The Game of Life-Chapter 836 - 835 Another Brave Man Shed Tears

Chapter 836: Chapter 835: Another Brave Man Shed Tears

Chapter 836 -835: Another Brave Man Shed Tears

Apart from the Phoenix Egg, there were actually quite a few good dishes on the table. Sun Maochai’s rock sugar bird’s nest with golden silk was standard and without fault. Although it didn’t amaze anyone, with his culinary skills, producing a dish that was simply standard made him stronger than the vast majority of chefs present.

Jiang Feng had to take some responsibility for the unimpressive performance of Sun Maochai’s rock sugar bird’s nest with golden silk. Could the final product be stunning when Sun Maochai left halfway through cooking to have his meal?

The two dishes from the Chinese restaurant were standard Tan Family Cuisine, sunflower duck and pumpkin curd. The pumpkin curd was a new product introduced to cater to the tastes of the American public, improved upon over the years from other desserts by the Chinese restaurant. Neither of the dishes were very representative of Tan Family Cuisine or even very difficult to prepare, revealing the four chefs’ lack of interest in advancing.

The four judges, while eating, also sensed a strong desire not to advance coming from the dishes.

So the four judges very considerately gave scores that weren’t too high nor too embarrassing, but definitely not enough to advance.

This made New York Light appear rather awkward.

Because New York Light was really trying hard.

One could see from the Bearded Main Chef’s five hours of full concentration, using all kinds of precision instruments to create a molecular gastronomy dish that he wouldn’t normally do even for money, that he truly wanted to win the championship.

But some things can’t be achieved simply by wanting or trying hard.

Some things are just out of reach.

The Bearded Main Chef belonged in that unattainable category.

Admittedly, his molecular gastronomy was incredibly delicate, able to deceive the senses almost perfectly. Even the world-wise judges couldn’t help but applaud his impressive molecular gastronomy, exclaiming it was the most delicate, the most lifelike, and the most deceptive they had ever tasted.

But it was just a molecular dish.

In terms of taste, it wasn’t up to par with other dishes.

It might compare favorably with the pumpkin curd, but up against Taifeng Building’s rock sugar bird’s nest with golden silk or the top-floor restaurant’s Opera cake, it was just an ordinary pudding.

The top-floor restaurant’s Opera cake was made by Rolan. As a former Michelin-starred restaurant’s head chef, Rolan was undoubtedly skilled, even though financial difficulties had forced him to work as Chef Arno’s subordinate.

The Opera cake, a well-known French dessert with a long history, was made traditional by Rolan, comprising six layers, topped with a very thin layer of chocolate sauce and sprinkled with gold leaf as decoration. Three of the six layers are sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, and the innermost filling was made of buttercream and chocolate cream, making for a sweet but not overpowering, silky textured calorie bomb.

Chocolate and coffee aficionados would definitely go wild for this dessert.

Even Peng Changping, who wasn’t particularly fond of chocolate, felt that Rolan had done an outstanding job on this dessert, making him even more curious about just how much debt Rolan owed to have to work as Chef Arno’s subordinate in the top-floor restaurant.

Yes, the fact that Rolan had incurred a significant debt and subsequently worked as chef under Chef Arno was no secret; chefs from both Eastern and Western backgrounds had heard about it, and some had even privately tallied and speculated just how much debt Rolan was in.

“I think Rolan has improved his culinary skills considerably over the past year. It seems that working under Chef Arno isn’t too bad after all,” David sincerely remarked after finishing his slice of Opera cake.

Henry offered no comment on this, contenting himself with quietly eating up the piece of Opera cake in front of him.

The Opera was the last dish they tasted.

In comparison to this strikingly stunning dessert, the main course of the restaurant on the top floor was actually a bit perfunctory; Chef Arno made his specialty beef dish. By fully utilizing the grilling and frying methods, the essence of the beef was highlighted. The large chunks of beef needed to be drenched in sauce and eaten in big bites to be truly enjoyed—it was a dish very different from the beef tower, rough and untamed in nature.

In terms of flavor, it also fell slightly short of the beef tower.

Although it felt somewhat perfunctory, after all, during the test, Chef Arno had made the elaborate, time-consuming, and highly challenging beef tower, which offered a multi-layered taste and full commitment to enjoyment. Yet, in the semi-finals, he seemed less serious than during the test, which couldn’t help but make one wonder if he was holding back a trump card for release during the finals.

But one thing was undeniable—this was a tasty beef dish.

Better than the lamb dish of New York Light.

And on par with Jiang Feng’s Phoenix Egg.

Now that the dishes had been sampled, the two restaurants advancing were clear in the judges’ minds, even if they didn’t know how many points the others had awarded, the result was already set in stone.

The scoring sheets from the four judges were collected and tallied by the staff, who quickly announced the final results.

Each restaurant had two dishes, but the scores were not separate; they were given as a unified score. The four judges would give a combined score for the overall quality of both dishes, and after announcing the scores, they would provide commentary on the dishes, explaining their reasoning for the scoring, which also served as a form of explanation to the contestants.

The most crucial aspect was to provide an explanation to the viewers watching the show after it aired.

If it were an ordinary culinary competition, these judges couldn’t be bothered to comment on every dish. Thinking of adjectives for every dish, praising in a variety of ways, and not being too harsh when criticizing, how tiresome that would be.

The final scores were 9.6 for the restaurant on the top floor, 9.4 for Taifeng Building, 8.7 for New York Light, and 8.5 for the Chinese restaurant.

The Bearded Main Chef launched a powerful blow, ultimately achieving a respectable score of 0.2 points higher than the last-place finisher.

With the scores out, it was time to give the contestants an explanation. After a three to four-minute display of modesty which was really about not having the right words ready, Xu Cheng, as the world’s most renowned food critic, reluctantly picked up the microphone to be the first to offer his commentary.

“First of all, I’m very happy to have the honor of serving as a judge for this culinary competition today. This is probably the most star-studded semi-final I have ever seen in my life, and I believe each of the participating contestants has the ability to win the championship in other competitions…” Xu Cheng began with some insincere, empty words to appear to have said a lot.

It’s worth mentioning that he spoke in English, and the commentary of each judge to follow was also in English, because speaking Chinese was destined to leave some unable to understand, but everyone could understand English.

“Among these eight dishes, the one that truly amazed me was Chef Rolan’s Opera. It had rich layers, a smooth texture, and just the right level of sweetness. It’s every diner’s luck to be able to enjoy such a dessert. In my view, although Chinese and Western desserts express sweetness differently, their purpose is the same. Sweetness can make people taste happiness and joy. I believe that even many years from now, if I were to recall today’s dessert, I would still feel its sweetness and happiness.”

“As for Chef Arno’s Flamed Beef, though above standard, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. Perhaps it’s because I recently had the privilege of tasting Chef Arno’s Beef Tower, which set a high expectation in my heart that Chef Arno could do even better with beef dishes, so I wasn’t as satisfied.”

“As for the two dishes presented by New York Light, both were very exquisitely crafted, especially the dessert which was ingeniously made, but the flavors fell slightly short. As for the main course, I was a bit disappointed too; it didn’t achieve the right texture that lamb should have, and with the sauce…”

Still not over the shadow of the 8.7 score, the Bearded Main Chef: ???

Ingeniously made, but the flavors fell slightly short.

The bearded main chef shut down emotionally.

Xu Cheng’s critique was actually quite mild. Besides particularly praising Jiang Feng’s Phoenix Egg and Rolan’s opera, even if he felt other dishes were subpar, he didn’t use particularly harsh words in his criticism.

After all, this was a variety show that would eventually be broadcast for others to watch. Compliments could be given fully, but criticisms absolutely could not be severe. If the dishes of these restaurant chefs were to be criticized as worthless on the show, it would definitely affect the restaurants’ business after the broadcast, a result that nobody wanted to see.

Having been eliminated was already quite terrible, no need to further damage their self-esteem.

The other three judges continued with Xu Cheng’s style of critique, it’s just that their favorites differed from his. Peng Changping obviously favored Jiang Feng’s Phoenix Egg the most, but his expression of appreciation was subtle, praising it just a couple of more times than the other dishes.

Henry’s favorite was Chef Arno’s beef dish, which hadn’t been given full effort, while David, like Peng Changping, highly admired Jiang Feng’s Phoenix Egg.

But he wasn’t as subtle as Peng Changping. In his critique, David exaggerated a lot, was very excited, and made grandiose gestures. His words were filled with “amazing,” “unbelievable,” “fantastic,” “genius,” and other common middle and high school English vocabulary.

Jiang Feng even wondered if someone from the Jiang Family had secretly slipped the chubby judge some money before the contest.

Look at this praise.

It really made people want to listen to it a couple more times.

The semifinal had ended just like that.

As everyone expected, but not as the bearded main chef had expected.

After the competition ended, the contestants from the two advancing restaurants needed to wait backstage for a bit, as the show’s crew would communicate specific details about the finals with them.

The date for the final was tentatively set for the next week, with the specific time yet to be determined. Since there was room for discussion, certainly, there was room for requests. Jiang Feng would bet that Chef Arno, who appeared so calm, definitely had a belly full of demands.

In fact, the show team was somewhat disappointed with Chef Arno’s performance in the semifinals.

This wasn’t the Chef Arno they wanted.

The point of the critique session they imagined should have been full of intense debate and turmoil. When Xu Cheng said he thought Chef Arno’s dish was less than ideal, Chef Arno should have jumped up and started a verbal spar with Xu Cheng. Instead, Chef Arno calmly accepted the fact that others thought his dish was less than ideal.

This greatly disappointed the director, and even the cameraman felt a bit let down, as his chance for a promotion and a raise disappeared.

But the combined disappointment of the director and the cameraman was nothing compared to that of the bearded main chef.

He felt like a joke.

Over five hours of hard work had resulted in a comment that, while the dish was exquisite, the flavor was mediocre.

The bearded main chef felt like he was back in the shadow of fear once dominated by Chef Arno, working diligently every day, cooking earnestly, and then being cursed by Chef Arno with “shit,” being told this wasn’t good, that wasn’t good, this had a problem, that had a problem, this needed to be redone, that too.

It was through a succession of “shit” that he had ascended to the position of head chef.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Before Chef Arno joined New York Light, the bearded main chef was just a very ordinary head chef there. However, after being cursed by Chef Arno repeatedly, the more he was cursed, the higher he rose in rank until Chef Arno jumped ship and he directly became the head chef.

When he first became head chef, he was still a bit nervous, feeling incapable. Later on, just as expected, the reputation of New York Light slid downhill rapidly after Chef Arno switched jobs, but not many people criticized him. Over time, as people gradually got used to not having Chef Arno’s dishes, the reputation even bounced back a bit, which gave the bearded main chef quite a bit of confidence.

And then today, it was back to square one.

The competition was over.

The cameraman was preparing to switch off the camera, ready to pack up and go back for a meal.

Jiang Feng and the others already started walking towards the backstage.

The bearded main chef was still standing in place, silently shutting down, not even noticing that his life’s nemesis, Chef Arno, had already approached him.

“What kind of dogshit did you make today?” came the familiar voice as soon as he opened his mouth.

“What use is it for the dish to look good or to be delicate? It has to taste good first. Have you been brainwashed by your dogshit boss, really thinking expensive dishes are good dishes?”

“Idiot.”

“You call yourself fit to be a head chef?”

“I knew there was no future staying at that dogshit restaurant.”

“That dogshit boss is even more of a dumbass than my current boss!”

“That dogshit boss wasn’t even willing to give a raise, at least the current one pays well.”

The bearded main chef was considering a job switch.

The more he thought about it, the sadder he felt, the more he felt a sense of loss, the more he felt wronged, the more he felt that a salary increase was hopeless, the more he feared that his credit card bill would never see a paid-off day.

The bearded main chef’s tears fell like a tough man’s.

The cameraman who hadn’t switched off the camera nearly jumped up in excitement.

Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for had come.

“Shit!”