The restaurant where Konoe Ryoka brought Higashinoji and the others was called Washokutei.

In Japanese, ‘Ting’ also means ‘restaurant’, which translated means Japanese restaurant or Japanese restaurant.

The door of this restaurant is very short, only about 1.9 meters tall.

In fact, the doors of restaurants in Japanese Sakaya Street are basically this short. Unlike the Chinese who are grand and elegant, the Japanese are more focused on being small and delicate.

Konoe Ryoka opened the navy blue curtain with ease and walked inside.

This small restaurant called Japanese Pavilion covers a small area with yellow tiles. There are only three tables on the right side of the aisle, and they are all single tables that cannot seat two people.

It's a bar counter, and there are low dining chairs next to it.

Obviously, this is a bar-style restaurant, where the chef prepares the food behind the bar and hands it to the guests after ordering.

There is also a menu written on white paper on the top of the bar.

The grilled fish set is 700 yen, the barbecue set is 750 yen, the sushi set is 700 yen...

Feeling the homely and chic atmosphere in the restaurant, Higashinoji seems to be able to understand the mood of Inokashira Goro in "The Lonely Gourmet".

The so-called shop-finding on the street corner is probably this kind of state of mind, right?

Discover delicious food in the seemingly intricate streets of quaint wine houses... This is what countless gourmets long for.

No wonder the title is "The Lonely Gourmet". Perhaps many people were infected by Inokashira Goro's semi-travel-like mood of not being disturbed by others, so "The Lonely Gourmet" was able to achieve results in the previous life.

?

But it should be more than that.

Every episode of "The Lonely Gourmet" begins with Inokashira Goro dealing with difficult customers, similar to a chat format.

Although the characters of the customers in the TV series are deliberately exaggerated to add laughter to the audience.

But Inokashira Goro was struggling to deal with these strange customers, which also reflects the true portrayal of Japanese overtime workers who are busy in Tokyo and face all kinds of difficult customers.

What does ‘colorful black’ mean, ‘first like this, then like this, and finally like this, do you understand?’ These are all familiar requirements for Higashinoji.

After all, some parties are really unreasonable.

"I kind of understand Inokashira Goro's mood..." Higashinoji murmured to himself.

Then he heard Yumi Takahashi's curious inquiry next to him: "What food is the best? Lianghua?"

"Huh? I don't eat here often..." Konoe Ryoka said sheepishly.

She was just about to explain something more.

Then Tonoji saw the chef uncle walking out of the back room, with a happy face when he saw Konoe Ryoka: "Hey, Miss Ryoka is here for dinner again? You haven't been here for two days, I'm quite worried...

Is it still the same as the salt-grilled mackerel?”

This too familiar way of greeting made Higashino couldn't help but glance at Konoe Ryoka again.

Konoe Ryoka's face was already red, and she nodded silently to the chef, indicating that she would just do it as usual.

Then Konoe Ryoka turned back and whispered to Takahashi Yumi: "The boiled fish set here is very delicious... but I prefer the salt-grilled version."

"Oh! Then boss, please give me a boiled fish set meal."

Takahashi Yumi raised her hand and gave instructions to the chef in white chef uniform.

"Okay, I understand, I'll prepare it for you. I wonder what the other two want to eat?" The chef started to prepare and asked Higashinoji and Fujiwara Aoi sideways.

Higashinoji thought for a moment and decided to order the same salt-grilled mackerel set meal as Konoe Ryoka.

After all, Konoe Ryoka is a frequent visitor here, so it’s definitely a good idea to order from her.

Fujiwara Aoi on the other side thought about it and ordered a barbecue set meal.

The four of them sat down and waited for their food to be served.

Fujiwara Aoi still looked worried, and would look at Konoe Ryoka from time to time.

Attracted by her reaction, Higashinoji glanced at Konoe Ryoka while drinking the thirst-quenching barley tea brought by the shopkeeper.

Then Tonoji was stunned.

Although Konoe Ryoka still looked the same, he could clearly feel that the other person's eyes seemed to be shining.

The so-called hungry wolf saw meat...that's probably her current image.

However, considering that she still looked so limp, Higashino subconsciously crossed out the word wolf and replaced it with husky.

"Teacher Higashino."

Seeing that the food was coming, Takahashi Yumi also whispered: "I think you should pay more attention to Lianghua, she is really that kind of... Well, anyway, you can tell by looking at the two lumps on her chest.

Right? The nutrients are in the right place.”

Higashinoji responded with a smile, and then the food tray came up——

The first is Takahashi Yumi's boiled fish set. The cod is cooked until the sauce is oozing with yellow sauce, and the surface of the snow-white fish meat is slightly burnt. It's a good time to taste it.

Moreover, the store manager also sent side dishes and mushroom miso soup. The miso soup smelled fragrant and the soup was quite rich, which looked good.

Higashinoji nodded, fortunately, the small shop recommended by Konoe Ryoka felt quite good.

Next is Aoi Fujiwara's BBQ set meal. The small plate contains BBQ meat with light butter stains on the surface, and next to it is carefully prepared dipping sauce...

It looks delicious.

Higashikata was satisfied.

And then...

Then Higashinoji saw the chef bring out a cooking plate.

"This is the grilled mackerel set meal."

The mackerel body is browned with oil stains on the surface and is cooked just right. Lemon and grated radish are placed next to it, which makes you want to open your index fingers.

But--

Higashikata looked surprised: "Are there so many?"

Yes.

Isn’t this too much?

There are four pieces of mackerel alone, and there are various side dishes on the side, such as spinach mixed with sesame seeds, boiled hijiki...

The most important thing is the job.

Why is it so big?

Higashino took a look and felt it was half as big as his head.

"Ah? Oh...this is not for you, the customer. This is specially provided only for Miss Lianghua."

The chef laughed, handed the cooking plate to Konoe Ryoka, and explained to Higashinoji: "Ms. Ryoka is really amazing. She looks cute at the little one, but she has a really big appetite."

It seems they have a good relationship.

Konoe Ryoka's face was red and she didn't answer anything. She took the bowl and whispered, "I'm ready," and started eating.

"This is yours, guest."

The chef brought out Higashinoji's set meal.

This time it was more normal. It was just a wooden dinner plate with grilled mackerel body on it. There was only one fish, unlike Konoe Ryoka's bowl, which had four fish.

Higashinoji looked at the grilled mackerel set on his plate, then at Konoe Ryoka's grilled mackerel set, and then touched his head in confusion.
Chapter completed!