The sweetest gesture

The restaurant Jason had picked was absolutely wonderful. Jenny had been living in that country almost all her life, but she had never heard of it. It was a large rotating restaurant on top of a tower overlooking the Northern sea. It was very exclusive and when Jenny looked it up, she was surprised they had been able to get a reservation there with such short notice. Then again, the Westwoods weren't a regular family and Jason wasn't a regular guy. This proved that their influence stretched farther than just in England. The restaurant had all kinds of food, even Jenny's beloved pastas. Though in a "bit" of different price range and with "slightly" different ingredients, there was sure to be something among the ones on the menu. When they entered, it was clear to Jenny that the restaurant was aimed at couples. Surrounded by romantic lighting, soft music, and a romantic ambiance all around, it wasn't difficult to get into a romantic mood themselves. If all of that wasn't enough, the view surely was. Even all the dishes were made in a way that they could be shared. This made it a completely different kind of experience to what they were used to when going out for dinner.

As soon as they were seated, a few small appetizers were served, and they were handed a menu so they could pick the rest of their dishes. On a cute rectangular platter, two small bite size pieces of three different kinds of foods had been placed on each of the corners. On the straight sides, small dips could be found and, in the centre, a tiny basket, containing two warm slices of bread had been placed. Not only did it look exquisite, it tasted divine. Jenny wasn't really sure what the miniature dishes were, but just one bite of the "safest" dish, convinced her that they were all worth trying. And with each bite she took and each dish she tasted, she was becoming happier and happier that Jason had brought her here. With an excited twinkling in her eyes, she asked Jason "What kind of ingredients could make food taste like this. This is absolutely wonderful. If these are the appetizers, how great must the actual food taste?!"

Jason chuckled and felt glad that he had picked this restaurant. It appeared that his track record would remain clean of failures for now. Initially he had picked this restaurant not for the food itself, but because they didn't show their prices on the menu. It was a restaurant aimed at more wealthy people and was quite exclusive, so if you were able to get in, you would surely be able to pay whatever they charged you for it. The reason this drew him to this restaurant was because he had seen more than once that Jenny seemed bothered by the prices in some of the restaurants they had visited, purposely trying to pick the cheapest dish on the menu and not necessarily enjoying it. That is when he started picking her dishes for her, but even then, he could see a look of worry when she saw the price of the dish. Now, she wasn't able to let that be a factor and influence her experience of the evening, nor would she ever find out. The pricelist was undisclosed, and you had to give a credit card number when you place a reservation. The costs are directly deducted from the card, without any specification other than the restaurant's name, so you never know what an individual dish had cost.

When Jenny was finally no longer distracted by the food in front of her and looked at the menu to see what kind of dishes they offered, she noticed the missing prices. "Jace, how come there aren't any prices mentioned at these dishes? How can you make an informed decision if you can't take the price into account? How will I know if a dish could be worth what they charge for it?" Jason just shrugged his shoulder and said "Don't worry about it. You don't pay for an individual dish. They charge you by the person and the number of courses. The dishes all cost about the same, so just focus on what kind of dish you would like, and I will try to pick something too. Let's see if we come up with the same thing for you. I am more curious how they will combine our dishes into one sharable dish." Though Jenny was a bit sceptical of his explanation, she had no way of finding out the truth, so she decided not to focus on it. Regardless of what his reason for not wanting to tell her the price of their night out, she was happy that he had planned such a lovely evening for the both of them, despite him coming along for the entire summer, was the biggest gift he could give her and the sweetest gesture. She wouldn't have needed anything else from him, but he couldn't help himself. Spoiling her is what he loved doing most.

The dishes Jason had picked for them, after some consideration and a bit of back and forth between him and Jenny, would be a combination of a lean meat dish and a pasta. The pasta wasn't a regular pasta but was a mix of pasta's made out of different vegetables, each seasoned and prepared in their own way, regular pasta and was served with a truffle-garlic oil. It was combined with the Japanese Kobe beef steak Jason had picked and the first bite proved that it was a perfect combination. The meat was well seasoned and very tender, making it almost fall apart in your mouth. The thin, small slices made it possible to combine each piece with a bit of the mixed pasta. They tried to savour each bite, especially Jenny, who was eating that expensive piece of meat for the first time. All that was left was dessert, but that was Jenny's department. So, where Jason got to shine during the entree and the main dish, Jenny impressed family and friends alike when it came to her dessert making and picking skills. Her eyes had landed on an ice cake made with homemade with alternating layers of banana ice cream, marble cake, chocolate chip vanilla ice cream and crushed walnuts. When the heart shaped delight was served, it was already slightly melting, making it soft enough to be scooped with a spoon and melt away in your mouth. With this cherry on top, a messy start of the evening turned into a perfect night!