323 Downtime 5 (1/2)
Looking around the kitchen while discarding some of the older preservatives who hadn't made it since his last visit, Dax turned to Ke who was on the other side of the counter.
”So, my options are pretty much unfeathered so what do you want?”
”... I don't really know, to be honest, I don't even know what half of these ingredients are.”
Answering honestly, Ke looked with confusion at the numerous jars and strange ingredients in front of her, but she nevertheless kept an open mind.
”Then let's do a menu dégustation, I'll whip up some starters.”
”A what now?”
As Dax started filleting a medium sized bluefin tuna, he took the time to explain some basic restaurant terminology.
”A tasting menu, simply put it's a collection of small sized dishes served together which allow you to try a wide array of different ingredients and preparations. Do you have any allergies?”
”I don't think so?”
”Good, then the first dish is ready, eat up.”
”Eh?”
Not having kept track of what Dax had been doing while she talked to him, Ke looked to the table in front her with surprise and immediately examined the plate that he placed in front of her. Dax had prepared a small dish of thinly sliced pieces of tuna on top of a simple salad which was marinated with some sort of dressing. Overall it was a very flavorful looking dish which had quite an inviting smell, but the raw fish on display put Ke off.
”... Is that… Raw fish?”
”No it's Carpaccio, the marinate serves to prepare the fish but it needs to be eaten fresh or the taste will spoil so please dig in. It's great, trust me.”
With visible hesitation clear on her face, Ke slowly reached for the fork and scooped up a forkful containing both fish and salad before quickly shoving it into her mouth with her eyes shut tightly.
”Mmmm!~”
”I told you it was great~”
With Ke forming a large smile on her face as she rapidly devoured the rest of her dish, Dax mimicked her smile as he started preparing for the next dish.
”Even though the fish is sooo soft the flavour really just explodes in my mouth! I don't think I've ever had fish like this before, it's so tasty!~”
”So what else do you want to try?”
”More fish~ I never really liked fish before, but this is great~”
Watching Ke on cloud nine with a large smile on her face, Dax got an idea for the next dish he wanted Ke to try.
”Normally using the same ingredient two times in a row is a sin, but I think I can make an exception.”
”While the first preparation was something more akin to something you could get in a fine restaurant, this is something which would be something more commonly found at a street vendor.”