The Banquet Cooking Tournament against the Underworld, for Shanghai's Legendary Cookware, has begun.
The first round is a soup contest.
The Underworld chef Rouko created the ultimate chicken soup with amazing skill!
Sanche, who represented our team, countered with a snapping turtle soup.
This is my soup!
What's this all about? what kind of soup has Sanche made?
Sanche Special! Cold Jelly Soup
Are you trying to be funny? That's just a melon!
How the hell is that supposed to be soup!?
Sanche.
I've never heard of melon soup either.
I wonder what happened to that snapping turtle.
Hey, you! Say something!
Let go of me!
You brat!
Look! This is my Bouncing Snapping Turtle Soup.
Bouncing Snapping Turtle Soup?
Oh for crying out loud!
It's just a simple snapping turtle soup served in a melon rind bowl!
Well then, I'll bring it over to you know, guild leaders.
Oh, be careful! You might drop them.
Here, let me help you, Sanche.
I can't just stand and watch. You can be clumsy, Sanche.
Thanks, Mei Li.
Here you go.
Whoops!
Hey hey...
W-what's this? The soup didn't spill out!
What?
Impossible! Soup that doesn't spill?
T-the spoon bounced off...
That's right. This is the...
Bouncing Snapping Turtle Soup!
Exactly!
What is this?
The soup's solid?
That's right.
What?
S-solid? Then it's not a soup, is it Brother Mao?
Shilou, that can be nothing else but soup.
Huh? But why?
It's called "Yu Dong". It's a type of aspic jelly.
Aspic jelly?
Yes. Here, it's a snapping turtle extract that was cooled and solidified.
Huh, so that's what it is.
So you came up with jelly soup.
Novel, but it's just child's play. That won't stand a chance in the big leagues.
This is soup?
I've never heard of soup that you bite into.
It has a light salty taste. What's this sourness?
Hey Sanche, tell us.
How did you make something so strange?
First, I boiled the snapping turtle in salt water to extract the collagen from it.
I carved away the insides of the melon, and poured the heated mixture in.
I steamed the melon to remove any residual muddy or foul smell from the snapping turtle.
After that, the melon was cooled, hardening the soup.
The process creates an aspic jelly soup with the essence of snapping turtle.
So why choose a snapping turtle?
Yes. Because of all the meat products I could use,
the snapping turtle contains the most amount of collagen, which hardens faster.
And the sourness?
Well, the sourness comes from a famous Zhejiang province specialty, pickled plums.
I see.
So it came from pickled plums.
Boy, it looks like you don't understand what's important about soup.
Soup is neither optional or an afterthought of a banquet.
Soup has to be a dish unto itself, satisfying to those who eat it.
Your lightly-flavored soup would be nothing more than a side dish!
It is absolutely not a soup!
Contrast the judges' faces at the time they were eating my soup, against how they look now.
See how unsatisfied their expressions are? Seems like my victory is assured.
All right. We'll move on to the judging.
Lift the white spoon if you prefer Rouko.
If you prefer Sanche, use the red spoon!
Each of you will raise a spoon for the soup you believe is superior.
Sanche.
This isn't good. Perhaps it was too much for Sanche to handle.
Rouko, the multicolored tiger.
He's the best soup chef in the Underworld, and cooks nothing but soup.
Using the ultimate techniques and top-notch ingredients, he made the Ultimate Soup.
I doubt Sanche stands a chance as far as taste is concerned.
Leon...
However, depending on how Sanche's unique soup is interpreted, there might yet be an upset.
Basic versus original. It's a very contrasting soup contest indeed.
But the judges seemed happier when eating Rouko's soup.
Right.
Sanche...
There's no point in even comparing the two.
You said it.
And the verdict!
Sanche! Sanche! Sanche!
W-what?!
You did it, Sanche.
- Hooray!
This can't be! Dammit!
W-what gives? All of you ate my soup as if you were starving!
Mr. Rouko, you've forgotten a very important thing.
What?
This cooking tournament is for a four-course banquet.
As the first course, soup is expected to be delicious.
But just as important, it must be a dish that flows on to the next.
A dish that flows on to the next?
It's true that your flavorful soup might have incredible taste.
But it was not appropriate as the first course of a banquet.
It's too thick and heavy to be an appetizer; you can't eat anything afterwards.
There's so much left over... All of my soup!
Damn it!
True, Sanche's soup may seem underwhelming at first.
But as you continue to eat, its elegant light and salty taste
coupled with the savory taste of the snapping turtle melts in your mouth.
Right! A cold-jellied soup!
The taste spreads out in your mouth as you bite into it.
In addition, the sourness of the plums stimulates your appetite.
Sanche's soup is ideal as an appetizer!
You there, boy!
Yes sir!
You know a lot about things. You're absolutely right!
Bring on the the next course! My appetite's raring to go!
Agreed!
Oh yeah!
That's right!
It's empty!
They're all empty!
Sanche did it, just as I expected.
Oh really? The last I heard, you were saying something else, Big Brother Shell.
Details, details. You can't be a good chef if you pay attention to such insignificant things.
Pfft, what does that have to do with it?
A bouncing snapping turtle soup that you can bite into.
It's a marvelous dish that breaks tradition. Well done, Sanche!
Thank you very much.
That's one win for us.
Impossible! How can I be defeated by a brat from the overworld?
Sanche!
You did it!
You did great!
Sanche.
What do you think, Mao? I grew up a bit, didn't I?
Sanche, I see you haven't forgotten the tradition of Yosen Shuka.
Of course not. The tradition of Yosen Shuka...
Is to...
Break...
Tradition!
Yeah!
Oh Sanche, you haven't changed.
Sanche!
It's too early to celebrate. We're just getting started.
Things are starting to look interesting.
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk.
All right!
Let's go for a clean sweep!
Yeah! Yeah!
I lost. Me, the multicolored tiger, lost to a boy like that.
For Underworld chefs, defeat to the Overworld is a shameful sin worthy of death.
W-wait a minute!
S-stop it! Please stop!
Please! Give me another chance!
Let your heart always remember your crime with the brand of a disgraced loser.
The Distasteful Mark.
P-please, wait!
S-stop it!
You can no longer live as a chef.
All that's left for you is the disgraceful mark of distaste.
The second round of the Banquet Cooking Tournament involves dim sum!
Choose your representative!
Don't you people have eyes? Who else is more qualified than yours truly?!
The Continent's Best Super Dim Sum Chef, Steel Stick Shell, at your service!
Right! This is what I've been waiting for, Big Brother Shell!
We're all behind you, Shell!
Yeah!
So you're "Steel Stick Shell", the Super Dim Sum Chef I've heard about.
Oh yeah, it's shaping up to be a real sweep.
No one can beat Big Brother Shell with dim sum.
So, which one will it be? Who's the unlucky fool who'll face me?
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk.
We've got a lively whippersnapper here.
That's how I was at his age.
Huh? You're going to challenge me, gramps?
Well, do watch yourself. Overexcitement can kill you.
Hyuk hyuk hyuk!
I wonder how long you can keep up that talk.
That emblem. It represents the Hakura Clan!
What? Hakura Clan?
What's the Hakura Clan, Leon?
The Hakura Clan is a family of dim sum chefs that traces its origins to a chef
who served Premier Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period of Wei, Shu, and Wu.
They say that the ancestor of the Hakura Clan was a dim sum chef
who helped calm a raging river that impeded the path of the Shu army, by offering dim sum to it.
In other words, if you trace the origin of all dim sum techniques, you will eventually reach the Hakura Clan.
It is a legendary dim sum family.
But I heard that upon the death of Lakon, the King of Dim Sum,
the Hakura line died out with him.
King of Dim Sum?
G-gramps. Don't tell me...
Correct. It's a secret known only to a few, even within the Underworld.
I am the last member of the Hakura Clan.
The King of Dim Sum, Lakon!
You've got to be kidding me.
The legendary man who reached the pinnacle of dim sum cuisine...
The man once designated as an Imperial Chef...
Whose skill was noted by even the Emperor...
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
B-but didn't he die fifty years ago?
That's right. Even if he were still alive, he'd be well over a hundred!
Why?! You were the hero of all dim sum chefs!
What are you doing in the Underworld Cooking Society?!
Hyuk hyuk hyuk.
Simple. In the Underworld, there were techniques even I didn't know about.
I signed on to learn them.
With my Underworld and Overworld knowledge,
a whelp like you will never defeat me in a hundred years!
That's...
What the heck is that old coot up to?
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
He's making noodles!
And it's a single uninterrupted strand!
Amazing! That's some technique he's got!
Here ya go!
Soul Repose Noodles
Once, it even soothed the anger of the Qianlong Emperor.
It's a legendary noodle that fills a bowl with a single strand!
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
Such skill. Recreating a legendary noodle in the blink of an eye...
Is he really over a hundred years old?
All dim sum chefs have a special stick. That must be Lakon's.
Shell.
Long ago, dim sum offered by the Hakura Clan calmed a raging river...
Similarly, the root philosophy of dim sum is to sooth...
Its purpose is to calm the spirit!
The turbulence that rages high, And tarries low in your mind's eye.
In silence, banish from your soul; In total peace, enjoy that bowl.
Today, may fortune on you lie.
Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
Here's something for you, gramps!
What? H-hot!
T-this is...
The culmination of dumpling technique— a double-layered dumpling.
Brother Mao, what's a double-layered dumpling?
It's a steamed dumpling with two layers of skins.
I expected no less from Shell!
Child, when did you...
Soothing? You're so dull, gramps.
What?
Dim sum is supposed to change your state of mind.
In other words, it's a snack you eat to take your mind off things.
Don't be so formal. Eat one of those...
And try to relax a bit, gramps.
Dim sum is so much more spectacular and far more enjoyable than that!
Big Brother Shell is just as good, Brother Mao!
Yes, he thinks so too.
Standing here before me without cowering... What lively prey we've got here.
The second tournament round, Battle Dim Sum, will now begin!
Mao, dim sum can mean any number of things, right?
Right. Dim sum is basically a light meal.
Dumplings...
Siu Mai...
Won Ton...
Steamed Buns...
Spring Rolls...
Noodles and cakes...
There's so much variety.
Brother Mao, what is that?
A roulette wheel?
I see. They'll use that to choose a dim sum category.
The category shall be chosen by chance.
Shell, you choose. Is that acceptable, Master Lakon?
I have no objections.
Child, you may choose whatever you're best in.
Hee hee hee hee.
You think I'll stoop to that level?
Besides, how can I choose at the speed it's spinning?
Well, whatever will be, will be!
Hit the siu mai!
Go! Big Brother Shell's specialty, siu mai!
Which one was chosen?
Dumplings? Noodles? Spring rolls?
Siu mai, siu mai, siu mai! Siu mai, siu mai, siu mai!
The chosen theme is... steamed buns!
I'm sure Shell will do fine with steamed buns, Shilou, Mei LI.
Not good. He chose the one dish he shouldn't have.
Eh? Why is that, Leon?
The steamed bun itself was invented by the Hakura Clan ancestors.
What? What?
Basically, steamed buns are the Hakura Clan's specialty, where its true secrets lie.
Hee hee hee hee hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk!
The city center has a bustling din,
As I jump over the guard rails unseen.
Must hurry over to our meeting place,
And beat the dusk in a race.
In your twinkling eyes, I see so clearly,
The soothing warmth that you feel for me.
And with only that, my poor defenseless heart,
Is starting to melt and break apart.
This is a feeling that won't stop; it just keeps going straight.
And it's starting to speed up and accelerate.
I'm by your door, and knocking hard. Won't you let me in?
Let me show you my spirit filled with passion. Yeah!