“You said you would be staying here one more day?”
Anderson and Janet asked Min-joon and Kaya with puzzled expressions.
The two nodded.
“Yeah, I have something to do tomorrow. Can I?”
“Sure, no problem. But what’s going on?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Hey, what is it? I’m getting more curious.”
“Well, I’ve made some promise to Chef Rachel.”
“What promise?”
“I’ve promised her to surpass Chef Daniel.”
When he said that, both Anderson and Janet looked blank for a moment. They have never thought about it. Surpass Daniel? It would be okay for Min-joon to try to surpass him, but how could he think of helping Rachel to surpass Daniel?
Come to think of it, Min-joon’s thinking was illogical, given his relationship with Rachel, his teacher. Not only Min-joon but also Anderson and Janet were her students. It was possible for students to surpass their teacher, but they couldn’t teach or lead their master. The moment they did it, there was no more student-teacher relationship, or their relationship would be reversed.
“Min-joon, do you know how absurd what you said right now?”
“I know.”
“Okay, let me hear what you are going to do. So, how can you help her?”
They didn’t expect him to give an absurd answer such as he would teach her cooking, for he also knew his cooking skills lagged far behind her. Fortunately, he didn’t give a stupid answer.
“I know what Rachel thinks about when she cooks, or what she cooks for. And I’ve recently come to find out what Daniel’s cooking was like, thanks to Jack’s gift.”
They also knew that he received Daniel’s cooking journal as a gift from Jack. As if they already knew it, they just nodded.
Min-joon said, “I was worried. It’s true that Daniel’s cooking was more perfect than Rachel’s. But can’t she really catch up with his cooking? If she can’t, what the hell is the reason? I wondered what it was that created something like an insurmountable gap between the chefs?”
“So, did you get the answer?”
There was some subtle expectation in Anderson’s voice because his reply would not be just for Rachel. Anderson himself was frustrated a lot by the gap between his cooking skills and Daniel’s. Although Anderson focused on cooking in a calm manner these days, it didn’t mean he gave up a competitive spirit completely.
“No, not yet.”
This time, Anderson made quite a disappointed expression.
But Min-joon had more to say.
“So I’m going to find out from now on.”
“How?”
“By eating it,” Min-joon replied briefly.
In fact, there was nothing more certain than checking out the other party’s cooking level by eating his or her dish, let alone checking their problem. Choters was Choters for himself, his customers, and chefs. And there was no law that said Rachel should not be included among the chefs.
“Kaya and I, or Choters judges, are going to visit Rose Island’s main restaurant. We’re going to review the dishes there from A to Z and try them.”
Of course, Min-joon and Kaya lacked a lot in cooking, compared with Rachel in many ways, but they had something that she didn’t. For example, Kaya had terrific talent and perfect palate, while Min-joon had a system as well as Daniel’s cooking journal, not to mention all the information he gained from Rachel while working for her.
“We’re going to give her advice.”
Min-joon and Kaya couldn’t dare evaluate Rachel, but Choters alone could.
Although Min-joon spoke to Janet and Anderson in a confident manner, he didn’t feel that comfortable about the current situation where he was in. He always thought he would energize Rachel, but he just could not because he didn’t have a chance to come back to Los Angeles.
Rose Island was never a name that he should make light of, although he got used to it often because he was from Rose Island. Rose Island had more than 30 branches in the United States and many other countries, but its image was far from ordinary. There was a reason why people called Rose Island something like “a chef army,” not simply “chain store.”
All the branches of Rose Island had really competent chefs. Even Deborah, who was pointed out by Min-joon a lot, was certainly one of the top chefs who could not even be compared with ordinary chefs.
And the main restaurant of Rose Island was the top of all the restaurants with that name.
Rachel stood tall among the countless chefs, who was the top American chef and would be in the future.
And right now, Choters were going to evaluate Rachel.
“Are you nervous?” Kaya asked, turning to Min-joon.
He nodded with a dry smile because he didn’t want to deny it. He was really nervous. How many would be there who would not be nervous in this situation?
“I didn’t notice it when I worked for her, but when I’m about to evaluate her like this, I feel really nervous.”
“Don’t be nervous. Even if you’re nervous, don’t pretend to be nervous. We’re not taking a test, but we’re in a position to test her.”
“I know. I’m nervous now. When I step inside, I’m sure l won’t be nervous.”
While saying so, he looked at the building where Rose Island’s main restaurant was housed.
In fact, he didn’t feel much attached to this place because he didn’t have a chance to work there. So, it was natural that he felt a bit strange while watching the building. He even wondered if it was okay to go there or if he was qualified to go there. He wondered if it was really necessary to go and evaluate her. And he wondered if he was now going too far, only consumed by his ambitions.
He took a deep breath for a moment.
“Alright. Let’s go in.”
With a firm determination, he took off his step. He could not afford to hesitate anymore.
Rose Island was definitely a terrific restaurant. When he worked for Rachel there, there were many reasons why gourmets could not dare challenge them. Basically, the dishes served there were perfect, and there were so many patrons who supported her. Even if she didn’t do anything for the past ten years, she had so many people who supported her for a long time.
Besides, it was not true that she didn’t do anything during that time. More precisely, she didn’t do anything related to cooking by herself, but those who learned from her kept growing her branches while working as the head chefs of Rose Island local branches.
As a result, even if the gourmets were disappointed with her cooking, they couldn’t easily express disappointment. There were many people who thought that not having fun in her cooking would disqualify them as gourmets. So, it was always difficult for any gourmet to overcome such an atmosphere and speak out.
And now, Choters was going to face a difficult task, namely evaluating the dishes served at Rose Island’s main restaurant.
“It’s been a while. Chef Min-joon, Chef Kaya.”
As soon as they stepped into the restaurant, Annie, who was waiting to greet them as if she was tipped off in advance, escorted them. She wouldn’t have to escort the two as the sommelier of this restaurant, but maybe that was why she was assigned to this job today. Did she want to make him reminiscent of his old days here?
“As for the menu, can I serve you the dishes that Chef Rachel has recommended?”
“Yes, please. As for wine, you can recommend it for us, Annie.”
“Got it. Let me serve you the most expensive one… Ooops! I’m kidding! Don’t look at me like that!”
Noticing Kaya’s sharp glance, she immediately backed down. She was not supposed to crack a joke now, but what Min-joon was trying to evaluate was not secondary stuff such as the interior or service of this restaurant, but purely dishes because Rachel didn’t lag behind Daniel in that respect. Only cooking was the source of her inferiority toward Daniel.
After calming himself down a bit, he looked around. Since they were seated near the window, they had a good view of the nightscape of Los Angeles through the whole glass wall. And the lights over their table were very bright. He liked the lights very much. In fact, he didn’t pay much attention to the lights while working there, but he often felt disappointed with the dim lights while walking around the restaurant as a customer. It would be nice to deliberately turn on the dim lights to make the dining atmosphere a little more mysterious, but it was often difficult for him to check the details of the dish properly.
When the Amuse-bouche came out, though, Rachel’s dishes were by no means less mysterious. The overwhelming details of the dish made him wonder whether it was okay to eat it. It was a dish that made him more convinced that there was nothing lacking even under the most bright lights. There were four dishes that were served as Amuse-bouche, namely sea bass carpaccio, fried escargot, paprika jelly with mushroom puree inside, and lobster mousse with seaweed.
Among them, the lobster mousse served with seaweed was one of the menu items that he used to make while he was working here. How could it taste when he ate it as a customer? Thinking so, he lifted a fork.