I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 135



Only Noblemtl

Episode 135 The Perfectionist

“Director Lee, did you come in with the camera on?”

After PD Kim suddenly comes to his senses, he asks the camera director a question.

“No, I haven’t turned it on yet.”

“Then let’s re-film the scene where they open the door and come in. So that the viewers can feel exactly what we felt right now. Chef Shin, is that possible?”

“Of course.”

Following PD Kim’s instructions, filming began again from the entrance. After dialing the number and opening the door, the camera director entered, chose a spot with a good view, and began capturing the entire view of the wine cellar.

“It’s so amazing, I’m speechless. How many bottles does it make?”

Soo-Jung asks in admiration.

“It will be a little over 20,000 bottles. And there are still many bottles waiting to be cleared by customs.”

“Are there more in New York?”

Soo-Jung looks around and asks if it’s her first time in a wine cellar.

“There are about 50,000 bottles of wine there. We continue to purchase a certain amount every year.”

“This may be a bit of a worldly question, but how much would you get if you sold all of this?”

The staff members also seemed curious about Lee Han-young’s question, and their eyes turned to Je-hee.

“It’s hard to give you a specific number, but I would easily buy an apartment in Gangnam.”

The price of wine has been steadily rising for the past 10 years. This is because the supply is constant and the number of people who enjoy wine continues to increase. This trend will not change in the future. Jehee, who knew this well, was making an investment that would never lose money, but in the eyes of the staff, he looked like a madman who was burning billions of won in the restaurant’s wine cellar.

“It’s truly spectacular. It’s like looking into a library packed with books.”

Lee Han-young looks around. There are wine bottles everywhere. The racks that seem to be specially made reach the ceiling. And the inside is filled with wine bottles lying down. It smells like cork and grapes. Han-young, who loves alcohol, thinks that if he ever becomes a billionaire, he would like to own a cellar like this.

“With so many wines, isn’t it hard to find what you want?”

Soo-Jung asks Jae-Hee a question.

“The person in charge is over there. Jonghyun!”

He calls Jonghyun, who was writing the wine list.

“This is Choi Jong-Hyeon, the sommelier in charge of the hall and wine at our restaurant.”

Jaehee introduces Jonghyun to the staff.

“Hello. I am Choi Jong-Hyeon, a sommelier.”

Jonghyun greets Soojung and Hanyoung.

“What is a sommelier? Please give our viewers a brief introduction.”

“In a word, I would say I am a wine connoisseur. I manage the wines in the restaurant and create a list to provide the best wine to match the meal to the guests. And serving the guests is also one of our important jobs.”

“It sounds very unfamiliar to me. Are there many sommeliers in Korea?”

Soo-Jung takes out a cue card, glances at it, and asks him the question she prepared.

“I understand that there are less than 300 sommeliers currently working in Korea. It is certainly not a profession that is familiar to the public.”

Jonghyun answers with a smile.

“There is no nationally recognized qualification for sommeliers. There are many private institutions, and if you receive training there and work there, you can properly be called a sommelier.

However, among them, there are institutions that are recognized as credible worldwide. There are WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) and CMS (Court of Master Sommelies), and Jong-hyun is a person who has passed the second level of the four-level CMS qualification exam. He is a high-level person who is really hard to find in Korea.”

Jehee provides further explanation.

“You have a great person working here. We were talking about this earlier, but how do you find what you want among all these wines?”

Sujeong returns to the original topic and asks Jonghyun a question.

“You can think of it as a library system. We have all our wines registered in the computer. And the sectors are divided by region. But even without that, after spending time here, I’ve been able to find the names of things by themselves.”

There are aspects of being a sommelier that you can learn from just looking at the bottles without tasting them. Jonghyun was planning to memorize all the wines here.

“Sorry for the curiosity question, but what is the most expensive wine here right now?”

Ratings are important. Han-Young asks questions that will interest viewers.

“Wine is also a frequent item at auctions. Collectors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for wines that are particularly rare or have a unique story. Excluding those exceptional wines, Romanee Conti is the most expensive wine. We have several bottles in our restaurant.”

“How much does it cost?”

“In New York, it sells for about $10,000. But in Korea, it’s more expensive. In Korea, the tax on expensive wine is over 68%.”

“Oh my goodness. A bottle of wine costs the price of a car. Do people actually order wine like this?”

“Of course, there aren’t many. However, the head chef believes that a good wine list is the quality of a restaurant. Thanks to him, I’ve been able to handle many good wines and gain valuable experience.”

“Does it really cost a lot of money to learn about wine?”

“That’s not true. Many people in Europe enjoy wine, but few enjoy expensive wine. The quality of a wine worth millions of won and a wine worth 50,000 won is not as different as the price. I would like to tell you that there are plenty of good wines at reasonable prices. In fact, you can enjoy them at a lower price than alcohol such as whiskey or cognac, so you can start with a light heart.”

Jaehee nods in agreement with Jonghyun’s explanation.

“You are taking the path of a sommelier, which is rare in Korea. Could you tell us about the unique charm of this profession?”

There is a mystique to the profession of sommelier, and Han-Young wanted to make good use of this on the show.

“The great appeal of this job is that it allows me to communicate with people through wine. Sommeliers are basically in the service industry, which requires them to serve customers. I like recommending wines that go well with food to customers and having pleasant conversations through this. For those who are particularly interested in wine, I also tell them about the history of wine, how it is made, and the hidden stories behind it. When that happens, I feel like my studies were worth it.”

“Jonghyun is excellent at choosing wine. I often feel that the dishes I make taste richer because of the wine.”

Jonghyun bows his head slightly to express his gratitude at Jaehee’s words.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I learned about the profession of sommelier.”

After Han-Young’s greetings, the staff came out of the wine cellar and started looking for other materials.

“Are you ready to start selling now?”

Soo-Jung asks Jae-Hee a question. Looking at the clock, it was 4 p.m.

“Now only the final step remains.”

“What’s left?”

“Follow me.”

The staff members follow Jehee down the stairs and go to the pass. Then, the staff members start cooking busily.

“Why are chefs suddenly cooking?”

“I do a final inspection of all the dishes that will be served today. Once the guests come in, there is no time to give feedback. If there are any problems, they need to be resolved before then.”

“Do you do this every day?”

“Of course. The dish changes depending on the chef’s condition. Depending on the physical condition, there is a slight difference in the sense of taste. I correct that at the end.”

“Ah! I guess that’s possible since you have an absolute sense of taste.”

Since all the preparations were done, it didn’t take long for the food to come out. The plates started to be placed on the table. Jehee carefully tasted the food starting from the left.

“Substitution. There’s a little less salt. Add a pinch more.”

“Yes, Chef.”

“Chris. Today is perfect.”

“yes!”

Chris clenches his fist and roars. He was a staff member who usually received a lot of criticism. However, after training for the past few weeks, he passed Jehee’s strict standards in one go.

After tasting all the food, the real dinner service time began.

The hall staff walk around checking the tablecloths and cutlery. Jonghyun is wiping the wine glass. The chefs nervously check the ingredients needed for their dishes one more time. And then the customers start to come in.

“Welcome. This is Segreto.”

Jonghyun greets guests in a neat suit and with refined manners.

“Are you taking a picture?”

“of course.”

The orders started pouring in. When Jehee called out the menu, the chefs responded, the stove turned on, and the ingredients were placed on the pan.

The filming crew stood aside so as not to disturb the scene, set up their cameras, and watched quietly.

After filming, the Gourmet Road Fine Dining episode was aired after a week of editing, and it left behind a lot of controversy and discussion.

* * *

[I got a sudden shock after watching Gourmet Road.

I am a chef in my third year. I currently work at an Italian restaurant outside of Seoul, and business is going pretty well. But after watching the show, I started to wonder what I am doing.

We also make our own tomato sauce. It’s a recipe that involves boiling whole canned tomatoes, adding dried herbs, sugar, salt, and MSG, and it tastes similar to the sauces in bottles sold at the supermarket.

Pasta is boiled in the morning by boiling the dried noodles all at once. It is boiled for 4 minutes in advance, and then cooked for 4 minutes when an order comes in later. Actually, the pasta in our restaurant is quite delicious. Of course, the restaurant that appeared on TV cannot sell pasta for 10,000 won like our restaurant. Still, I envied the pride on the faces of the chefs who cooked. I also wanted to make a more proper dish.

└Isn’t it because the genres are different? What’s the difference between someone who does popular music and someone who does classical music?

└The popularity of pop music is really bad. Classical music was also popular music in that era.

└What is certain is that there were more people working than expected. If you do it all, there will probably be over 50 people, right?

└Farm to table? I never thought something like that would be possible in Korea.

└I’ve been to the main branch in New York and have already been to Segreto Seoul three times since it opened, and there was almost no difference in quality. The main branch’s medieval interior is the best, but Seoul has its own charm. The food goes without saying.

└You’re rich. I envy you.

└Does Shin Je-hee make any money if she runs a restaurant like that?

└Looking at the last interview, he reassured his customers by saying that he was making enough money and that they should not worry. He also said that in New York, customers intentionally ordered expensive wines for fear that the restaurant would close down.

└Honestly, there should be a restaurant like this in Korea too. I was watching a broadcast and got hungry so I ordered a late-night snack, but I remembered the food I saw on TV so I didn’t feel hungry. It’s a restaurant I definitely want to visit on a special day.

└The wine cellar was a real shock.

└This is Tobias. Not all fine dining owners are perfectionists like Chef Shin Je-hee. However, the restaurants that I found impressive were all similar. I feel the aura from Chef Shin Je-hee that I felt from the head chef of Noma, one of the world’s best restaurants, or Ferran Adria, the owner chef of El Bulli. Some people have criticized the price, but that’s nonsense. I think we should just be thankful that Korea has a proper fine dining scene and enjoy it.

Click.

I closed the internet browser I was viewing.

After the broadcast, we received many calls. Many people contacted us to invest, but we politely declined them all. There was a sharp increase in attempts to force reservations by introducing themselves as agents of famous celebrities or politicians and businessmen, but we handled everything according to the rules.

I also received a call from Chairman Seo. He was upset that his acquaintances who knew about Joohee and me were bothering me to make reservations, but I could hear in his voice that he was proud of me.

Now, Segreto Seoul seems to have settled down. My name value is not important. The restaurant itself must be trusted by the customers. Now that the proper system is in place, this place will be able to run well even if I am away.

After taking my time and handing over every detail to Rachel, I boarded the plane to New York with Joohee.