The Chef's Tray: a snack bar in Balmora

###The Chef’s Tray: an snack bar in Balmora###

3E 426

By Cambysius Gesta, Imperial traveler.

For the hungry and thirsty traveler, Balmora offers a wide range of establishments. The Lucky Luckup, located near the South Gate, is probably one of the most famous and most welcoming towards the outlanders. The Council Club also offers very good services, but beware!, if you are not a native: outlanders are not welcomed there. The Eight Plates inn has, among its clientele, eminent members of Great House Hlaalu, and they are talking business around some delicious drink. The more modest of ours or those who wish a more relaxed ambiance often prefer the South Wall Cornerclub, on the left bank.

But there are only there a few famous names among so many others. Since the opening of the Vvardenfell island to colonization in 3E 414 by His Highness King Hlaalu Athyn Llethan, may he rest in peace, Balmora has known a swift growth. To feed all these stomachs and quench all these newcomers’ thirst, numerous enterprisers opened their own tavern, or club, as the Dark Elves say. Sedros Drevyn is one of them.

Former employee of a club of the Old Ebonheart suburbs, Master Sedros crossed the Inner Sea a ten years ago. With his savings, he undertook a snack bar in the Balmora Commercial District, near the main square: the Chef’s Tray. The establishment is of relatively average size. Its prices are appropriate. Its advertising is rather discreet: a fabric banner constitutes the sign, in the typical style of the Dunmer, and the boss installed a few tables on the terrace. The service is ensured by Llilana Arethi, a beautiful centenarian woman, native from Balmora. Some people think the celerity of her moves in the snack bar are magical, and, truly, they are not wrong, since the boss confided me that he supplied her enchanted sandals. The cook is a Redguard named Kerley, who always stays evasive about his origins. A Breton would not approve his plates’ presentation, but he would recognize he is not an amateur. Master Sedros, the boss, spends his time between the kitchen and the room, busing himself where the workload is the most important.

The Chef’s Tray offers typical dishes of the region: ash yams and scrib jerky salad, saltrice rolls stuffed with scuttle, marshmerrow and fried armorhead fish, etc. But the establishment offer meals from elsewhere too, for those whose the homeland is missing: honey nut treat, snowberry croastata, Aldcroft cheese, salt pork stew, etc. Master Sedros imports the ingredients from the Ebonheart harbor, then the cook makes the dish himself. However, what makes the reputation of the Chef’s Tray with the Balmora dwellers is not so much its food as its drink. Of course, we can ordering common alcohols of Morrowind, like the mazte, the greef or the sujamma, and even Cyrodiilic wines, but especially the specialty of the bar: the antherade. Sedros Drevyn invented it himself. Its exact recipe is secret, but we know the mix mainly contains mazte and willow anther tea. A little alcoholic and cheep, the antherade can be drunk in great quantity by the thirsty man. During the summer, this drink is served cool. It is conserved in the cellar in enchanted barrels with a cold-based spell. Sedros paid a lot of money this service to Galbedir, of the Mages Guild, but he recognizes these barrels are now essential advantages for his snack bar.

Today, the Chef’s Tray is a very popular establishment. The Balmora dwellers are not anymore the only ones to spend here. Sedros Drevyn serve as the natives as the outlanders. The business is good and, to ensure better prices with his suppliers, Master Sedros joined House Hlaalu. He is also a good commercial partner for the Eastern Empire Company – the accusations about smuggling against him, launched by Larrius Varro, officer of Fort Moonmoth, are ridiculous! Sedros Drevyn is a very good example of the Imperial success and of the benefits produced by the Vvardenfell colonization: a modern Dunmer, who ensure his personal future while contributing in the social life of his city.

May the Chef’s Tray thrive long years again!