Food Wars: Starting with Equipping the Greedy Wolf Pot

Rintou Kobayashi's mille-feuille cake is not your average sponge cake or chiffon cake, but a classic Chilean dessert—a mille-feuille.

The entire cake is made of layers of crisp, thin puff pastry layered with milk caramel sauce.

The moment they entered the room, the five judges, including Hinako Inui, immediately let out blissful moans.

The texture of the thousand-layer cake is very distinct.

The thin, crispy crust contrasts sharply with the creamy, sticky caramel sauce, which is also infused with aromatic nuts.

Despite its rich and intense sweetness, it doesn't feel cloying at all. Instead, it has an unexpectedly refreshing and light feeling, like a mountain breeze blowing through the forest.

Hinako and the others felt as if they were drowning in the incredibly sweet honey river of Kobayashi Rindou's dish.

……

"Is this honey?"

"Rintai, the milk caramel sauce you made doesn't use sugar, it uses honey." Xiang Ji, who was also enjoying the chiba cake, immediately recognized the special ingredient that Kobayashi Rintai used in his dish.

"Hmm, as expected of Xiang Ji-kun, you are truly amazing!" Kobayashi Ryudai blinked her golden eyes.

"That's right, it's honey."

"My mille-feuille cake does not use sugar; instead, it uses honey as the sweetener."

"And it's wild honey from the Amazon rainforest. I spent a lot of money to buy some from the guide's tribe," Kobayashi Ryudai complained.

“No wonder, no wonder I tasted a special aroma that was different from other honeys. So you’re using rainforest honey, Gentian?” Xiang Ji silently added the rainforest bee to his database of spice inequalities.

"Xiang Ji, besides the rainforest honey, my dish also uses a special ingredient. Did you taste it?" Kobayashi Rintai suddenly approached Xiang Ji.

"Bee pupae, right?"

"Gentian, you added ground fried bee pupae to every layer of the flaky pastry in your thousand-layer cake," Xiang Ji answered instantly.

"Really, as expected, you can't stump Xiang Ji Jun."

"However, Xiang Ji-kun, do you really not have the same God Tongue as that princess of the Nakiri family?" Kobayashi Ryudai couldn't help but ask again.

"The Tongue of God?"

“I really don’t have such a thing, and I would much rather have the Super Taste than the God’s Tongue,” Xiang Ji replied with a light laugh.

"Super taste?"

"The talent that Liu Maoxing, the legendary strongest dragon chef, possessed?" Kobayashi Ryudai glanced thoughtfully at Xiang Ji in front of him.

……

While Xiang Ji and Kobayashi Rindou were chatting, Inui Hinako and the others finally climbed out of the sweet honey river of Kobayashi Rindou's Chiba cake.

"As expected of a Totsuki Academy student!"

"Torta-de-Mil-Hoja is a very common specialty dessert in South America. It doesn't have many complicated ingredients; it's made solely from a thin, flaky pastry and a handmade dulce-de-leche (caramel milk sauce)."

"But this is the first time I've ever had Torta-de-Mil-Hoja that has left such a strong impression."

“dulce-de-leche”.

"Just like its name suggests, it's entirely sweet from milk." Kita Shuji kept praising Kobayashi Ryudai's thousand-layer cake.

Not only Kita Shuji, but also Inui Hinako and the others praised Kobayashi Rindou's dishes.

"Now, I would like to invite all the judges to score Kobayashi Rindou's dish." After Inui Hinako and the others finished their comments, Kawashima Rei continued to advance the competition process.

Humph~

The numbers on the electronic display screen hanging above the venue increased rapidly, and in an instant, they had already broken through 90 points.

Ryudou Kobayashi's final score is 94.

……

Ninety? Ninety-four?

"As expected of Longdan, who is ranked second in the grade, he actually scored ninety-four points."

"That's really amazing."

"Ninety-four points. If nothing unexpected happens, the first place in Group A should be Senior Rindai, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. Natsumejima-senpai and Saito-senpai are also in Group A. Natsumejima-senpai and Saito-senpai might not necessarily lose to Rindou-senpai."

"Wait, have you forgotten Senior Xiang Ji?"

"Xiang Ji? That guy who got in through a special recruitment exam?"

"No, how dare you talk about Senior Xiang Ji like that? Haven't you ever heard of Senior Xiang Ji's nickname?"

"Nickname? What nickname?"

……

"Whew~ Ninety-four points?"

"It seems that Kobayashi Rindou's cooking skills have become even stronger this summer." Saido Muneaki, dressed as a samurai, stared at Kobayashi Rindou with burning fighting spirit in his eyes.

The way Megijima Tousuke looked at Kobayashi Ryudou was almost identical.

Although there are four qualifying spots per venue in the fall selection preliminaries, who wouldn't want to get the highest score in the preliminaries?

……

"Ninety-four points? That score isn't very safe. I thought I could get a higher score." Kobayashi Ryudou looked at her score, then walked back towards Xiang Ji's location.

"Congratulations, Gentian." Xiang Ji chuckled.

Even though it was already a foregone conclusion that Kobayashi Ryudou would qualify for the Autumn Selection Tournament, we should still offer our best wishes.

"My score is only 94 points. Megijima and Saito haven't even played yet."

"And what about you, Xiang Ji-kun?" Kobayashi Ryudai blinked slightly.

"Xiang Ji-kun, the dish you've prepared must be that golden ratio shumai, right?" Kobayashi Ryudai looked at Xiang Ji with intense curiosity in his eyes.

Even though they went on an adventure to the Amazon rainforest in South America during summer vacation, Kobayashi Rindou, Tadokoro Megumi, and Yoshino Yuuki still kept in touch.

Golden Ratio Shumai.

Rindou Kobayashi had already heard about it from Megumi Tadokoro and the others, and was extremely curious about the taste of Xiangji's Golden Ratio Shumai.

If it weren't for the many surprises that the Amazon rainforest adventure brought to Rindou Kobayashi, he would have flown straight back to Japan long ago.

Chapter 168 The Unlucky Guy Behind Kobayashi Rindou, Another Level of Opponent

Seeing the expression on Kobayashi Ryudou's face, how could Xiang Ji not know what Kobayashi Ryudou was thinking?

Kobayashi Ryundan is craving it and can't wait to try the golden ratio shumai she made.

Xiang Ji chuckled somewhat helplessly, then reached out and turned on the steamer on his counter.

boom boom!

An exceptionally enticing aroma immediately wafted from the steamer, instantly drawing the attention of everyone in the venue.

Did it fail?

Seeing the golden ratio shumai slowly revealing its true form in the steam from behind the steamer lid, a hint of regret flashed in Xiang Ji's eyes.

My golden ratio shumai didn't shine, which means my cooking skills are still lacking.

After Xiang Ji put the steamer back on, he delivered the golden ratio shumai to Kobayashi Rintou.

"Alright, Gentian."

"Hehehe, then I won't be polite." Kobayashi Ryudai took the golden ratio shumai handed over by Xiang Ji and began to taste it.

Holding chopsticks in one hand and a steamer in the other, Kobayashi Ryudou was too lazy to even sit down; he didn't want to waste time enjoying the perfect ratio of shumai.

As Kobayashi Ryudou brought the golden ratio shumai to his mouth with his chopsticks, he could already smell the rich aroma emanating from it.

The rich broth, a blend of Jinhua ham, shrimp, vegetables, and eggs during steaming, mixed with the aroma of wheat from shumai, filled her nostrils and then slowly spread throughout Kobayashi Ryudai's body.

Hmm~ Ah~

Kobayashi Ryundou, disregarding the temperature of the perfectly cooked shumai, immediately swallowed it into his mouth, his lips and tongue instantly captivated by its exquisitely delicious juice.

The thin, cicada-wing-like shumai wrappers are filled with four different fillings.

The combination of eight parts Jinhua ham, five parts vegetables, five parts shrimp, and five parts eggs creates an even more irresistible umami flavor.

What an enticing dish!

This golden ratio shumai is the most delicious shumai that Rintou Kobayashi has ever tasted.

One perfectly proportioned shumai certainly couldn't satisfy Kobayashi Ryudou's appetite, let alone one, not even a whole bunch.

Ryudou Kobayashi is a woman with a divine stomach.

……

Ee eh eh?

Where did my huge, monstrous golden ratio shumai go? How did they all suddenly disappear?

Thump thump~ thump~

Just as Kobayashi Ryudou's chopsticks touched the empty steamer, he looked at it with disbelief, like a cat entering hunting mode.

Xiang Ji Jun~ Xiang Ji Jun~

Kobayashi Ryudou looked at Xiang Ji with a weak, pitiful, but gluttonous expression.

Seeing this, Xiang Ji took out another batch of golden-ratio shumai from his steamer and handed it to Kobayashi Ryudai again.

Xiang Ji has plenty of experience feeding Kobayashi Rintou. When the autumn selection competition started, Xiang Ji specially made more than ten kinds of high-ratio shumai.

One gray one calls for a change to the right.

Kobayashi Ryudou had unknowingly devoured four bowls of the "Golden Ratio" shumai in one go.

But this caused hardship for everyone else in Group A, whether they were the athletes in the arena or the spectators in the stands.

……

"It smells so good, I really want to eat it."

"Damn it..."

"Does this mean the contestants can just start eating the dishes they've prepared?"

Just as Kobayashi Ryudou was thoroughly enjoying the delicious golden ratio shumai, Guan Xing's resentment was about to overflow.

However, the most unfortunate person was the poor guy who was the judge after Kobayashi Ryudou.

Only eight points!

The single-digit fraction instantly stunned him, leaving him frozen in place as he stared at Hinako and the others with an incredulous expression.

Eight points?

How is this possible? How could my own cooking only be rated 80%? This is a dish I came up with after racking my brains all summer.

Even though his cooking skills are incomparable to those of Ryudou Kobayashi, he still wouldn't give himself an eight out of ten.

"Eight, eight-tenths? My cooking is only eight-tenths complete?"

"Wait a minute, how could my dish only be eight-tenths done?" The unlucky guy could no longer contain himself and questioned Hinako Inui excitedly.

"uh-huh?"

"Who do you think we are?" After he finished speaking, Kita Shuji and the others seemed to change their expressions, instantly leaving him speechless with fear.

"The taste of the Chiba cake that Rindou Kobayashi just made was truly amazing."

"Do you really think your cooking is comparable to Rindou Kobayashi's? Do you know how many dishes we have to deal with every day?" Kita Shuji continued coldly.

After hearing Kita Shuji's words, the unlucky guy finally calmed down, or rather, finally realized what kind of people the five judges in front of him were.

Kita Shuji and Ando Jingo, these elites in the Japanese culinary world, are surrounded by dishes prepared by experienced professional chefs every day, which is incomparable to what a student like him, still learning, can achieve.

Hinako-senpai is a professional-level chef.

The five judges in front of me are all gourmets who have tasted countless delicacies from around the world. The difficulty of the autumn selection process is incomparable to that of a residential study program.

After Kita Shuji finished speaking, Inui Hinako slowly began to speak.