think you don't need to mention your illness to be loved. But if you hide it, people won't understand why you ask so many questions."

Khoi picked up a pen and wrote on the corner of the board:

THE CHEF COULD NOT TASTE FULLY. THE STAFF WILL SAY IT CLEARLY AND ASK THE eater.

Vy read and looked up. “Are you really going to hang it?”

"I do not know."

Lan's mother used tape to stick the board on the wall. “Hang it.”

They stood looking at the words. It doesn't make the food taste better. It also doesn't help slow down the bank. But from that moment on, Khoi didn't have to pretend that his spoon could still decide everything.

That night, an email arrived in Kitchen Home's inbox. The sender is Man. Title: "Proposal for cooperation - opportunity to bring Bep Nha out of the market".

The attachment showed a shiny shop, glass open kitchen, menu written in white chalk. The last line reads: “The value of Bep Nha Kitchen lies in the family story; We can tell that story to more people.”

Khoi looked at the cover with the line "Don't let the cook go without talking".

Tomorrow, Man will come to the shop.

Khoi doesn't know if he wants to buy a story, or if he wants to buy the right to tell that story without the people who lived it.