Isekai Restaurant : Please Let me Cook! Chapter 35 35: Do You Think Human Food Can Impress a Proud D

"So, what would Miss Tohru like to eat?" Yuto asked with a warm, welcoming smile.

Even as he spoke, he couldn't help but marvel at the girl sitting across the counter.

How could a majestic terrifying dragon suddenly take such a form when transford into a human?

There wasn't a single trace of fearso dragon in her, instead, she was utterly adorable!

And the fact that she was currently wrapped in nothing but a single piece of cloth was certainly distracting.

"Do you honestly think human food can impress a proud dragon?" the horned girl asked, her voice dripping with haughty arrogance.

Her sharp, reptilian eyes narrowed in skepticism and intense scrutiny.

"Why not give it a try?" Yuto replied with a light, easy laugh.

Tohru fell silent for a few seconds, assessing him, before giving a sharp nod.

"Hmph! Then bring your best dish. Do your best to please !" She raised her chin high, sitting up straight with a perfectly executed air of superiority.

"Of course. Please wait a mont," Yuto bowed slightly.

He had beco an absolute master at handling all kinds of custors.

He had dealt with guests who arrived with massive egos before, but his cooking always managed to humble them in the end.

Smiling to himself, he headed into the kitchen to prepare her al.

anwhile, out in the dining room, Tohru's dramatic entrance had imdiately drawn the attention of the diner's other otherworldly patrons.

'Why can't Veldora transform into sothing this cute?' Rimuru thought to himself, feeling a sudden deep sense of betrayal toward his own dragon best friend.

'A dragon, huh? Back in YGGDRASIL, a dragon was always a massive raid boss. I wonder if a real dragon drops as much high-tier loot as the ones in the ga did...' Ainz mused.

For a fleeting mont, a pang of nostalgia hit him hard, and the painful emptiness in his chest grew a little heavier as he missed his old guildmates.

"Sli and undead. What are you staring at? Is it because you simply cannot contain your awe upon seeing a noble dragon in the flesh?" Tohru demanded, narrowing her eyes at Rimuru and Ainz.

Her expression was filled with absolute condescension!

As a supre being of destruction, she had always viewed creatures like slis and undead as nothing more than pathetic, bottom-tier monsters.

Hearing this, Ainz desperately wanted to frown, but since he was literally just a skull, his lack of facial muscles betrayed him.

Instead, the twin red orbs in his eye sockets flared dangerously bright.

He wasn't going to explode in rage over her attitude—he was well-acquainted with the nature of dragons, and their arrogance was a universal given—but feeling intensely displeased was inevitable.

"Miss Tohru, are you also from another world?" Rimuru asked eagerly, completely unbothered by her insults.

Tohru was slightly taken aback by the sli's boundless enthusiasm.

"Ainz and I actually co from completely different worlds! Tohru, are you a native creature of another world too?" Rimuru asked, feeling inexplicably delighted to et yet another isekai traveler.

Tohru's arrogant expression faltered slightly.

She glanced at Ainz, then back at Rimuru.

For a mont, she was genuinely shocked that they were all from separate universes, but she quickly regained her composure.

Considering the existence of this bizarre restaurant, coming from different worlds didn't seem all that strange.

"That's right! I am a proud dragon from the other world, highly skilled in destruction and absolute devastation!" Tohru boasted, answering Rimuru's question while making sure to add her specialties.

Just ntioning her destructive capabilities made her feel incredibly excited and proud.

Rimuru, however, broke out in a cold sweat.

Literal beads of water poured down his body, only to be instantly reabsorbed.

"Oh? When it cos to destruction and devastation, I consider myself quite skilled as well," Ainz stated darkly.

He clenched his bony hand into a fist, and the red dots in his eyes burned even brighter.

"Is that so, undead? Are you challenging to see who is better at raining down devastation?" Tohru curled her lips into a sharp fanged smile.

The dragon girl seed to ignite with sudden excitent!

"Call Ainz. I am Ainz Ooal Gown, the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick!" Ainz formally introduced himself, the sheer weight of his title only fueling the dragon girl's bloodlust further.

"Interesting! An undead daring to challenge a dragon?! How incredibly amusing!!!" Tohru's slender fingers instantly transford into massive, razor-sharp green dragon claws.

"Oh? A challenge? Hehehe... Hahaha! A re dragon dare to challange ? The desperate wails of dragons are not uncommon among the souls I command!" Ainz laughed, a dark, chilling aura beginning to leak from his skeletal fra.

As the two apex predators grew increasingly confrontational, Rimuru was on the verge of a total breakdown.

"Wait! How did this turn into a deathmatch?!" The sli rolled back and forth frantically in a genuine panic.

He had only asked her a question out of friendly curiosity!

How had things escalated to a boss fight so quickly?!

"Tohru, Ainz. Please keep it quiet in the restaurant," Yuto's calm, even voice drifted softly from the kitchen.

Instantly, the raging dragon girl and the terrifying Overlord of Death fell completely silent.

The boiling bloodlust in their hearts inexplicably vanished, calming as quickly as a disturbed pond returning to perfect stillness.

All thoughts of conflict simply evaporated under the restaurant's cognitive magic.

"Mhm. This is a place to enjoy a good al. Kamisaka's cooking is excellent," Saitama nodded in agreent, putting down his chopsticks and smiling at the group.

Tohru glared at Saitama, finding him utterly uninteresting and ridiculous.

A re bald, weak-looking human daring to lecture her?!

And he looked so incredibly foolish!

Saitama tilted his head slightly, his smile turning into a slight frown.

He felt like he had just been deeply insulted without a single word being spoken!

....

Signature dishes... Yuto had far too many signature dishes to choose from.

He sighed softly and decided to base his choice on Tohru's likely dietary preferences.

He didn't know her well, but since she was a dragon, she undoubtedly craved at.

After thinking for a mont, he knew exactly what to make.

He would make Nikumaki Onigiri—at-Wrapped Rice.

In the past, Yuto's go-to comfort food was Omurice.

It was a beloved, traditional dish in this country, and Utaha ordered it all the ti.

But considering Tohru was a fearso dragon, a fluffy egg olet simply wouldn't cut it.

It had to be at!

Compared to Omurice, at-Wrapped Rice was far more impactful and heavy.

After all, ordinary egg rolls couldn't possibly compare to the rich, savory aroma of seared pork.

Having made up his mind, Yuto took a wooden paddle and scooped a generous portion of cold rice from the prep bucket.

Occasionally, custors ordered fried rice, and only overnight, chilled rice could produce the perfect, separated texture needed for a good stir-fry.

Because of this, the shop always kept two buckets of rice on hand: one steaming hot for imdiate serving, and one cold for frying.

After scooping the rice, he quickly and skillfully diced so fresh carrots and onions for flavor. Once that was done, he pulled a block of premium pork belly from the fridge.

The fat and lean at were perfectly balanced, and the marbling was exceptionally even.

It was leftover stock from the Totsuki ingredient truck delivery earlier that week.

Holding the pork belly in his hand, Yuto couldn't help but marvel at the quality, the Nakiri family truly sourced the best ingredients in the world.

He washed the at thoroughly, then placed it on the wooden cutting board. His left hand pressed gently down on the block, his eyes calmly assessing the grain.

His right hand gripped his chef's knife, slowly pushing the blade flat from one end to the other.

For at-Wrapped Rice, he naturally needed thin slices, but they couldn't be too thin. The at would be pan-fried later, and if the slices were paper-thin, they would tear and ruin the presentation.

They needed to be slightly thicker, seared in oil until about seventy percent cooked so they remained juicy and tender.

The sharp blade slid smoothly, producing a perfect slice of pork belly about three milliters thick. Held up to the light, the slice wasn't entirely transparent, only slightly semi-translucent.

A single slice was about ten centiters long and three fingers wide—far from enough to cover a mound of rice.

Yuto quickly calculated the surface area in his head and sliced three more uniform pieces. Four slices would be exactly enough.

Setting the at aside, he moved on to the rice. He slipped on a pair of prep gloves and gently massaged the cold rice with his hands, loosening the grains so they wouldn't clump together in the wok.

Once prepped, he fired up the stove.

He poured a little oil into the heavy iron wok and waited.

The mont he saw a faint, nearly invisible wisp of blue smoke rise from the surface of the oil, he tossed in the diced carrots.

After tossing them quickly over the high heat, he added the diced onions, followed imdiately by the loosened rice.

He stir-fried the mixture with rapid, practiced flicks of his wrist, adding a precise blend of seasonings.

The rice, already fragrant from the intense heat, exploded with a rich, savory aroma as the spices hit the hot oil.

Sitting outside and chatting with Rimuru, Tohru's nose twitched.

She slled the aroma wafting from the kitchen.

It was a fragrance rich and savory enough to captivate even the proudest, most stubborn dragon.

"Everything Kamisaka makes slls amazing," Saitama noted with a faint, appreciative smile.

Ainz nodded silently in agreent—even though he didn't actually have a nose to sll it with.

If there was one thing Ainz regretted most about becoming an undead skeleton, it was

the tragic reality that he could no longer eat Yuto's cooking!

"This sll... could it be that he added so kind of magical ingredients?!" Tohru gasped, sniffing the air hungrily, her reptilian eyes wide with doubt and shock.

She was a proud dragon!

There was absolutely no reason for re human cooking to move her!

But... but right now... even she had to admit her mouth was watering.

"No, I didn't," Yuto's calm voice drifted from the kitchen, easily overhearing her surprise.

He offered the simple explanation and fell silent, but a small, proud smile appeared on his face.

Coming from a dragon, her disbelief was the highest form of praise for his skills.

It brought him a deep sense of joy.

"Boss! Boss, please make a portion too!" Rimuru suddenly cheered.

Despite having just polished off a mountain of fried chicken and a bottle of beer, the sli declared he could eat more.

"Alright!" Yuto called back.

With the rice finished and shaped into a perfect, tight oval using a wooden spoon, Yuto began frying the at slices.

The oil in a separate pan was already smoking hot.

He picked up a slice of pork belly with his chopsticks and laid it flat in the pan.

Sizzle...

The pale pink at instantly seared, turning a beautiful, golden-white.

Droplets of hot oil danced around the edges as the fat rendered down, and the flat slice began to curl and wrinkle slightly from the heat.

Yuto flipped it with a practiced flick of his wrist.

After searing it for just a few more seconds, he lifted it from the pan and draped it carefully over the molded fried rice.

It covered exactly one-quarter of the mound.

He quickly fried the remaining three slices, draping them one by one until the rice was completely encased in a sizzling, savory shell of pork.

In the unseen angles where the hot at t the rice, the rich, rendered fat slowly seeped down, soaking into the grains and binding the flavors together.

Finally, Yuto scooped a spoonful of his custom-made glaze and poured it over the top.

He had never been entirely satisfied with traditional teriyaki sauce, so he had made several improvents to the recipe, giving it a deeper, more complex umami profile.

As the thick, glossy sauce cascaded over the seared pork, the at-Wrapped Rice was complete.

Yuto carried the steaming plate out to the dining room and set it gently in front of Tohru.

"at-Wrapped Rice. Please enjoy."

He placed a clean white spoon on the side of the plate and turned right back toward the kitchen, he still needed to make a second portion for Rimuru.

Tohru stared down at the glistening fragrant mound of at and rice.

She couldn't help but swallow hard.

Staring at the dish, the proud dragon suddenly seed a little less deserving of her fearso title!