Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 586: Promotion

As the countdown on the big screen hit zero, the female host announced the end of the second round of the competition without delay.

After that, any snack coupons received would no longer count, and the staff immediately began tallying up the number of snack coupons each chef had earned in this round.

At this time, Cui Junxian felt his mind go blank, staring intently at the half-plate of stir-fried rice cakes left before him.

He was utterly unable to accept what was happening right in front of his eyes.

He had actually lost!

What was crucial was that he had fallen in the second round, despite coming into the God of Cooking Competition with prestigious titles such as South Korea's youngest three-star chef and the protégé of Ferran Adrià.

He had even planned to leverage the momentum from winning the competition to open another branch of his restaurant in Shanghai.

Now, losing was bad enough, but to lose so disastrously meant not only that plans for a new restaurant were on hold but also that business at his current restaurant, wing, would likely suffer.

With an average spending of 460,000 Korean Won per customer, wing was exceptionally expensive, even on the prime real estate of Myeongdong Street.

Cui Junxian had dared to charge these high prices not just for the delicious food but also because of his personal experiences and fame garnered over the years.

Thinking of this, Cui Junxian couldn't help but punch down on the cooking station, startling the staff counting votes nearby.

However, the staffer still conscientiously finished counting the snack coupons in the basket.

"There are a total of 96 coupons; I'm sorry, Chef Cui Junxian, you have not passed this round."

The official simultaneous translator relayed this message to Cui Junxian.

Cui Junxian now wished to slap himself, why had he gone to confront Ma Lu?

Because if he had not sought Ma Lu out, he wouldn't have felt compelled to prove that his pork chop rice cake was tastier than Ma Lu's, even going so far as to use four snack coupons to purchase four portions of the pork chop rice cake from him.

Ironically, it was precisely these four coupons he now lacked to advance.

Damn it!

…

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Ma Lu was the last one to qualify for advancement.

There was no special reason, other than that he simply had too many snack coupons, so the staff took the longest time counting his.

Even after two verification rounds, it was announced that he had collected a total of 317 snack coupons during this round.

Once this number was revealed, the audience was once again astonished.

This was mainly because these snack coupons were obtained at a discount, and during the previous rounds, everyone had witnessed Ma Lu's quick hands and his ability to multitask, knowing he had received a hefty amount of snack coupons.

But it was only now that they had a more direct understanding of his speed.

In addition to Ma Lu, the others who successfully advanced included Chuan Ye Zhengming, who had been making tempura throughout and, with a variety of tempura dishes, ultimately got 100 snack coupons.

Furthermore, after his signature seafood lion's head dish was replicated by Ma Lu, Luo Junkang quickly adjusted his menu, selling the remaining seafood lion's head while developing new snacks, and successfully qualified in the last ten minutes.

Sun Mei relied on the unique snacks of ethnic minorities. Although her stall did not compare to the busiest ones in terms of foot traffic, she benefitted from a steady customer base and no direct competitors, comfortably making it through this round.

Master Long Posen insisted on making vegetarian dishes this time too, focusing on vegetables and fruits. Among the variety of snacks, they seemed a little less appealing, but unexpectedly, they sold quite well.

This was mainly because the public judges had 5 snack coupons each, and after trying various combinations of carbs and fats, many were beginning to resist meat and fried food.

At that point, a serving of the vegetable bowl was very refreshing and nutritionally balanced.

So, in the latter half of the round, Master Long Posen's vegetable bowls sold increasingly well. However, being the oldest contestant among all the chefs, Master Long Posen didn't have the physical strength of the other chefs.

After making about fifty servings, he started to tire, and his speed slowed. It's said that his restaurant has been opening and closing over the years, and even when open, it doesn't serve more than twenty people a day.

In the end, Master Long Posen failed to make a hundred servings of the vegetable bowl within the given time and didn't advance to the next round.

He seemed quite calm about it.

He put his hands together, thanked the staff and the patrons who visited the food stall, and then went back to his room to rest with the help of his disciples.

As for the biggest surprise of the round, besides Cui Junxian being eliminated, it was Qi Shanzhu, the "social media chef," who unexpectedly made it through five rounds and all the way to the final.

With her fried fish cakes, she had already effortlessly collected 100 snack coupons half an hour earlier, becoming the first chef to advance.

Besides the chefs mentioned above and Ma Lu, two other chefs passed this round, one from Thailand and one from Singapore.

Only six people made it to the third round, the fewest in the history of the God of Cooking Competition.

After the competition ended, Ma Lu also planned to go back to his room to rest.

David wanted to follow, but Yu Yitong stopped him, "Forget it, there's nothing worth filming. Let him rest for a while. We should take a break too. There's a big battle waiting for us tomorrow."

David was a bit puzzled, "Didn't you say our job for these three days was to stick close to Boss Ma, to follow him wherever he goes, to keep on following him even if we get side-eyed or chased away?"

"Did I say that?" Yu Yitong was startled. "Well, filming shouldn't interfere with the contestants' rest.

"After all, only if he wins the God of Cooking Competition will our filming and interviews be most valuable."

"You don't say, I think Boss Ma has a pretty high chance of winning the title of God of Cooking," David said excitedly.

"In the more than thirty editions of the God of Cooking Competition, most champions have come from Europe and the United States, and Asia has only produced one God of Cooking from Japan, which has to do with the judges' preferences.

"And our country's chefs have only participated in the last four editions. But if Boss Ma can win, it should shut some people up."

"We'll take it one step at a time. Considering the world competition now is too far-fetched," said Yu Yitong.

Ma Lu returned to his room, took off his chef's uniform, and placed mini Old Wang on the coffee table, while his right hand was still trembling.

This round of competition, although only half as long as the previous one, was several times more intense. Ma Lu had only been busy for about half an hour in total yesterday.

But today, he had gone full throttle for 90 minutes. Even with Old Wang in control, the hands were ultimately his own.

Before, Boss Ma used to slack off every day in the restaurant and never used his hands so intensively, so his hands started to cramp after the competition ended.

That's also why he didn't bother keeping up appearances and went directly back to his room.

Otherwise, no matter how busy he was, he would've gone to Cui Junxian to show him hands-on how to make tasty pork cutlet rice cakes.

But it was worth it to send Cui Junxian packing in the second round. That guy will probably have nightmares for several nights when he gets back home.