After a round of impassioned evaluation, Nakiri Senzaemon's eyes remained wide open, resembling those of an awakening lion.
The mental pleasure brought by the large-scale Gourmet Illusion had already transcended the boundaries of Nine-Star Quasi-Special cuisine.
Moreover, this mental pleasure began to feed back into the physical body—Nakiri Senzaemon could feel that the vitality which had been dormant within him for a long time was like a seed buried in the soil, perceiving the rainwater and striving to pry open its shell.
The difference between Quasi-Special Nine-Star and Special-Grade cuisine lay precisely here.
Quasi-Special Nine-Star cuisine could only reflect upon the spirit, whereas Special-Grade could go a step further and feed back into the body.
Through the groundwork laid by the previous few dishes, Mo Bai had inadvertently knocked open a crack in the Special-Grade barrier!
"It only lacks the final finishing dessert to know whether this is a Special-Grade set menu."
An eighteen-year-old youth using ordinary ingredients to produce Special-Grade cuisine... While the other party could not be considered a Special-Grade Chef, he was certainly not far off.
Nakiri Senzaemon had only heard of one person in the greater half of his life achieving such a miraculous event: that God's Son from the Hua nation, Wang Yao.
"It is truly something to look forward to."
Even as the Academy Director and the number one person in the Far East culinary world, the high-ranking and powerful Nakiri Senzaemon lost his composure, his index finger tapping the judge's table from time to time.
He was anticipating the appearance of the final dish.
Just as all the judges' gazes were firmly locked onto Mo Bai, Mark took the lead in completing all his dishes.
"Dessert, complete!"
Refusing the waiter who came forward to help, Mark held his head high and puffed out his chest as he carried the final dessert to the judge's table.
"Dessert: Mont Blanc. Please taste."
On the porcelain plate, a brown dessert in the shape of a ball of yarn was topped with a brownish-red chestnut.
The moment the Mont Blanc appeared, a rich and fresh sweet chestnut fragrance filled everyone's sense of smell.
Entrained within the chestnut fragrance was a faint scent of wine.
"Was the chestnut adorning the Mont Blanc boiled in red wine?" Chapelle revealed a look of appreciation. "Not bad. While paying attention to tradition, you also added innovation."
The Mont Blanc is named after the handsome peak of the Alps in Europe, "Mont Blanc." Initially, the shape of the Mont Blanc was made to resemble the mountain, and since the chestnut season is in autumn—when Mont Blanc also turns brown—the connection was made.
It was only later, for the sake of better aesthetics and taste, that various schools of style were derived.
Among them, the most beautiful is the spherical chestnut original flavor, where fine thread-like chestnut paste is squeezed out of a piping bag onto a sponge cake. Whether it is beautiful, round, or how much is used directly reflects the chef's skill.
The Mont Blanc chestnut paste lines before them were clear and compact, and the spherical shape was round and smooth; Chapelle could give the appearance of the Mont Blanc served by Mark a score of 95.
Auxis also nodded, agreeing with Chapelle's statement.
"You praise me too much."
Mark turned his head to look at his goddess; Bai Zishu's shallow smile and nod made him giggle, overwhelmed by the favor.
"Old Bai, look quickly. It's another dog!" Little Bai sighed helplessly at the degeneracy of human hearts and the state of the world where simps held power.
"Saying it like that is going too far. Leave a line in life, so we can meet on good terms in the future." Mo Bai rolled his eyes at Little Bai while whisking the egg liquid.
If Bai Zishu really had feelings for Mark, this Shokugeki would absolutely not have happened.
Regarding this brother's encounter, Mo Bai could only use this "Forgiveness Set" to console his love that was destined to never be delivered.
"Hey now! Why do you have a whole set of flashy operations?"
"You call this consoling? This is clearly whipping the corpse, damn it!"
"Seeing beams of golden light and green light hitting Mark's brown hair, even I feel panicked watching it."
Little Bai expressed strong disdain for Mo Bai's moral character.
"Hehe, I am merely doing my meager part to remind him." The hand with which Mo Bai was sifting flour suddenly paused, his face turning pitch black.
"Wait." A stare of death was cast toward Little Bai.
"What did you mean by that 'another' at the beginning?"
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle~~" The feigning-death Little Bai once again enjoyed the pleasure of flying into the water.
"Begin the evaluation."
After the middle-aged and elderly group gave a few encouraging compliments, the tasting officially began.
Once again, it was Nakiri Erina who was the first to pick up the knife and fork. The silver-bright table knife cut the Mont Blanc in half, and the beautiful cross-section was immediately presented before her eyes.
The cross-section, distinct in layers like a pyramid, consisted from top to bottom of: the red wine chestnut, the outer shell composed of brown chestnut paste, the upper part made of white cream and another bright yellow chestnut, followed by the lower part consisting of a layer of sponge cake, a layer of yellow jam, and a layer of unknown biscuit.
The clear and distinct structure made Nakiri Erina's eyes shine.
Gourmet food, gourmet food—first, the beauty takes the lead, and then comes the eating.
Moreover, women naturally prefer desserts—this time, even Yukikawa · Highness Mo Bai is Awesome · Yukie and Miyamoto · Highness Mo Bai is Awesome · Accept No Refutation · Yayako raised their knives and forks toward the dessert with shining eyes.
The instant it entered her mouth, the soft chestnut paste had already captured Nakiri Erina's heart.
"So soft, so smooth!"
"And this warm entrance temperature~" Nakiri Erina narrowed her eyes in pleasure.
Following the texture, the rich and layered sweetness also arrived.
Before the rich fragrance of the red wine chestnut, constantly changing between the red wine and the chestnut, had even passed, the sweet but not greasy chestnut paste bombarded the taste buds.
Accompanied by the clear sweetness of the cream, Nakiri Erina shivered. "It's actually frozen cream."
"The sudden stimulation amidst the warmth and sweetness is really not bad~" After the stimulation of the temperature change passed, Nakiri Erina narrowed her eyes again, returning to the state of a little girl wholeheartedly enjoying dessert.
The taste, full of layered sensations, arrived once more.
"The chestnut in the middle of the Mont Blanc is..."
After the frozen cream reset the taste buds, the thick syrup chestnut left a lingering fragrance in the whole mouth. The wondrous texture formed by her shell-like teeth lightly biting into the soft, sweet sponge cake and the crisp biscuit was intoxicating.
"Macaron?!" Nakiri Erina opened her eyes in incomparable surprise.
The true form of the biscuit-like object was surprisingly the almond meringue, an important component of the modern macaron.
"Also, that yellow jam is chestnut paste seasoned with added cream!"
Two of France's famous desserts converged into one on the plate; even the flaw of being slightly cloying due to Mark's excessive use of a single material was resolved by the addition of the almond meringue.
The sweetness that makes one happy struck the taste buds layer by layer; Nakiri Erina had never thought that a dessert could actually reach such a level.
"This is truly a genius idea!"
Mark's Almond Meringue Mont Blanc astounded all the judges present.
Auxis put down his knife and fork, his expression melancholy.
"Mark, you did very well."
"I am proud of you." Auxis's emotional tone, however, revealed a deep regret.
Mark was very delighted to hear Auxis's words, but the latter's action of putting down the knife and fork startled him internally.
"Could it be... that something went wrong with my dessert?!"
Mark, who was extremely confident in his improved Mont Blanc and even planned to use it as a trump card for the high-star chef assessment, felt a bit panicked without reason.
"This is... what is going on here?!"
From the female judge's seat, Nakiri Erina's voice, breaking in tone out of horror, rang out.
"JOJO! I still want to be human!"
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