This Is Not a Food Article

A time-honored restaurant, its main selling point is its simple authenticity.

The hot, humid air was mixed with the rich aroma of meat and the fresh scent of rice noodles. Steam billowed from an open kitchen.

Several shiny, roasted geese hung casually on hooks. Occasionally, drops of fat dripped down from beneath their crispy, maroon skin.

Diners sat scattered across the dining hall, the sound of their casual banter rising and falling.

Lin Mo and Tong Dong stood at the counter. Behind it sat a girl around ten years old, working on her summer vacation homework. She poked her cheek with the end of her pen, looking completely bored—likely the boss's daughter.

Behind her was a large menu board with white characters on a red background. The prices on it had been crossed out and updated with a black marker several times, leaving the marks of time.

Roast Goose Lai Fun, 13 yuan.

Roast Goose Drumstick Lai Fun, 18 yuan.

In 2013, these prices were quite reasonable.

Lin Mo turned his head to look at Tong Dong, "What do you want to eat?"

"I'm not hungry, I just came to sit with you." Tong Dong waved his hand; he had indeed eaten a very full breakfast.

Lin Mo didn't stand on ceremony with him. He nodded, his gaze returning to the menu.

The little girl looked up, and her eyes lit up slightly when she saw the rather handsome Lin Mo and the gentle, scholarly Tong Dong.

Looking at the menu, Lin Mo ordered, "Two bowls of Roast Goose Drumstick Lai Fun."

As soon as he spoke, the little girl behind the counter started writing down the order.

Tong Dong couldn't help but tug at the corner of Lin Mo's shirt. "Hey, I'm really not eating."

Lin Mo acted as if he didn't hear him and continued listing dishes to the little girl at a steady pace, "Add a portion of chopped roast goose, a portion of fatty char siu, and a portion of white braised goose intestines."

With this string of orders, not to mention Tong Dong, even the little girl writing the ticket was stunned. Her pen paused on the paper as she looked up at the two of them.

This amount of food didn't seem like something two young men could finish.

"Isn't that too much?" Tong Dong advised.

Lin Mo finally glanced at him, looking as if it were a matter of course. "Since we're here, how can we not try Dongguan's specialties? Just treat it as a tasting, eating a goose drumstick is fine. Plus, you underestimate my appetite."

"Yeah, yeah!"

Hearing this, the little girl immediately found an opportunity to chime in. Looking at Lin Mo with sparkling eyes, she said, "Our Dongguan Roast Goose Lai Fun is the most delicious! The rice noodles here are handmade by my mom and the others every morning. They are incredibly smooth, completely incomparable to those machine-made ones outside!"

Hearing the word "handmade," Lin Mo nodded in approval and took the opportunity to reply:

"We came from Guangzhou. Thick soup Lai Fun is popular there, but I don't really like it. I wanted to try your clear soup Lai Fun here to taste the original flavor."

The truth was that Lin Mo didn't like eating shiitake mushrooms, and thick soup Lai Fun contains them.

Therefore, Lin Mo naturally didn't like thick soup Lai Fun.

"You really know your stuff!" The little girl was happy to be praised, and her writing became much brisker.

Once the ticket was written, she handed it over. Tong Dong instinctively reached for the wallet in his pocket.

A hand reached over faster, pressing down on his wrist with just the right amount of force.

Tong Dong quickly said, "I said I'd treat you last time but didn't get to. Let me pay this time."

"Wait until you win first prize, then you can treat me."

His action, paired with this sentence, made the little girl beside them watch with shining eyes. Her gaze darted back and forth between the two, unable to suppress the corners of her mouth, almost laughing out loud.

In this era, pure romantics were everywhere, and there were plenty of girls with a penchant for shipping handsome guys together.

Lin Mo ignored her expression, pulled out a red hundred-yuan bill, and slapped it onto the slightly greasy counter with a crisp sound.

"Alright, there will be a time for you to treat."

Seeing that the show was over, the little girl reigned in her expression, swiftly collected the money, tore off the ticket, and handed it to Lin Mo along with a wooden number tag.

"Here's your change. Just give the ticket to the chef in the kitchen over there. If you have any special requests, tell him directly."

Lin Mo took the ticket and the tag, saying directly to Tong Dong, "Go find a seat."

Before he even finished speaking, he had already turned and walked toward the steam-filled open kitchen.

Handing the ticket over, Lin Mo spoke.

"Chef, don't chop the drumsticks for the two bowls of roast goose, serve them whole. For the left leg, don't trim the fat, I love that part. For the fatty char siu, I want the fattest strip, and drizzle extra honey sauce on it. That's all, thanks!"

Hearing this, the roast meat chef glanced up at Lin Mo, a flash of approval in his eyes at meeting a connoisseur.

He didn't say much, just nodded calmly. Reaching back, he took down a roast goose with ruddy skin and dripping fat from the hook. Raising his knife and bringing it down, his movements were crisp and clean.

The cleaver landed crisply on the chopping block, and a perfect left goose drumstick was severed on cue.

On the other side, the auntie cooking the noodles swiftly grabbed two handfuls of snow-white Lai Fun, shook them loose, and tossed them into the boiling soup pot.

The reason Roast Goose Lai Fun is so famous is half due to the roast goose, and the other half relies entirely on the broth and the handmade rice noodles.

But the noodles themselves rely on the soup base.

What filled the air wasn't the cheap umami of MSG, but the mellow, pure aroma of bone broth.

This soup base had to be slowly simmered over low heat using chicken carcasses and large pork bones. The chef also needed the patience to constantly skim off the foam and impurities to produce a pot of clear broth whose fresh flavor rushed straight to the top of the head.

Because boiling the soup over high heat would cause the broth to become cloudy or turn a milky white.

Just like adding a spoonful of evaporated milk.

The reason Lin Mo came to eat here was that he saw this soup base was authentic Lai Fun broth.

Not the kind of MSG water mixed with roast goose juice that he later had at some highly renowned restaurants.

"Handsome, go sit over there and wait. I'll have someone bring it to you when it's ready," the auntie cooking the noodles called out without raising her head.

Lin Mo agreed, turned around, and went back to sit opposite Tong Dong.

As soon as he sat down, Tong Dong couldn't help but ask, "Can you finish all that?"

"Don't worry."

Lin Mo waved his hand, looking relaxed. "That roast goose drumstick is yours, the rest is all mine."

Tong Dong opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words.

Not long after, a tray was brought over, and the aroma instantly and aggressively dominated the surrounding air.

Two massive roast goose drumsticks, with tempting date-red skin and a shiny glaze, were placed separately on a plate. Next to them was another dish of fatty char siu, half fat and half lean, with slightly charred edges and drenched in dark char siu sauce.

Beside that were two separate bowls of Lai Fun.

The snow-white rice noodles lay quietly in the clear broth, dotted with a few specks of emerald green scallions. There were only a few drops of golden goose fat on the surface of the soup, without a hint of cloudiness.

"Meticulous restaurants all serve it like this," Lin Mo lifted his chin toward Tong Dong. "The soup is the soup, and the meat is the meat. You add it yourself according to your preference, so the strong flavor of the roast goose won't overpower the clear sweetness of the broth."

With that, he first picked up a soup spoon and scooped a spoonful of the clear broth.

As the soup entered his mouth, a warm, pure, and fresh sweetness instantly melted on the tip of his tongue. As it slid down his throat, his whole body warmed up.

This is the exact flavor!