should too. Especially when it’s how you earn your way.’
‘I’m not trying to be modest, false or otherwise,’ she retorted. ‘I do what I do. I’m lucky that people like it and continue to follow and get involved.’
‘But there must be a level of skill to garner that kind of engagement, in your writing, in posting the right pictures that will elicit people’s interest.’
Again she shrugged.
‘You need to have more self-confidence.’
‘Sure, like it’s something you can pick up off the shelf,’ she said with a snap to her voice. ‘Oh look, I’ll have half a pound of belief, a pinch of arrogance, and a side serving of assurance. Because it’s really that easy.’ Her final words were spoken in a lower tone as if they were unwillingly dragged out of her and once again he felt that stab of guilt.
***
The restaurant was packed but Gabe led the way, worming his way through the crowd to snag the last two barstools facing the kitchen where a couple of chefs were working.
‘Ever had tempura before?’ he asked as she shed her coat and picked up a menu.
‘No.’ She glanced around the busy and very noisy restaurant. Over the chatter she could hear the swish of hot oil and the ting, ting of utensils scraping metal as the chefs worked at a furious pace in the kitchen in front of them.
‘Then you’re in for a treat, although this place will spoil you for ever after.’
‘I don’t even know tem … temp … what it is.’
‘Tempura,’ supplied Gabe. ‘It’s basically food deep fried in batter … but nothing like the heavy batter you get on fish at home. You wait.’
She stared at the menu, her mind a little boggled. It was all in Japanese and completely unintelligible. Over in the kitchen one of the chefs was dipping something raw and almost translucent into a jug of white – what she now realised, must be – batter.
‘Don’t worry.’ Gabe put out a hand and pushed her menu down. ‘Do you like seafood?’
She nodded. ‘Leave it to me. Japanese cuisine is all about the freshness and simplicity of the ingredients. They tend to shop daily for their food to make sure it’s as fresh as it can be.’
Gabe ordered in Japanese and in seconds two steaming cups of green tea arrived. Fiona took a hesitant sip and sighed. ‘Oh, I needed that.’
The clean, light flavour and burst of warmth down her throat revived her flagging spirits immediately. It was both refreshing and comforting at the same time, especially when she cupped both hands around the pottery cup the way Gabe had done.
The chef stopped in front of them and showed them a bamboo woven plate of raw prawns, scallops, tiny fillets of fish, squid, and some baby sweet corn, a slice of an odd-looking root vegetable, aubergine, and what she guessed were chestnut mushrooms.
She nodded and smiled at the chef, wondering if she was supposed to take the plate. Her stomach rolled a little at the thought of raw seafood but before she could do anything, Gabe spoke in Japanese and the man took the plate away.
‘Your face,’ teased Gabe as a waitress brought them a set of small pottery dishes each containing different sauces and seasonings.
‘I thought he was giving it to us.’
‘No, just showing us the quality. Did you notice it didn’t smell at all fishy?’
‘Yes.’ Now he pointed it out, the lack of smell was noticeable.
‘That’s a mark of how fresh it is. And now he’s going to cook it for us. Watch. See the batter in the jug there. It’s very thin and almost translucent.’
Fiona watched as the chef dipped the scallops in the batter and then tossed them in a deep pan of oil that was so hot it was smoking. With quick, lithe movements, the chef lifted the scallops out of the oil and tossed them around the basket with a definite air of performance before sliding the crispy golden scallops onto small oval plates with a flick of the wrist and placing them on the counter in front of them. Talk about freshly cooked – this was instant.
Fiona inhaled deeply; she could see the fine sheen of oil still bubbling on the surface. The scallops smelled delicious and her mouth was already watering.
‘Now you dip them in any of these.’ He pointed to an herb-speckled sea salt, the coarse white crystals mixed with tiny crumbs of green, and several other condiments. ‘This is seasoned salt, usually with bamboo greens,