This is the final dish.
Disgusting!
Ow!
It's incredible that you managed to come up with this many train wrecks!
The last oyster gruel, in particular,
was as if... yes,
as if I were taking a bath with a western lowland gorilla!
She's being deep again...
Family: Hominidae; Genus: Gorilla; Western Lowland Gorilla The largest known/living primate. Eats primarily fruit, grass, leaves, and vines. The back fur of adult males turn white, and they are called silverbacks. One male forms a harem with several females...
Her palate is not the same as a mere mortal's...
It seems you omitted one of the steps in prep work.
I am aware that your restaurant group is expanding,
and that you're trying to increase efficiency for that reason.
But do you dare presume
that gives you the right to defile my tongue with such food?!
M-M-My apologies, Lady Erina!
Nakiri
It's time for you to go, Soma.
Go figure out what you've got.
God Tongue
I'm totally out of place here.
Why do all the other applicants have butlers and guards and stuff?
Dad Cell
Oh, did I forget to mention?
You're taking the transfer admission exam
for one of the best culinary schools in the country.
The graduation rate is less than 10 percent.
It's a super elite institution.
Educational Institution Totsuki Teahouse
Best of luck with that, Soma.
Hey, Jo! Please wait a moment!
Where are you right now, Dad?
New York City.
In the VIP reception hall of Manhattan Royal Hotel.
That's where I'm cooking right now.
Hey, Jo!
Thanks for coming back to New York!
This is the best dinner ever!
Simmer down, Dr. McFly!
You wouldn't want your blood pressure to go up again!
Delicious!
After taking a medical leave of absence from Congress,
I'd resigned myself to my fate, and considered my life fulfilled
if I could eat Yukihira's cooking one last time,
but this only makes me greedy for more!
Let's come again, sir!
Yes, as many times as possible!
Is Yukihira here?!
Please come back, Master!
We are in the midst of a fast!
What example will we be to our disciples?
Bah, silence!
Are you telling me to turn away from
Yukihira's cooking when it's right in front of me?!
In that case...
I reject my calling!
Master!
Yukihira!
I first went to India.
Then Italy and Spain.
I just got into America yesterday.
I plan to cook in cities on the East Coast for the time being.
Huh?
I'm not following.
Well, let's just say someone called in a favor.
Hey, Soma.
If you can't survive that academy until graduation,
you can kiss your hopes of surpassing me goodbye as a pipe dream.
Just watch me!
Good.
Then let me tell you a special secret to improve your cooking...
He cut me off.
Where are you, Yukihira?!
Right here!
Listen up, Soma.
The trick to becoming a good chef
is to meet a woman you want to devote all of your cooking to.
Yukihira Diner
So, what's next on my plate?
This, Milady.
Judging transfer exams?
So this is the kind of grunt work I'd get for joining the executive board.
I'll head over once I change.
Dammit...
A pipe dream? Yeah, right.
I'll definitely make it to graduation, dammit!
Oh, sorry.
I didn't meant to kick your seat.
No need to apologize.
You're also applying for a transfer, right?
Take a seat, will you?
With high school qualifying exam results being announced for
Totsuki's junior high division,
and exams being held for people like us hoping to transfer in,
things are pretty lively today.
I'm Nikaido Yoshiaki.
My family runs a French restaurant.
Oh, what a coincidence.
Mine runs a restaurant, too.
That may not be such a coincidence.
The guy over there's the heir to a national restaurant chain,
and that one's family runs a seafood wholesale business that supplies the
entire Kanto region.
Almost everyone here has a cooking industry pedigree of some sort.
Oh.
What's your place's name?
Oh. Yukihira.
Yukihira...
A traditional Japanese restaurant, then?
Oh, we're not that high-brow.
We're a diner downtown...
How dare you sit next to me,
you low-class commoner!
Listen up!
This academy isn't for the likes of you!
It is a sacred grove, meant as a place of learning for denizens of the
upper echelons of the food industry!
That's the kind of place Totsuki Teahouse Culinary Academy is!
A low-born like you won't even make it past the written exam...
Huh?
You haven't even tried Yukihara's food!
You don't get to judge our quality!
Young Master!
Look, someone from a diner thinks he can transfer in.
You've got to be kidding me.
He should know his place.
This isn't giving me high hopes for this place.
If this is how things are right off the bat,
who knows what pompous ass I'll get as the examiner.
Totsuki Teahouse Culinary Academy High School Division Transfer Examination Hall
Hey, is that...
Y-Yeah...
Greetings, transfer applicants.
I am Nakiri Erina, and I have been assigned to judge today's transfer exam.
Nakiri Erina (Age 15) Third-Year in Junior High
A girl...?
And she's wearing the school uniform.
She's the examiner?
Any word from the exam division?
I'll read it now.
Examinees will first undergo interviews in groups of ten based on their applications.
They will then undergo a practicum where they will cook three or so dishes.
Those who pass will...
Hmph.
How pointless.
I have an idea.
Bring the kitchen work table here!
Y-Yes, Milady!
Cooking ingredients?
What's she up to?
The main ingredient will be the egg.
Make one dish.
I'll only allow those whose creations impress my palate
to transfer into the academy.
C'mon.
Furthermore, I will allow those who wish to withdraw
and cancel their application to do so within the next minute only.
What? One minute?
I withdraw.
What?!
Hey, wait!
Why are you all running?!
Y-You don't know who she is?!
Huh? Nope.
Tell me.
Nakiri Erina has the finest palate known to mankind! A divine tongue!
The God Tongue!
Huh?
Human babies typically begin talking
between the ages of one and two.
But her first spoken words, at three months old, were...
Not enough depth of flavor.
Given the small glimpse of her genius already present at birth,
she has been asked to serve as the taste tester
of famous restaurants nation-wide since a very young age.
All the heavyweights in the food world are her clients!
Her evaluations spread far and wide in the industry!
Should she...
Should she brand you as an imbecile without any talent,
your career in the food world would be over!
I figured most of them were hopeless incompetents.
I can't be bothered to waste my time on such fools.
I believe I've cleared my schedule for the day?
Er, yes.
I will now test new dishes in my private quarters.
Erina-sama's new dish...
What's the matter, Hisako?
You look... like you want something.
Oh, no, well...
Would you like the privilege of trying my cooking?
I... I would!
What a shameless hussy you are.
Oh, please forgive me!
We'll have to report first
that no one passed.
Yes...
Hey, so are there no other restrictions on the dish?
What?
I...
...have a challenger?
Mama!
Sob, sob
Uh, uh...
As long as you use eggs,
you can make anything you want.
But are you sure you want to do this?
You should withdraw while you...
Oh, I was really worried!
I thought you might fail me before I even got to cook!
Back away!
Do you know who she is?!
Who is she?
She is the top of her class in the junior high division,
and the youngest member of the Totsuki Elite Ten Council,
the highest decision-making body in the academy, in the academy's history:
Nakiri Erina-sama!
Whoa.
This is a fine tool.
Don't wander around!
Huh?
Let me ask one last time:
Are you really going to take my exam?
Huh?
But...
I just have to make you say it tastes good, right?
Of course I'll take the test.
This boy...
Erina-sama.
Yukihira Soma
Yukihira Soma.
His family runs an diner.
He's obviously a second-rate cook.
He doesn't understand my noble pedigree,
just like a stray dog would have no idea of a gemstone's value.
If that's your attitude,
I'll taste your food.
The food of bottom feeders in the food world.
I'll be happy to...
...serve you...
...our specialty!
Hang onto your seat,
Examiner Nakiri!
Eggs are a fundamental ingredient
in Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine, across all culinary genres.
What will he serve to Erina-sama,
who tastes haute egg cuisine on a daily basis?
It seems he'll use beaten eggs,
but I have no idea what dish he's working towards.
Yukihira Soma-kun, what are you making?
Huh?
You still can't tell at this stage?
Do you want me to fail you right now?!
Listen!
I don't have the time to waste on ill-conceived food.
I'm asking you if you have any intention of
making a dish that is suitable for my palate!
Fine, I'll tell you.
What I'm making is the eighth item on Yukihira Diner's secret menu!
Secret menu?
And what manner of complicated dish would this be?
Rice with seasoning!
Wha...?!
Cut the crap!
I knew you were a bottom-feeding cook.
What a waste of time.
Erina-sama...
Of course, they're no ordinary seasoning.
What I'm making...
...is rice with transforming seasoning!
Transforming seasoning...?
All right!
Almost done!
Yukihira Soma...
What dish is he about to serve?
Thank you for waiting!
No...
Like I initially thought, he's just messing with me!
It really is ordinary.
In the end, it's still the work of a second-rate cook.
It fails to arouse my appetite.
My palate has been called the God Tongue.
Only the most elaborate and refined haute cuisine graces my dinner table.
Indeed, I reside in a gourmet paradise!
How dare he serve something like this to me?
This exam is over.
Erina-sama!
But you haven't seen its true form yet.
What do you mean?
There's something hiding behind the egg...
Well, keep your eyes peeled.
The true value of a rice seasoning
is only apparent once it's served on white rice.
Well, then.
Now for the finish!
It's melting... from the rice's heat?
And as it melts, it's coating the egg.
What is this aroma?
Chicken?
The fragrant, mellow aroma of chicken that's been simmered slowly over time...
That's what's wafting through the air.
So this is the rice with transforming seasoning?
It looks completely different from before.
I wonder what it tastes like.
I suppose I can afford to taste one bite.
Hand over the dish!
Here you go!
I can't believe this...
I forgot to judge, and just savored its taste?!
What was that texture?!
Oh?
You're going for a second bite?
I thought I heard you say one bite only.
Do you have any complaints about that?!
I'm just kidding.
Take your time and eat up.
It's aspic, isn't it.
Bingo!
The squares are aspic made from chicken wingtips.
Aspic is formed when meat or fish broth
with high gelatin content congeals into jelly.
I simmered chicken wingtips with bonito stock, sake, and light soy sauce,
then finely chopped the aspic once it cooled and solidified.
When that's sprinkled over hot rice,
the aspic melts and the gelatinous broth coats the egg soboro.
In effect, this aspic is a rich soup infused with the umami of chicken.
The rich flavor and saltiness of this broth
are enhancing the fluffy egg soboro's subtle sweetness.
With every bite, the fluffy and gelatinous textures
caress the insides of your mouth.
The melted aspic is elevating the egg to entirely new heights...
This is unlike any dish I've ever eaten.
It's an entirely new world of flavor.
So, how is it?
Glad you didn't go away without tasting it first, right?
S...
Silence!
The evaluation has yet to conclude!
Even when the menu item is basic in the extreme,
we use our creativity to transform it into a masterpiece!
That is Yukihira cooking!
Even so...
...how can I, a denizen of gourmet paradise,
accept this?
Heh Heh Heh
This, a dish by a boy who's like a personification of all things common!
I can't... accept this.
I just... can't...
This flavor...
It's as if...
...I'm being caressed by angel feathers!
Go away!
Stay away!
Stay away, I say!
No!
I don't want to accept it...
but my palate... My body... can't help but react...
Sure, we're a small diner,
and I'm sure you're one of the elites of the food world.
But, you know,
I bet there are some things you can't make
if you get too comfortable sneering down at people from your throne.
Erina-sama.
Well? What is it?
Yukihara-style rice with seasoning...
Is it delicious, or disgusting?
Tell me!
It's d...
Disgusting!
What?!
How dare he?! How dare he?! How dare he?!
Talking down to me like that!
To me, Nakiri Erina!
Unforgivable!
Ow Ow Ow
Yukihira Soma...
Totsuki Academy has no need for people like you!
Hello? It's Erina.
Please tell Grandfather,
the director of the academy,
that no one passed the transfer exam today.
Fail
End
Preview
Next time on Food Wars,
the third dish:
Menu That Chef Never Smiles
"That Chef Never Smiles."
Please enjoy.
Master!!