ZUZU MANSUR
Seating herself at a table, Zubaidah placed a thumb in the air in order to signal for a server to come to her. Seeing her thumb, a young man, tray in hand, traversed the brash room in order to reach her, his black hair rippling in waves as he manoeuvred past tables of jaunty customers. A smile broke out on his face as he arrived at her table and spoke to Zubaidah,
‘A new customer, eh?’ Zubaidah smiled slightly as he said that, asking, ‘How’d you know?’ Tapping his nose, he answered with a jesting tone, ‘Miss, it’s my job to know all about my customers - it helps to decreases serving times and reduces my workload when I have a rough idea of what sort of drink they’re looking to drown their sorrows in or celebrate their successes with. Besides, how could I ever forget such a beauty like you?’
Zubaidah laughed at his remark and leant her chin on a marble white hand as she replied to him, ‘Quite the overconfident one, are we? Just because you have such a luscious mane doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be an instant hit among the ladies.’ The server smirked as he replied, ‘This lion is proud of his mane- it took quite some time to get it into this style and maintain it. By the way, the name’s Huijin, your extremely charming server for today.’
‘And apparently a modest one at that… Well, my name is Zubaidah, and you better remember that, Lion.’ Huijin mockingly put on a wounded look, ‘We’ve already gotten to the point of using petty nicknames? Quite a fierce Tiger you are.’
Resolving their differences with a silent glare at each other before breaking into good-natured laughter, Huijin asked her for an order, to which Zubaidah asked for whatever could satisfy her sweet tooth and her thirst. Nodding his head in acknowledgment, he once more weaved his way through the full tables and ducked behind the counter. As she struggled to make out his figure, she could see him take an amber alcohol within a thin glass container and pour it into a different receptacle before mixing it vigourously together with a liquid beryl, combining with each other in an entrancing swirl that attracted the attention of any customer whose sights been so much as caught sight of the vibrant green that evoked an soothing image of green waves clasping one another among the vast expanse of the sea. Yet, he was not finished; after dropping a stunning pearl of lime into the mixing receptacle and draping a fresh leaf of some sort onto the lip of a low-sided glass, the previous drink cascaded down into it, mesmerising Zubaidah’s thoughts as she observed Huijin’s graceful movements, delicate touch and finesse in the entire process.
Meeting Zubaidah’s gaze, he winked at her and placed it on his server’s tray before darting yet again between similarly entranced customers whose eyes were fixed on the liquid scenery that Huijin placed in front of her. Urged on by both his and the other customer's expectant faces, Zubaidah picked up the glass carefully and raised it to her nose, the beautiful but strong floral notes lulling the mind while giving rise to gentler undertones of anise and a light woodiness. Lowering it to her mouth, she sipped at it slowly, drawing a slow trickle into her tongue. At that moment, Zubaidah’s head was filled with memories of her youth; excursions with her father out to sea, training sessions in the sparring room, strolling in the streets of the capital, all of them seemed to flood into her mind at a single drop upon her tongue as her eyes widened in surprise at the familiar taste.
‘Other than the obvious woodiness, there is a hint of lime that adds an unexpected kick to the entire drink, it truly brings out the other flavours from the aniseedy liqueur. That taste is from the addition of the sap drawn from an Apset tree, Tiger, which is found predominantly across the Parthevia plains. I thought I might serve you a cocktail that is a liquid taste of your homeland.’ Upon seeing the questioning look that Zubaidah, Huijin elaborated, ‘The purple hair that you have is a rare colour when considering the entire world, but is fairly common in certain parts of Parthevia. Along with your particular manner of speech and even your seated posture, I was able to narrow this guess to a practical certainty. With this information, I was able to develop a drink perfect for your tastes; remember, I said that it’s my job to know everything about a customer. It is quite important to be able to develop that skill in order to cater to different people.’
Upon a bell being rung, Huijin immediately left the table once again and disappeared behind a pair of sliding doors before emerging with another tray that he presented to Zubaidah with little flourish. On it was a C Tier elegant light sponge cake, with thin layers of sponge slotted between chartreuse lime curd and vanilla laced whipped cream, and then decorated with amber sugarwork, candied citrus and sprigs of mint to top it off. Another jewel whose entire display was almost alleviated into a new level by the presence of the sparking cocktail, the two serving to improve upon each other. And sure enough, Huijin agreed with that thought exactly, ‘This dessert was baked to utilise the unique aftertastes of the Apset tree’s sap, the flavours working together in synthesis.’ Taking a generous portion of this delicate sponge onto her fork, Zubaidah experienced a perfect combination of lime and aniseed working together with the vanilla to deliver a satisfying taste. ‘The idea is that the dessert expands upon the themes that the cocktail presented to the palate by refreshing the tired customer and yet allowing for the consumer to be left satisfied and ready for the next act.’ With Zubaidah surprised by Huijin’s mention of one more ‘act’, Huijin clarified his meaning, ‘This next act involves no eating, but rather observing. You’ll see, Tiger.’
mag/mag | word/1238 | stam/stam
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