Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 588: Unique Theme

Upon hearing her response, a sense of heaviness settled in the hearts of the six competing chefs.

Two hours to make five dishes was not overly demanding, but the problem laid in the fact that there was one round of competition, and if you were last, you'd be directly eliminated.

So, how should one plan out these two hours?

Would you follow the traditional sequence of starter, soup, side dish, main course, and dessert, or would you prepare the time-consuming, elaborate dishes first to avoid elimination?

Or maybe save your trump card for the final battle for the crown?

This decision was not just about personal choice but also about the choices of other competitors.

If others went all out from the start, and you served only an appetizer, you'd probably be out in the first round; but if everyone served appetizers and you served a main dish, you might survive the first round but then struggle to keep up.

Even more annoying was that the organizers had arranged the cooking stations in a hexagon today; everyone could see each other.

So, should you divide your attention to others while cooking? Many chefs were already muttering to themselves.

Yet the real bombshell came later, when the female host finally announced the theme of the competition—coconuts.

Coconuts???

Many contestants doubted their ears. Were they hearing correctly?

Coconuts, here in Sanya or, more broadly, throughout Hainan, are indeed abundant, but they are more often treated as fruits and beverages.

Very few would use coconuts in cooking. Well, there is coconut chicken, but aside from that, there don't seem to be any particularly famous coconut dishes.

Furthermore, a themed cuisine meant intimately adhering to the theme in the cooking process. Simply using coconut in a dish without highlighting coconut flavor would be considered cutting corners—a tactic unlikely to win the approval of the professional judges.

However, if it were only that, it might be manageable. The real challenge was that the six chefs had to compete in five rounds using coconuts, with the situation growing increasingly difficult as the rounds progressed.

It would be a significant challenge to the chefs' energy and physical strength.

Even the usually confident Sun Mei felt a slight change of color on hearing the rules and theme of this match.

Mainly because coconuts were indeed a bit too niche, but she furrowed her brows only for a moment and soon had some preliminary ideas in mind.

By comparison, the look on the faces of the other chefs, including Ma Lu, seemed quite troubled.

Luo Junkang and Cui Junxian were originally the two most favored to win the competition. Now with Cui Junxian eliminated,

Luo Junkang felt anything but happy, instead fearing he was on the verge of doom.

He was a descendant of Huaiyang cuisine, and, as everyone knew, Huaiyang... did not feature coconuts.

Huaiyang cuisine typically focuses on Jianghu freshwater delicacies, and setting the main competition in Sanya gave him a bad feeling.

This was in direct contrast to Chuan Ye Zhengming; seafood wasn't Luo Junkang's strong suit. Though he wasn't entirely incapable of doing it, it obviously wasn't his strength.

In preparation for this contest, Luo Junkang had gone out of his way to consult several experts in the field this week.

Yet unexpectedly, it was all for naught; the organizing committee threw a curveball by making coconuts the theme of the finals.

Luo Junkang truly felt like he was cooked, although his perennial poker face made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

In fact, when Sun He suggested this theme, the other directors of the World Cooking Federation also disapproved.

The reasons were similar—believing that coconuts were a bit too niche and could likely fail to distinguish the chefs' true abilities.

"But in the end, Sun He's words convinced everyone."

The reason was simple, because the main purpose of the competition in the Asian Region was to select participants for the World Championship, which was to be held in Europe.

The ingredients used would also be those local to Europe, so it was almost certain that Asian chefs would encounter ingredients that they were not accustomed to using, or even some that were quite obscure.

At this point, creativity and adaptability became very important.

Once it was confirmed that everyone understood the rules, the hostess immediately announced the start of the competition.

The timers in front of the six contestants started ticking, and Sun Mei and the others immediately ran toward the ingredients area to begin their selection.

Only Ma Lu still stood in front of his cooking station, staring blankly at the workbench for a full three minutes.

Just as everyone was wondering if he had been stumped by the theme of the competition, Boss Ma finally sprang into action.

He headed towards the ingredients area as well, but by this time, another contestant had already started cooking.

It wasn't that Ma Lu did not want to move faster, it was just that he had glanced at Old Wang's list through his Traveler's Bracelet, and there were quite a few ingredients.

Old Wang had provided a list for five different dishes, as well as the related kitchenware and equipment needed, and it took Ma Lu quite a while to remember them all.

He asked the staff for a shopping cart and hauled all the items back at once.

Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone, he slipped his left hand into his pocket and began to cook with only his right hand.

Arrogant!

This scene made the word spring to the minds of viewers both on-site and in front of the television.

However, Ma Lu was not the first to stop the timer.

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Less than half an hour into the competition, someone had already submitted their dish.

And this was like flipping a switch, as more and more contestants stopped their timers and completed the first round of cooking.

By comparison, Ma Lu was not very fast; he finished after 40 minutes.

The slowest was Qi Shanzhu, who took almost 79 minutes to complete her first dish.

It was obvious Qi Shanzhu knew she was the weakest among the six, so she treated the first round as if it were her last, giving it her all from the beginning.

She made a soy sauce-infused coconut Mont Blanc.

Mont Blanc is a type of French dessert, named for its resemblance to the snow-capped Mont Blanc in the Alps.

Traditional Mont Blanc is made with chestnut paste and a cake base.

Qi Shanzhu used coconut paste instead of chestnut paste, and soy sauce instead of icing sugar, creating a uniquely flavored soy sauce-infused coconut Mont Blanc that incorporated coconut into her fusion cuisine.

The chef from Singapore, Fan Yixin, opted for a popular Singaporean dish, coconut milk rice.

This is a Singaporean breakfast dish, mainly consisting of rice, Sambal (a kind of chili paste), Indian pickles, crown slices, dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, eggs, and other ingredients that can be freely matched.

Its most distinctive feature is the rice cooked in coconut milk, giving it a milky white appearance and a sweet taste accompanied by the rich aroma of coconut when eaten.

Sometimes Singaporeans also add pandan leaves to it, and, fortunately, the organizers provided pandan leaves, which also happen to be one of the specialties of Hainan.

However, she wasn't the only one to think of this, Luo Junkang made a Hainan version of coconut rice, and Di Supara, the chef from Thailand, made a Thai version of coconut rice.

It turned out to be an area with several collisions.