Li Xiao wasn’t driving today; it was Huang Zhiyuan, who’d been itching to get behind the wheel.
Li Xiao was in the passenger seat, seriously looking over some online reviews.
[1700 for grilled chicken? Am I seeing things, or has the world gone mad???]
[I used to really like this vlogger, but I didn’t expect him to be such a suck-up.]
[Of course, the internet has no memory. Didn’t this guy make his name by sucking up to Japanese cuisine? So what’s wrong with him sucking up to this so-called Japanese yakitori now?]
[The Bird-Burning Immortal? You mean the immortal who burns broccoli??]
[Isn’t this stuff just grilled chicken giblets? How can it sell for 1700???]
[This Bird-Burning Immortal’s restaurant has been in the Michelin guide for 12 years straight. So what if the per-person cost is 1700???]
[That dipping sauce tub probably hasn’t been washed in half a year, right? Look at that thick layer of grime. How can anyone still go to a place with hygiene like that??]
[Look, if you’re poor, just admit you’re poor. Is 1700 per person really that expensive? If you can’t afford it, just stay out of it!]
[Chouchin? Isn’t that just an undeveloped egg? We just throw that stuff away where I’m from. The old folks say eating it will make you stupid.]
[What??? Just because a Japanese chef is grilling it, that makes it high-class???]
[It can’t be as bad as you all say, right? I’ve seen a lot of big-name influencers go eat there, and their reviews were pretty good.]
...
Li Xiao frowned and closed the comment section.
Clearly, this yakitori restaurant, which had just opened in Yangcheng, was being drowned in a flood of negative online reviews.
To be fair, there were plenty of restaurants that cost 1700 per person.
For instance, Jiuhe Garden, where Li Xiao had just eaten yesterday, cost about the same.
However, Jiuhe Garden commanded that price because it was exceptional in every aspect.
Exquisite and attentive service, an elegant and high-end dining environment, expensive ingredients, and masterful culinary skills.
With all of that combined, Li Xiao felt a price of 1700 per person was perfectly reasonable.
But for a barbecue joint to charge 1700 per person? That seemed utterly outrageous to him.
A single chicken, even if it were the best free-range local chicken from Guangdong Province.
Would cost 300 at most.
One chicken could be used to make at least five, if not more, portions of yakitori.
This meant they were using at most 300 in raw materials to sell 8,500 worth of food, and using the simplest cooking method at that—grilling.
They were truly treating their customers like fools.
’No, that wasn’t right. They were probably just treating the people of Xia Country like fools.’
Because he had also just looked up the yakitori restaurants this so-called Bird-Burning Immortal ran in Japan.
In Japan, he had three restaurants in total.
He ran one himself, while the other two were run by his two top disciples.
His main restaurant was the most expensive, but even then, the cost per person wouldn’t exceed 600 when converted to Xia Country currency.
As for his disciples’ restaurants, they were even cheaper, at 500 and 400 per person, respectively.
Seeing these prices made Li Xiao feel sick to his stomach.
Japan was a developed nation with a higher average income and a higher cost of living than Xia Country.
A price of 400-600 per person would only be considered lower-mid-range for cuisine in Japan.
And yet this garbage, just by moving to a different country, dared to nearly triple its price???
A restaurant that costs 600 in Japan dared to charge 1700 in Xia Country. This was simply taking advantage of people.
What disgusted Li Xiao even more was that many food vloggers had promoted this restaurant.
Because of the restaurant’s high price point, they had exclusively sought out major streamers with hundreds of thousands of fans, including some top food vloggers with millions of followers.
When it first happened, the matter caused a massive uproar online.
The absurd price of 1700 clearly struck a nerve with many people.
But under a deluge of marketing from food vloggers and whitewashing from paid commenters, the direction of online opinion seemed to be shifting.
He could now even see some regular people commenting that 1700 for yakitori wasn’t expensive.
Li Xiao couldn’t imagine what this phenomenon would escalate into if it continued.
And so, today’s destination was this very yakitori restaurant, named Akatori.
Li Xiao had made a reservation before setting out, so upon arriving at the entrance, he was immediately invited inside by two young women in kimonos.
This yakitori restaurant consisted of three main dining halls.
Each hall had a different opening time.
Apparently, this was to give guests a better sense of ceremony.
Li Xiao turned to the curvaceous young woman in the kimono beside him and asked:
"By the way, we’re streamers. Is it okay if we film a live stream here?"
The kimono-clad young woman nodded slightly.
"Of course. We at Akatori welcome all vloggers who wish to review our restaurant."
Li Xiao raised an eyebrow slightly. Honestly, he had expected his request to be denied.
After all, the online controversy surrounding this yakitori restaurant was raging.
Under normal circumstances, a place like this wouldn’t welcome uninvited review vloggers, only the ones they’d paid to be there.
However, Li Xiao didn’t know that Akatori had already paid to invite several groups of review vloggers to film content that very day.
Some of those vloggers had even notified Akatori in advance that they would be live streaming, telling the staff not to blow their cover.
This led the kimono-clad young woman to mistake the four people before her for one of the shill groups the boss had hired.
Since they were willing to let him stream, he didn’t bother with a hidden camera and just started filming openly with his phone.
He had actually already started the live stream as he was getting out of the car.
By now, there were over 5,000 people in his stream.
The interior of Akatori had a very traditional Japanese design.
A wooden sign bore golden Japanese script, and mellow Japanese-style music flowed from within the restaurant.
Passing through the bamboo curtain, the smell of charcoal fire hit them.
The entire establishment was decorated in an elegant and simple style, dominated by natural wood and woven bamboo, creating a tranquil atmosphere.
A long, rectangular counter occupied most of the room’s space.
In front of the counter and on its left and right sides were a total of sixteen high-top bar chairs.
Japanese-style, hand-painted landscape scrolls hung on the walls, their elegant colors outlining vivid natural scenes and adding an artistic touch to the space.
In a display case, various pieces of Japanese ceramic tableware were arranged, each one appearing exquisite and unique.
The young woman in the kimono led the four of them to their seats.
As she helped arrange their place settings, she explained in a low voice:
"Yamada House’s service begins at 6:30. The remaining eight guests will be arriving shortly."
"Please wait just a moment."
In the live stream chat:
"Judging by the decor, is the streamer eating Japanese food?"
"What’s so good about Japanese food? It’s either sashimi or... more sashimi!"
"Japanese cuisine does have its merits."
"Wait, why does this restaurant’s decor look so familiar???"
"Holy cow, isn’t this that 1700-per-person yakitori restaurant?"
"Didn’t you guys just see the menu the streamer was looking at? It said Akatori right on it!"
"1700 per person? It must be really delicious, right?"
"What’s yakitori? How can it be so expensive???"