I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 108



Only Noblemtl

I got the omnipotent tongue 108

segreto seoul

“When can I come again?”

Soyoung looks back with regret.

“Why? You seemed like you didn’t want to go to Korea, but now you regret it?”

“I had many good memories during my stay here. It’s all thanks to the Segreto family.”

Soyoung looks around at everyone and smiles. I’m glad she was able to leave Korea with good memories.

“I also started to like Korea.”

“Ella, why you?”

“I liked the unique atmosphere of Seoul. Seoul is a very old city, right? Although not many, there are still traces here and there. So, it was an attractive city to me in many ways.”

Ella traveled around a lot on her own during her stay in Seoul. At first, she didn’t really believe me when I told her that it was relatively safe to go out at night in Seoul. But after a few days, she started going sightseeing on her own with a guide.

“The people were friendly and I liked the food. I want to come back again sometime.”

Dominic also looks back and takes out his iPhone.

“That must have been nice. You must have exchanged contact information with a lot of girls, right?”

Dominic is startled by Sam’s words.

“We’re just friends. Friends!”

“Let’s say that’s true. Anyway, there are more guys who haven’t even dated.”

In such a noisy atmosphere, we stood in line, went through the formalities, and boarded the flight to New York.

* * *

“How are you, Logan?”

On the day I arrived in New York, the staff were all resting from the long flight, but I had no time to rest. I stopped by Logan’s architectural office to check on how the remodeling was progressing.

“I couldn’t rest comfortably because my employer gave me work. But thanks to that, I was able to achieve much more satisfactory results. I had more time than I thought.”

Logan nods with a satisfied look on his face.

“Going on a business trip actually turned out to be beneficial.”

“I will guide you. Please follow me.”

We followed him to Segreto. The entrance looked the same as before, except for a few additional lights.

“I changed the lighting to blend in better with the surroundings. I used indirect lighting more than before. Rather than highlighting the figure in a flashy way, a silhouette that blends in with the surroundings and reveals its presence in a subtle way is much more beautiful.”

He is right. I used to think the lighting was a bit too much, but now I think it would make a nice landscape painting if I took a picture with this area as the background.

“We added tables on the first floor. It’s winter now, so the garden is not open, but when the weather gets warmer, it will become a popular table spot. We also did some landscaping. The first floor hall is clearly separated from the kitchen and staff area. Customers won’t feel bad about being directed to a bad seat.”

There was an independent space with a partition as the boundary. As Logan said, there was a clear boundary called the dining room from here, so it didn’t look awkward.

“Of course, some guests will want to see the kitchen. There are also seats where you can see the cooking in the kitchen. If you sit here, you can watch the chefs preparing your food.”

Many fine dining restaurants have open kitchens.

There are two reasons for having an open kitchen. One is to give customers confidence by allowing them to see the hygiene and cleanliness of the kitchen with their own eyes.

Another is to create a certain level of tension in the kitchen staff. In an open kitchen, customers are always watching, so chefs cannot do anything carelessly during the cooking process. In a closed kitchen, the staff’s mentality becomes lax.

“I like it. It’s good.”

“We expanded the space on the second floor to the extent that it preserves personal space. The problem was solved by changing the layout a little.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

“It’s work. Please come back anytime.”

I took a thorough look around the restaurant to get used to the new environment. Now, I have to hire more staff to accommodate the increased number of tables. And I also have to hire people to work in Korea.

I posted a job ad in the local paper. I also posted it on Instagram and other communities that chefs use. The response was explosive. I got more applicants than I expected. I looked at their resumes, selected the right people, and contacted them. Then I had a quick interview.

“Chris, are you sure you want to work in Korea?”

Surprisingly, there are many American chefs who want to work in Korea. It may be a challenge for them. Overseas employment is a good option for those who want to change their environment and improve their career.

“you’re right.”

“Korea must be an unfamiliar country, is there a special reason?”

“I heard that if you do this job, you will sometimes have the opportunity to work overseas. I have always been interested in Asian culture. I also enjoy Japanese and Thai food. I also have some knowledge about Korea. I would like to test my potential in Korea. Of course, the good treatment is one of the reasons. They provide accommodations and the salary is good enough.”

I carefully sorted out the applicants. I can’t know everything about them through interviews, but there’s no way to know unless we work together. In the US, firing is free, so we can filter them out during the training period.

Among them, there were some applicants whose eyes sparkled.

“Rachel. What happened?”

Rachel, Daniel’s sous chef, applied for a staff position in Korea. I heard she was definitely planning to move to Daniel Japan as head chef, so what happened?

“As you can see, I ended up not being able to go to Japan. I guess I asked for too much authority.”

Rachel smiles wryly. She had asked Chef Daniel for full authority over the menu.

“I can’t give you that much authority at ‘Segreto Seoul.’ Korean customers are waiting for my food, not Rachel’s.”

I don’t know what Rachel was thinking, but this is not negotiable.

“I totally understand. I learned a lot from this. In the end, if I want to cook my own food, I have to take on the risk myself. Daniel received the investment, but I was so shocked when he said he wanted to cook his own food. The owner is the one who has to take on all the risks.”

She is clearly a talented chef, but she is not yet well known enough to have her own restaurant. She seems to be planning to become independent after making a name for herself at Segreto, but I am also happy to see her. There are many talented people at Segreto, so you can’t be too proud.

“Thank you for your understanding. These days, nationality is becoming less important in dining, but Italian and French are still different, right?

“Of course there will be things to learn. But I have been studying Italian cuisine consistently, so there won’t be any problems. Jehee won’t be discouraged just because he goes to a French restaurant, right?”

An Italian chef would have a lot to learn if he were to switch to French, but French chefs actually know almost all the recipes, so if they learn the recipes, they can jump right into the kitchen and do their job. And the cuisines of the two countries in particular have a lot in common.

“Okay, I think it would be really helpful if Rachel could join us. It’s been really hard to find a head chef to work in Korea.”

I work as both head chef and sous chef in New York. I can’t do that in Korea.

“Thank you. Now it’s time to start again. It’s a repetitive process, but starting over is always exciting and worrying.

I’ve tried Segreto’s food. I was really surprised. I thought, “This is the kind of food that Jehee serves in his restaurant. I reflected on it. I want to learn a lot.”

She extends her hand to me.

“I think I have a lot to learn from Rachel. Please take care of me.”

The staff recruitment is almost complete.

Most of the employees sent to Korea were Koreans. Even if they graduated from a culinary school in the United States and started working there, it is not easy to extend their visa and obtain permanent residency.

Segreto is registered as a US corporation, so it helps them extend their visas. In addition, they can work in Korea, so it would be a great deal for those who miss their hometown. Although they have to work in Korea, the fact that they speak English well is also a plus because of the nature of our restaurant. And after many attempts, we finally succeeded in scouting pastry chef Lee Ji-hye.

* * *

Business has resumed.

Since the business was closed for a while and the number of tables in the hall had increased, there were empty seats here and there during the first week. However, as word soon spread, reservations started to fill up as soon as they opened, just like before. However, I was not that at ease.

“Why is your expression dark?”

Jenny asks if my face doesn’t look good.

“I got my Michelin star too early.”

“How about that?”

“When a restaurant receives a Michelin star, it usually renews its menu. But our menu is not that old. If we change it too early, customers who come expecting the same menu may be disappointed.”

“So, does that mean we have to expand the menu in the end?”

“That’s right. That also needs a definite upgrade. Now that everyone has a reason to accept a slightly higher course price, the course quality will naturally go up.”

“Isn’t the seafood course enough?”

“That course is difficult to recommend to meat lovers. This time, we need to create a harmonious, high-quality course.”

“Hmm. I think so. The seafood course certainly got good reviews from critics and the Michelin Guide, but the regular menu is doing better. In the US, there are an overwhelming majority of people who like meat.”

America is a country of meat-eaters. They eat almost no vegetables or seafood.

“With Rachel and many other trainees, I don’t think there will be any major problems in running the restaurant. I think I should focus on coming up with new courses.”

“I understand.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jenny is looking at me like a stranger.

“I definitely think you’re amazing. If it were me, I wouldn’t have worried about that because I was so excited about receiving a Michelin star. Especially after successfully completing a major event like the G20.”

“This is not the end point. And we definitely need to make a profit. The moment we let our guard down and think we’ve turned a profit, dining is over. We need to keep improving.”

A restaurant with a fixed menu will not have regular customers. I want to be a restaurant that provides a new menu and amazing food every time you visit.

The newly joined chefs were individually interviewed to confirm their hopes and visions and were assigned to stations that matched their needs. Since the opening, the line, which had been suffering from a lack of manpower and had no time to rest from all sorts of chores to cooking, has been energized.

“Kim, that’s not Segreto’s dough. We blend wheat, so we need to beat it a little more.”

Dominic has a new assistant. Dominic is eager to teach Kim, as if he wants to get his work done quickly.

“Olivia, when you were cooking the fish, the temperature was too low. The flesh was already cooked, but the skin was not crispy. It is important to cook it at a high temperature for a short time. Do not overcook it.”

Ella also seemed to have had a hard time because she had a smile on her face.

“Stephen, when making sauce, the order is the most important. Just because the ingredients are the same doesn’t mean they taste the same. Don’t you learn this in the CIA? You have to follow the order, and remember the texture exactly when you go to the mortar. If you make it like this, you’ll get scolded by the head chef.”

Soyoung wanted to change parts, but she wanted to stay in the cold part. She was particularly talented in sauce, so I agreed to let her specialize in that area.

And Sam is passing on the overall operation of the restaurant and recipes to Rachel. Rachel is a 15-year veteran, so she quickly picks up on the points she needs to learn from watching the restaurant run. As a French chef, she is a little weak when it comes to pasta and risotto.

Everyone is doing their own thing. It has been a tough road to get the kitchen running smoothly like this. From the beginning of the opening, everyone must have worked hard with the determination to do the work of two people.

I looked at them with a happy expression and then moved to my office to start thinking about a new menu. I had a concept in mind.

The first time I did molecular gastronomy, because I wanted to show my creativity and skills. The second time I prepared a seafood dinner. I wanted to surprise people with various ingenious recipes and sauces that actively utilized fermentation.

Now it’s time to go back to tradition. I plan to reinterpret traditional European dishes with my own touch. I started writing down my thoughts in a cooking notebook.