Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 82: Fresh Flavor Platter

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Fresh Flavor Platter

The assessment continued.

In the next half hour, five other chefs consecutively presented their own creations.

Perhaps because there were initially two passing chefs, the audience was misled into thinking the exam topic was very simple, but no one predicted that following the first two successful candidates, the next five chefs would all be coldly declared "unqualified" by the luxurious lineup of examiners!

"It’s the same pan-seared cod, but your handling of the cod is very crude."

Liangzi Lina criticized a glamorous female chef without mercy, "The marination is unqualified, the cooking time is unqualified, and the plating of the Western dish is all show and no substance, lacking spatial structure. You shouldn’t do things that you’re not good at. You need to understand how to employ ingredients in your own areas of expertise."

"Tomato cod chowder?"

Shinohara Shigetaro waved at a chef and said, "First of all, you made an irredeemable mistake when selecting your ingredients. The cod meat, you chose French silver cod, that’s acceptable. But with another crucial ingredient, tomatoes, you went wrong."

"We intentionally mixed in a batch of subpar ingredients, like tomatoes, which, on the surface, appeared round and full, and felt firm to the touch, but their ripeness varied internally, requiring chefs to carefully select."

"Your tomato cod chowder includes immature tomatoes, resulting in an astringent taste that ruined the entire pot of broth’s freshness..."

This remark made a group of chefs in the audience seats break out in a cold sweat.

The IGO constantly sets such traps for chefs in assessments at or below the three-star level, and it wasn’t the first time.

In short, chefs must not overlook any detail during the assessment and must be precise and perfect throughout the process.

The chefs who had been judged "unqualified" listened to the detailed critiques and found no room to argue.

In fact, chef evaluations are like a war, cruel, and referring to it as "a single-log bridge crossed by thousands of troops" is no exaggeration. Take the venue’s crowd today, for instance: there are many one-star and prospective one-star chefs enough to fill the audience seats, but two-star and three-star chefs are rare species in the venue.

Moreover, the main examiners of this assessment are Shinohara Shigetaro and Liangzi Lina. The two highest-ranking individuals from the IGO Neon Department.

If one has objections to the examiners’ evaluations, they can lodge an appeal after the assessment, but if one confronts the examiners on the spot and gets blacklisted by the IGO, it won’t be easy to participate in a promotion assessment next time.

The fifth chef walked off the stage, his face the picture of defeat.

Dojima Yin, with his arms crossed, sat in his seat and shook his head, "These are very mediocre chefs. Even the two who passed at the beginning barely made it."

"The Dubian family’s boy is quite good, but unfortunately, he lacks the soul of cuisine," sighed Shinohara Shigetaro.

"All show and no substance, flashy on the outside, empty on the inside," Liangzi Lina said coldly.

"Now only two chefs are left."

Dojima Yin then looked around the venue, where out of ten kitchen stations, only two were still occupied by busy chefs.

One was naturally Xia Yu.

The other was a female chef who appeared to have graduated from university. She even started cooking more than ten minutes after Xia Yu, her movements as she handled the cod tender and gentle, as if worried about hurting the still fresh fish.

At this point, less than twenty minutes remained for cooking, and the large screens above the venue switched to close-ups of Xia Yu and the female chef.

"Sashimi?"

The broadcast camera switched to the female chef’s station, where it was revealed that she was humming a tune while she had already taken the most delicately textured part of the silver cod.

A small piece of pale, tender belly meat resting on the cutting board, the female chef held a sharp, thin knife, and slowly sliced down, making one piece of sashimi with each careful cut, taking about ten minutes to complete the prep of this piece of cod belly.

Then came the plating.

She arranged fresh conch, arctic shell, shrimp, and squid in a pristine white ceramic plate and then added slices of cod sashimi. Still humming, her fair fingers swiftly worked to roll the sashimi into rose shapes and arrange them elegantly on the plate, crafting an exquisite design.

Finally, she arranged some cucumber slices and adorned them with emerald leaves, and a colorful, fresh-tasting sashimi platter was thus completed.

The cod sashimi, rolled up into white roses, was undoubtedly the queen of this fresh-tasting dish.

"Ding, attention all chefs, there are 10 minutes left in this examination. Please present your creations to the judges’ table as soon as possible..."

The timer above the venue suddenly emitted a mechanical voice, devoid of sentiment.

"10 minutes? That’s plenty."

The female chef who had completed the fresh-tasting platter calmly brought over a few seasoning dishes, pouring soy sauce into one, a small amount of wasabi into another, and casually placing some chilled seaweed salad into the third.

"All set!"

The female chef clapped her hands and revealed a sweet smile.

"Chef Yuchuan, please present your work," a staff member came over and urged.

"Okay."

Chef Yuchuan Meisha nodded and lifted the fresh-tasting platter, following behind the staff member.

Huh.

She glanced around the venue and spotted another chef who like her had completed their cooking at the last minute. Judging by his appearance, he was clearly quite young. Suddenly, Yuchuan Meisha stopped in her tracks, and at that moment, gasps of surprise came from the audience.

"What is that fragrance?"

"You guys, look..."

The broadcast camera timely switched to another cooking station where Xia Yu had pulled out his finished dish from the oven and was plating it.

It wasn’t just the freshly baked dish that was fragrant, the bottom of the white ceramic plate in Xia Yu’s hands was smeared with a strip of green, exuding aromatic tea fragrance.

Afterward, on the screen, he was seen garnishing the bright red salmon roe on the freshly baked dish, adding a mint leaf, and drizzling a bit of balsamic vinegar between the salmon roe and the mint leaf. The unique refreshing scent lingering around the venue grew even stronger.

"Is that dish... meatballs?"

"No, no, that can’t be right. Are there meatballs that big? The shape is so strange. Could it be Chinese cuisine’s shumai?"

The audience’s murmuring filled the air.

Hozoi Midori stared in shock at the dish Xia Yu had taken from the oven, her heart screaming silently, "...lion’s head meatballs?"

Under the spotlight of the whole venue, Xia Yu and Chef Yuchuan Meisha almost simultaneously, in the final minute, firmly placed their plates on the judges’ table.

"After you—"

Xia Yu glanced in surprise at the fresh-tasting platter next to his dish and, with a smile, stepped aside.

"Are you sure?" Yuchuan Meisha’s lips curled into a playful arc, "If the respected judges taste my dish first, they may find all other foods tasteless afterward."

Upon hearing this, Xia Yu’s expression tightened slightly.

He observed Yuchuan Meisha and saw that the elder sister chef seemed not to be joking. Her pair of bright, black eyes radiated a hue named confidence; nevertheless, he shrugged indifferently, "Let me be the one to bring this examination to a close."

"I hope you won’t regret it later. As an apology and compensation, I can let you try my fresh-tasting platter," Yuchuan Meisha said with a smile.

As she spoke, she took a graceful step forward, standing facing the judges, meeting the gaze of Dojima Yin, Shinohara Shigetaro, and Reiko Lina.

"Cod sashimi, is it?"