Meet Chulp, the third of the three main chefs preparing meals at the Trident, one of Titan Garden's top-rated restaurants. A Europan native, Chulp has a taste for aquatic meals and strives to share the ocean's bountry with all people, whether they walk, fly or swim. Energetic and enthusiastic to a fault, Chulp is easily excited about any new interesting thing they find and gets exceptionally excited by opportunities to share interesting things with other people- the majority of people in the Sol system are not water-breathers and so the depths of the Europan seas are an inviting mystery to all but the most intrepid landlubber. Fortunately there are chefs like Chulp who are all too happy to bring the mysteries of the deep to your dinnerplate, and share the cultural origins of each dish to you right there at your tableside.
Bearing the title Chef of the Thousand Seas, Chulp's Green Menu offers a broad range of healthy meals rich in umami flavor from oceanic regions throughout the Sol system. One of the main focuses of Chulp's cuisine is a blending of textures, arranging dishes not just by how they taste, but by how they feel to eat, and so they're able to offer delicate and highly refined culinary experiences that even the most seafood-averse can enjoy. Chulp believes that touch is as important a consideration as taste and scent in preparing a dish, adding an interesting axis to the profile of their plates that many starfarers overlook, and so they're able to introduce a new way of thinking about cuisine to the people of Titan. Whether you're interested in a light diner or enlightening discussion, Chulp and their Green Menu have a range of offerings waiting to be discovered.
While many starfarers are used to seeing Europans walking about in their full-enclosure evo suits, a trip to the Trident is a tasty way to learn about an alternative to Europan land-walking technology. Chulp, being a chef, doesn't enjoy using the mechanical hands of their evo suit while preparing their meals, finding the process to be stiff and lifeless, and so they opt to wear an aquatic rebreathing collar while they're in the kitchen. The rebreather covers a Europan's gills and connects to a smaller, lightweight water tank they wear on their backs, allowing them to move about freely for prolonged periods of time, although that time is somewhat limited compared to the longevity of their standard evo suits. Chulp is a big fan of light rebreathers, as they allow them to bounce around their kitchen and put their full heart into preparing their dishes. It's a very animated process.
Similar to Agami's Red Menu dishes, many of Chulp's offerings have their roots in two worlds in particular: Europa and Caelus. Europan cuisine is familiar to many Terrans, consisting of soft and shelled sealife prepared in an immersed liquid environment. Europans use thermal cores to heat spheres of water to cook their dishes- a practice with roots in cooking over thermal vents on the ocean floor of their homeworld- but are also versed in preparing dishes without heat, using a salt-heavy curing process to prepare meals in a way that produces a complex texture profile. Comparatively, Caelian cuisine is heavily mineral-based, as the people of Caelus live in the planet core beneath the liquid slurry of a gas giant. Caelians will often break up mineral chunks to make them easier to break down, and evolved a culinary tradition of blending minerals in precise measurements to create interesting flavor combinations which, as Chulp has discovered, also result in curious texture profiles. Chulp likes to add the Caelian mineral blends as seasonings to the more generally-palatable seafood dishes of Europa, offering something familiar-but-new both Europan and Caelian diners can enjoy.
As part of their pursuit of excellence in cuisine, Chulp works with Rosetta to explore Terran seafood traditions they can incorporate into their menu and put their own Europan spin on. Chulp is fascinated by how many takes on seafood can be found along Terran coastlines- from the rich and varied traditions of the whole western Pacific, on past the Hawaiian Republic to the freezing waters of the Canadian Alliance, down through the North Atlantic Commonwealth and the Southern Treaty territories, down and across the Atlantic and anywhere with a coastline, there is so much Terran culinary traditions have done with seafood, and so many techniques Chulp can apply to their own Europan methods, the Trident's Green Menu is a deep and varied selection of dishes to choose from, for starfarers of all stripes.
One of the unique features of the Trident is its aquatic dining tank, a section of restaurant with a deep pool of nutrient-rich water that Europans, Caelians and aquatic Terrans like Carol and her friends can enjoy. On the surface it appears as a small stone-lined pond, tastefully decorated and accenting the atmosphere of the dry section of the Trident, but aquatic diners can slip into the pool from a small side area, swim down and enjoy their meals in a larger underwater space beneath the main section of the restaurant, cut from stone and decorated with luminous motes of Europan crystal. It's a breathtaking atmosphere and offers water-breathers a more natural and at-home space in which they can enjoy their meals. Chulp works closely with Rosetta and Agami to make modifications to their dishes that better accommodate undersea dining while retaining their unique flavors and characteristics. The undersea section isn't for everyone, but Ganymedeans and many Androids have found this section of the Trident to be an enchanting experience; United Robotics Androids are fully able to enjoy aquatic dining at the Trident, but they're advised to have a plan for how to get out before they're invited in, as their characteristic density doesn't work in their favor in swimming up out of the pond. Cybernetics offer an extreme solution for air-breathing species to share in this rare experience, as hydrocompatible synthetic lungs and lumbar gill modifications are both offered at licensed clinics, though most augmented diners have these mods for more career-oriented and practical reasons, dining at the Trident is a nice side perk of such a big commitment.
Make your reservations early, and come dine at the Trident restaurant. There's a little taste of everywhere, for everyone!