Alright, let's start with the classic beef bowl.

I scoop up some beef bowl with a ladle and pour it over a small serving of white rice before handing it to Lange and Lilia. After all, a white rice base is essential for enjoying the retort series.

"Yeah, this is exactly what I wanted!"

The sweet and savory sauce blends with the meat and onions, spreading its flavor throughout my mouth along with the white rice. The harmony between the rice and sauce is what makes a true donburi!

To be honest, if we compare just the taste of the meat and vegetables, the flavors of this world are undoubtedly superior. However, the taste of this sauce, crafted specifically to complement rice, is something truly irreplaceable, no matter how many times you eat it.

"Oh, this sauce is really good. The sweet and savory flavor soaks into the rice, enhancing the taste of the meat and vegetables!"

"Yeah, it’s similar to the dish Tetsuya made before. But the sauce might be even better in this one."

"The donburi dishes from my homeland are all made with the assumption that they'll be eaten with rice. These four types of dishes are designed specifically to pair well with white rice. As expected, the sauce and rice go perfectly together."

The true deliciousness of a beef bowl lies in the rice soaked with sauce. As Lange pointed out, I had once made a beef bowl imitation using fish sauce, but naturally, the flavor of a retort beef bowl produced by a major company from my original world is far superior to something made by an amateur like me.

Now that I’ve bought various seasonings in the royal capital, I might be able to make something even tastier than before, but this retort beef bowl is already more than satisfying.

"Being able to enjoy this taste just by heating it up is incredibly convenient. Just like curry, I’m sure it’ll sell well."

"Yeah. Thanks to the special preservation packs Gregor the blacksmith made, it should last quite a while, just like the curry."

By boiling the preservation packs for sterilization and using the ability of the outdoor shop to purchase directly into the packs, we can store them in a vacuum-sealed state. This should extend the shelf life considerably, making it a valuable emergency food option.

That said, just like the curry, we'll need to test how long it lasts in the preservation packs before we start selling it. The curry has already been confirmed to last over a month, so we plan to start with that first.

"Alright, let’s try the other flavors one by one."

After the beef bowl, we tasted the retort series of oyakodon, Chinese-style rice bowl, and mapo rice bowl in order.

In the end, all eight servings of the retort series were devoured by the three of us. While the individual portions weren’t very large, and we had kept our rice servings small, it’s still surprising how much we ate.

"Man, I’m stuffed. Everything was really delicious!"

"Yeah. I had never tasted anything like these before. The dishes in the royal capital were delicious too, but this might have been just as good."

"Maybe it tastes even better because it’s something completely new to us."

Honestly, the dishes in the royal capital were likely superior in terms of high-quality ingredients, but the fact that these were entirely new flavors made them feel even more special.

"So, which flavor did you two like the most? For me, it has to be the beef bowl."

Back in my world, I often ate beef bowls from chain restaurants. It's a simple dish, but I’ve always loved the taste of this sauce.

"For me, it's this mapo rice bowl. I've had dishes with somewhat similar flavors before, but this one was completely new to me. I was really surprised. It's a bit spicy, but that actually pairs really well with the mild-tasting rice."

"For me, it’s this oyakodon dish. I’ve never eaten eggs prepared this way before. At first, I was a bit concerned whether they were fully cooked, but after tasting it, I found it really delicious."

"Hmm, I see. That’s good to know."

Indeed, I had never seen dishes like mapo rice bowl or oyakodon in this world before.

As for the mapo rice bowl, spicy red chili peppers could only be found in the royal capital, and it seemed like no one had really experimented with using them in cooking yet. Plus, they had never seen white tofu before. In terms of uniqueness, the mapo rice bowl was probably the most exotic.

Oyakodon, on the other hand, was unfamiliar because this world doesn’t have the custom of eating eggs raw or half-cooked. At first, both of them hesitated a bit, but after I explained that the broth prevents the eggs from fully solidifying even when cooked through, they enjoyed it. The soft, custard-like eggs mixed with dashi broth and chicken make for an incredibly delicious combination with rice.

When we start selling oyakodon, we’ll need to provide proper explanations about this. Lange and Lilia’s opinions were really helpful in that regard.

"Realistically, we’ll have to confirm that it lasts for at least a month before we start selling it. For now, let’s get opinions from everyone else on which ones to sell. Alright, we’re full, but I think we could still fit in a little dessert?"