Min-joon finally pointed out the weakness of Dave’s dishes.
“Well, the most striking thing in your dish is that various ingredients are connected among each other. As for the amuse-bouche, the two dishes had coriander and cracker, right? But you made the difference between them more clearly visible. And I could confirm it here in this carrot soup. I mean, coriander infusion in carrot soup. You put it here on purpose, right?”
“Yeah, sort of. I was a little reluctant to do it at first because the garnishes seemed to overlap them, but if I stuck to such a useless unwritten rule in cooking, I was afraid I might rather miss the essence of the taste. In the end, what we should aim for is making the most delicious dish, isn’t it?”
“You’re right. Whether you eat pasta with a fork or chopsticks, it won’t matter as long as you enjoy it, right?”
“That’s right,” said Dave with a smile, then stretched out his palm.
Min-joon smiled, touching the palm of his hand. Whenever Min-joon saw him, there was one thing he always felt, which was that he was cool in his lifestyle and cooking.
So he suddenly thought about it. Just like Rachel and Daniel did, or just like June and Dave did, what if he and Kaya were faced with the same worries as theirs? How could Min-joon and Kaya cope with and overcome such worries?
However, the worries that he had to overcome right now were not such stuff. He needed to quench his curiosity about Dave’s main dishes because he just finished Dave’s dessert.
Min-joon began to explain why each of his dishes was beautiful.
He said, “I liked your idea of crushing and spraying candied mushrooms as finely as dirt like this. Adding clams and chicken to it was fresh. Especially, the tarragon foam sprinkled over the clams eliminated the fishy smell of the clams. At first, I thought it would be typical to boil the broth and add it to the chicken, but it feels fresh because the chicken itself has the aroma of herbs soaked in it. Because of that, the sauce tastes like chicken, and the chicken tastes like sauce.”
He continued, “As for Wagyu, I have nothing to say. Actually, it’s hard to say that the composition itself is great, but pomme soufflé is definitely fantastic because I didn’t think I was going to eat souffle with Wagyu steak. But the most beautiful thing about this dish is the perfect grilling of the souffle rather than having them together. In fact, other dishes were more complicated and difficult than this, so it’s a good idea to stimulate the taste people are familiar with at this point.”
That was how Min-joon commented about Dave’s dishes. While talking with Min-joon, however, Dave’s face was becoming brighter gradually with a smile. And Elly was surprised to watch them interacting casually like that.
She thought to herself, ‘Gosh, it’s the first time I’ve seen Chef Dave having so much fun.’
Dave wasn’t the type that basically came out and talked with a customer, and even if he did, their conversation didn’t last long. He thought it was because they were not on the same wavelength because his customer could not feel or see what he did in his dish.
But did Min-joon see and feel the essence of Dave’s dishes and his world? If he didn’t, it was impossible to understand why Dave smiled in satisfaction, for if Dave could not be persuaded by Min-joon’s explanations, it was impossible to believe he was so moved and happy like a child.
Finally, Min-joon was done eating the dessert.
“Haaaa…”
Min-joon sighed as if he felt enervated. Of course, he enjoyed Dave’s dishes fully, but at the same time, he felt somewhat overwhelmed by Dave’s skills. While talking with Dave, he unwittingly recalled someone’s face several times.
Nonetheless, Min-joon smiled, thinking he had a good conversation with Dave.
Dave asked in a low voice, “I told you already. As things stand now, June can’t beat me at all.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Min-joon wanted to refute him, but that was true. At least when it came to cooking, June couldn’t beat Dave yet. And after trying Dave’s dishes, Min-joon felt he didn’t want to rate Dave and June by other means than cooking because his cooking was so overwhelming.
“Help her, Min-joon.”
“How can I help her?”
“Well, help her to beat me.”
“I don’t think you should ask me a favor like that. You want to beat her from the beginning, right? No?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m thinking of beating her. And I want to beat her. But I don’t want to see her be beaten helplessly by me when we have to compete. To be honest, I wish I could compete neck and neck with her, so both of us can feel sorry for that, both of us can feel satisfied without any regrets.”
Min-joon looked at Dave silently. What he said was very contradictory, but Min-joon could understand him.
So Min-joon replied, “Don’t worry, Chef June won’t lose.”
“Didn’t you tell me I would beat her?”
But you don’t have me, Chef Dave, right?” said Min-joon with a smile.
Even if you can beat Chef June, you can’t beat her with me.”
Dave chuckled at his words. Such a provocative reply could have upset Dave, but he seemed to like Min-joon’s confidence quite a bit.
He said, tapping Min-joon on the shoulder, “Yes, I hope I’m in your good hands.”
At that moment, Min-joon had no choice but to admit that Dave was a cool guy from the moment he saw him first until now. Come to think of it, it was Dave who gave him the biggest shock with his dish, so it wasn’t strange at all that he was touched by Dave’s words and dishes.
“By the way, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“You remember the caramelized sudachi you made last time? Alan said that you made it after several months of working on it. I wonder if you also made it according to your senses and inspiration rather than calculating?”
“In fact, all dishes start with your senses first, right? But in the end, inspiration always influences everything you make. Which influences you more, inspiration or calculating?”
“Well, in the past, I thought I relied more on calculating, but these days, I feel like I’m more influenced by inspiration.”
In fact, as long as he relied on the power of the system, Min-joon was a chef who typically cooked in a calculating manner because just by controlling the amount of ingredients in his head, he could see the change in his cooking score in real-time. However, he hardly relied on the system these days. Of course, it wasn’t because he wasn’t using the system properly. When he came up with a recipe thanks to inspiration, the first recipe he came up with happened to be the best lots of times.
“So what about June?” Dave asked.
Min-joon was lost in thought again and shook his head slowly.
“Chef June really starts with calculating and ends with calculating when it comes to cooking. She doesn’t want to rely on inspiration. For example, when it comes to the recipe, she first analyzes the latest trend and picks all the recipes possible with the ingredients. So, there is little room for her inspiration to work. And that’s probably…”
Perhaps, that was why she reached her limits. That was why she always challenged things but felt frustrated by the wall of Dave. However, Min-joon couldn’t tell him about it. He was so sorry for her. And the funny thing was that Dave also felt sorry for her.
“I want you to be her inspiration.”
“Me?”
“Maybe that’s what I should have done for her. I might have had a chance in the past but I couldn’t because I was her lover, so I wanted to be on an equal footing with her. She might have felt bitter as much as sweet about my outreach.”
Min-joon understood his feelings because he felt the same thing toward Kaya. Fortunately, he could overcome it because he shook off his inferiority feelings early in his career, but if he had taken Dave’s words. He also felt the same way for Kaya at one time. Still, he was able to overcome it easily because he had shaken it off well in the beginning, but if he had not taken over a new leaf, he might have been suffering from an inferiority complex until now.
“By the way, when you’re done, are you going back to June in New York?”
“Nope. I have to visit China and some other places on a business trip.”
“You must be busy,” said Dave, nodding.
Min-joon opened his mouth, watching him quietly.
“I think you still love Chef June a lot.”
“Why did you say that suddenly?”
“Why don’t you just go back to her?”
“Well, I think I’ve walked a different path for too long to go back.”
“But…”
“So…” Dave interrupted him at that moment. “So, I’m in the process of being reunited with her now. I’m taking one step toward her without stopping. And it won’t take me too long. Whenever I was further away from her, I had to look back because of regrets and lingering attachment every step I took, but when I decided to get closer to her everyday, I’ve felt I don’t have anything to look back on.”
As if he was relieved after a long time, Dave talked about his patched love with June.
“So, I’m going to go back to her much more quickly than I left her last time…”