The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

134 A Moment to Talk

When Xiao Ming looked up, he couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised. "Mister Shi, you finished as well."

Si Qi smiled and nodded at Xiao Ming before turning to the other two judges. "I am. I only made two simple dishes. I hope the judges won't mind." He followed the staff member to the judges' table, and then picked up the bowls by himself, putting them down in front of the judges before turning to the staff member and thanking him. Only then did he step back to where the contestants were supposed to stand, looking at the judges patiently.

Si Qi had spoken up before in favor of Si Jin and Si Yi so whether it was Chu Yu An or Mister Yu, they both had an impression of him.

Seeing him interact politely with everyone, Mister Yu's impression of him immediately went up another notch. He happily picked up the spoon and tried the first dish. This was a soup that used the cabbage and the carrots from the ingredients the contestants had been given, as well as some rice from the staple section.

Mister Yu nodded slowly after giving it a taste and motioned at the bowl. "Well, let me start with this one first. This was very well done. The soup base has a distinct taste that fits well together with the slightly sweet taste of the cabbage. If this dish was standing on its own, you could have gone a bit heavier on the seasoning but looking at the other bowl, it seems like that might not be necessary." Saying so, he picked up his chopsticks and turned to the bowl with kung pao chicken, slowly nodding after taking a bite.

Putting down his chopsticks, he turned back to Si Qi. "As expected. Your second dish is pretty spicy. Taking both together, it was a good idea to make the soup a bit lighter." He pondered for a moment and then knocked against the rim of the soup bowl again. "If there was one thing I have to say, then maybe you could have cut the cabbage a little smaller. Like this, it can be difficult to eat."

"Thank you, Judge Yu." Si Qi nodded, remembering this detail for the next time. He didn't know how far he'd make it on the show but he would try his best. When it came to feedback, he was sure that it would help him tremendously. After all, while the judges would oftentimes stress the same things, it was the little comments at the side that could open new doors.

While Mister Yu had given his feedback, Chu Yu An and Xiao Ming had already had time to taste both dishes, so they could start with their feedback.

"I would agree about cutting the cabbage a little smaller, although I know that most recipes actually call for cutting them this big. Still, some variation isn't bad. You've done this yourself by adding in the rice.

"I think that was a good change as well. The cabbage is very soft after being cooked and while the carrots are a bit chewier, the rice grains add a different kind of texture. The combination of that is really nice." Xiao Ming smiled when he said so. This wasn't a major change but a fitting one. Also, there was no rice in the kung pao chicken so adding it to the soup didn't feel redundant.

"I think what I like the most though is the combination of dishes. There is a slightly heavier dish and a lighter one. One meat dish and one vegetarian dish. Something sweet and something spicy. It just works well together on all layers."

Si Qi inclined his head again. "Thank you, Judge Xiao."

Xiao Ming didn't know what else to say about the dishes, not really finding something that was critique-worthy other than the point that Mister Yu had already raised. Really, with contestants who knew what to do and had also chosen relatively simple dishes, there wasn't much that you could ask them to do differently.

Chu Yu An pondered for a moment, having a similar problem. She didn't know if this was because this was the first episode or if the tasks they had given the contestants were too easy but it really was difficult to come up with something to say every time. "Well, I want to echo what Mister Xiao and Mister Yu said. One thing I find interesting is that you substituted the chilies for bell pepper. Was there a special reason for that decision? I mean, you could have found chilies in the seasoning section."