After Wang Gang and Hu Dawei finished lunch in the cafeteria, they drove away from the campus and came to a restaurant called Li Ji Sichuan Restaurant.
This Li Ji Sichuan restaurant is not far from the Stanford campus, only about ten minutes by car.
In the car, Hu Dawei also introduced to Wang Gang that Li Ming'an, the owner of Li Ke's Sichuan Restaurant, is a Chinese-American. Three generations of his family have worked hard in the United States to make Li Ke's famous.
Later, after the old man passed away, Li Ji was handed over to Li Ming'an, but he had no talent as a chef and could not learn the old man's skills, so he had to hire a chef.
As the number of Chinese restaurants has increased in recent years, Li Kee's business has also been affected to a certain extent.
Not long ago, Li Ji's chef, Chef Qian, had family matters in China. After going back to deal with the matter, he opened a restaurant in China and called Li Ming'an to resign.
After Li Mingan received the call, he lost his temper in the store, and many people saw it.
After Li Ji lost Chef Qian, the menu dropped so much that most of his old customers left. This made Li Ming'an very worried and he was looking for chefs everywhere.
However, there are not many Chinese chefs in the United States, and even fewer are good at their craftsmanship. Although Li Mingan offered generous offers, he has never been able to find the right person.
Li Ming'an even made the idea to find a good chef in China and then bring him to the United States. Unfortunately, the progress has been very slow.
Hu Dawei drove the car to the entrance of Li Ji Sichuan Restaurant. Wang Gang got out of the car and carefully observed the front door of Li Ji.
Li Ji's decoration style is very Chinese, with two red lanterns hanging above the door.
Hu Dawei took Wang Gang inside, and Wang Gang found that there were not many customers in the restaurant. It was lunch time, and the occupancy rate was less than 50%.
"Boss Li, let's settle the accounts!" Hu Dawei walked to the cashier, where there was a middle-aged man in his forties, looking at the account book with a sad look on his face.
"It's David! Are you coming over for dinner?" The man is Li Ming'an, the owner of Li Ji Sichuan Restaurant.
"I've had lunch." Hu Dawei pointed at Wang Gang and said with a smile, "I brought this little brother here for an interview."
"Interview?" Li Mingan was slightly startled when he followed Hu Dawei's fingers and saw Wang Gang.
Mainly because Wang Gang's appearance was too young, so he misunderstood.
"We have no shortage of waiters."
Hu Dawei said: "He's not here to apply for a waiter job. Isn't your store short of a chef? I'll bring him here to try."
"He is a chef?" Li Mingan didn't believe it: "Has he finished his apprenticeship?"
Wang Gang looks tall, thin, and very young. He doesn't look like an experienced chef.
Being a chef is a job that tests your skills very much. Even after a few years of study, you are not even qualified to cook.
"Boss Li, you won't know if I have any skills until you try them." Wang Gang saw that Li Ming'an didn't believe him, and he didn't even think about explaining. There's nothing fancy about cooking skills. You'll know everything once you try the dishes.
Seeing Wang Gang being so confident, Li Mingan couldn't help but be convinced. In addition, he had known Hu Dawei for many years and believed that Hu Dawei was not bringing someone to trick him.
"Okay then! Let's go to the kitchen and you try to make a dish."
Li Mingan walked out from behind the cashier, and then walked to the kitchen with Wang Gang and Hu Dawei.
"Your cooking skills are really good, right?" Hu Dawei walked behind and asked secretly in Wang Gang's ear.
"Don't worry!" Wang Zang just smiled.
He wanted to ask Hu Dawei, if his cooking skills were not up to par, what would happen to him?
However, Wang Gang did not say anything in the end, fearing to scare Hu Dawei.
The three of them walked into the kitchen, and Wang Gang discovered that Li Ji's kitchen was not small in size and very well-equipped. However, there were a few chefs, all of whom were still very young, and there was no business, so the chefs were resting and the stove was empty.
"What's your name and what's your specialty?" Li Mingan turned to Wang Gang and asked.
"My name is Su Mingzhe, you can call me Jack. My specialty is Sichuan cuisine and Tan's cuisine." Wang Gang said calmly.
"Tan's cuisine is official cuisine. Not many people know it now. Is your cooking skill passed down from family?" Li Mingan asked.
"good."
"This is a Sichuan restaurant. When you come to test the kitchen, you naturally have to try Sichuan food. Which dish are you best at?" Li Mingan asked again.
"My best thing is braised pork elbow, but it's a Kung Fu dish and I can't make it in a while." Wang Gang thought for a while and said.
"Then just fry Kung Pao Chicken! You can use whatever is in the kitchen." Li Mingan said.
Wang Gang nodded, rolled up his sleeves and walked around the kitchen.
To be honest, Li Ji's kitchen is very formal and clean, and Wang Gang can't fault it.
He casually picked up a kitchen knife and shook it, then lifted the wok, shook it, and then put it down.
Hu Dawei was not a chef and didn't understand what Wang Gang was doing. Seeing that he was not cooking, he hurriedly said: "Jack, start quickly!"
Li Mingan stopped Hu Dawei, but showed a thoughtful expression.
"He is now familiar with kitchen utensils. You must know that every chef has his own kitchen utensils that are convenient to him. The weight of a knife and the thickness of a wok will all affect a chef's performance.
I kind of believe he is the chef now."
When Hu Dawei heard this, he felt much relieved.
Wang Gang on the other side, after testing the kitchen utensils, tried all the seasonings again, even the oil, salt, vinegar, sugar, and even the bean paste.
The light in Li Mingan's eyes became even brighter.
As soon as Wang finished testing the seasonings, he started preparing the main dish of Kung Pao Chicken.
He was very careful when selecting ingredients. Even the diced chicken was selected piece by piece before he started cooking.
Wang Gang skillfully turned on the stove and took a spoonful of oil without even looking.
Then Li Mingan's eyes straightened.
Wang Gang cooks very neatly. He doesn't even need to look at where the oil is or where the salt is. He moves smoothly, and soon a plate of Kung Pao Chicken with all the color, flavor and flavor is placed in front of Li Ming'an.
Hu Dawei couldn't help but swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he smelled the aroma of Kung Pao Chicken.
“It smells so good!”
Li Ming'an nodded and said: "Cooking pays attention to color, aroma and flavor. Although I haven't tasted your Kung Pao Chicken yet, I can tell it is top quality just by looking at the color and aroma."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Wang Gang said: "Although the seasonings in your kitchen are complete, some are not authentic. I can only do this."
Li Mingan's eyes lit up, but he didn't say anything and took a bite of the food first.
"The peanuts are crispy and crispy, and the chicken is soft and tender. The two are perfectly matched. What's more, the seasoning and heat are just right. Good, great."
After only taking a bite of the food, Li Mingan put down his chopsticks and said to Wang Gang, "When can you come to work?"
Wang Gang knew he had passed the interview as soon as he heard it.
Maybe it was because the aroma of Kung Pao Chicken wafted out, and all the chefs who had been resting came running over, and Li Ming'an happily let everyone have a taste.
"The taste is amazing."
“How can there be such delicious Kung Pao Chicken?”
"This tastes better than what Chef Qian cooked before."
Wang Gang's Kung Pao Chicken quickly conquered all the chefs and praised it full of praise.
Hu Dawei saw that it was almost the same, so he pulled Li Mingan aside to talk about wages and benefits.
The three of them sat down, and Li Mingan immediately said: "The monthly salary is six thousand US dollars, which includes two meals a day, but as you know, we who work in catering don't have any days off."
Wang Gang and Hu Dawei looked at each other, they were quite satisfied with the salary, but Wang Gang's identity was a big problem.
"I am still a student and need to go to school during the day." Wang Gang said to Li Mingan.
"Are you an international student?" Li Mingan frowned and said, "Then you have a study visa."
Hu Dawei said: "Yes, Jack is a graduate student who just enrolled today."
Li Ming'an said with a headache: "Your study visa is a bit troublesome, but it's not without a solution. David and I can go to the school to coordinate, but if you go to school during the day, what will I do at lunch?"
Wang Gang said: "I've looked at my class schedule, and basically there are no classes after 11 o'clock. I can come over and work for three hours, and it shouldn't delay lunch."
Li Mingan frowned and said, "In this case, apart from cooking here, you can't do much else."
The job of a chef is not just cooking. Basically, he has to work for more than ten hours a day, and he can only take a break at noon.
If Wang Gang had to work part-time, his working hours would be limited every day.
"Let's do this! The salary is reduced to 4,500 US dollars. I will only let you cook. I will do the work to prove your work." Li Ming'an said tentatively.
Wang Gang thought for a while, then saw Hu Dawei nodding to him, and agreed.
"David, you and I will go to school this afternoon and apply for a work permit for Jack. It's best for him to go to work as soon as possible." Li Ming'an said urgently.
