Chapter 162 - A Flawless Dish (1/2)

Thinking of Chen Xian’s reminder, Xu Le secretly clenched his fists. Ever since they participated in the program, all the contestants would hold a grudge against the production team. As for Zhang Tong and Chen Xian, they even directly claimed that there was a something happening behind the scenes.

From the looks of it, it was not groundless.

“I’m worried… they’re cheating.”

If the production team was on the same side as the Master Chef, the audience’s votes would also be controlled. As for the judges in front of him, Xu Le’s eyes darkened. He did not believe that a respected senior who had interacted with him would play favorites.

The judges tasted the second dish of tea noodles. One had white-blanched abalone as the side dish while the other had lobster glazed over it.

Li Qing also saw that something was amiss and couldn’t help but mutter, “We clearly cooked in two different kitchens. Why is his cooking so similar to yours?”

“The abalone is cooked by blanching it. It’s fresh, crispy, and tender. It retains the fragrance of the ingredients themselves and should be quite good. The noodles are smooth and chewy, and the fragrance of tea sauce hangs on them. If the full score is ten points, you can get ten points in terms of texture and taste.”

Song Deyue nodded repeatedly and said in relief, “No matter which contestant made it, I’m very happy to know that there is such a talented chef in the next generation!”

After tasting the other bowl of lobster tea noodles, his expression froze for a moment. He chatted with Mr. Cai Lan beside him, “Do you feel that… the texture of the two bowls of noodles is exactly the same?”

“Yes, other than the side dishes, the taste is very authentic.”

The other judges quickly started voting anonymously. Someone commented, “They’re all very good, but the lobster noodles are more suitable for today’s Fujian cuisine theme. In the local…”

“Hey, you can’t say that.” Someone interrupted, “When I was young, there was a stall selling tea noodles at the entrance of my house. There were plenty of sausages, pork belly, abalone, and so on. You can’t say that the cooking method is more authentic just because of the lobsters, right?”

“Of course I’m not judging it based on the side dishes. The sauce tastes obviously better with lobster, right?”

The two judges suddenly started arguing. The atmosphere was lively. After the audience below tasted it, they gradually pressed the voting button in their hands.

The director switched the camera angle to the audience’s faces and suddenly brought it to Xu Zhexian. His face was gloomy and he looked unhappy. Xu Tian, who was in his arms, nibbled on the lobster meat and savored it with relish.

She had two ponytails beside her head. When she ate, her face was chubby. Coupled with her big black grape-like eyes and dimples, she was extremely cute!

The bullet screen immediately recognized who she was.

“Look, that’s the little Master Chef’s sister!”

“Wow, how cute! Their family members are all so good-looking!”

“Why does his father look unhappy?”

“Last time I went to the eight-year-old canteen, I saw his sister. She was really cute—”

The lychee meat and chestnut soup were even more well received. Both dishes received similar reviews, and the votes remained on par.

The host looked at the counting card and deliberately kept them in suspense. “Yo, looks like it’s hard to tell who’s stronger between the two contestants. So far, there’s only a difference of ten votes. Are we going to draw again this time? Come, let’s serve the last dish.”

Soy sauce fish and chicken soup with seafood.

Li Qing couldn’t bear to look at him. He lowered his voice and said, “Hey, Master Xu, isn’t our fish stew a little too messy?”