Daddy's Gourmet Shop

Chapter 639 - 623: The Celebrity Effect

A little after eleven o’clock.The people shopping nearby, along with the office workers who still had to work on Saturday, started looking for food.

"Eh? This place is new, huh? There are quite a few people eating inside, but I don’t know if the food is any good or not."

A family of five were drawn over by the neat row of fancy flower baskets outside the door. They stopped outside the restaurant and peered in, hesitating over whether to go in and eat.

"Yes, we’re just opening today. All of our dishes are cooked with the freshest ingredients, and they taste really great."

Yang Huiru, who was in charge of making drinks at the small counter next to the cashier, heard them and replied politely while handing them a menu brochure: "You can take a look at the menu. Today, if you dine in, everything is 10% off except alcohol and drinks. We’d love to have your family of five come in and give us a try."

"Ten percent off, huh..."

The father of the family of four was a little tempted and looked down at the promo menu.

Wow~

There were quite a few serious signature dishes!

The prices weren’t cheap either!

Fortunately, there were also some budget-friendly dishes.

So yeah!

Overall, the price was still within what they could afford.

But people, you know.

When they’re faced with something they haven’t tried, they always get tangled up and can’t quite make up their minds.

At that moment.

His wife looked through the floor-to-ceiling window and spotted Liu Qianqian and Ma Yong eating inside. They looked familiar to her, and she vaguely remembered who they were. Not entirely sure, she said, "Hey? Look, aren’t those two our local TV station’s news channel hosts, Liu Qianqian and Ma Yong?"

The man looked as well: "Oh wow, it really is the two of them... How come they’re eating at this place?! Looks like the food here must be pretty good, otherwise it wouldn’t have drawn these two hosts over, right?"

This was probably what you call the celebrity effect!

He’d still been hesitating over whether the food here was any good, but now that he saw two well‑known hosts inside, the balance in his heart started tipping.

The woman said, "Huh? That elegant lady next to Liu Qianqian looks familiar too...... Oh, I know... isn’t she Chief Editor Lin from the magazine Food and Beauty? How come she’s here too? And there’s a photographer—could she be here to do a shoot for this restaurant?"

Yang Huiru smiled politely and said, "That’s right, Chief Editor Lin from Food and Beauty is here doing a column interview at our restaurant!"

"A column interview?"

The woman exclaimed in surprise.

She didn’t really read food magazines much, but she still knew a bit about Food and Beauty.

That magazine hadn’t had this column before!

Seeing how surprised the customer was, Yang Huiru smiled as she added an explanation: "Yes, a column interview. Chief Editor Lin created this column specially for the food at our place."

Her words were full of pride!

But as soon as she said that.

The customers who’d been on the fence all looked up in surprise, mouths slightly open.

You had to wonder.

Just how good was the food at this place? It was actually enough for Food and Beauty to make a special exception and start a dedicated column for it?

When they looked up and got a clear look at the signboard, they felt the three characters for "So Delicious" looked very familiar...

The customers who’d paid even a little attention to the recent issues of Food and Beauty, or who’d read the food section of Wenling Morning News’ New Year travel guide, suddenly had their memories jogged...

Could this be that same Delicious Restaurant that had been featured twice in Food and Beauty?

Could this be that same Delicious Restaurant that ranked first in the food section of Wenling Morning News’ New Year travel guide?

But here’s the problem!

The address didn’t match!

If you don’t understand, just ask!

"So what’s the relationship between your Delicious Restaurant here and the Delicious Restaurant over on West City Old Street?"

With a smile, Yang Huiru replied, "It’s the same restaurant. This downtown location is a new branch our boss just opened."

So that’s how it was!

"All right, since it’s a place strongly recommended by Food and Beauty and the Morning News, we really ought to give it a try."

"Yeah, we’ll come in and support you, see how your cooking tastes."

"When I read the New Year travel guide food section in the Morning News, I was already thinking I should go and try it if I got the chance. But West City Old Street is a bit far, and I was always too lazy to make a special trip. Now that the restaurant has opened right by our doorstep, of course we have to come and try it."

"If I remember right, this place even took part in the city’s food festival last year! I saw on the news at the time that they won the Most Popular Food Booth Award! I heard their marinated snacks and fish balls were really good, but I was too busy during the food festival to go taste them. Later on, I never really had a reason to head out to West City Old Street, so it just kept getting put off. Now that we’ve got the chance, we really should go in and give it a try."

"Aiya, those two food critics, Elder Wei and Elder Qin, are both here!"

In an instant.

The customers who originally had a somewhat good impression of Delicious Restaurant, once they learned that this place was actually a branch of Delicious Restaurant, all walked into the shop one after another.

On top of that, with quite a few well‑known figures dining inside, the customers who had still been hesitating also responded to the celebrity effect, hurried in after them, wanting to have a quick taste.

Which led to the restaurant being packed, not a single seat left!

Because of this.

A small portion of customers could only wait outside for the moment.

If it weren’t for this restaurant’s famous reputation, if it weren’t for the celebrity effect, if it weren’t for the waves of aroma drifting out from inside, this small group of customers would definitely have been unwilling to wait and would have just left.

Now, they were instead taking a "since we’re here, we might as well relax" attitude, sitting on the benches outside, waiting.

And employees like Li Meiqing from Zhicheng Real Estate Agency, the moment they got off work, rushed straight toward Delicious Restaurant.

Their pace wasn’t slow; they got there in just three or four minutes.

Seeing there were already quite a lot of people, they hurriedly joined the line.

As soon as they’d found their spots, more people started lining up behind them.

Looking at the number of people already in front, Li Meiqing said with relief, "Good thing we came over as soon as we got off work, otherwise later I wouldn’t even know if we could still get the new dishes here."

She’d seen people on Weibo the day before saying you absolutely have to come line up early, otherwise you’ll regret it to death when everything you want to buy is sold out.

Back then she’d only thought they were exaggerating just a tiny bit.

After all, this is just a branch; lots of Old Street regulars definitely wouldn’t make a special trip over here, and the regulars in the downtown area can’t compare in number with those at Old Street.

Now, seeing so many people already in line, she felt it was lucky she’d ultimately trusted what they said and sprinted over here at hundred‑meter‑dash speed the moment she got off work.

"Exactly, exactly, if we can’t eat the new dishes, just thinking about it is such a loss." Su Ruiqi nodded in agreement. They’d mainly come today for those new dishes.

Never mind how many people were in line.

Fortunately, the pace of moving forward was actually pretty fast, so they patiently waited, full of anticipation.

Inside the restaurant.

That family of four had already finished ordering, and the first dish to arrive at their table was Longjing Shrimp.

The shrimp was white with a hint of pink, dotted with jade‑green Longjing tea leaves, and a bright, clear tea broth clung to the shrimp. The fresh aroma of the shrimp interwove with the fragrance of the tea, drilling into the noses of the family of four.

Aiya~

It really did smell great!

And the pale pink shrimp against the emerald bed of tea leaves set each other off nicely; just looking at the colors gave people a strong sense of freshness.

Regardless of how it tasted, it already basically had color, aroma, presentation, and spirit all wrapped up.

"Wow, what beautiful shrimp..."

"Mama, I want shrimp‑shrimp..."

The two kids couldn’t help but shout.

"Okay, Mama will get you some..."

The woman smiled as she picked up a piece of shrimp and put it into the child’s bowl. "Eat up!"

She also picked up a piece of shrimp and put it into her own mouth. First she felt the slippery tenderness of the shrimp coated in the starchy sauce, the thin layer of sauce mixed with egg white giving it a rich texture, and then came the sweetness of the shrimp meat, melding perfectly with the tea fragrance.

When she bit into the tea leaves, the freshness and ethereal flavor of the top‑grade green tea were fully drawn out by the shrimp’s sweetness, the lingering sweetness in her mouth even more pronounced, with a faint, fresh sweetness that made the aftertaste unforgettable.

She didn’t even notice when the server came over and set down two glasses of mung bean milkshake.

The woman couldn’t help but sigh, "The Longjing Shrimp here is simply incredible. Who would’ve thought this was made by an ordinary restaurant."

The man nodded in agreement, still savoring the taste from just now. "Truly incredible. This time we really came to the right place. I’ve had Longjing Shrimp at so many places—if I don’t call this the best, it’s at least top‑notch, top‑notch good."

Like them, there were plenty of diners who’d originally come in with a "let’s just give it a try" mentality and then were blown away.

For a while.

Exclamations of praise burst out across the restaurant.

"Damn, these braised chicken feet are the real deal, way better than the ones you buy at braised snack shops. Gnawing on these while binge‑watching shows would be pure bliss. Add a bottle of happy fizzy sugar water, and that’s basically happiness on a godly level..."

"This roast duck tastes amazing. The skin is super crispy; one bite and the oil just sizzles out, but it’s rich without being greasy. The duck meat itself is tender and soft. Use four words to describe it—crispy outside, tender inside."

"This deep‑fried Xiangling is golden in color, fragrant and crisp, and it crunches as clearly as a bell when you bite down! Dip it in the special sweet‑and‑sour sauce and it’s got a whole different kind of flavor!"

"This Dongpo Pork—just one sniff and the aroma is everywhere. The taste is also incredibly delicious, and it’s so tender, cottony, and soft, not sticky to the teeth at all, and not the least bit greasy when you eat it~"

"..."

Just as the diners were singing the dishes’ praises nonstop, that cold, mechanical prompt sounded once again in Huang Tao’s mind.