With interest, June watched Min-joon and Kaya exchanging their views on rating Jamie’s dishes. Was it because they were still immature that they even had a quarrel while talking about cooking? Or was it because they loved cooking too much?
“You guys don’t have to try to persuade each other. Do your own evaluation separately.”
That said, June shook the tape recorder. She was going to edit and reflect even the two’s exchange of views on their evaluation in Choters Guide. In fact, this was the best advice June gave to Choters Guide, advising them what they should not try to come up with a perfect Choters Guide.
June reminded them that evaluating food was inevitably imperfect and that ordinary people should be able to feel that the evaluators’ subjective opinion inevitably affected their rating.
When people could see how hard Kaya and Min-joon worked on their dishes, they would be able to see the real worth of their dishes.
Most of the rating guides were based on the arbitrary views of those gourmets with an overwhelming gastronomic level, so it didn’t make any sense to create a guide that people didn’t understand or agree with.
A heated discussion between the two didn’t end there. They even argued over why a certain dish was good or bad. So much so that even the server that delivered the sample dishes to them was so embarrassed as to be panicked. The two grasped the important ingredients without any problem as if they took it for granted. They even pointed out all the strengths and weaknesses of the dishes that many gourmets commented about until now. So, the server felt like dozens or hundreds of gourmets, not just the two chefs, were now evaluating their dishes all at once.
‘That’s why Choters is so famous.’
The two chefs’ names didn’t come to the server’s mind. Only the name Choters that everybody was concerned with and enthusiastic about was on his mind.
The tea consomme with wild mushrooms filled with foie gras ravioli made with duck liver, and the bun with a texture similar to a croissant topped with rice paper wrapped in truffle butter drew praise from Min-joon, but it only brought out a lukewarm response from Kaya.
The scallops served with caramelized celery roots and celery foam drew some good reactions from Kaya and Min-joon, but not their praise.
The tomato compote seasoned with black pepper and vinegar, and the beef tail steamed with gravy were pretty good. Min-joon, recalling the steamed beef tail he used to enjoy back in Korea, enjoyed it a lot, while Kaya talked about how it was similar to osso buco. The two gave a good score in terms of how fun the dish was while praising how delicious it was. And its cooking score was 9. It was the same score as the lamb ribs with curry sauce that he had here in the past.
But the next dish made them really dumbfounded.
***
“Good job!”
Jamie was soaked in sweat. He looked around the kitchen, breathing out roughly as if he was exhausted. He wondered if he had ever made a dish with so much concentration like he did today. Given that he was soaked in sweat when he didn’t even show himself to his fan, he must have been pretty much nervous while making the dishes.
Julien approached and wiped Jamie’s sweat with a towel. While Jamie was letting him wipe the sweat from his face and neck, he turned around with glistening eyes. As it happened, the server was coming back to him.
“How about their reaction?” Jamie asked.
Jamie didn’t deliberately ask him how Min-joon and Kaya were enjoying his dishes, for it would definitely sway his mind regardless of whether they were enjoying it or not.
However, the server couldn’t answer easily, making a somewhat frustrated expression. His heart sank at that.
So, Jamie opened his mouth in an anxious voice.
“Then, wasn’t their reaction good?”
“Well, not necessarily, but…”
The server sighed with a complicated expression. She turned to her hall once, then looked at Jamie and said, “I think you had better go and check with them because there are lots of things you might want to see rather than hear from me.”
“Man, you are driving me nuts…”
Letting out a sigh, Jamie headed toward the two chefs with a heavy heart. And when he looked at the faces of Min-joon and Kaya, he just wanted to turn around and go back to the kitchen, for they were arguing over his dishes in an excited mood.
“Oh my… I think I counted my chickens before they were hatched…”
Come to think of it, it would be a terrific opportunity to be selected as the candidate for Choters Guide’s visit, but missing it out would be a disaster. What if Min-joon didn’t give a good rating to the restaurant that he had visited before? People might think that East Rabbit Garden was getting worse, not better when they heard about his rating.
In that respect, the powerful recognition and support of Choters Guide could be a double-edged sword to the target of their rating.
“I wish I could avoid their worst rating. I think I can endure it if their rating isn’t too bad…”
“Oh, Jamie! Come on!”
“Ah, yeah.”
Min-joon waved at Jamie, who was coming to him while mumbling like that.
Startled, Jamie hurriedly corrected his expression and approached the two chefs.
In no time, he could not help but be surprised. He thought the two chefs were angry because his dishes were not good enough, but Min-joon’s voice was not as bad as he thought.
“It was a really good meal. Each plate gave me a glimpse of what you were thinking about while making a dish, so I thought the one who gave me a dish with a cooking score of 9 was a great chef.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I especially liked that dish, in other words, wagyu steak seasoned with aged plums, potato souffle, and onion puree. At first, I just wondered whether such a combination could bring out a good taste, but the moment I tried it, I gave up my prejudices right away.”
“Actually, it showed how strong a foundation you had in cooking. Your recipe idea was good, but you would not have made such a good and delicious dish if you had not cooked all of the ingredients perfectly and brought out the unique taste of each ingredient so well. I was really touched by the dish.”
“It’s the first time I’ve tried your dish with a cooking score of 10, Chef Jamie.”
Jamie, who was listening to the two chefs commenting alternately, momentarily raised his head and looked at him.
He opened his mouth as if he could not believe it.
I opened my mouth as if I couldn’t, then asked, “10 points?”
“Yes. 10 points. That dish was 10 points in terms of cooking score and taste. In terms of fun, it was 8 points, unfortunately.”
Jamie didn’t care about 8 points in terms of fun. 10 points. If they gave his dish 10 points, his restaurant would be definitely included in Choters Guide. And people would come to realize that Jamie’s restaurant was not what it was without any change. He would be able to shout to everybody loudly that even if Michelin dropped one star from Jamie’s restaurant, his cooking skills didn’t decrease at all.
It was the moment when Jamie’s eyes got wet with tears when Min-joon took off some notebook paper and gave it to him.
Taking a deep breath, he took it and said, “What’s this?”
“I hope you won’t feel bad when you look at my notes. I wrote down some stuff that I was disappointed with and how to improve if I were you.”
“Really?”
With an embarrassed look, Jamie read the note that he gave. Then, holding his breath, Jamie put every single comment into his head.
As if startled, Jamie asked in a trembling voice, “Did you grasp all of this in an instant?”
“Do you think my notes will be helpful to you?” Min-joon said with a smile.
Jamie couldn’t even reply properly. He just kept looking at Min-joon. Although he could not figure out and find any clue, no matter how hard he agonized over it for several months, Min-joon and Kaya perfectly grasped all his recipes today.
So, the notes he received from Min-joon were like a treasure.
“Oh my God, Choters…”
As if he was choked with overwhelming emotions, Jamie could not finish what he was about to say. He was confused at the moment because the notes he received were what all the chefs in the world must be craving for. But when he read the notes, he felt like his heart was sinking while he was so happy. Was it because he didn’t want to check the notes? Even if he didn’t know the right answer in the notes, did he want to try his best to the end? Or was it because he felt he was so small and worthless while looking at Min-joon and Kaya who solved his headache so easily and quickly? He pondered over it deep down without expressing his feelings to the two chefs at all.
Jamie smiled at them gently and said, “Thank you.”
The reason he felt uncomfortable at the moment was not because Min-joon and Kaya gave him advice. It was because of his stupidity that stopped him from finding the answer until he got their advice. But he could not make them uncomfortable because of his stupidity.
“Are you going to take their advice?” June asked Jamie suggestively.
Jamie couldn’t answer that question quickly. He needed some time to sort out his confused mind at the moment. If he accepted all of their advice, could he keep the integrity of his own dishes? Or should he call them the dishes of Min-joon and Kaya?