Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 595: The Honest Man

"Do these shapes you've made have any deep meaning?" Rocky Chen continued to ask.

"No," Ma Lu lied, "I just remembered the cartoon 'Pocket Monster' I saw when I was a child and made them on a whim."

"Oh, I see why this one with so many arms looks familiar—it's Wan Hao, right?" Gaggan Anand suddenly realized, but he quickly fell into deep thought again.

"But why don't I remember the others? The one that looks like a lead weight apple tree, is there such a Pocket Monster in the series?"

"That's not the point, I might have remembered it wrong." Ma Lu said, "Hurry up and eat, the dish will melt if you wait any longer."

Upon hearing this, the four judges quickly took out their phones to take photos for keepsake, even taking pictures of other people's dishes, before they began eating with their spoons.

They had thought it to be just ordinary ice cream, but their tastes buds were shocked upon tasting it.

"Huh, why does this ice cream taste like coconut chicken?"

"Speaking of which, the Fat Duck Restaurant seems to have a similar dish too, turning bacon and eggs into ice cream," Violet Yupil, the chief editor of 'Food & Wine' magazine, recalled, pushing up her glasses.

"Apart from the outstanding shape, the flavor also hasn't been compromised, and once again tightly adheres to the theme." Chef Rocky Chen exclaimed again, "It's too strong, I can't find a reason not to give full marks."

"Furthermore, this dish definitely can't be made in two minutes. It seems that Chef Yoshikazu Yoda's previous guess wasn't wrong, you had planned to adopt a dual theme from the first round, and you were well prepared."

"Even so, your presentation is frighteningly high, I can see no signs of improvisation; it could be sold directly in any restaurant."

Yoshikazu Yoda nodded in agreement, "Unimpeachable."

Next up was Sun Mei, who had shown great performance in the previous three rounds and was second only to Ma Lu, but her condition had dropped a bit in this round.

But it was understandable since, unlike Old Wang, she was still human and naturally had her fluctuations.

Moreover, Sun Mei probably realized that defeating Ma Lu would not be easy, so she didn't just push ahead blindly but adopted some strategies.

It seemed she was planning to switch from offense to defense, ensuring survival first and then accumulating as much time as possible for the final showdown, where she would compete with Ma Lu for victory.

So this time, she served a cold dish—aspic.

Even for a cold dish, Sun Mei had put a lot of thought into it, intentionally using wild yellow croaker to make the aspic, and adding perilla, Codonopsis, and saffron, which gave the final product a faint herbal aroma.

Although the theme of the competition was coconut, considering that the judges had been tasting over a dozen coconut-flavored dishes in a row, their taste buds were probably numb.

A few different flavors could also enhance the dish, and in the end, Sun Mei laid down a layer of coconut crisp sticks underneath to pair with the aspic.

The third to take the stage was Luo Junkang.

He still had that expressionless face, but both Sun Mei and Chuan Ye Zhengming had noticed his previous actions of washing his face and spacing out.

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They knew that Luo Junkang was probably reaching his limit, which was why Sun Mei and Chuan Ye Zhengming chose to speed up simultaneously.

Since there would be an elimination this round, they could afford to be a bit lenient and fight for time.

Even though they had witnessed Ma Lu's strength and overwhelming power, both were proud and talented chefs who didn't want to give up so easily and hand over the championship to someone else.

Luo Junkang walked to the podium with steps heavy as if he were walking to his execution.

It seemed as if they could feel the despair emanating from him, and the four judges knew full well, this was probably his final round.

Yet, when they looked at the dish Luo Junkang presented, they couldn't help but let out a surprised "Oh!"

"This is…"

"Mu Dan," Luo Junkang said in a muffled voice.

A tofu sculpture of a peony stood elegantly at the bottom of the bowl, its petals swaying gently in the water as the judges turned the soup bowl.

"Excellent knife skills," Yoshikazu Yoda praised. "Worthy of a Huaiyang cuisine successor, this skill in carving tofu is indeed impressive."

"But this dish is a bit too simple, isn't it?" Gaggan Anand added. "Although your tofu is beautifully carved, to serve just with a bowl of clear water, without even a sauce, seems too plain. Did you run out of time?"

Olette Yupper leaned over to smell the soup in the bowl, then suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, this isn't clear water, it's meat broth, though indeed very pale in color."

Rocky Chen's interest was piqued, "Could it be... that dish?"

"It's not 'Cabbage in Supreme Soup'," Luo Junkang quickly clarified, "'Cabbage in Supreme Soup' requires cooking with chicken, duck, pork knuckle, and ham for a long time, and there's no time for that.

"Instead, I had some chicken broth left over from a previous experiment, added a bit of ham and deer antler, then used minced meat to clarify it, making the broth clean and clear for a simplified version.

"As for this piece of tofu, it was left over from the previous round. I added coconut milk to it, but then I found out I was short on time and didn't use it, yet I managed to season the tofu."

"This round, I really had no choice, so I just tried to combine these two things."

Luo Junkang was an honest man and didn't hide the fact that he used scraps.

The judges didn't mind; as long as the dish itself wasn't bad, they were not opposed to the reuse of kitchen leftovers.

In fact, in recent years, many top chefs have been striving to address waste, aiming to establish a more environmentally friendly and sustainable menu.

Gaggan Anand changed his tune after tasting the "Mu Dan" dish, praising it.

"Besides the appealing look, this dish also tastes good. Chef Luo Junkang, I feel like we might have underestimated your adaptability."

Luo Junkang didn't say much, just wiped the sweat from his brow.

Chuan Ye Zhengming, who followed, frowned slightly, but then relaxed again.

He brought up his coconut-grass cake.

Grass cake is a Kansai specialty, similar to the Hakka snack Qingtuan, mixing mugwort with glutinous rice or glutinous rice to make rice cakes, then filling it with stuffing.

Inside, Chuan Ye Zhengming wrapped the Emperor Crab's leg, and then brushed a coconut milk sugar shell over the grass cake.

Gaggan Anand was somewhat surprised when tasting it, "The sweetness is actually layered. How did you manage that?"

"I used coconut milk and Emperor Crab's leg to provide sweetness for this dish," Chuan Ye Zhengming explained. "Additionally, before serving, I drizzled some seawater on top."

"The saltiness of the seawater balances the sweetness of the outer shell, distinguishing it from the bottom layer, and finally the Emperor Crab's leg inside the grass cake, forming a progressive relationship."