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Shifting his attention back to the ingredients, Xia Yu found that with IGO online, whatever he wanted to buy could be purchased.
Within Tokyo, the average delivery time was two hours.
Even specialty stores in Osaka and Hokkaido that sold exotic flavors could deliver by the next day through special courier channels.
Of course, express delivery wasn't impossible, but you had to pay extra shipping. Xia Yu seriously suspected that IGO had built a global logistics network for ingredients. It seemed like Japan's Black Cat Yamato Transport only served ordinary people, while IGO chefs clearly had other channels.
IGO online shook Xia Yu's understanding of Tokyo and even the world, to the point of being revolutionary.
He knew this world wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface.
However, he never expected that the high-energy International Gourmet Institution IGO from "Food's Captive" would appear in this world.
Doesn't that mean there might possibly be a real Cooking God in this world, capable of using legendary ingredients to create those miraculous dishes that could enhance cellular activity, evolve life, and extend longevity?
Moreover, now that IGO had appeared, it was possible that its formidable dark adversary, the "Gourmet Association," existed too.
And then there were the various Gourmet Hunters.
Could it be that besides the normal world, there also existed an unknown culinary world?
Thinking of this, Xia Yu could no longer stay calm and couldn't help asking Shinohara Shigetaro.
"Mr. Shinohara, have you ever been to the culinary world?"
Unexpectedly, this question earned him a look as if from an idiot from the middle-aged man.
"You don't really believe those elusive legends, do you?" Shinohara Shigetaro smiled with a touch of amusement at the corner of his mouth. "The Gourmet God did exist, and his disciples founded the International Gourmet Institution, but after World War II, the Gourmet God disappeared without a trace. Many people say that the Gourmet God actually shattered the void and went to another vast culinary world, but according to our IGO's internal intelligence, the Gourmet God is actually living in seclusion somewhere in the world, enjoying his later years."
"Who is the current president of IGO?" Xia Yu asked with concern.
"A guy who's good at cooking with various spirits, not too old, you'll meet him," Shinohara Shigetaro chuckled.
"So... Mr. Shinohara, are there things in this world that defy human common sense? Like, chefs actually knowing martial arts, possessing great combat abilities, having demons hidden inside them, able to punch through an armored tank with one blow..."
"..."
His question was met with a prolonged silence from Shinohara Shigetaro.
"You have a wild imagination, young man," Shinohara Shigetaro came to his senses, holding his forehead as his mouth twitched slightly. "This world is not as exaggerated as your fantasies, but, well, there are always things science can't explain, but definitely not like what you're thinking."
Xia Yu reluctantly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed the high-energy force system from "Food's Captive" hadn't been transplanted here; otherwise, who could stop chefs knowing martial arts? With this thought, he understood why IGO wasn't as powerful in this world as in the original work.
Without superhuman strength, Gourmet Hunters naturally couldn't battle the national military forces.
The IGO International Gourmet Institution in this world was likely just another form of the United Nations, becoming a stage for power politics.
Shinohara's words had some concealment, he could tell, so Xia Yu wasn't truly at ease.
Oh well.
He'd better put away his wild imaginations for now. No matter how the world turned upside down, the little restaurant still had to be run. He couldn't lose to that little girl Tiqie Helinai in their bet.
"Is this bank card from my old man?"
Xia Yu glanced at the final item in the metal suitcase, picking it up and flipping it over to inspect it.
"Yes!"
"There is only one million yen in the card!"
Shinohara Shigetaro looked at Xia Yu with a 'I feel sorry for you' expression, patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "This is what your old man instructed, it's already been linked to your IGO account. Do your best. If anything happens, you can call my personal number..."
The middle-aged detective left his phone number and then waved his hand, leaving with flair.
One million yen!
What a rip-off!
Xia Yu held the bank card and felt like crying.
This amount was roughly equivalent to sixty thousand yuan.
He carefully calculated in his mind; the store didn't require rent, with just him as staff for now, a lone wolf with no expensive employment costs. So, in terms of operating costs for the small restaurant, a lot of funds had already been saved.
At the IGO online ingredient store, the highly rated [Tokyo Seafood Supply] priced a fresh large salmon at 4,000 yen, a significant markup from ordinary seafood markets.
Processed cod roe, marinated with chili and spices and considered a semi-finished ingredient, was priced at 2,000 yen per small box.
Xia's shop mainly served Chinese cuisine, which didn't currently need expensive seafood products. Xia Yu searched a long time in the app store before finding an ingredient store specializing in freshwater fish, called 'Green Field Fish Market.'
Being a coastal country with abundant seafood, Japanese people rarely ate freshwater fish.
Of course, this was also related to Japanese living habits. River fish had a strong earthy taste; if not cooked properly, they could indeed taste terrible. The most commonly consumed freshwater fish by Japanese was carp, but not the koi bred in ponds for appreciation, rather carp raised in mountain spring water, which was directly used for sashimi, tender and delicious, priced far above many sea fish.
Xia Yu was genuinely worried he wouldn't find a freshwater fish ingredient store on IGO online, as there were quite a few Chinese dishes that used freshwater fish.
For instance, the 'Squirrel Sea Bass' he cooked last night for two female Chinese tourists required sea bass to make.
"Has the old man been using the IGO store to purchase ingredients all this while?"
Another mystery in his heart was finally resolved.
Over the years, every evening when he returned home from school, the kitchen was always piled with various fresh ingredients; yet, Xia Yu never encountered the delivery supplier. Surely, the old man deliberately had IGO delivery personnel avoid crossing paths with ordinary world matters so Xia Yu wouldn't come into contact with them.
This could be a form of protection.
After all, the original Xia Yu had never shown any talent in cooking, but recently in the past week, through his own actions and results, Xia Yu changed the old man's mind.
Buy, buy, buy!
First, draft the menu for the coming week. Since the IGO ingredient store was already there, convenient and fast, with high-quality ingredients, he wasn't going to quibble over prices.
As the head chef and store manager, using the best ingredients while reducing operating costs to buy cheaper ingredients was, in Xia Yu's view, self-destructive!
He would rather slightly raise the prices of the dishes on the menu than use ingredients that lower the quality of the dishes.
Didn't Qian Rixiangzi's 'Mist House' and a host of restaurants opened by Far Moon graduates also purchase their ingredients from the IGO market? As an ambitious operator and head chef, one must be willing to invest. This also showed responsibility to one's culinary skills and customers.
After buying three days' worth of ingredients in one go, if it weren't for the restaurant's insufficient refrigeration space, Xia Yu would have bought all the ingredients needed for a week and kept them in reserve.
"Your account balance is..."
Tens of thousands of yen disappeared from the card in an instant, and Xia Yu couldn't help but tearfully look to the sky.
Could this one million last until April?
Very unlikely!
At this moment, Xia Yu's mind was filled with thoughts on how to maximize the use of this capital, to earn his first pot of gold, and to keep the restaurant running.
These thoughts summarized as: "On How to Use One Million Yen."
If the capital was exhausted and the restaurant's business hadn't improved, he would surely lose his bet with Tiqie Helinai.
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