Food Wars: Starting with Equipping the Greedy Wolf Pot

……

Ee eh eh?

What's going on? Alice Nakiri blinked, looked at Yuuki Yoshino, and then at Megumi Tadokoro.

Damn it~ Damn it~

How many interesting things did I miss during this month of summer vacation?

When I get back to Polaris Dormitory, I'll definitely have to ask Yoshino Yuuki and the others for clarification.

……

Xiang Ji's answer certainly disappointed Anton Shingo somewhat, but only slightly.

Lost dishes are not so easy to bring back to life.

Moreover, Xiangji's golden ratio shaomai is tempting enough; the aroma alone is irresistible.

Hinako Inui and Shuji Kita had similar ideas, especially Shuji Kita.

Kita Shuji met Xiang Ji at a Mainichi Auction a few months ago, and he still regrets not bidding for the judge's position in the food battle between Xiang Ji and Sachi.

If you can't get the flaming dumplings, having some shumai is a good alternative.

Kita Shuji couldn't wait to gently poke the dough of the golden ratio shumai with his chopsticks. After feeling the chewiness of the shumai dough, he picked it up with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

The moment the shumai touched his lips, an expression of utter bliss appeared on Kita Shuji's face.

Even when ground into a paste, the fresh prawns retain an amazing elasticity, the tender rapeseed is full of a refreshing taste, the sweet, soft, and fluffy egg yolk is paired with the smooth texture of Jinhua ham that is oily but not greasy.

The moment the shumai touched his lips, it was like a massive, overwhelming tsunami assaulting his taste buds.

Jinhua ham, shrimp, eggs, rapeseed—Kita Shuji was instantly lost in a sea of ​​delicious food, making it impossible to stop eating.

……

98 points!

As soon as the score appeared on the screen, the entire venue fell into a deathly silence; the score was completely beyond their comprehension.

"Oh oh oh~"

"He's here! Senior Xiang's Golden Ratio Shumai scored a high score of 98 points, successfully surpassing Senior Kobayashi's 94 points with his mille-feuille cake, and is now temporarily in first place." Kawashima Rei's voice broke the silence first.

"Nine, ninety-eight points?"

"Just two points away from a perfect score, this must be the highest score since the fall selection began, right?"

"Impossible, how is this possible? How could he get 98 points? His dish is clearly a fake."

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you thinking?"

"Even if his dish isn't a true golden ratio shumai, have you forgotten the scene that appears after the lid is lifted? How could a dish with that aroma be an ordinary dish?"

"Hehehe, are you questioning the evaluation made by Hinako-senpai?"

……

"Ninety-eight points?"

“This guy is a complete monster!” Saito Muneaki, Megijima Tousuke and the others looked at Xiang Ji with serious expressions.

Despite Kobayashi Ryudou's score of 94, Megijima Tousuke and his companion still had the courage to try.

But 98 points? They have already given up on the idea of ​​competing for first place in Group A qualifiers.

For scores above 90, the difficulty increases exponentially for every point gained.

The difficulty of going from 98 to 99 points is probably even greater than going from 0 to 98 points.

Chapter 171 The Impact of the Golden Ratio Shumai

"Great, that's amazing."

"He was just two points away from a perfect score. What will his Golden Ratio Shumai taste like?" In the VIP room, Soma Yukihira's eyes burned with rage as he looked at Xiang Ji.

"I really want to try his dish."

"Hoo hoo hoo, to have the dish evolved to a new level in such a short time, what a terrifying brat." Joichiro Yukihira was no less shocked than Soma Yukihira.

Joichiro Yukihira did eat Xiang Ji's golden ratio shumai during summer vacation, but the golden ratio shumai back then was completely different from the shumai of today.

……

"The review is over. Now, please welcome the next contestant..." While the audience was still reeling from the event, Kawashima Rei, snapping out of her daze, immediately took on her role as host.

The student whose name was called by Kawashima Rei showed a deep sense of despair on his face after hearing his name.

The order in which dishes are served is also a very important factor in food wars, especially the dishes that are eaten one after the other, which will create a very sharp contrast due to the lingering memory on the taste buds.

In food battles, there are many chefs who are good at using the order of serving dishes to create dishes that counter their opponents' dishes.

For example, Xiang En, the dangerous yet fascinating ancestor of Xiang Ji, was skilled in the culinary secret technique of "Taste Sealing Technique" in the dark cuisine world, which was such a tactical ability.

A dish that scores 98 points.

If you put your own dishes after these monsters in the order they are prepared, the judges probably won't remember a single thing about them.

Ding ding ding~ 3 points.

Even though he was mentally prepared, the unlucky guy still felt dizzy when he saw the score. His carefully prepared dish didn't even get five points.

But he wasn't the only unlucky one; all the contestants behind him were also unlucky.

5 points, 5 points, 6 points, 4 points, 7 points...

Hinako and the others reviewed the dishes of about ten more people, but none of the contestants' dishes scored more than 10 points.

"Isn't that a bit too much?"

"Hinako-senpai's total score in the review is still below 10. How many is that?"

"Just how delicious was that golden ratio shumai? The effect lasted for so long!" exclaimed a spectator from the stands.

"The...examination...is over. Now...please welcome the next...next contestant..." Kawashima Rei was also at a loss for what to do in the current situation.

Tap tap tap~

Tap tap tap~

As Kawashima Rei's voice rang out, Megijima Tousuke slowly emerged carrying his meal.

"Senior Megijima?"

"Is it time for Megijima-senpai to come up with a dish?" After seeing Megijima Fuyusuke take the stage, junior high school students and first-year high school students couldn't help but speculate.

"Really are……"

"Isn't there any more delicious food? I don't want to eat this kind of childish food anymore," Kita Shuji complained.

After tasting Xiang Ji's golden ratio shumai, Kita Shuji's taste buds were completely conquered by Xiang Ji's cooking, and he just wanted to savor the lingering taste on his lips and teeth.

Just as Kita Shuji was complaining, the sound suddenly stopped.

Hoo hoo hoo~ The countryside~ The countryside with its bountiful pumpkin harvest~

What's this?

Kita Shuji stared intently at Megijima Fuyusuke as he approached, his mind completely captivated by the unique aroma emanating from the dishes in her hands.

Ta-da! The plates are open!

A small, exquisite golden pumpkin appeared before them, and the aroma, carrying the scent of the countryside, emanated from this little pumpkin.

Hoo hoo hoo~

Kita Shuji couldn't wait to pick up the prepared knife and cut the pumpkin in front of him.

Click click click~

A crisp snapping sound followed the blade of the knife, and a rich aroma of pumpkin wafted out.

Is this puff pastry?

The thing in front of me that looks like a real pumpkin actually has a delicate, flaky crust inside that crumbles at the slightest touch.

Looking through the cross-section, you can see 124 layers of flaky pastry stacked on top of each other.

"Thousand-layer cake? No, this is the Lion's Cake from Chinese cuisine?" Anto Shingo exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, my dish was inspired by the Lion's Cake from the Chinese culinary world, and then combined with the Golden Claw from our Japanese specialty confectionery to create this dish," Fuyusuke Megijima explained slowly.

"In this dish, I didn't use red bean paste as the filling, but instead used pumpkin, which is a specialty of the Miyazaki region."

"So that's how it is. It's a dish that combines the Chinese lion-shaped pastry with our traditional Japanese sweets and confectionery, kin-e. No wonder it's shaped like a pumpkin."

"What will it taste like?" Hinako asked as she fed the sliced ​​pumpkin to her.

As a guest lecturer at the Totsuki Culinary Training Center, Hinako Inui has a clear understanding of the culinary skills of the 90th cohort of Totsuki students.

After meeting the contestants from Group A, apart from Xiang Ji and Kobayashi Ryudou, Inui Hinako was most looking forward to the dishes prepared by Megijima Fuyusuke and Saito Muneaki.

Ahhh~ Ahhh~

As Hinako Inui's teeth bit into the pumpkin croquette, the flaky pastry, repeatedly rolled and folded between the water dough and the oil dough, instantly burst open on her tongue. The subtle sweetness of the pumpkin made her feel so comfortable that she couldn't help but squint her eyes.

The refreshing sensation of traditional Japanese sweets makes one feel so comfortable that it's almost like falling asleep.

……

"Megijima Tosuke, 88 points!"

After Tousuke Megijima's score was revealed, Rei Kawashima breathed a sigh of relief. Now, finally, there was a third person with a score over 60.

"Eighty-eight points?"

"As expected of Nyogijima-senpai, he got 88 points so easily." Many students in the venue exclaimed in surprise after seeing Nyogijima Tousuke's score.

Third place?

"Nemikijima-senpai's cooking only got 88 points, not even 90, while Kobayashi-senpai's cooking got 94 points."

……

"Eighty-eight points?"

"Even though so much time has passed and so many dishes have been prepared, is the influence of his cooking still so significant?" Fuyusuke Nyakijima looked at Xiang Ji.

My score is far behind Xiang Ji's 98 points, and even compared to Kobayashi Ryudou, it is still far behind.

Fuyusuke Megijima doesn't believe that Ryudou Kobayashi's cooking skills could be so far ahead of his own in just one month of summer vacation.

The only explanation is the influence of the golden ratio in shumai.

Chapter 172 Preliminaries End, Victory Party

"Saito Muneaki, 92 points."

"The match is over."

"Now let's congratulate Xiang Ji, Kobayashi Ryudou, Saito Muneaki, and Megijima Tosuke for passing the preliminary rounds and advancing to the main competition of the Autumn Selection." Kawashima Rei announced the final results of the preliminary rounds in a hoarse voice.

"The preliminary rounds are over, and as expected, the four of them, including Kobayashi-senpai, made it to the next round."

"The top four scored 98, 94, 92 and 88 points respectively, while the fifth-place finisher dropped to 45 points."

"Hiss hiss hiss, the others are not even in the same league as Senior Xiang Ji and the others. Their cooking skills are far inferior!"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's really far behind."

……

"It's over, Soma. What are your thoughts after watching this match?" Joichiro Yukihira turned around and asked Soma Yukihira.

"Dad, I really, really want each of them to have a competition. The dishes they all bring out look so amazing." Soma Yukihira's eyes were burning with passion.

"Hahaha, then Soma, you'd better do your best." Yukihira Joichiro laughed heartily, truly worthy of being his son.

"Yes, Father."

……

As the preliminary rounds at venue A came to an end, the preliminary rounds at venue B also came to a close.