Theo and Ayia finished talking and walked towards them.
"Let's cut to the chase, right? I am sure you are all anxious to know the result." Theo smiled.
"The first dish was from Kimiko-san. We observed how you successfully cleaned and boned the chicken. You made some mistakes in controlling the fire to cook the chicken, but it didn't affect the taste" Theo said
"Your presentation was lacking but if you study it will get better" Aya complemented.
"Yes, although it wasn't the best presentation of the four. Your dish was the tastiest of the four. I especially liked your technique of cooking the chicken." Theo said.
"With all that said, we decided to move you to the next phase of the test." Ayia smiled.
Kimiko heaved a sigh of relief and smiled too.
"The second dish was from Shoko-san. I was truly impressed at your technique of cleaning and boning the chicken. I would say you were the best of the four in this item. You made some mistake while cutting some vegetables and preparing the chips, but it didn't affect the taste of the dish." The said.
"Your presentation was the best of the four. We were truly impressed by it. We could imagine your dish being served in a restaurant." Ayia also said.
"Although your dish wasn't as tasty as Kimiko's, but it was delicious nonetheless." Theo complemented.
"Observing all these points we will be glad to move you to the next phase." Ayia finalized.
Shoko smiled with happiness after she heard that.
"The third plate was from Lauren-san. Your techniques on cleaning and boning the chicken were perfect too. But you made a big mistake that affected your whole dish." Theo said.
Lauren paled when she heard that as she knew what she did wrong.
"You cooked too much the chicken and it passed the point. But somehow the perfectness of your other steps made your dish taste delicious too. Your dish is only less tasty compared with Kimiko's and we believe if you didn't cook too much the chicken, your dish would be the best." Theo said with a smile.
"Your presentation was acceptable too so observing all the points Theo said we decided to also move you to the next phase." Ayia completed her evaluation.
Lauren was so relieved. She thought she wouldn't pass when she saw she overcooked the chicken.
"The last dish was from Max-san. You cleaned and boned the chicken perfectly too. But you made some mistakes in some techniques." Theo said
"That did affect your dish. Your dish's taste was the worst of the four. But although it was the worst, it was an acceptable dish. Also, your presentation was beautiful, only losing for Shoko's." Ayia commented.
"We also decided to move you to the next phase" Theo smiled.
Max exhaled a cold breath as he felt relieved, he passed.
"Now that you all passed to the next phase I will explain what you all will do." Theo said with a serious voice.
"What I am looking for are not cooks who win duels and competitions. I want cooks who know what teamwork is. I want cooks who know how to behave inside a fast-paced kitchen of a restaurant."
"And to test that, I will put in place a more difficult test. The four of you will cook 5 servings of two different dishes. Observe that 5 servings to each dish. And you will only have one and a half hours to finish the dishes." Theo explained
Their eyes went wide when they heard that. The time was too little for such a high quantity of dishes. Because they needed to clean the meat and do all other miscellaneous things while cooking the side dishes and other things.
If the test was to cook 10 plates of the same dish, they would roll through it as they had tests in college where they had to cook a dish with a group but two different dishes in such little time would be hard.
"The first dish is a Braised Cured Salmon with Sunflower Seeds and Radish and Cucumber Broth."
"The second dish is a Wild Mushroom Risotto with Truffles and Crème Fraiche." Theo described the dishes.
The dishes were also medium-high in quality.
The first dish was just a salmon that would go be braised with sunflower seeds. And for a side dish, they would have to make a broth of radish and cucumber.
The second dish was vegetarian. And it was just a risotto of mushrooms with truffles. And for a side dish, the crème Fraiche was a fresh cream that used buttermilk, sour milk, and yogurt.
The two dishes demanded skill to complete and they had to have more than one plate, just like a restaurant situation.
Theo gave them some time to talk and delegate roles in the kitchen. After a while, they stopped talking and said to Theo that they were ready.
"Your time starts now." Theo said as he started the clock.
They immediately started doing what they agreed with each other.
Shoko would clean the salmons, that Theo gave to them alive and kicking inside the tank of the kitchen. Lauren would cut all the vegetables for the broth and make the broth too. Kimiko would make the preparation for the risotto. And lastly, Max would start the fresh cream and later he would cook the fish.
For one hour and a half, Theo and Ayia observed how they ran against the time inside the kitchen. They made big mistakes and had to start over some processes.
And because of that, when it only had 5 minutes left until the time ran out, they still didn't have the dishes on the plates.
Theo and Ayia didn't say anything and only observed.
Shoko and Max were plating and running against the time as they were responsible for the plating of the dishes.
When Theo said to them to stop, it was then that Shoko put the last decoration of a plate.
They heaved a sigh of relief as they at least completed the dishes Theo asked for.
Theo and Ayia started analyzing the plates and tasted all 10 plates. Five of each dish.
They went to the side to talk and this time they took much more time talking.
The two of them seemed to be arguing on a subject with emphasis as it could be seen that the two of them did not agree on the subject.
The four aspiring cooks were with nerves on edge as they waited for the result.
Suddenly Theo and Ayia seemed to reach a consensus on the discussion and came back to the front.