level B2 · the farm and the kitchen · everything grown here
Arlesglad Caverns, level B2
Mycelium Munchies
A mushroom farm with a restaurant at the end of the growing rooms. All kinds of mushrooms, served all kinds of ways, and every one of them grown on the shelves you walk past to get to the pass.
On the pass: the house specialities
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Crispy fried oyster mushrooms
fried · grey oyster mushroom, pink oyster mushroom and golden oyster mushroom
Oyster mushrooms torn into pieces along their own gills, coated and fried until the edges shatter.
In it: Grey, pink and golden oyster mushrooms; flour, cornflour, salt, pepper and smoked paprika; fried in sunflower oil; a lemon and garlic dip on the side, made with oil and no egg.
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Lion's mane nuggets
fried · lion's mane
Lion's mane pulled into pieces the size of a bite, pressed, breaded and fried, soft all the way through.
In it: Lion's mane; flour, oat milk and breadcrumbs; salt, garlic powder and onion powder; fried in sunflower oil; a mustard and maple dip.
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Mushroom steaks
seared · king oyster mushroom and portobello
A king oyster cut into thick planks and scored, or a whole portobello cap, seared hard in a heavy pan and finished with the pan's own juices. Your pick of the two.
In it: King oyster mushrooms or portobello caps; olive oil, garlic, thyme, soy sauce and black pepper; mashed potatoes and greens on the side.
The rest of the menu
Every dish says how it is cooked, which mushrooms are in it, and everything else that is in it too, before you order.
The growing rooms
What is on the shelves, what it looks like on this farm’s shelves, what it is like cooked, and what it grows on. Each one says where you will find it on the menu.
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Grey oyster mushroom
On the shelf: Soft grey fans growing in overlapping clusters out of the side of their bags, like little shelves.
Cooked: Tender and a little chewy, and it tears into strips along its gills.
Grown here on straw. On the menu as Crispy fried oyster mushrooms.
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Pink oyster mushroom
On the shelf: Fans of a bright, almost unlikely pink, with frilled edges.
Cooked: Chewier than the grey, and it goes a pale tan when it cooks, which surprises everybody once.
Grown here on straw. On the menu as Crispy fried oyster mushrooms and Pink oyster crisps.
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Golden oyster mushroom
On the shelf: Small yellow caps in tight bunches, like a bouquet somebody handed you.
Cooked: Delicate and nutty, and it cooks in almost no time at all.
Grown here on hardwood sawdust. On the menu as Crispy fried oyster mushrooms and Golden oyster stir-fry.
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Blue oyster mushroom
On the shelf: Blue-grey caps when they are young, fading towards grey as they open out.
Cooked: Firm enough to press flat under a weight and brown hard.
Grown here on straw. On the menu as Blue oyster tacos.
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King oyster mushroom
On the shelf: A thick white stem as long as your hand with a small brown cap on top, so nearly all of it is stem.
Cooked: Dense and meaty, and it holds its shape when it is cut into planks.
Grown here on sawdust, in bottles. On the menu as Mushroom steaks and Mushroom skewers.
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Lion's mane
On the shelf: A round white cluster of soft hanging spines, like a pom-pom or a waterfall that stopped.
Cooked: Soft and stringy the way crab is, and it pulls apart into pieces.
Grown here on blocks of hardwood sawdust. On the menu as Lion's mane nuggets.
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Shiitake
On the shelf: Brown caps with pale flecks, on short tough stems that go into the broth rather than the pan.
Cooked: Rich and savoury, and deeper again once it has been dried.
Grown here on blocks of hardwood sawdust, and logs. On the menu as Shiitake broth with noodles and Mushroom skewers.
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Maitake
On the shelf: A frilled grey-brown cluster of overlapping fronds, big enough to need both hands.
Cooked: Crisp at the edges and tender in the middle when it is roasted whole.
Grown here on hardwood sawdust. On the menu as Roast maitake.
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Enoki
On the shelf: Long, thin white stems with tiny caps, packed tight in bundles.
Cooked: Soft and slippery in a broth, and crisp at the tips on a grill.
Grown here on bottles, in the dark, which is why it comes out long, thin and white. On the menu as Shiitake broth with noodles and Grilled enoki bundles.
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Button mushroom
On the shelf: Small, smooth white caps, closed tight underneath.
Cooked: Mild, and it takes on whatever it is cooked with.
Grown here on compost. On the menu as Mushrooms on toast and Mushroom skewers.
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Chestnut mushroom
On the shelf: The same kind of mushroom as the button, in a brown skin, with a firmer bite.
Cooked: A little deeper in flavour than the white one.
Grown here on compost. On the menu as Mushrooms on toast and Chestnut mushroom soup.
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Portobello
On the shelf: The chestnut mushroom again, left to grow until its cap opens as flat and wide as a saucer.
Cooked: Deep, dark and juicy, and big enough to be a meal on its own.
Grown here on compost. On the menu as Mushroom steaks.
Watch Derek Sarno cook them
Want to learn how to cook mushrooms? Watch Derek Sarno’s videos. His Mushroom Masterclass playlist is on one press, and nothing loads from YouTube until you press it.
Mushroom Masterclass - How to cook Mushrooms!, on YouTube, from Derek Sarno’s own channel. No runtime on this one: it is his list, and he keeps adding to it.
Or pick one: the most recent in the playlist, newest first, as it stood when we read it on 26 September 2026. Every video says how long it runs before you press it, and each title is his, as he wrote it.
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The Meal I Made at The Farm Sanctuary 🔥
1 August 2026 · 25:28
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My Greatest Meal In A Van Down By The River
20 May 2026 · 21:55
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The Dish That Beats Everything I've Ever Made
7 April 2026 · 28:36
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The Most Exciting Ingredient In The Kitchen Right Now
16 March 2026 · 33:20
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This New England Classic Made Even Better
8 December 2025 · 20:17
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The Special That Sold Out Every Time
19 October 2025 · 24:24
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Three Chef Techniques Worth Knowing | King Oyster Mushrooms
20 September 2025 · 37:27
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Big Bad Breakfast Filthy Fast vs From Scratch
21 August 2025 · 34:36
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Best Camp Cook So Far
21 May 2025 · 24:56
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Saying 'I Love You' With Green Enchiladas
8 May 2025 · 32:23
Grow your own
Want to learn how to grow your own mushrooms for cooking? Visit North Spore, who sell mushroom growing kits and supplies and write guides to using them. Their How to Use a Mushroom Fruiting Block Kit is a good place to start. It is a shop, which is unusual for a link on this street: we are not affiliated with North Spore, they do not pay us, and the link carries no code or tracking of any kind.
Why a mushroom farm
Because of a post of ours. We once spent a Campfire Learn Together on the way fungi grow, break things down and make something new of what is left, and one line of it is the whole reason this room is under the street:
“Composting is not destruction. It is how a commons renews itself.”
From our own The Mycelial Worldview Is Punk
A mushroom is the fruit. The part that does the growing is the mycelium, the pale threads that run all the way through a block of straw or sawdust and that nobody ever sees on a plate. When a block has given all the mushrooms it is going to, it goes out of the farm as compost. Mushrooms are fungi, not plants, which is also why this is not the plant kitchen upstairs.
House rules
- Everything on a plate was grown here, on the shelves you walked past.
- Every dish says what is in it before you order, so nobody has to ask.
- Nothing is served raw. Every mushroom here is cooked.
- The mushrooms are named the way the kitchen names them, and never in Latin.
- Nothing on this page can tell you whether a mushroom you found is safe to eat, and nothing on it tries. Every mushroom here is described as it looks on this farm’s own shelves.
- A mushroom here is dinner and not a supplement. No dish is for your brain, your nerves or anything else. It is for eating.
- There are no prices on this menu, and nothing on it is ranked above anything else.
The dishes, the drawings and every word about the mushrooms are ours. The videos and their titles are Derek Sarno’s, on his own channel; he is not affiliated with Stimpunks and does not endorse us. The line in the middle of the page is from our own post, and the rest of the post is there to read. Credits are in the liner notes.
Job marker — a spent growing block on the kitchen floor
You have found a job marker. The Adventurer’s Guild is a shopfront on the street, and it posts jobs that send you round these rooms. Take the code below to its board and that job is done. Nothing here is scored, nothing expires, and one is a perfectly good number of jobs to do.
The job: The farm under the street
Before the code: When a block of straw or sawdust has given all the mushrooms it is going to, what does it go out of the farm as?
Hint 1
It is in the paragraph after the quotation.
Hint 2
Our own line about it is quoted just above.
Last hint
It goes back to the soil.
Give me the answer
The answer is Compost. Compost. The mushroom is only the fruit; the mycelium is the part that grew all the way through the block, and when it is spent the block goes back out as compost. Which is the line of ours the room is built on: composting is not destruction, it is how a commons renews itself.
Taking the answer is a real way through this, not a lesser one. Nothing is watching and nothing is written down.
Quest code: FRUITING
That is the one.
Compost. The mushroom is only the fruit; the mycelium is the part that grew all the way through the block, and when it is spent the block goes back out as compost. Which is the line of ours the room is built on: composting is not destruction, it is how a commons renews itself.
Quest code: FRUITING