The slippery noodles and rich broth, whenever they were in the mouth, felt like a complete, impregnable army, yet upon careful tasting, there was a medley of flavors that danced on the tongue.
At the same time, beneath the sour and spicy exterior, there was the gentle charm of salty umami and the lingering taste of coconut milk.
"Strange, the broth uses 18 spices, but why does the taste not feel intense?"
After swallowing, Isshiki Satoshi couldn't help but be stunned.
"Coconut milk, I added coconut milk to it." Jōichirō explained.
"Hmm? Coconut milk?"
Isshiki Satoshi still felt very confused.
"Coconut milk plays the role of a peacemaker in this Ramen dish."
"It prevents any single flavor from being too prominent and stealing the show, while also harmonizing and balancing all these spices."
"Because of the coconut milk's reconcile, Laksa Ramen has a rich yet mellow texture. Let me put it this way, before you've personally tasted Laksa, it's hard to imagine what a dozen or so spices mixed in the broth would taste like."
"When I traveled in Southeast Asia, I saw that local Laksa dishes often used coconut milk to neutralize the stimulating flavors of various spices."
"I see, so this is japanese cuisine, but it also has Chinese ingredients and Southeast Asian flavors?"
Upon hearing this, Isshiki Satoshi was even more surprised.
Evidently, Yukihira Jōichirō's cooking is always complex yet highly inclusive, truly awe-inspiring!
And the superior dish between the father and son's Ramen was already clear.
Therefore, Isshiki Satoshi directly announced the judging result of this cooking competition: "Sōma, you are indeed not as good as your father!"
…
"Hahaha… Sōma, with this cooking competition, you've now lost to me a total of 499 times."
At this moment, Jōichirō Yukihira, knowing he had won against his son Sōma again, couldn't help but reach out and pat his shoulder, not forgetting to mock him severely.
Sōma, who had lost again, said with a gloomy face, "Dad, your cooking is better than mine, but your memory is far worse than mine. Clearly, including this match, it's only 498 times."
"It's only one more loss. Next time, you just need to lose to me again, and then it'll reach it, won't it?"
Seeing Sōma's expression, Jōichirō burst into even louder laughter.
He remembered that when they were at Yukihira Restaurant, he and his son Sōma would often cook dishes together and then have customers judge them.
Of course, no matter which customer, and no matter which competition, the result was always that his cooking was superior!
And through this method of cooking duels, Sōma continuously grew at an extraordinary rate, as he was able to learn from each failure and improve, which was his strongest weapon.
Despite having lost a total of 498 matches, Sōma did not feel disheartened or despairing.
On the contrary, he had already begun to mentally analyze in his mind where his father Jōichirō's cooking excelled.
This explains why Sōma did not fall into decadence after the Gaijin-fan Research Association incident.
After all, he had experienced the word "failure" many times since he was a child.
In other words, no one, and no dish, could ever easily defeat him!
…
"Senior, I really didn't expect it."
"That you and our roommate Yukihira Soma are father and son, and I never thought you even changed your surname."
"But your Ramen dish this time still opened my eyes."
"Honestly, with my strength, I simply couldn't taste all 18 spices. I only remember red pepper, capers, tamarind, carambola, lemongrass, vanilla…"
"Then the soup also had a strong lemongrass aroma, but I'm not familiar with the other spices, so it's hard to describe."
"At your level, just in terms of seasoning, I don't think anyone can surpass you."
Isshiki Satoshi himself is the 7th Seat of the Elite Ten, with considerable strength, so he particularly understood the gap between Sōma and Jōichirō, the father and son.
At the same time, he was also very clear that this senior, who was in the same class as Gin Dojima, was far more extraordinary than he had imagined!
"Isshiki Satoshi, there's an old Chinese saying: 'Beyond the mountains, there are mountains; beyond men, there are men.'"
"The biggest characteristic of my cooking now is its ability to combine features from all over the world, but that's only because I've wandered around for years, witnessing and learning dishes from many places, then taking their essence and integrating them!"
"The person who can truly achieve mastery in the culinary world is…"
"That Izakaya's Chef Zhang!"
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