Universe Infinite Canteen.

Chapter 596 Honest Man

"These shapes you made...are there any deep meanings?" Rocky Chen asked.

"No," Malu lied, "I just remembered the cartoon "Pokémon" that I watched when I was a child, and I made it casually."

“Oh, why does this guy in front of me with many hands look familiar? It turns out to be Wukong,” Gaggan Anand suddenly realized, but soon fell into deep thought.

"But why don't I remember the others? That lead apple tree? Is there such a Pokémon in Pokémon?"

"That's not the point. Maybe I remembered it wrong." Malu said, "Eat quickly. If you don't eat it, the food will melt."

Upon hearing this, the four judges quickly took out their mobile phones, took photos as souvenirs, and even took photos of others before picking up spoons and starting to eat.

At first they thought it was just ordinary ice cream, but after putting it in their mouths, everyone was shocked.

"Hey, why is this ice cream still coconut chicken flavored?"

"Come to think of it, the Fat Duck Restaurant seems to have a similar dish, bacon and scrambled eggs made into ice cream."

Violette Huppert, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine, thought of something and pushed up her glasses.

"In addition to the excellent shape, the taste is also not bad, and it sticks to the theme again." Chef Rocky Chen once again said with emotion, "It's too good. I can't find any reason not to give it a full score."

“Besides, this dish definitely cannot be made in two minutes. It seems that Chef Yoneyama Hajime’s guess was correct. You had already planned to adopt a dual theme in the first round of the competition, and you were also well prepared.

"But even so, your product is a bit scary. There is no trace of improvisation. It can be sold directly in any restaurant."

Yoneda Hajime nodded and said, "Impeccable."

The next person to come on stage was Sun Mei. She had performed brilliantly in the previous three rounds, second only to Malu, but her condition declined in this round.

But it is understandable. After all, she is different from Lao Wang. She is still a human being, so it is natural for her to have ups and downs.

Moreover, Sun Mei probably realized that it was not easy to defeat Malu, so she stopped rushing forward and adopted some strategies.

It seems that he intends to switch from offense to defense, prioritize survival, and then accumulate as much time as possible until the final round of confrontation, and then fight the millipede for victory.

So this time she served a cold dish - aspic.

Even though it is a cold dish, Sun Mei has put a lot of thought into it. She specially uses wild yellow croaker to make meat jelly, and adds basil, codonopsis, and saffron to it, so that the finished product has a light herbal flavor.

Although the theme of this competition is coconut, considering that the judges have already eaten more than a dozen coconut-flavored dishes in a row, their taste buds are probably almost numb.

More different flavors can also enhance the dish. Sun Mei finally put coconut crisps sticks on the bottom and paired it with jelly.

The third person to come on stage was Luo Junkang.

He still had that expressionless look on his face, but Sun Mei and Kawano Zhengming both noticed that this inheritor of Huaiyang cuisine had washed his face and was in a daze before.

Knowing that Luo Junkang was probably reaching his limit, Sun Mei and Kawano Zhengming chose to speed up at the same time.

Since there have been eliminations in this round, they may as well let go and save some time.

Even though they have witnessed Malu's strength and overwhelming power, both of them are proud and talented chefs who don't want to admit defeat so quickly and hand over the championship to someone else.

Luo Junkang walked up to the podium with heavy steps as if he was going to the execution ground. As if sensing the despair emanating from him, the four judges knew that this should be the last round for this contestant.

However, when they looked at the dishes that Luo Junkang handed over, they couldn't help but let out a clear exclamation.

"This is……"

"Peony." Luo Junkang said in a muffled voice.

A peony carved out of tofu stood gracefully at the bottom of the bowl. As the judges turned the soup bowl, the tofu petals swayed gently with the water.

"Excellent knife skills." Yoneda Zhao praised, "As expected of a Huaiyang cuisine inheritor, your carving skills on this tofu are truly amazing."

"But this dish is a bit too simple." Gaggan Anand then added, "Although your tofu is carved very beautifully, it is served with only a bowl of water, without even any sauce. This is a bit too plain. Did you run out of time?"

Olette Huppert put her nose to the soup bowl and sniffed it, but suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, this, this is not water, it's broth, but the color is really light."

Rocky Chen's heart moved when he heard this, "Could it be... that dish?"

"It's not boiled cabbage," Luo Junkang quickly clarified, "To boil cabbage, you need to cook chicken, duck, elbow and ham together, and it will take a long time, there is no time at all.

“I only had the discarded chicken broth from a previous experiment, so I added some ham and deer antlers, and then used minced meat to sweep the broth to make it clear. It was a simple version.

"As for this piece of tofu, it was what I discarded last time. I added coconut milk to it, but then I realized I didn't have enough time, so I didn't use it. But I did order the tofu."

"I really had no other choice this time, so I tried to combine these two things."

Luo Junkang is an honest man and does not shy away from using leftover materials.

Several judges didn't care. As long as the dishes themselves were good, they had no objection to the recycling of kitchen waste.

In fact, in recent years, many chefs from top restaurants have been working hard to address waste and create a more environmentally friendly and sustainable menu.

Gaggan Anand also changed his attitude and praised the dish after tasting it.

"In addition to its good appearance, this dish also tastes good. Chef Luo Junkang, I feel like everyone seems to have underestimated your ability to respond."

Luo Junkang didn't say anything, just wiped his sweat.

Kawano Masayoshi, who was standing behind him, frowned slightly, but soon relaxed again.

He served the coconut straw cakes he had made.

Caobing is a specialty of Kansai. Its preparation is a bit like the Hakka snack Qingtuan. Both make rice cakes by mixing mugwort leaves with long rice or glutinous rice, and then wrapping the fillings in the middle.

Kawano Masaaki wrapped the king crab legs in it, and then brushed a layer of sugar crust on the grass cake with coconut milk.

Gaggan Anand was a little surprised when he ate it. "Your sweetness is layered. How did you do it?"

“I used coconut milk and king crab legs to give the dish a sweet taste,” said Kawano. “Besides that, I also drizzled some sea water on it before serving.”

"The salty taste of the seawater can balance the sweetness of the upper layer of the shell, distinguishing it from the lower layer, and finally the crab legs of the king crab inside the grass cake, forming a progressive relationship."

(End of this chapter)