Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 165: Two Types of Premium Ingredients

Chapter 165: Chapter 165: Two Types of Premium Ingredients

The shopping street.

The Food Battle Stage was surrounded by layers of people, three deep both inside and out, but fortunately, the Taidong District and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had deployed enough personnel to maintain order; although the crowd was dense, there were no signs of chaos.

It is worth mentioning that, besides the judges’ seats, there was also a section reserved for guests next to the stage, inviting some celebrities from the culinary world to serve as guest spectators.

Tiqie Helinai was seated in the last row of the guest section, with Morioka Makoto and Niho Fuyuka standing behind her.

In the front row, two renowned gourmets from the culinary world were discussing in a low voice:

"One young Five-Star Chef, also a graduate of the United States Orlando College, I’m looking forward to the dish he will present later."

"What about the other chef? I hope it won’t be too weak a competition. A Food Duel needs equally matched contenders to be interesting; otherwise, it’ll just turn into a one-man show and a stage for that Five-Star Chef to shine!"

"Here they come!"

At that moment, the crowd became restless.

A line of police officers was protecting the other chef participating in the Food Duel, escorting him all the way to the Food Battle Stage.

The crowd stared unblinkingly at the second chef who appeared on the stage, shocked and murmuring among themselves.

The camera from Tokyo TV Station timely focused on Xia Yu, providing a long close-up that lingered without moving away.

"Good luck!"

Ando Keisuke silently cheered Xia Yu on as he approached the stage.

"Wait—"

The female host, Chiyoda Aichi, hurried over, panting and stopped Xia Yu, which surely exhausted the following cameramen carrying their heavy equipment.

Chiyoda Aichi stopped Xia Yu, gazing at his young and spirited face, suddenly feeling a bit stunned.

Hastily looking at the notes in her hand, Chiyoda Aichi quickly recovered and asked, "Chef Xia Yu, if I may ask, how old are you this year?"

"Sixteen." Xia Yu gave the beautiful host a puzzled look.

"Are you a current student at Far Moon?" Chiyoda Aichi asked, and the audience both on-site and in front of countless TVs perked up their ears.

"No." Xia Yu shook his head decisively.

"Ah!"

A disappointed uproar spread through the crowd, and Chiyoda Aichi couldn’t hide a flicker of disappointment in her eyes.

So young.

After all, his opponent was a graduate of a premier culinary school!

Just when the audience’s expectation for this Food Duel had plummeted due to the unequal abilities, Xia Yu spoke again, with his back to the camera, "I am a guest instructor at Far Moon."

What?!

Those who were scoffing in the crowd were suddenly silenced, including some of the celebrities and gourmets in the guest section, who all wore expressions of astonishment.

The judges’ section, however, along with people like Tiqie Helinai, remained exceptionally calm.

Having said that, Xia Yu then headed to his cooking station; earlier upon arriving on stage, he had already detailed the ingredients required for his dish to Ando Keisuke, instructing IGO’s personnel to prepare them.

Seeing this, Chiyoda Aichi had no choice but to use the interview gap before the Food Duel began to speak with the judges, Professor Xijian Run and Miyazaki Takuo.

"Professor Xijian, Professor Miyazaki, Chef Xia Yu, is he your guest instructor at Far Moon?" she asked.

"Yes!"

Professor Xijian Run was a bit nervous, and Miyazaki Takuo responded for him, his serious face breaking into a slight smile, "Don’t underestimate Instructor Xia; he is an exceptional chef, earning unanimous recognition from both the students and the General at Far Moon!"

After a moment of silence, resounding applause erupted from the entire venue.

After all, as an audience, what they wanted to see was an evenly matched Food Duel, not a one-sided slaughter.

This is the perspective of the audience, irrelevant of winning or losing.

Within ten minutes, the IGO organization had prepared all the ingredients and kitchenware needed by Xia Yu and Lancelot.

Xia Yu’s ingredients were nothing special; he hadn’t even brought his own spice bottles, leaving everything for IGO to prepare.

However, Lancelot evidently had his own unique preparations, as two assistants dressed in black suits, one in front and one behind, brought up two sealed ingredient storage boxes of different sizes to the counter and then bowed and left.

The camera appropriately shifted to Lancelot’s ingredient box.

"It seems Chef Lancelot plans to use some special ingredients!" Chiyoda Aichi’s voice brimmed with anticipation.

"Ding—"

Below the stage, a staff member struck the gong, "Food Duel begins! The time is two and a half hours! If you cannot present your cooking within the allotted time, you will be considered defeated!"

The Food Duel had begun.

Xia Yu, unperturbed, cleaned his hands and arranged four transparent bowls on the counter. He poured a small amount of oil into each bowl and then, without stopping, he picked up a spice bottle that was already open with each hand and sprinkled the contents into the bowls, then put them down and changed to another spice. His hands moved in parallel, displaying his skill.

Such method of spice mixing caught the attention of Professor Xijian Run, who brightened up at the judging table.

Yet, the TV station’s camera stayed focused on Lancelot.

The two ingredient boxes were finally opened!

It was shark fin and another type of dark mushroom!

"That mushroom..." Professor Xijian Run, keen-eyed, covered her mouth and said from her seat, "Yes, that’s shark fin mushroom!"

Miyazaki Takuo and Shinohara Shigetaro both looked over, their expressions serious.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" Professor Xijian Run had a hint of panic in her eyes. The academic paper on shark fin mushrooms had been published by her on the IGO forum a while ago, perhaps, Lancelot was inspired by her paper.

"If he creates a high-quality dish using the new ingredient ’shark fin mushroom,’ then this Food Duel..." Shinohara Shigetaro’s face darkened.

"Wait!"

Reiko Liangzi couldn’t help but stand up and walk over to Lancelot’s counter, staring at a perfectly preserved shark fin inside the large ingredient box, she took a breath and said, "This, this is a land shark’s dorsal fin!"

Chiyoda Aichi was standing nearby, heard her murmur, and quickly leaned over with a microphone, "Main General Liangzi, can you introduce the ingredients Chef Lancelot has prepared for us?"

"Yes!" Reiko Liangzi nodded, pointing to the mushroom, "This is the shark fin mushroom, which was just listed on the IGO gourmet agency’s ingredient list last month. It has not been cultivated on a large scale yet and has no market price..."

"This shark fin is from a land shark’s dorsal fin. Even uncooked, a relatively complete fin has a selling price of over 2 million yen in the high-end ingredient market!"

"They are both special-grade ingredients!" Reiko Liangzi emphasized.

Sss.

Now, everyone’s gaze had changed.

Polar Star Dormitory quieted down for a moment, Ichise Hui smiled wryly, "It looks like Lancelot applied for the least restricted Food Duel, I guess Mr. Xia Yu agreed without reading the Food Duel clause."

Thinking about Xia Yu’s personality, including Xingping Chuangzhen, they all subconsciously nodded.

"Senior Si Yingshi only used one special-grade ingredient, ’White-haired Cinderella Beef.’ This guy, does he plan to incorporate two special-grade ingredients into his own dish?" Yoshino Yuuki covered her mouth.

At the scene.

Shinohara Shigetaro simply took back his gaze, sat back in the chair, looked up at the sky filled with the evening twilight, and crossed his hands under his chin.

"If we lose..."

"What does the culinary society really want?"