Chapter 491 Don’t Listen, It’s a Bad Review

"Now our first team's final scores are out. Congratulations to the first team for receiving 267 points from the public judges and 51 points from the professional judges! The final score is 202.2 points!"

The final score of each team was calculated by adding 70% of the scores from the public judges and 30% of the scores from the professional judges. After He Xi announced the results, he read a lengthy advertisement again. The two judges also took the opportunity to take a break, and then the exciting scoring continued.

This time it’s the second team, the team that Fatty and Zhao Xiaojing are in.

"Next is the performance of our second team, led by Zhao Duo!"

The images and dishes of Songhe Changchun Table appeared on the big screen.

First, there are four kinds of braised meat dishes arranged in the shape of cranes, a fruit and vegetable salad with bright colors and auspicious meanings, and a uniquely shaped garlic lettuce tower stacked layer by layer.

Then there are the high-end and exquisite Jiangnan Hundred Flowers Chicken, Fairy Duck, and Steamed Grouper.

Then there is the rich and eye-catching soup, braised shark's fin.

Then there are the secondary main dishes and side dishes of the third and fourth tiers, such as colorful hand-shredded chicken, exquisite crispy fruit baked shrimp balls, lychee meat, garlic-flavored spare ribs with crispy fried milk, gorgeous conch slices, three-color steamed eggs, and blanched emerald shiitake mushrooms.

The meal ends with auspiciously shaped longevity peaches, symbolizing health, longevity, and a large family, as well as handmade noodles.

After looking at the whole set of dishes, Zhao Xiaojing felt that it was quite pleasing to the eye. After the dishes were served, she saw that the guests were also very satisfied with the food. However, thinking of Yu Yiyuan's many students, she felt that her table was too straightforward, and lacked in both appearance and thought.

After the first table's display, the second table of flowers and full moon followed.

The same four-piece meat and vegetable platter, this time shaped like two mandarin ducks and a bouquet of flowers, and another cold dish was a beautiful cold-mixed white fungus, arranged into a large pink and white gradient peony, named National Beauty and Fragrance.

Next came the main course of Stir-fried Morels with Black Truffle and Mixed Flowers, and the secondary dishes were Fried Pork Elbow and Glazed Pigeon.

The soup is still braised shark's fin, but the shark's fin is replaced with affordable vegetarian shark's fin.

As well as the third and fourth steps, there are three fresh braised tendons, colorful hand-shredded chicken, honey barbecued pork, Spanish ham and mushroom rolls, garlic spare ribs with crispy fried milk, Hong Kong-style typhoon shelter chicken wings, and stir-fried celery with lilies.

Finally, there are wedding cakes that symbolize long-lasting happiness and perfection, and gold and silver rice that is rice mixed with some millet.

Just as they were displaying the last of the wedding cakes and rice, messages from Wen Xinyuan popped up on the fat man's phone.

"Hahahahaha, are you guys at this table allergic to seafood?"

"Or maybe I won't tell you and force you to ask?"

The fat man was enjoying the meal. He glanced at his phone, curled up his lips, and replied with a cunning smile like a villain, "Guess what?", while whispering to Zhao Xiaojing that the food on their table looked really good when shown on the screen. However, after talking for a long time, he found that Zhao Xiaojing did not respond at all.

"Have you gone astray?" The fat man quietly nudged Zhao Xiaojing with his elbow.

"No." Zhao Xiaojing came back to her senses, her eyes regaining focus. "I just couldn't help but wonder how to improve this banquet and what it could look like if I did a better job."

"The boss hasn't commented yet, and you're already panicking?"

"Not really. I just think that Yu Yiyuan's table of Taoli Tianxia is really good. From the presentation to the connotation, it's all top-notch. Our tables pale in comparison."

"I understand. This is the first time I've seen their restaurant's dishes. That's why my master always says that chefs like us must go out and eat more, eat other people's food, and see more of the world, so we can recognize our own shortcomings. But then again, their Huaiyang cuisine is high-end, and they've been learning these things since childhood. Presentation and connotation are naturally more important, so it's normal that they appear more upscale than ours."

"I understand. I'm not concerned about who is better or worse. I just listened to the comments of the two big guys and suddenly had a lot of ideas in my head." Zhao Xiaojing explained.

"It's a good thing to have a collision of ideas. Think about it carefully." The fat man nodded in understanding and continued to happily appreciate his team's masterpiece on the big screen.

By now, the third set of "Golden List" banquets was halfway through. The cold appetizers had been replaced with small seafood in jus, a fruit-based salad, and crispy orange lettuce. The main course was slow-roasted beef short ribs, the secondary course was glazed pigeon, and a deluxe seafood pizza. The soup was a tangyuan soup with various small portions of ingredients. The third and fourth tiers of dishes included lychee meat, baked shrimp balls with crispy fruits, honey-glazed barbecued pork, steamed abalone with garlic vermicelli, Japanese tempura, garlic spare ribs with fried milk, and Hong Kong-style typhoon shelter chicken wings. The final main course was an exquisite persimmon-like steamed bun and a rice and millet rice.

Although the third set of banquets had some dishes repeated in the first two, the style was more abstract than the previous two. Especially when the steak pizza was placed and the cool sweet soup was served, the formality of the banquet instantly faded away, and it became more like a sophisticated picnic with a mix of Chinese and Western food, where you can eat whatever you want.

The other contestants in the booth were excited again.

"This table of food is really a great way to appease children!"

"I knew there was a table of middle school kids and why didn't I think of pizza!!!????"

"How come Zhao Duo's brain works so well?"

"I didn't choose him because I knew he was smart. I was afraid he'd screw me over at any moment!"

"But he's really good at taking shortcuts! The dishes at the three banquet tables are repeated, but they all fit in with their respective pricing, and they're not all communal dishes. How much time must this save!"

"I hate it! If I had known about this competition system, I would have chosen Zhao Duo even if I risked being cheated!"

"I hate it too! If I had known Zhao Duo was also going to have three tables, we would have tried our best to get four. How are we going to play now? Huh?"

Even though Zhao Xiaojing was thinking about food, she was overwhelmed by the noise of these discussions, both large and small, and burst out laughing. "You're such a jerk! You've become a hot topic yourself."

"Sister Mirror, don't listen to these. These are bad reviews. They are just jealous of me. I haven't cheated half of them, really." The fat man blinked his eyelids innocently.

"So you really have cheated half of them." Zhao Xiaojing nodded teasingly.

"If you can make your debut, you won't have to worry about making money. As long as your name is mentioned, it will become a hot topic, and everyone else will automatically become invisible." Nian Fusheng shook his head helplessly.

"Yes, I was overshadowed by his brilliance." The more Zhao Xiaojing thought about it, the funnier it became, and she laughed out loud again.

What everyone says about being smart and being able to take shortcuts has nothing to do with fat people. It's okay to repeat a few dishes, as long as they're of the right quality. That was Nian Fusheng's idea. Making pizza and steak was based on the most frequently mentioned dishes after asking middle school students. Fat people are simply the focus, and both good and bad people are caught in the crossfire.

Just as they were making fun of the fat man, there was another cry of surprise from the contestant booth.