Chapter 166: Chapter 166 Evaluating Dishes

```Chen Yu's hands did not stop moving as he meticulously replicated the old man's carved design onto a plate of his own.

In just five minutes, a lifelike carving was presented to the crowd.

Instant silence descended, with all eyes concentrating on the carving.

Compared with the old man's work, Chen Yu's carving was akin to the real thing, and had the onlookers not seen him pick up the ingredients from nearby themselves, they might have suspected Chen Yu of buying real flowers to cheat.

The elder involuntarily swallowed, realizing that in terms of knife skills, Chen Yu was many times superior to him.

"You are insulting me! Sending one kitchen help after another to challenge me, let someone with authority here come out now, I want to bet this restaurant with him."

"No problem, my husband can make that decision!"

Tong Ya slowly emerged from the store, "But since my husband is putting the restaurant on the line to compete with you, you should at least put up assets of equivalent value as a wager."

The elder let out a sigh of turbid air and said no more; he looked the restaurant up and down before taking out a bank draft from his pocket.

"I reckon your restaurant's investment is at most a few million. Here is a five million bank draft, which should be more than enough."

Tong Ya offered a slight smile, "How could that be enough? Our daily turnover is over two million. Thinking a mere five million draft could serve as a wager, aren't you a bit too optimistic?"

The elder was taken aback, "Two million in daily turnover? That's impossible! A restaurant of this size could at best make a few hundred thousand a day."

"Where did this old man come from? He's so clueless!"

An older woman in her sixties scoffed at the elder, "Chen Yu's restaurant draws crowds from thirty miles around; more than two million a day is quite normal."

"Exactly. Chen Yu has been running this place for quite some time now, and we neighbors have made rough calculations. Forget about two million, if Chen Yu were willing to raise the prices of his dishes even slightly, he could easily hit four to five million in daily turnover."

"This old man must have never seen the wider world, thinking he's the high and mighty with a bit of cooking skill." S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Let Chen Yu teach him a lesson!"

...

Almost everyone present was overwhelmingly supportive of Chen Yu, with a flood of disdain directed at the elder.

The elder's face turned red, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed.

But he steadied his emotions and took out three drafts, each worth ten million, from his bosom.

"Surely this is enough!"

Tong Ya then turned her gaze to Chen Yu, her eyes softening.

"Husband, what do you think?"

Chen Yu pondered for a moment, "Thirty million is indeed worth cooking a dish for!"

"Wait a moment!"

The elder suddenly shouted, "If I win, I want all the recipes for the ingredients in this restaurant."

Wang Qingshan immediately objected, "Hey, this old man really doesn't know when to stop!"

Chen Yu stopped him, "It's okay, the old gentleman is here to give us money, not to really take our recipes."

Upon hearing this, Wang Qingshan calmed down, knowing it would be too easy for Chen Yu to beat the elder with his skill.

He said nothing more, only pulling Li Gang, who was also angry, to the side.

"Tell me, which aspect do you want to compete in?" the elder challenged Chen Yu with a defiant look, as if wishing Chen Yu to set a constraint.

```

"The old man must be a Sichuan cuisine chef, so let's compete in Sichuan dishes!"

The old man burst into laughter, "Kid, you sure about that? Competing against me in Sichuan cuisine is like seeking death."

Chen Yu didn't respond, simply picking up a block of tofu from the side.

"Then I'll just make do with a Mapo Tofu!"

However, the old man snorted coldly, "Mapo Tofu is just a home-cooked dish among Sichuan cuisine. Authentic Sichuan dishes are mainly sour and sweet in flavor!"

As he spoke, the old man took out a small jar he carried with him and picked up a plate of pork loin from the side.

It looked like he was going to make sweet and sour pork loin.

Chen Yu didn't say much, just quickly cutting the tofu into even pieces and then adding the other ingredients to the pot.

The old man was also incredibly fast; after all, he had decades of experience in cooking, which showed in his speed.

In less than five minutes, both of their dishes were ready.

The rich aroma instantly spread at the entrance of the store, making the crowd around them look on eagerly, some of them itching to rush up and take a bite.

But when both dishes were presented, the old man's face took on an ugly expression.

Though they matched each other in speed and cooking skill, he knew that the reason he finished the sweet and sour pork loin so quickly was that he had prepared a secret sweet and sour sauce in advance,

while Chen Yu followed the steps precisely, frying up the sauce for his Mapo Tofu from scratch, and even treated the tofu with a special technique.

Being able to complete so many steps in such a short time, Chen Yu's cooking skills were clearly superior to his own.

The old man squeezed out a forced smile, "Should we now find a respectable judge to determine whose dish tastes better?"

As he finished speaking, a middle-aged man slowly stepped out of the crowd and handed Chen Yu a business card.

"I happen to be a somewhat famous food critic. May I have the honor of being the judge?"

Chen Yu frowned, this guy showed up at just the right moment.

He subconsciously glanced at the old man next to him and noticed that the old guy was looking somewhat evasive.

Without guessing, he knew the so-called food critic was someone the old man had summoned to be on standby.

But in such a competition, a legitimate food critic is needed on site for comments, or else the competition would be invalidated.

Chen Yu was in a bind, as the only ones with a gourmet judge certification on site were just a few of them.

The only one who seemed impartial and fair, and also out of the blue, was this suddenly appearing food critic.

Allowing this person to judge, however, would compromise the fairness of the competition.

Just at that moment, the piercing sound of a police siren suddenly rose from afar. A vehicle from the relevant department came to a stable stop at the entrance of the store, and Zhou Shengtao came down from it.

"Chen, it's quite lively here!"

After a brief greeting, Zhou Shengtao waved the sketch in his hand, which seemed to be from a case earlier that required some details from Chen Yu.

But Chen Yu didn't respond immediately, instead pulling Zhou Shengtao over.

"Zhou, here are two dishes. I hope you can give a fair evaluation, whose dish tastes better!"

Zhou Shengtao was instantly annoyed, since when did he know how to evaluate dishes?