The Omnipurpose Restaurant in Dungeon City

Pasta.
It’s a representative menu that comes to mind when thinking of Western cuisine, along with foods like pizza, hamburgers, and steak.
Why isn’t chicken included?
Go! It’s unbelievable that there are still ignorant people who don’t know the obvious fact that chicken is Korean food to Koreans!
‘Isn’t it common sense that chicken is the soul food of Koreans and a proud Korean dish?’
So of course, it should be excluded, right?
Anyway, pasta has a long and glorious origin, and is the fundamental of fundamentals in Western cuisine.
Because of this, all three guests who came to the Omnipurpose Restaurant knew about pasta, unlike the foods they had eaten last time.
“Pasta? Didn’t you decide too casually when we told you to decide for yourself?”
“Hmm, isn’t it too simple a dish to eat here?”
“Just pasta, not like the ramen noodles added to tteokbokki like last time? I’m fine with it, but for the others to eat…”
They knew about it, but somehow their reactions were very different from what Jin had expected.
Negative and ambiguous reactions rather than expectations or excitement.
‘What’s this? Was my prediction wrong?’
Was the experiential statistic that women generally like pasta actually a trap?
Was Jin actually just an ordinary person who knew nothing about women’s tastes?
Such worries were unnecessary as the answer was simple.
It was because the pasta that both sides were thinking of was different from the start.
“How do you usually eat pasta that you’re all reacting like this?”
“Well, in my case, I often eat it as a preserved food when going on training or expeditions, so I just boil it and sprinkle salt on it.”
“Well, when eaten simply as preserved food, it’s like that. Usually, we mix in a little cheese too.”
“Sometimes it’s added to cheap soup to increase the volume.”
“…Is that all?”
That was it. Pasta was indeed fundamental.
It was fundamental, but the problem was that it was too fundamental.
The pasta consumed in this dungeon city currently had a very primitive form.
There was no pasta cooked with the dozens of various sauces and cooking methods that Jin knew.
Most people just sprinkle salt or cheese on it, and some even eat it just boiled without anything.
‘It’s more like a food concept rather than a dish.’

At best, it was treated similarly to bread, or often used as preserved food.
Naturally, taste was not a consideration.
“I see. Your level.”
“Why are you suddenly speaking informally?”
“…I see. Your level, everyone.”
Jin, who immediately corrected his speech style after Miley’s scolding, solemnly declared again.
“I’ll have to make you proper pasta.”
He quickly erased the blasphemous thought that the current way of eating pasta in the dungeon city might actually be closer to the original.
Jin couldn’t accept pasta treated as simple food, not even a proper dish, as real pasta.
‘My pasta is not like this!’
The guests didn’t understand Jin, who was unnecessarily burning with determination.
“Since you’re the owner, you might make even pasta delicious. Ah, like the ramen noodles in the tteokbokki we ate before.”
“Well, alright, we left it to you, so do as you please. Surely you wouldn’t be so confident with an unpalatable dish.”
“I didn’t think we could eat bones with the cartilage chicken either. If you can cook bones so deliciously, I believe there’s nothing to worry about with pasta.”
They all remembered the taste of the dishes Jin had made and the shock when they ate them, so they answered with trust and expectation.
“I won’t betray that expectation.”
With a sense of mission as if he had become an apostle of pasta, Jin began to ponder.
‘What kind of pasta should I make?’
The first consideration was naturally what kind of pasta to make.
How many types of pasta are there?
Even just thinking about it now, Jin could think of more than he could count on both hands.
‘There are dozens of types of noodles alone.’
Isn’t the reason pasta is pasta because the name of the noodle is pasta?
That’s also why the three people sitting in front of Jin didn’t recognize it as a dish when he asked about pasta.
When he asked them to decide on a menu, it probably sounded to them like he was just suggesting to eat bread.
As such, pasta is divided into dozens of types according to length, width, thickness, or shape.
There are many types of pasta that would make Koreans say, “Is this really pasta?”
‘Like gnocchi or lasagna.’
In fact, pasta isn’t just in noodle form.
Of course, we call it noodles for convenience because it’s confusing.
‘It’s not just noodles.’
There are over dozens of popular sauces alone, and when you calculate cooking methods and toppings, it becomes virtually uncountable.
So it was bound to be a difficult decision, but.
‘At times like this, I should do what I’ve always done.’
Jin soon made a decision.
Rather than thinking too deeply, he found the answer by considering the guests who would be eating the dish.
‘Since it’s the first time Seria-ssi, Miley-ssi, and Fiona-ssi are eating pasta as a dish.’
To put it extremely, these three have been eating Pyongyang pasta, not even Pyongyang naengmyeon.
For such people?
It would be better to serve them in a style that’s somewhat familiar and fundamental.
“Today’s pasta will be aglio e olio.”
That’s why Jin chose aglio e olio.
Fiona asked about the unfamiliar menu name.
“Aglio e olio? What kind of dish is that?”
“It’s a dish where pasta noodles are cooked in a sauce mainly consisting of olive oil and garlic.”
The official name is ‘aglio e olio’, but this pasta, often shortened to aglio olio, is considered a basic pasta dish.
In Italy, which could be called the homeland of pasta, it’s even considered to be in a position similar to kimchi fried rice or ramyeon.
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good.
There’s a reason why basics are called basics.
It was also a dish with a solid fan base that clearly shows it’s simple yet delicious.
That’s also why Jin chose it.
Leaving behind the guests who seemed unsure about what it would taste like, Jin put water in a pot.
Whoosh-
He starts boiling water in the pot with the fire on and adds salt.
This seasons the noodles while also adjusting the seasoning of the pasta water that will be used in the sauce later.
‘Should I add some chicken stock too?’
Since aglio e olio uses relatively few ingredients, adding a bit of umami like this makes it much more delicious.
Some people dislike it because it interferes with the original flavor of the ingredients, but it’s just a matter of using the right amount.
‘The noodles should be spaghetti, of course.’
In Jin’s previous life, pasta was often perceived as spaghetti.
Strictly speaking, spaghetti is just one type of pasta noodle.
This misunderstanding arose because the most commonly eaten long noodles are from the spaghetti family.
Anyway, that’s why it’s the most basic and popular noodle, making it good for use in aglio e olio.
He prepares enough noodles for three servings, and while waiting for the water to boil, he prepares the other ingredients.
‘Actually, there’s not much to prepare.’
As aglio e olio is a simple and basic dish, it doesn’t have many ingredients.
Chop chop chop-
He thinly slices the garlic into slivers, crushes a few, and that’s essentially it.
Bubble bubble-
After waiting for a while, when the water in the pot starts to boil, he adds the pre-measured noodles.
For a moment, the devilish idea of breaking them in half before adding crossed Jin’s mind, but.
Since there were no Italians around to tease, he quietly added them as they were.
‘Stir it a bit at first.’
When the noodles are first added, they can sometimes stick together and cook that way, so he stirs them a bit to separate them well.
After that, he just needs to stir them occasionally.
‘Now I’ll leave the noodles to cook for a while.’
It’s time to make the sauce.
Whoosh-
He turns on a new burner next to the pot and puts a pan on it.
When the pan is sufficiently heated, he reduces the heat to low and adds olive oil and the prepared garlic.
Sizzle-
Being careful not to burn it, he slowly cooks it with the feeling of dissolving the garlic’s aroma into the olive oil.
When the aroma starts to rise midway, he crushes some peperoncino and adds it.
Of course, it shouldn’t be too spicy, about 0.7 level by this world’s standards should be appropriate.
In other words, just a slight addition of spicy aroma.
As he was diligently extracting the aromas like that.
Sniff sniff-
“The aroma is good. Is this olive oil and garlic? So garlic has this aroma when roasted.”
“Wow, so this is olive oil? I heard it’s a luxury item used as perfume oil and medicine, and indeed the aroma is amazing.”
“Olive oil and garlic? Neither are ingredients you see often. As expected of the owner, I should say.”
The three started sharing their impressions after smelling it.
The common point was that all three found it unfamiliar.
Nevertheless, the aroma seemed pleasant, and their expectations seemed to have risen compared to earlier.
‘This should be about right.’
The time for those expectations to turn into satisfaction was approaching.
After confirming that the garlic was well-cooked, showing a slight golden color without being excessive.
He took out the noodles that were about 80% cooked and transferred them to the pan.
The reason for not cooking them completely was to finish cooking them in the pan while extracting the remaining starch.
Swoosh-!
Sizzle!
After transferring all the noodles, he adds the appropriate amount of pasta water to the pan.
Whoosh-!
He turns up the heat to medium and finishes cooking the noodles.
‘Just enough so they don’t get too soft and lose texture.’
The degree of cooking where the core is still alive, commonly called al dente, is a matter of preference.
But it’s not good to overcook them either.
Jin checked the degree of cooking by eating a noodle every now and then.
He turned off the heat when it was just a little more cooked than al dente, to avoid polarizing opinions.
Now only the final emulsification step remained.
This process, also called emulsion or mantecatura.
It refers to mixing the olive oil with the pasta water to create a thick sauce.
Normally, it’s common sense that water and oil don’t mix.
‘The starch in the pasta water acts as a mediator to reconcile these two opposing liquids.’
Since this process doesn’t occur if the temperature is too high, he turns off the heat and quickly mixes the contents of the pan to allow it to cool rapidly.
This is also why chefs do the wok tossing at this time, to quickly lower the temperature.
Slosh-
Slosh-
After a while like that.
When the pasta water and olive oil mix to form a thick, creamy sauce that evenly coats the noodles, it’s complete.
Ding-!
[Aglio e Olio]
[Permanent Magic +2 upon first consumption]
[Virility +3 for 7 hours upon consumption]
Hmm… There’s a strange effect added in the middle, but anyway, the dish seems to be well-completed.
‘Is it because of the garlic?’
No, wasn’t there no such stat to begin with?
Jin, trying to ignore the strangely concerning additional effect, evenly divided the completed aglio e olio and plated it.
Chop chop chop-
With finely chopped fresh parsley and
Grate grate grate-
Finely grated cheese, he served it to the guests.
“Here’s the aglio e olio. Please sprinkle the parsley and cheese I provided on the side according to your taste and enjoy it together.”
Now, finally, it’s time for pasta to shed its disgrace and be reborn as a proper dish.