The team in the first place is…
TRIPLE CHINESE RESTAURANT
I think we might have a chance.
THE GAZILLIONAIRE'S EXORBITANT DINER
I wasn't nervous at all.
MISTER JANG'S RESTAURANT
Yes, we're going to win.
The first-place team is
Team…
Choi Hyun-seok.
Everyone in Team Choi Hyun-seok has survived.
Great job.
1ST PLACE: TEAM CHOI HYUN-SEOK TOTAL SALES: 4,774,000 WON
Well done, everyone.
-We all did great. -Great job.
2ND PLACE: TEAM TRIPLE STAR TOTAL SALES: 2,220,000 WON
3RD PLACE: TEAM EDWARD LEE TOTAL SALES: 1,498,100 WON
In the beginning, it looked like Chef Choi
took on the full responsibility for leading the menu choices and briefing,
but your teamwork was better than any other team,
and we could see each and everyone's styles distinctly.
Your concept was great, and you set the price well.
You stayed steady from start to finish.
You were brilliant in this Restaurant Mission.
Congratulations.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
It did hurt my pride, but it meant that their plan had succeeded.
What's important in carrying out a strategy
is the team's ability to actually execute it.
I only steered us in the right direction.
The ones who actually made it work were my teammates.
I knew we were going to win.
TEAM CHOI HYUN-SEOK: EVERYONE SURVIVES
We did really well.
We made our customers happy.
Now, there are only four seats left
at the survivors' table for this Top Eight Cook-off.
4 SURVIVORS SELECTED BASED ON MANAGEMENT, COOKING SKILLS, AND CONTRIBUTION
We will now announce the survivors from the second and third-place teams.
Of the second and third-place restaurants,
the first chef to survive is…
I know we couldn't all advance,
but there was a chance as many as three of us could.
What's done is done. We did our best, and I'm very proud of our team.
The first chef to survive is…
…Chef Jung Ji-sun.
We had already decided on giving a place to the chef
who was in charge of the best-selling dish,
and hers was the one.
BEST-SELLING DISH: 39 ORDERS OF "MALA CREAM SHRIMP DIM SUM"
Observing the customers' reactions is the most important in a business,
such as checking if there are any leftovers
from dishes that I or someone else cooked.
And she was the first one to do that.
So I knew she had to advance.
I choked up thinking about what we went through together.
I also felt bad.
-Well done. -Thanks.
Another survivor
to take one of the three seats remaining is…
Triple Star.
Congratulations.
We were impressed by the quiet
but strong leadership you showed us while you prepped all night.
We gave you high marks because we think it's important for a leader
to take responsibility.
I felt heavy-hearted thinking I couldn't lead my team to victory.
The survivor
who will take one of the two seats remaining
is someone who showed us they could do
exactly what they needed to do
for their restaurant to run smoothly.
The third survivor is…
Napoli Matfia.
Congratulations.
I was actually the youngest on my team,
so I…
It's all right. Don't cry.
You did well.
Can I just say one thing on his behalf?
You know, this challenge was very difficult for me.
I'm not from here, I don't know what the markets are.
I don't know how to translate, I don't know the pricing.
I leaned on him a lot,
and he was a great partner to have in this challenge.
When I thought about the other three,
especially the two chefs next to me who were my mother's age,
I couldn't stop tearing up.
It was an honor to work with you.
-Well done. -Congratulations.
-Great job. Congratulations. -Congratulations.
Chef Napoli Matfia did so well.
I was really happy for him for advancing to the next round.
The last survivor
to take the final seat is…
Chef Edward Lee.
Congratulations.
We gave you very high marks for embodying
the approach of an ideal chef who communicates with customers
and even changes their dishes to adapt to what the customers want.
It was a very special experience for me to be able to cook
with older people and younger people and have that experience
with different generations.
Thank you, Chef.
-I learned a lot. -You must be exhausted.
LEE YEONG-SUK, MASTER OF SCHOOL MEALS ELIMINATED
-I need to go cook now. -Right.
For the children.
You both did very well.
I don't have regrets.
I came here and came this far and even learned a lot.
It was an honor.
I know I'm a successful woman now.
Well done.
-I learned a lot. -You did well.
NAM JEONG-SEOK, SIDE DISH CHEF ELIMINATED
I did my best, so I feel good.
I've made some great people here, so I'm thankful for that.
And now, we have the Top Eight who will advance to the semifinals.
CULINARY CLASS WARS
CULINARY CLASS WARS TOP 8
CHOI HYUN-SEOK, JANG HO-JOON, JUNG JI-SUN, EDWARD LEE
TRIPLE STAR, COOKING MANIAC, AUNTIE OMAKASE #1, NAPOLI MATFIA
These 8 chefs were selected from a pool of 100.
Honestly, there's no one among the eight of us
who doesn't deserve to be here.
Now, it's time
to introduce the chefs who made it into the Top Eight.
Korea's favorite celebrity chef,
the kind but charismatic leader,
White Spoon Chef Choi Hyun-seok.
His level of experience speaks for itself.
The fact that he was our team leader was a big factor in our victory.
I think I'm going to win.
The second Top Eight survivor is…
Where did such a crazy guy come from?
Is he actually a lunatic?
Have you seen his knifework? His cooking?
…the chef selected by contestants as most likely to win,
Black Spoon Chef Triple Star.
I made it this far, so I might as well win.
Third, Korea's very first female celebrity Chinese cuisine chef,
White Spoon Chef Jung Ji-sun.
Chef Jung is like a cooking fighter.
She's invincible.
I came this far, so I have to survive until the end.
Fourth, a man obsessed with cooking,
Black Spoon Chef Cooking Maniac.
I'm going to prove why my name is Maniac and how crazy I am about cooking.
Fifth, the first Korean omakase chef,
Black Spoon Chef Auntie Omakase #1.
You can't beat her years of experience.
Sixth, the Japanese cuisine legend,
White Spoon Chef Jang Ho-joon.
I'm so close to winning that I can taste it.
I can win if I just beat the other seven chefs.
Seventh, the chef-owner
of Korea's hottest Italian restaurant at the moment,
Black Spoon Chef Napoli Matfia.
I'm not really particularly intimidated by anyone.
I know I can beat them all.
The final Top Eight survivor.
A chef to the White House State Dinner,
White Spoon Chef Edward Lee.
He was the winner of Iron Chef. It's an unbelievable accomplishment.
He'd easily advance.
It's not enough.
We have to keep going, keep fighting, keep cooking,
and show the judges why I'm really here.
From the eight survivors here right now,
the number of survivors to advance to the final round is…
What?
How many?
…only
two.
-Two? -Two?
Only two survivors.
That's fewer than I thought.
The Top Two to compete in the final round
will be decided through two missions.
And in this mission,
only one chef who comes first out of the eight
will immediately advance to the final round.
No way.
The theme of this first mission
is Cook Your Life.
My life?
Cook Your Life is a mission where you must portray your life in a single dish.
I've lived such a busy life that I haven't really looked back at it.
We are going to look at their cooking skills,
but this is more about how their dishes connect with their lives.
As they say, "breath of life."
But an exaggerated story will only be a minus for me
because I hate that the most.
Our classes don't matter anymore now.
I just want to beat them down with my dish as the weapon.
Now that I've come this far, I'm thirsty for victory.
One thing's for sure. The best talent will advance.
Now, it's time
to begin the Cook Your Life battle.
-Good luck! -Cheers!
What's your life-defining dish?
-I have too many. -Too many?
If I had to compete right now, I'd have a hard time choosing one.
Perhaps a dish that was a turning point in their life.
Or maybe a painful memory.
-True. -Dishes could have painful memories too.
Or their best dish
that made them the chefs they are today.
We're experiencing these eight chefs' lives today.
-Like we're inside their lives. -That's right.
What's interesting is Cooking Maniac
and Chef Jang Ho-joon
are both starting off with a lot of onions beside them.
They're even facing each other too.
Onions are the main ingredient of my dish today.
It's a dish with unimaginable flavors,
so I think the judges will regard it highly.
Let's not go overboard.
I wanted to make a dish that shows my true self
using ingredients that are like me.
When they announced the theme, I immediately thought of this dish.
It's something I've been making for 20 years,
and I actually just made it earlier today.
I didn't have to think twice.
I'm going to make a dish
that portrays my time in America, which was the toughest
but most meaningful time in my life where I had much to experience.
He has the fewest ingredients compared to others.
He hardly has any.
I think he's cooking a rather simple dish.
Those are clams and butter.
Maybe he's making pasta with clams.
You mean the most basic vongole?
Isn't Napoli Matfia known for his pasta too?
-He's kneading. -He is.
It's not ordinary dough.
Their dishes just might overlap.
As a chef who runs a famous fresh pasta restaurant,
there's a lot I want to show off.
Chef Jung Ji-sun is surely making Chinese,
but she's filleting the sea bream
-like sashimi. -I see that.
I'm the only Chinese cuisine chef who survived,
so I wanted to show how Chinese cuisine is done.
Is Chef Edward using a rice cooker?
-Isn't it steaming? -Yes, it's rice.
-I thought he'd make Western cuisine. -That's unexpected.
Today, I'm making bibimbap, but a special bibimbap.
That doesn't look done.
Oh, good.
I love watching them cook so seriously.
That's when a chef looks the coolest.
You have three minutes left.
Time flies.
You have one minute left.
The first mission of the semifinals, the Cook Your Life battle,
is now over.
Your dishes will now be judged one by one.
Chef Jung Ji-sun, please head up to the judges' table.
With the mission to cook my life-defining dish,
I thought about the old days and what kind of dish
made me fall in love with Chinese cuisine.
This dish is called songshu guiyu.
It's deep-fried whole fish,
and the name comes from the way it's shaped like a squirrel.
The reason why I made this
is because it was one of the dishes that was a turning point for me
when I was struggling with my career path in my twenties.
It wasn't common for a female chef to be in the kitchen,
so I was always alone which was tough for me.
Then I went to China,
and the first dish I learned there was songshu guiyu.
I was mesmerized by its delicacy and glamor.
It was so different from the Chinese dishes I saw in Korea.
I knew I'd be a better chef if I could cook something like this.
So I think this dish is what kept me grounded
as I went on with my career in Chinese cuisine.
Then I guess that means you don't know where you'd be right now
if it weren't for this dish.
I don't know if I'd even be cooking right now.
-Really? -Yes,
because I was always the lonely female chef in the kitchen
surrounded by a number of male chefs.
The technique was what kept me going.
I don't need a lot of tools.
-Right. -Just a wok, a ladle,
and a knife can make all the glamorous dishes.
I took pride in that.
I look forward to it.
I'm going to dig in too.
I can't wait to taste it.
This kind of fish dish isn't easy to make.
Sea bream can be very tough if you don't cook it properly.
What did you put in the sauce?
-I altered it a bit. -How?
We normally use chili sauce,
but I burned some chili peppers in oil,
ground them,
mixed doubanjiang and ketchup, and boiled them altogether.
Is there a particular reason
why you made something new and not the traditional sauce?
This dish is usually just sweet and sour,
but I thought it would need some heat
for anyone who's eating it to finish it entirely.
-So I boiled some ground chili pepper. -I see.
Thank you.
Well done.
Judges,
please enter your scores for Chef Jung Ji-sun.
JUDGES WILL EACH GIVE A SCORE OUT OF 100
AFTER ADDING BOTH JUDGES' SCORES,
THE CHEF WITH THE HIGHEST POINTS ADVANCES TO THE FINAL ROUND FIRST
It's time to announce Chef Jung Ji-sun's score.
Please reveal
the judges' scores.
Judge Paik Jong-won gave 87 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 82 points.
Chef Jung Ji-sun received a total of 169 points.
To be frank,
I think the sauce should've been able to
complement the fishy taste a bit better.
I don't think you got rid of the taste as much as you could have.
Okay.
But regardless, it was a good attempt.
Thank you.
Well done.
I was disappointed. I wanted to go again.
I'm the only Chinese cuisine chef left,
so I should've done better.
Their scoring was too stingy.
I was worried this would be a difficult journey.
It looks like a tomato.
Chef Edward Lee, please head up to the judges' table.
It's a long walk to the judges.
Sometimes you think,
"Wait, I want to go back and change something."
But once you start walking, you have to go all the way through to the end.
And let's do it.
My life-defining dish
is a modern tuna and caviar bibimbap.
It's not what I imagined.
-Not what I expected at all. -Right.
I'm a bibimbap man
because like bibimbap,
I have a lot of cultures in me.
Korean, American,
and other countries' cuisines I've studied.
To be honest,
I struggled very much
with my Korean identity.
Am I American?
Or am I Korean?
But when I focus on cooking,
those thoughts fade away.
I can simply relax and just work hard to bring out one flavor.
That's what's most important to me.
The one flavor.
When you look at bibimbap,
it has a variety of ingredients and a lot of colors.
But when you mix it,
it creates one flavor.
In many ways, I love bibimbap.
I wanted to take such a common dish,
but make it special.
I make the rice.
All the bibimbap ingredients with the egg is on the inside.
I wanted to make it into something different,
so I rolled it into a ball…
deep-fried it,
and then covered it with raw tuna.
When I look at bibimbap, I see myself.
It kind of reflects my life and my identity
as a Korean-American person.
I am bibimbap.
That's why this bibimbap is my life-defining dish.
TUNA BIBIMBAP
Do I mix it to eat this?
-No, just cut into it. -Right.
-And then… -But it's not bibimbap if you don't mix.
-That's my bibimbap. -Okay, I understand.
I'll cut it in half.
It's not just mixed up inside.
-Did you deep-fry it too? -Yes.
-Looks like he mixed it. -Wow.
Was this sauce inspired by chogochujang?
Yes, chogochujang.
I also love the taste of perilla seed powder,
so I mixed some in to make it nuttier.
Do I eat this with a fork or a spoon?
There's the identity.
I can feel how confused you must have been
now that I'm eating this.
I want to show them not only the flavor
but also what this food means to me.
It's definitely not the bibimbap we're used to.
I was up here telling Chef Anh
that maybe you'd make a rice bowl with raw fish.
-But it's not that either. -No, it's not.
I'm also from America,
and I run a restaurant here.
It could be quite risky to reinterpret a dish,
especially one like bibimbap, which is an iconic Korean dish.
Even a slight mistake can completely ruin the dish.
But I really wanted to preserve the identity of bibimbap,
so I didn't want to stray too far.
I really enjoyed it.
The tasting is complete.
Judges,
please enter your scores for Chef Edward Lee.
I thought they were very positive and very curious about what I made.
It's time to announce Chef Edward Lee's score.
Please reveal…
CURRENT 1ST PLACE JUNG JI-SUN: 169 POINTS
Please reveal the judges' scores.
Judge Paik Jong-won gave 97 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 82 points.
Chef Edward Lee
received a total of 179 points.
Thank you.
CURRENT RANKING 1ST PLACE: EDWARD LEE, 179 POINTS
Today's mission is to cook your life,
which means you have to show us why you cook
by putting your life into your dish.
And you did just that.
I imagined it to taste like the bibimbap every Korean is used to,
but this opened my eyes to a new way of interpreting bibimbap.
I thought this dish could serve as an example
of how we can promote Korean food and our stories to the world,
which is why I gave you this score.
There are certain aspects I agree with and also disagree with Mr. Paik.
The difference in our scores wasn't because of the flavors.
We just had different opinions.
I'd get it if his dish was a rice bowl with a twist.
But he said it was bibimbap.
Bibimbap literally means mixing rice.
Why would he call it bibimbap if we had to cut it with a knife?
If he just calls it that, does that make it what it is?
What if the identity of this iconic Korean dish
gets distorted in some way?
That was the thought process that was reflected in my score.
Chef Edward Lee is currently in first place with 179 points.
The score was surprising.
It was kind of confusing to me
because the difference between the two judges was so much
and I think 179 is not a great score.
Hello.
First, I'll explain why I chose this as my life-defining dish.
I opened my restaurant 9 years ago in 2015.
Back then, I was so full of hope, but it didn't work out that well.
I almost lost everything.
So I searched for cheap but delicious ingredients
and thought of onions.
That's where my signature dish came from.
I roast an onion in the oven, then grill it over some charcoal
so it's charred on the outside but has moisture on the inside.
Then I use raw spring onion slices
and deep-fried spring onions as well
because they have different textures.
This dish became popular through word-of-mouth,
and now I run nine restaurants.
This is what made it possible.
It's called kuro tamanegi,
which literally means black onion.
This is my life-defining dish.
So this is the dish that brought you the success you have today?
Yes, it's still the best-selling dish in my restaurant.
What do I eat first?
You have to eat all three together.
The deep-fried spring onions, the raw spring onions,
and the roasted onion.
You can eat them with as much sauce as you'd like.
I was very confident about my onion dish.
-You said this is your signature dish. -Yes.
-I see why you can only get this at Negi. -That's right.
It wasn't easy making this.
I loved it.
-I enjoyed it a lot. -Thank you.
It's time to announce Chef Jang Ho-joon's score.
Please reveal…
the judges' scores.
CURRENT 1ST PLACE EDWARD LEE: 179 POINTS
Chef Jang Ho-joon received 91 points from Judge Paik Jong-won
and 87 points from Judge Anh Sung-jae,
totaling 178 points.
CURRENT RANKING 2ND PLACE: JANG HO-JOON, 178 POINTS
You used an affordable ingredient
and did a great job bringing out the onion's natural sweetness
that comes from grilling it.
I can see why your restaurant's business skyrocketed when this first came out.
I loved it.
-Thank you, Chef. -Thank you for the dish.
I think every dish begins with choosing the ingredients.
In that sense, the onion itself isn't as delicious as I expected,
which is why I gave you the score I did.
I ended up overcooking the onion
because I left it in the oven longer, worrying it wouldn't cook in time.
That was a mistake.
I was just thinking about what the next mission would be.
Every day, I make thousands of orders of Andong guksi,
but that's only for my customers.
I've never cooked it in this setting before,
so I was a bit nervous.
These are Andong guksi cooked with green vegetables
in season right now.
I thought just noodles wouldn't be enough, so I made millet rice as well.
I also made some cabbage jeon and geotjeori, fresh kimchi, on the side.
HANDMADE GUKSI, CABBAGE JEON, MILLET RICE, GEOTJEORI
I want to eat that.
The story behind this noodle dish is…
My family was very wealthy when I was little,
but my father's business suddenly went down,
and we became poor.
Due to the shock, my father had a cerebral hemorrhage
and became paraplegic.
So my mother started selling noodles
at a corner of a market to provide for us.
I hated eating those noodles when I was in school
because they reminded me of poverty.
I think that's why I hated them so much.
But then my mother had to receive surgery in both of her eyes
because of diabetic complications,
so I had to learn how to make noodles.
I had no choice as I had to take on her job.
So I took on the job,
got married, and had kids.
Then we bought a little place in the market
to expand our business,
so now we can take care of both our parents,
buy food and things my kids want,
and make a living thanks to the noodles.
The noodles I once hated so much have become my greatest savior.
This noodle dish is actually
like a miracle and destiny to me
because everyone in my family is happy and well thanks to this.
I'm very grateful for this dish,
which is why it's my life-defining dish.
We should eat before it gets soggy.
Dang, that looks delicious.
Judges,
please enter your score for Auntie Omakase #1.
This is a dish I make every day.
It's not something I invented.
It's what I've been making for over 20 years.
I wonder how I'll feel seeing how the dish is graded.
It's time to announce Aunti Omakase #1's score.
Please reveal…
CURRENT 1ST PLACE EDWARD LEE: 179 POINTS
…the judges' scores.
Judge Paik Jong-won gave 90 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 85 points.
Auntie Omakase #1
received a total of 175 points.
No matter how much I try to explain it, people wouldn't understand
this subtle yet hearty flavor unless they try this dish themselves.
So I really hope that people will get the opportunity
to experience that there are Korean foods like this dish.
Thank you.
-Well done. -Thank you.
I feel happy and proud of what I've achieved so far.
I'm very grateful and honored.
Chef Edward Lee
is currently in first place with 179 points.
What the…
His photo is quite scary.
My only thought was that I had to do well.
I'll just show them myself.
I'm here to do whatever I want anyway.
I'll make it scream me.
The dish I made today
is onion soup made with ugly onions.
It's actually a very simple dish, but it takes a long time.
I caramelize the onions until they're like a jam consistency.
Then I put in various alcohols and broth,
simmer them,
combine everything in a clay pot with some cheese,
and broil it to finish.
Yes.
I'm not everyone's cup of tea.
I have frightening eyes, a frightening look,
and a face that's always
full of disdain.
So people always misperceive me.
I've heard too many times that I look like a thug
and that I look rude,
and that really hurt my feelings.
Even when I'm in my restaurant,
some people say they don't want me explaining the dish to them,
and that's a bit…
That makes me wonder what I live for as a person.
So when it was announced that today's theme
was a dish portraying my life,
I wanted to show you who I really am.
For this onion soup,
the reason why I used ugly onions
is because they're like me,
getting neglected solely because they're ugly
even though they have the same taste and nutrition.
Upon first glance,
you'd think it's fiery and rough like this clay pot.
But when you take a bite of it…
It's finished.
…it'll warm you up and comfort you.
I wish people who judge me by my cover would try this dish
so that I can show them that I'm someone serious about cooking
and that I'm more than just my looks.
But it's not really
about your looks.
Those frightening eyes and expressions can always be remedied.
So just do that.
I tried, but it didn't work.
-I always-- -That photo is actually scary.
It's quite scary.
Yes, well…
I agree.
I sometimes get scared of my own looks.
You do know how to smile.
You have a nice smile.
-It's better when I smile. -You look a lot softer.
You should keep smiling then.
You can work on that.
You look the coolest when you're focusing on cooking
and trying your best.
I was actually very moved
by how you've cooked so far.
I hope they accept the soul I put into it.
Now, please enter your scores for Cooking Maniac.
The current first place is
Chef Edward Lee with 179 points.
You can only become first place if you receive over 179 points.
Now, please reveal Cooking Maniac's score.
Let's beat one of the front runners.
Judge Paik Jong-won gave 88 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 89 points.
Cooking Maniac received a total of 177 points.
CURRENT RANKING 3RD PLACE: COOKING MANIAC: 177 POINTS
In my opinion, you tried too hard.
This felt like
drinking onion extract.
-I see. -What I like
about onion soup
is that it's onion but it's subtly onion-flavored.
It makes you want to have it spoonful after spoonful.
But when I had this,
I tasted the saltiness
and the strong aroma of the caramelized onion
and worried this might actually put someone off
-from eating onions for days. -I see.
That's why I deducted some points.
For me, personally,
the meat broth was a bit strong.
So the balance with the onion came off a little stronger too.
I believe the chef's intentions
are more important than what the customers think,
and the onion soup's quality
was pretty good in that sense,
which is why I gave you this score.
-Thank you. -Well done.
It's disappointing I'm only two points behind.
They could've been a bit more generous.
JUDGE ANH SUNG-JAE HAS NOT ONCE GIVEN A SCORE OVER 90 YET
It's impossible for a dish to score 100 points.
If a dish is high-quality
and tastes delicious, the highest I'd give is probably around 90 points.
Chef Edward Lee
is currently in first place with 179 points.
Napoli Matfia, please head up to the judges' table.
It's on fire.
-Isn't that fire? -That? It is.
My dish today…
is gegukji pasta.
Basically,
this dish contains the story of me and my great-grandmother.
My parents both worked full-time,
so my great-grandmother took care of me when I was little,
and I remember her gegukji very dearly.
It's a traditional soup from Chungcheongnam-do,
where you simply boil
leftover marinated crab, cabbage, soybean paste, soy sauce, and so on.
It's a dish that I enjoy very much, so I chose to make it.
First, I make the gegukji soup as the base
and make some pasta in the shape of the candy
my great-grandmother enjoyed.
I also remember she'd give me pocket money
out of this very old coin purse,
so I mince some gamtae seaweed and shrimp
to make cabbage dumplings shaped like coin purses.
I also deep-fry some small crabs
inspired by the snacks she used to make.
What's the broth made of?
It's gegukji broth.
Since I'm a chef in Italian fine dining,
I wanted to give it that said touch,
which is why I put the broth in this Italian moka pot
to heat it up and pour it.
And I think the most important part of gegukji
is its sharp smell,
so I thought about how I could deliver that here
and decided to sprinkle some Italian anchovy sauce.
This dish is my own interpretation of my memories of my great-grandmother.
GRANDMOTHER'S GEGUKJI PASTA
Did you grow up in the Seosan or Taean area?
Yes, I did.
First, the gegukji.
Mr. Paik is also from Chungcheongnam-do,
so I felt a lot of pressure.
Gegukji is not easy to make at all.
People who try it often get disappointed
because it has a very subtle and indescribable taste.
So I was surprised to see that he had decided to make use of that.
It looked like the judges were enjoying it.
They were eating so much of it
and enjoying it too.
You know,
not a lot of people even know what gegukji is,
so I think it's very admirable that you boldly incorporated
the memory of your great-grandmother into a pasta dish.
Grandmother and cooking. That's the best recipe.
That's right.
But did you actually use gegukji?
Or did you enhance the flavor by adding more seafood?
I tried my best to make it from memory and didn't use any excessive ingredients.
And since this is a dish from Taean and Seosan,
what was most important to me
was that I only used local ingredients from those areas.
If he had bombarded it with expensive ingredients
to make it more elegant,
that might have ruined it.
But he decided not to do that,
which means he had precise intentions and made the most elegant dish.
The tasting is complete.
The current first place is
Chef Edward Lee with 179 points.
Please reveal Napoli Matfia's score.
I knew I had a chance to be in first place.
I know I've learned not to expect anything.
I go in there, and whatever happens, happens.
What could it be?
Please reveal Napoli Matfia's score.
Judge Paik Jong-won gave 92 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 90 points.
Napoli Matfia received a total of 182 points.
The first place is now Napoli Matfia.
1ST PLACE: NAPOLI MATFIA, 182 POINTS 2ND PLACE: EDWARD LEE, 179 POINTS
I believe even the best dishes
still always have room for improvement,
which is why I don't even give my own dishes anything over 90 points.
In terms of flavors,
it was simply delicious.
It showed restraint and was faithful to the ingredients,
which is why I gave you that score.
He's still young, but I could tell he knew the elegance of food.
I could feel his efforts
of trying to capture his great-grandmother's warmth.
I gave it 90 points, which is 100 points by my standards.
I don't remember anyone receiving over 90 points from both judges,
so it was hard to believe that I received such scores.
It was going to happen sooner or later. Someone was going to beat my score.
But we'll see if his score can last
because the last few chefs are very strong,
so I think maybe someone might even be able to beat his score.
I think he's going to lose to Triple Star.
Triple Star, please head up to the judges' table.
Let's go, my friend.
Man, it looks pretty.
The dish I made today
is something that kept me going through hard times.
I cook for a living right now,
but back when I was confused about what path to take in my career,
I watched a documentary starring Chef Corey Lee
and just decided one day that I had to go and work there.
What does he do now?
He runs Benu.
COREY LEE
He's a legendary young chef in America.
-Corey Lee? -Yes.
He's the first Korean to receive three Michelin stars.
So I went to America
and got the chance to intern and work for him.
After that, I cut back on sleeping
and studied diligently in order to survive,
as you can see from the notes being shown.
At times when I got exhausted,
I would go to Pier 39
and have some warm clam chowder to cheer myself up.
It was a dish that gave me comfort in a foreign land.
So the dish I made today is clam chowder soup,
which I reimagined in a unique way based on what I've learned so far.
Literally speaking, it's a cream-based clam soup.
I make some broth with clams,
then add in onion, celery, and fresh cream,
boil it until it gets thick, and put caviar at the end
to make it into a sauce.
And of course, you need some protein with the sauce,
so I seared some toothfish,
which is my favorite and known in Korea as mero.
This is clam chowder, a common dish back in America,
but I reinterpreted it as a fine dining dish.
Flavors aside, I wondered if they'd recognize the details.
He said he brought us a fine dining dish,
so I judged it using fine dining standards.
Is it a 1-mm square or a 3-mm square?
How was the carrot chopped?
How was the celery chopped?
They were all precisely cut in the way he said they were.
They were all the same size as the caviar.
That means it was intentional.
When he decided to make an elevated dish of clam chowder,
he used all the techniques he had learned.
Yes, it was delicious.
This dish has a story,
which is your memory inspired by clams.
But then you added cockle, which is in season right now,
and made it into this dish.
I think it was a great idea.
Thank you.
The current first place is
Chef Napoli Matfia with 182 points.
You can only take first place if you receive over 182 points.
-Please reveal Triple Star's score. -Come on.
I was excited that my real name was to be revealed
if I made it to the final.
I'm not even sure what kind of food Triple Star makes.
I just know that he's talented.
Please reveal Triple Star's score.
-Wow, that's high. -Judge Paik Jong-won gave 92 points.
Judge Anh Sung-jae gave 87 points.
Triple Star received a total of 179 points.
1ST PLACE: NAPOLI MATFIA, 182 POINTS 2ND PLACE: EDWARD LEE, TRIPLE STAR
You used what you've learned very well
to show your own style in this dish.
The flavors and balance were all on point.
But as for the fish,
I thought you could do without it.
You could've given a bit more thought to the message you wanted to convey.
-I see. Thank you. -Thank you.
Well done.
179 points.
I didn't beat him.
To be frank, I couldn't really accept the score,
partly because I was very confident about my dish.
Of course I was glad.
But it was too early to pop the champagne
because when I first started cooking at 20 years old,
the first thing I bought was Chef Choi Hyun-seok's book.
You could say I'm a fan.
And he just had to be one of the last ones standing.
Finally, the last person.
Chef Choi Hyun-seok, please head up to the judges' table.
March 23rd, 1995.
I'll never forget the day I first started cooking.
My first workplace was a traditional Italian restaurant called La Cucina
across the street from the Hyatt Hotel by Namsan.
It was always so hectic there,
and everyone spoke in Italian during service time.
I didn't have much to do back then,
so I just sat in the corner
until one day, a senior chef said to me,
"Hey newbie, go inside the walk-in refrigerator."
I thought he was giving me work, so I ran inside.
But what I saw on top of a milk crate
was a plate of pasta vongole still steaming hot.
That was a tradition in La Cucina of cheering up the newbies.
I gulped it down on the spot,
and it was so delicious.
That's when I decided
that if I continued to cook,
I wanted to be the chef who makes the best pasta vongole.
And later, I came to make the best vongole
out of all La Cucina alumni.
I upgraded the recipe seven or eight times.
And this one is the most recently upgraded version.
This is a cone-shaped pasta I invented which was inspired by sujebi.
What I like about the Korean hand-torn noodle
is that it's randomly thin on one side and thick on the other,
and how it's such a humble dish with a variety of textures.
I wanted to try new and different things.
This pasta dish tastes the same when you use oil,
so I wanted to try something new.
I wanted to give it a creamy flavor, so I changed it to butter.
I believe pasta vongole
is the best dish I can make.
It's my first best dish.
I didn't add salt or pepper or any seasoning.
It's just made with garlic, olive oil, and clam broth.
-So the clam broth itself is salty? -I didn't season it at all.
There's no one who even comes close
to your level of determination to try something new.
Even I wonder
what kind of new things you tried when you cook something.
Thank you for the dish.
This was a delicious vongole
that made me forget all the ones I've ever had before.
The first place with the highest score
is Napoli Matfia with 182 points.
You can only become first place if you receive over 182 points.
The first chef to advance to the final will be determined
based on the final contestant Choi Hyun-seok's score.
Please reveal the judges' scores.
I think I could be in the first place.
I'm the most desperate to win,
so I'll win.
Please reveal the judges' scores.
A SCORE OVER 182 WILL ADVANCE HIM TO THE FINAL
What will it be?
The total points Chef Choi Hyun-seok received…
are 93 points from Paik Jong-won
and 88 points from Anh Sung-jae,
totaling 181 points.
Well done.
Great job.
FINAL RANKING 1ST PLACE: NAPOLI MATFIA, 182 POINTS
Wow, this is crazy.
You made a very simple and classic pasta vongole,
and I really enjoyed it.
But I personally thought
that you could have used less butter.
It's just my personal opinion that people might find it a bit greasy,
and my score was based on that.
Thank you.
We have different tastes.
I felt that was the right amount of oil.
But if I'm being honest,
I made a mistake.
An unforgivable mistake.
I went over my recipe later and realized
I forgot to add garlic.
Not having garlic in vongole
is the equivalent of not having chili powder in tteokbokki.
HE PUTS THE GARLIC BESIDE THE GAS JET
GARLIC
HE DIDN'T TOUCH IT ONCE
I'm finished.
AND JUST PUT IT AWAY
I've made vongole so many times over the last 29 years
and never once have I left out garlic.
Why did it happen today?
I was sure that Chef Anh and I just had different tastes
and that I was right,
but I was wrong and he was right.
I'm an idiot for forgetting the garlic.
He forgot the garlic?
So that's why it felt like
it was missing something.
With that, the first place in the Cook Your Life battle is
Napoli Matfia.
-Congratulations! -Thank you.
You must be excited.
NAPOLI MATFIA ADVANCES TO THE FINAL ROUND
Wow.
I think of myself as one of the best chefs in Korea,
so I'm glad I was able to show everything I've got in this mission.
It's either first or second place in the final.
So I want to be the first.
I want to come out victorious.
Now, there's only one seat remaining
at the survivors' table.
I'm going to mark my spot as the finalist.
This is what I do best.
I just have to do it without making mistakes.
I was chosen out of 100.
I know I can easily win this.
I'll make it to the final and let my name be known.
I wouldn't get eliminated, would I?
I know I can do well.
I think I can aim for first place.
I have to, and I will inevitably.
Who is the best chef?
That's what I want to know, and I want to prove that.
I don't know who'll come to face me, but I will crush them.
Endless Cooking Hell.
I didn't like what I was hearing.
This is actually going to be hell.
-The ingredient you have to cook with -What's this?
is ****.
-Let's go! -This is going to kill me.
This is so damn exhausting.
I'm starting to go a little crazy.
The chef who will receive the 300 million won prize is…
Subtitle translation by: Yenny Kang