The girl in the kimono:
"Here is your third yakitori skewer, our tender grilled chicken liver. Please enjoy."
When he saw the third yakitori skewer,
Li Xiao sucked in a sharp breath.
The chicken liver before him was still dark red. It had only been on the plate for a moment,
yet a ring of light red, bloody liquid was already seeping out from its edges.
Before the girl in the kimono could walk away, Li Xiao quickly stopped her. He pointed at the chicken liver, whose color was clearly off, and said,
"Excuse me, miss. Did you bring the wrong order?"
"This chicken liver... is it undercooked?"
"Look, it’s still bleeding."
The girl in the kimono followed Li Xiao’s gaze, then smiled and explained,
"Sir, this is our tender grilled chicken liver. It’s meant for the guest to experience the delicate, smooth texture of the liver. To achieve this, Ikegawa Yoshihiko controls the heat to cook it to about 40-50% doneness."
"Also, that isn’t blood; it’s myoglobin."
????
Not only was Li Xiao dumbfounded, but the viewers in the livestream chat were also roasting it.
"Wait, you can serve chicken half-cooked???"
"Oh, great, so this is how they do things now? Chicken liver is full of parasites. How can you eat it if it’s not cooked all the way through???"
"A lot of Japanese cuisine is eaten raw. Serving something 50% cooked is perfectly normal, isn’t it???"
"There are so many contrarians these days, I can’t tell if this guy is being a bootlicker or just sarcastic..."
"Tender chicken liver is delicious, but I really can’t bring myself to eat it when it’s half-raw."
...
Li Xiao stared silently at the chicken liver. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to take a bite.
The bloody sight was truly a shock to his system.
He pointed at the liver.
"Could you cook this one fully for me? I’m not a fan of it this raw."
A flicker of disdain, almost imperceptible, crossed the waitress’s eyes, but her face still wore a formulaic smile.
"Sir, this is our restaurant’s specialty, tender grilled chicken liver. This level of doneness brings out the most flavor..."
Though the disdain in the girl’s eyes vanished quickly, it didn’t escape Li Xiao’s notice.
Li Xiao’s expression immediately darkened.
He didn’t know when it started, but the staff at some high-end restaurants and sales associates at luxury stores had become so haughty.
These servers and associates seemed to think that because they regularly served and interacted with wealthy people, they too had climbed the social ladder and could now look down on ordinary consumers.
Li Xiao wasn’t about to argue with someone like that in public. It would be beneath him and wouldn’t solve anything.
So, he said coldly,
"In that case, just take it away."
Hearing the customer’s request, the girl in the kimono was taken aback. She wanted to explain further, but was cut off by Li Xiao’s icy glare.
"I said, take it away."
The girl froze. She felt as if she were being stared down by a tiger.
"Ye-yes... I’ll take it right away..."
With that, she scurried forward, took the plate, and fled as if escaping.
Li Xiao and the waitress hadn’t spoken loudly, but his three dorm mates were right beside him, so how could they not have heard?
Seeing the usually gentle Li Xiao actually lose his temper, all three were quite surprised.
Huang Zhiyuan leaned in.
"Brother Li, what’s with the sudden anger?"
Li Xiao took a deep breath to suppress his emotions and waved his hand.
"It’s nothing. Just that some people don’t know their place, and it’s rather disgusting."
Seeing that the three of them hadn’t touched their chicken liver either, he reminded them,
"The chicken liver isn’t cooked through. Don’t eat it. It would be a problem if you got diarrhea."
Honestly, if Li Xiao hadn’t said anything, the three of them would have probably forced themselves to eat it.
After all, the one making the yakitori was Japan’s so-called "Bird-Burning Immortal," supposedly the best yakitori master in the country.
Food made by someone like that had to be fine, right?
Plus, they saw everyone else in the room eating happily.
So even if they felt something was wrong, they would have likely assumed the problem was with them.
In the livestream chat:
"This streamer has a huge temper, doesn’t he?"
"How is his temper huge? It’s a 1,700-per-person meal, and a customer can’t even ask for their food to be cooked a little longer?"
"The streamer’s temper is already pretty good! I don’t care if you call it ’tender grilled’ or whatever, who can eat something that looks so bloody? Asking to have it heated up and cooked through isn’t an unreasonable request, is it?"
"A bunch of country bumpkins. It’s like casting pearls before swine. They already told you this is how it’s prepared, why don’t you listen?"
"Steak is also served at different levels of doneness. Is the streamer going to ask the chef for a well-done steak too?"
"Are you comparing steak to chicken organs??? Besides, even if it were a steak, I’m the one paying. Is there a problem if I like it well-done?"
...
Seeing the discussion in the chat, Li Xiao began to explain:
"Some people are saying I have a big temper, but I’m being wronged here. I think anyone would be unhappy in this situation, right?"
"I spent over a thousand yuan to have a meal, not to be talked down to or lectured."
"You have your culinary style, and I can have my own preferences."
"As a high-end restaurant, it’s fine to have its own cooking methods."
"But when a customer clearly states they don’t like a dish, the establishment should offer to adjust it or replace it, not force an explanation on them and pressure them into eating something they don’t want."
...
While Li Xiao was discussing the matter with his viewers,
the waitress in the kimono who had been serving him also sensed that something was wrong.
’Over the past few days, she had served quite a few food streamers invited by the owner. Even if those streamers didn’t praise the food to high heaven, they would at least put on a good show for the camera.’
’But today’s streamer was just too strange.’
’She had to admit, there was a definite mistake with the first yakitori skewer, but this third one was purely the customer finding fault.’
’The tender grilled chicken liver at their restaurant was always served this way.’
’Most customers were very happy with it. Even the few who didn’t understand would eat it after hearing the explanation.’
’She had never met such an unreasonable customer before.’
’Besides, this customer was a streamer who was here to promote the restaurant. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Even if he genuinely thought it was bad, he shouldn’t be saying it on camera.’
The more she thought about it, the more something felt off. She immediately found the on-duty manager and explained the whole situation from start to finish.
The on-duty manager was also a bit baffled to hear that an invited streamer was causing trouble.
’For a high-class restaurant like theirs, they always signed contracts with people for promotions.’
’Not only did the data, like view counts, have to meet a certain standard, but the script also had to go through their strict review process.’
The on-duty manager quickly asked,
"Which streamer is making trouble? The fat guy from Nara House? The two busty beauties from Yipin House? Or maybe the loli from Yamada Residence?"