Chapter 431 - Admitting Defeat in Style (2)
‘…If you think about it, this seems like a pretty absurd idea.’
In the semi-finals where they were asked to make course meals, the Min-joon and Kaya pair made an Asian style whole meal on one table that nobody thought of. But when they were asked to make their own signature dish, the pair decided to make a French dish, which nobody expected at all. At Rose Island they put more emphasis on Western cuisine, but with less focus on the French dishes.
However, it might look more attractive because its idea is absurd. The pair began to chuckle when they imagined how embarrassed the judges would be when they looked at their French dish in the finals.
After a while, Min-joon and Kaya left Rose Island and entered a restaurant. The manager, who was welcoming the guests calmly, seemed to make an embarrassed expression the moment he saw the pair. It was natural the manager showed such a reaction because these days in the French restaurant industry, there were none who didn’t know the pair’s faces. In addition to cooking magazines, all the news media reported about the pair so often that even ordinary French citizens walking on the street recognized them.
Min-joon and Kaya were immediately escorted to a seat that stood out most in the restaurant, where they could look inside the kitchen well. The servers greeted them with excessively gentle smiles and voices, and gave long explanations about the dishes even before the pair asked.
When the main dishes were served, the head chef appeared in person before them, which was common these days when the pair visited restaurants.
Min-joon smiled at Kaya as if it was fun, and said, “Don’t you think you know the feelings of the Food Administration officials or Michelin evaluators when they visit restaurants?”
“Yeah, I guess so. By the way, what do you think of this filet mignon?”
“Well, they cooked it well. In fact, they can’t find any reason not to cook it well because brazing has little room for mistakes. I think the chef wanted to make this dish stand out with its quality, not the uniqueness or novelty of the ingredients.”
“Yeah, I agree. Aside from the quality of the meat, it looks like the wine used for brazing seems to be incredibly expensive. The aroma of the wine is so clean and fascinating.”
Min-jun nodded at what Kaya just said. Certainly, the aroma and taste of the wine that exquisitely permeated through the filet mignon made him feel as if he was eating a cow where wine, not blood, was flowing in its veins.
Every time they served a dish, the pair exchanged lots of conversation. At some point, they tended to focus on exchanging their views on the dish rather than what taste and cooking technique they could feel whenever a new dish came out.
Someone might blame their attitude for focusing more on analyzing the dish than on the food itself. However, Min-joon and Kaya were enjoying it so much. So much so that they were in more sync with each other than they were on the bed together or travelling together.
So, they didn’t need drugs or alcohol because there was no other kind of happiness in this world that could be compared to their happiness at this moment.
‘By the way, gastronomic level 10 is terrific! Nobody can have it…’
Now that he has reached mythic level 9, Min-joon could feel more clearly how great Kaya’s level 10 was, for his cooking skills were growing differently from day to day thanks to the increase in his gastronomic level. Come to think about it, it was natural that he could make the kind of dish that fitted one’s gastronomic level. In that respect, one’s cooking level was bound to depend on the gastronomic level from the beginning.
That’s why Kaya’s sense of taste was terrific. She once confided that before she met him, she had never given a serious thought to cooking. Nevertheless, her gastronomy level is currently 10. This could be understood in the context where she could understand everything about food naturally without having to think deeply about what is the right taste and how the complex arrangement of tastes works on the food. He could understand why she reached such a gastronomic and culinary level at that young age.
Therefore, Min-joon had to agonize over whether he, who didn’t have the sense of taste like Kaya’s, could reach gastronomy level 10 like Kaya? In fact, the only person with gastronomic level 10 he has ever seen so far is Kaya. Considering the meaning of level 10 in the first place, he wondered if the person who could reach that level was already determined from the beginning.
‘Yeah, that’s why I have to discuss with her all the more.’
The reason he had such an enthusiastic discussion with Kaya right now was because it was fun and he wanted to prepare for the finals, but at the same time he wanted to peek into her gastronomic point of view. If he had a gastronomic view similar to Kaya’s, he would reach a gastronomic level similar to her. If he could do so, it would not be that difficult for him to reach gastronomic level 10.
‘In addition, we look like each other a lot.’
Was it because Min-joon longed for Kaya Reuters’ cooking since childhood? He had quite a lot in common with Kaya in both cooking style and culinary perspective. That’s why he was confident of accepting her gastronomic view without any reluctance.
When they were done eating for about three hours, Min-joon and Kaya looked at each other with exhausted expressions, trying to read each other’s mind while wondering if they wanted to leave now or stay a little longer.
It was at that moment when the head chef approached them and opened his mouth.
He spoke in French. Fortunately, a server nearby soon translated what he said in proficient English.
“I hope you have enjoyed our dishes. If you don’t mind, could you do me a favor?”
“A favor?”
“I would like you to tell us what you feel about our restaurant honestly. I feel it might be rather ambiguous to say that our dishes are trapped in French cuisine, but I have felt a lot that the menu served at our restaurant has been stagnant these days. Anyway, I’d be grateful if you tell me how I can improve.”
When the head chef asked for his opinion, Min-joon made an embarrassing expression for a moment. Actually he was asked the same question often, but he was at a loss, not knowing how to reply when asked like this. Although they often asked him to make some critical comments, they often found it hard to accept his criticism when they heard it.
At that moment Kaya opened her mouth in a voice without any gentleness or care.
“It’s delicious. But it wasn’t fun.”
“No fun? I don’t understand.”
“My point is this. Do you have anything new to try at this restaurant? What I mean is I could not find any dish among the many dishes you served us that we could not find at any other restaurant. Of course every dish was delicious. Surprisingly delicious. I thought you received three stars for a good reason. But this is what you get for the three stars, I don’t want to be envious of a 3-star restaurant.”
Min-joon was rather surprised by her criticism, which he thought was harsher than he thought. However, the head chef didn’t seem to be hurt or make such an expression. Actually he heard criticism like hers numerous times. Not everyone started praising him just because he received three stars because he was disappointed and frustrated when they criticized his dishes as not good enough for a three star restaurant.
“So, in your eyes, our restaurant is sticking to only authentic food without attempting a new menu, right?” asked the head chef.
“No. The problem with this restaurant isn’t that it’s sticking to authentic food. If that’s the case, I’d rather not point it out. Do you when authentic dishes have become synonymous with boring food? This restaurant serves dishes with a good combination of ingredients well known for their deliciousness for a long time. Then, which dish should I be surprised at? Fried oysters? Well, it’s delicious, so I emptied the plate, but I don’t think it will last long in my memory.”
She made a pretty critical comment, but Min-joon didn’t bother to stop her because he agreed with her.
The head chef replied, “Well, that’s what I’ve heard from gourmets all the time.”
“I guess so. That’s the only one clear shortcoming of this restaurant.”
Kaya didn’t want to degrade the restaurant. It was clear that they served great dishes here, befitting a three-star restaurant. The only thing that was lacking was that the dishes served here had no fun. Of course, that’s fun totally based on her subjective opinion.
Only then did Minjoon open his mouth.
“Hearing what you said, it seems that you’ve already been aware of the problem for a long time. Why did you ask us? Did you want to double check it again?”
“Well, I think both of you are squeezing the French “pus” most clearly now. Actually I haven’t seen cooking experts criticizing our problem in such a clear tone like yours. Maybe they might have gotten cold feet because of the reputation of my restaurant. Or they might not have wanted to express views that look contrary to other gourmets. So, what they pointed out was not appealing to me at all. They didn’t say our restaurant needed change. They only said our restaurant might need change. And I have been hiding behind their lukewarm criticism.”
Min-joon could understand his position. Sometimes people need someone who can clearly point out their problem.
The head chef smiled at them unlike a person who was given a harsh criticism.
“Well, I asked you because I would feel the necessity to change more if I heard the criticism from the chef I could respect. Thanks for coming to our restaurant today. I appreciate you didn’t hesitate to point out my shortcomings.”
“You don’t have to be grateful to me. I like to criticize others by nature.”
When Kaya responded with a calm voice, the head chef burst into laughter.
“I hope you can win the finals. I think you are more attractive than the pair from New York.”
This kind of episode kept coming out whenever Min-joon and Kaya visited other restaurants.
Sometimes the pair debated French cuisine for a longer time than they thought, and completed the recipes by exchanging each other’s inspiration.
“Filet mignon is also quite French ingredient.”
“It’s a French expression rather than a French ingredient. Actually, that beef part is used in any other country, isn’t it? It’s boneless and soft beef.”
“Apart from that, what other French ingredients are there?”
“Try to think of the time when we were engaged in the French cooking mission. We talked about quite a few things. And we concluded that the most French thing was foie gras.”
“Escargot is also pretty much French.”
“But it’s not fresh to use all those ingredients again. Even if I have to use them, I don’t want to use them mainly. Something new that we could not try. I think it’s okay to have fish as the main one this time.”
“Or maybe we can make a dish with no main ingredients at all?”
“No main ingredients? It’s far from French.”
“Well, we can make the dish more French because it’s not French,” she said in a meaningful voice.
Deepd down in her heart she was sharpening the blade of the knife that Min-joon had left with Dobby.