Frankly speaking, the first time Zou Guodong went to Salia to eat, the initial experience was not good.
And this unpleasant mood is completely opposite to when I went to get a haircut just now.
When I was getting a haircut, I was so happy when I saw the hair salon, but now Zou Guodong is so depressed.
If not for anything else, it was because the restaurant Ning Weimin took him to was actually located above a vegetable market.
The location of the restaurant is really terrible!
Not to mention the noise and chaos of bargaining and people passing by in the market, there is also a large amount of sewage, vegetable leaves and garbage on the market floor.
The key is that the restaurant is still at the end of the vegetable market, in the corner of the corner.
Even the stairs leading to the restaurant are filled with foam boxes and sundries used by vendors to preserve freshness.
And as soon as you walk into the market, you can smell a very strong smell of seafood.
A place like this, not to mention "high-end" Western food, needs to pay attention to the atmosphere.
In Zou Guodong's view, even running an ordinary restaurant is very difficult.
If you open a restaurant here, probably no one will patronize it except the vendors in the market.
Not to mention the inconvenience, the key is that it is dirty, messy and smelly.
Who would want to dine in such a terrible place?
So before arriving at the destination, Zou Guodong couldn't help but express doubts.
"I said Weimin, are we in the wrong place? How can there be a Western restaurant in a place like this? Who would come here to eat?"
Ning Weimin did not explain, but continued walking in vaguely.
"Just come with me. I've been here several times, and I can't make a mistake. Don't worry."
"Really? You've been here several times? Is it really here?" Zou Guodong became more and more confused, "But...don't the Japanese love to be clean the most? Why would they choose such a dirty place to open?"
Dining room?"
"Haha, in fact, many people feel the same way as you when they come here for the first time. They think there is something wrong with the location, but this is what makes this restaurant great. Think about it, even such a bad place can still attract customers
The huge door makes people flock to it. Isn't it worth a visit? I believe that as long as you go in and finish eating before you come out, you will never say "bad" again. How about we make a bet?
"
"Ah? Is it true? Why am I getting more and more suspenseful the more I listen to it. I don't want to bet. Who knows what bad things you are holding back..."
"Hey, you are too prejudiced against me. Anyway, it can't be fake, and it can't be true. Let's not mention it. We come here to eat, so it would be appropriate to go later. Look, it's almost eight o'clock. It's almost already staggered.
It’s peak dining time. Otherwise, we would still have to queue up, at least starting from the stairwell. If we had not waited for half an hour, we would definitely not be able to eat..."
"You're still queuing up, you're getting more and more awesome!"
Zou Guodong became more and more disbelieving.
But I didn't expect that as soon as I went up the stairs, I found that Ning Weimin had said it right again.
Because even at this time, the restaurant upstairs with red and green decorative colors as its main image was still full.
There are even waiting customers who have to wait for five or six tables to be arranged before it can be their turn.
But the good thing is that we Chinese are the most experienced when it comes to waiting in line for a seat.
Even Zou Guodong and Ning Weimin have endured hardships, and they have long been accustomed to it.
So I didn't feel anything bad after waiting for ten minutes.
What's more, no matter how simple the environment of Japanese restaurants is, they still look much higher than the restaurants in our alleys.
Seeing that there are sofa seats and chandeliers inside, it doesn't seem so unbearable.
Moreover, it was somewhat exotic and seemed expensive per capita, so Zou Guodong stopped saying anything.
However, when Ning Weimin kept raising his wrist to check the time, Zou Guodong was surprised to notice that his watch had been changed again.
The original Omega was actually replaced by a pure new Cartier.
So Zou Guodong found a new topic and couldn't help pointing to his hand and jokingly said, "Okay, don't show off. You look at your watch so diligently. I really have you. I bought the house, but the furniture is not there."
So shabby. He spent 20,000 yen to take me to get a haircut, and even quietly changed it to such an expensive watch. Yet he brought me to a place like this for a dinner party. Look, look, this took me
Where did you come from? You haven't eaten yet, and you have to walk through the mountains of vegetables and groceries. You are playing a war game as a child. Besides, you don't know what this red and green combination is called in China, right?
…”
However, he knows that he is happy. Even in the face of Zou Guodong's squeeze, Ning Weimin, who has achieved both career and emotional success, is still happy.
"What's the matter? Mr. Zou, are you interested in this watch of mine? It doesn't matter, I'll get you one tomorrow too. Anyway, you'll need it when you meet the Japanese later."
"Don't say goodbye, I don't mean that. This watch is from Cartier, so it costs millions of yen, right? Don't scare me, I won't even dare to ask for it if you give it to me. I don't have as much money as you. I don't want to wear it.
I can’t afford this thing.”
Zou Guodong was also frightened by his words and quickly shook his head.
"I actually just want to advise you. You are still young. Don't worry too much about the flashy things on the outside. The inner substance is the important thing. Look at you, just drive a big American Jeep and travel around the country all day long.
You also used gold lighters to pretend to be a tycoon, which made our company executives imitate you. They all reached out to the company to ask for a car, and because they gathered together to use gold lighters, they couldn't tell whose belongings belonged to them, causing several troubles.
.We almost recruited all the police officers to our company to solve the case. When will your extravagant hobby reach its peak? The first rafter will be broken first, and the first bird will be shot. Don’t you know this truth? The key is your current status now.
It’s very special. He is no longer an ordinary middle-level manager. He is a shareholder of Huaxia Company and Yi Lade Company. In name only, even I am working for you. Young people in the whole company regard you as
Idols come to worship. Do you understand what I mean? What goes up brings results. It’s easy to say abroad, but when you return to China one day, you have to consider the impact of your actions..."
Faced with Zou Guodong's earnest instruction as an elder, Ning Weimin remained speechless and continued to eat wontons with a smile.
I actually said to myself, "Oh, you Zou Principle, give me another political lesson."
If you are jealous, you are jealous. If I tell you who gave me this watch, you will probably be even more shocked.
Besides, you don't get any points for saying such things.
For the inner flesh? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought you here.
Didn’t you make a hasty judgment about this restaurant based on its appearance alone?
We'll talk about it later when we get in. I want to see how you react when you get the menu.
Indeed, despite scoffing at Salia's not-so-respectable location, Zou Guodong also complained about the poor service after entering, with no one serving tea or water.
Even because there were only two of them, they were not assigned to a comfortable seat with a sofa seat on the train, and Zou Guodong was a bit embarrassed.
But after he got a seat and sat down, Zou Guodong, who had the menu in hand, still did not escape Salia's "real fragrance" law!
You know, the reputation as the “price killer” in the catering industry is not in vain!
Zou Guodong, who has no idea about the restaurant's business style, will find an unbelievable fact once he opens Salia's menu.
Why are the dishes so rich?
It’s so cheap again!
Indeed, Salia's menu has hundreds of dishes.
The menu covers soup, cheese, salad, barbecue, pizza, pasta, rice, desserts, wine, and most of the iconic dishes of Italian cuisine.
And all are accompanied by beautiful and attractive photos.
As for how cheap it can be?
Among these one hundred dishes, seventy-eight dishes are less than 500 yen.
If you want to have an appetizer, guests can choose a corn soup or mushroom soup for only 149 yen.
You can also spend 399 yen to eat a portion of six garlic snails.
Or order a calorie bomb - baked potatoes with cheese and bacon, hash browns with milk and so on.
Or spend 299 yen and order a garden salad or spinach bacon.
As for the choice of staple food, for 499 yen, you can order a six-inch double cheese pizza, or a small barbecue such as garlic chicken steak and sausage platter.
For 399 yen, you can have a serving of seafood garlic pasta and ink ink pasta.
If you want to be extravagant, you can order a sirloin steak for 999 yen, or a super satisfying barbecue platter for 899 yen.
If you get tired of eating, you can grab a 100-yen unlimited soft drink or oolong tea.
You can also add dessert after the meal, and for 149 yen you can enjoy a waffle with chocolate sauce ice cream.
In Salia, the most expensive product is the Tiano dry red wine from Tuscany.
A bottle of 750ml red wine only costs 1,599 yen.
Isn't this cheap enough?
Simply too cheap!
To put it bluntly, based on the appetite of an adult man, ordering three dishes is enough.
The daily consumption cannot exceed 1,500 yen.
This is Western food!
What’s more, it’s in Tokyo!
Japanese people who earn at least 150,000 yen per month, spending this amount of money on a meal is equivalent to people in Beijing who earn 100 yuan per month spending 1 yuan on a meal.
It can be said that the price is almost the same as the Japanese price of a dumpling set meal and a ramen set meal. It is equivalent to the people in the capital buying a pot sticker and some steamed buns from a restaurant. It is much more cost-effective than cooking at home.
Of course, a shopping mall veteran like Zou Guodong can easily calculate the approximate operating costs in his mind.
Based on his understanding of Western food and his understanding of the operating conditions of the company's Maxim Restaurant and Menimus, this price is close to a myth and is simply impossible to achieve.
Because even if the Japanese yen is converted into RMB at the black market price, one thousand five hundred yen is only more than forty yuan.
This kind of consumption level can only be regarded as an average level even if it is compared with the Western food consumption in Beijing.
In the capital, forty yuan is enough to eat Menimus, Lao Mo, and Xin Qiao.
But eating serious French food from Maxim and Jianguo Hotels is even less fun.
This resulted in Zou Guodong ordering dishes without any worries, as if he had found the feeling of dining in a restaurant in China.
I ordered all kinds of salads, soups, pastas, pizzas, teppanyaki grills, desserts, and even a bottle of the most expensive red wine.
To put it bluntly, even though he is from a third world country, the cash in his wallet can still afford it even if he eats everything on the menu.
Looking at Western restaurants all over the world, I am afraid that only here can he find such confidence.
He was so heroic, and Ning Weimin, as the host of the treat, had no reason to be stingy, and he was not to be outdone.
Not only did this boy follow the prescription and order the three or four dishes he needed, but he also specially selected a few of Salia's special dishes and recommended them to Zou Guodong.
As a result, the dishes they ordered were really "stuffy", and there were always more than a dozen dishes.
So when placing an order, the store clerk kept confirming with them and asking them repeatedly.
"Gentlemen, do you really want to order so much?"
The best thing is that the food is served very quickly. Within ten minutes, the entire table was filled with dishes.
But this was not enough, and the clerk regretted not taking them to a larger seat from the beginning.
In the end, we had to temporarily pull up another table to make up the number, and finally put all the dishes they requested.
As a result, some Japanese people around me looked at me with big eyes and small eyes, looking at me with completely new eyes.
Zou Guodong and Ning Weimin began to enjoy their dinner.
But to be honest, even though the price was so cheap, Zou Guodong still had some concerns and worries before the dishes were served.
Because as the saying goes, cheap stuff doesn’t mean good stuff.
Can such cheap Western food be delicious?
But when the dishes were served, Zou Guodong picked up the knife, fork and spoon and started eating. From the moment he put the first bite of food on his tongue, he felt more and more that this restaurant was amazing.
To be fair, when it comes to taste, these dishes are naturally not as good as the most authentic Italian dishes.
For example, Salia's most popular item, grilled corn with cheese, only has a layer of corn on the surface that is fully mixed with cheese.
For example, the black pine oil pasta is so weird that it makes people want to shout "Oh my god".
Especially the baked snail dish that imitates French cuisine, which makes Zou Guodong, a diner who is already familiar with French cuisine, feel very funny.
It feels like a pure Beijing person drinking soy milk-flavored soy milk, or eating fried liver without garlic and without the soup.
But even so, he had to admit that the taste of these dishes could not be said to be unpalatable. At least they were much better than the "Yili Fast Food" jointly produced by the Yili Food Factory in Beijing and people from Hong Kong.
In addition, even if the ingredients are insufficient, you can't blame the store for being evil. After all, the price is here.
And not all the dishes are bad, just like the mushroom soup, which is full of rich milky and mushroom flavor.
Tuna salad, the vegetables are not only very fresh, there is also a lot of fish, and the price/performance ratio is quite high.
The iron plate sausage is paired with chicken steak. The chicken steak is very tender and the grilled sausage is also unique.
The taste is just that of black pepper, which is quite average. Although it's not necessarily that good, it's still worth eighty points.
Especially the seafood pasta and seafood baked rice, just looking at the ingredients, they are quite sufficient.
What about squid, shrimp, scallops, seafood sauce, cuttlefish balls...
I don’t know if it’s because of Japan’s natural geographical advantages, or because the restaurant is located right next to a wet market, but anyway, customers can have freedom of seafood in minutes.
All in all, Zou Guodong has to admit that most of the dishes taste pretty good.
Even if there are flaws, considering the price of the single product, the price is low enough to completely make up for the regret.
Compared with eating until you are satisfied and your belly is stretched out, you can feel the most primitive happiness that food brings to you.
No matter how much dissatisfaction he had at the beginning, it would disappear completely.
It even caused him to start some degree of self-reflection.
With such a price, do we really have to demand so much from it?