Yea, and what is in Esmeralda's cellar? Pixel-hunting. The only reason I didn't get stumped was because I was picking up every bit of food anyway. None of the steps in that whole chain requires cleverness, only mindless searching.
So, if I understand you correctly, secret areas should be highlighted with neon signs and bright flashing lights because otherwise they are too hard to find?
The very definition of a secret area is that it should be hard to find, otherwise you can't really call it secret
