Chapter 60 - Watermelon Ingredients, An Unpopular Side Dish (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the end, Xu Le had the best score in the entire venue, with all of them above 6 points. His performance immediately brought great pressure and challenge to the contestants after him.

Old Master Song waved at Xu Le. “Number Three, come here.”

Xu Le walked over obediently and estimated the seniority. “Hello, Grandpa.”

When Old Master Song saw him, his face was smiling full of wrinkles. He asked, “Who taught you this dish?”

Xu Le was stunned. He did not know why he asked that question.

Old Master Song explained, “My great grandfather was a servant in the palace. Back then, he even cooked this dish for Empress Dowager Cixi. Later on, when I was seven or eight years old, about the same age as you, my great grandfather personally cooked Stir-fried three baldy. He used Suzhou barbel fish and it was fresh and delicious…”

As he spoke, a layer of mist covered his eyes, but it quickly dissipated.

“What you did was exactly the same as what my great-grandfather did. Xu Le, can you tell me who taught you this?”

Xu Le could not expose the system, so he could only push the credit to his parents who were overseas. He said, “My mother taught me. She likes to study ancient cuisine. I think she got a book from the antique market and made it at home. My father likes Western desserts. The two of them are now studying in France.”

“Oh.”

Old Master Song was skeptical, but he couldn’t find a better reason.

He looked at Xu Le with a gratified expression and said, “As expected of a generation of talents, the younger generation surpasses the older generation!”

After a few more words of praise, Xu Le was about to return to his seat to continue watching when he was stopped by Old Master Song. “Come sit beside me.”

Lin Shuwei was not surprised. He immediately asked someone to add a stool to the judges’ table. Xu Le was flattered and waved his hand in refusal. “I’m just a participating chef. I’m not qualified to be a judge. This is unreasonable and unfair to others…”

“No, I just find you cute.” Old Master Song’s eyes were filled with joy. “Come sit beside me and try the taste of this dish.”

Xu Le had no choice but to agree. The stool was too high and he was about to use his arm to support himself when someone gently lifted him helped him sit down.

Old Master Song looked at him with affection and said, “If I had a grandson, he would be around your age.”

Without waiting for Xu Le’s reply, he picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the Michelin three-star dish. As expected, Li Peng was quite capable. He made the foie gras into an exquisite molecular cuisine. It looked, smelled, and tasted good. Old Master Song picked up a ‘cherry’ in the plate and gave it to Xu Le. “Try it.”

As soon as he bit into it, the rich and smooth taste of the foie gras filled his mouth. It felt like ice cream and melted as soon as he tasted it.

Xu Le happily tasted the dishes one after another. He could tell the shortcomings of the dishes just by tasting them.

He whispered, “When the chicken was fried, the water on it wasn’t dried and it wasn’t crispy enough. There is also a problem with the ratio of the chilli peppers. He added too many cone peppers, so the taste was too spicy and the fragrance was insufficient.”

When Old Master Song heard this, he became even happier and praised him as a ‘genius’.

After the preliminary round ended, the next day was to prepare for the advancement round of the top 20 to top 8. As for those who did not advance in this round, they would compete for ranking at another venue.

Under Zhang Tong’s lead, the Heavenly Restaurant barely made it. This made them even more worried about the next day’s advancement match.