This is the work of Chef No. 1, five dishes in total.
Little Taotie looked at the tiny plates, pursed her lips, and turned to Teacher Li with pitiful eyes.
It seemed that Teacher Li could read something in her gaze.
It was as if her eyes were asking, "Didn’t you say I could eat my fill?"
Looking at the tiny plates, Teacher Li inwardly complained about the program team’s lack of humanity: were these meant to feed a person or a sparrow?
Teacher Li chuckled, "Eat up quickly, or it’ll get cold."
Seeing him start tasting, Little Taotie also began to eat.
The first little plate contained a piece of fish, succulent and with its bones removed.
It was so delicious that Little Taotie’s eyebrows nearly fell off, and she hastily moved on to the second dish.
The second dish looked like an average sweet potato.
But once it was in her mouth, she knew there was more to this sweet potato.
Buttery milk fragrance and rich cheese flavor melded with the sweetly sweet potato; the combined taste made Little Taotie unable to stop, but there was so little on the small plate that it was gone in no time.
Little Taotie licked her lips, left wanting more.
The third dish was a fried food that resembled a little gourd. Little Taotie sniffed it but couldn’t smell what was inside due to the covering.
Little Taotie opened her mouth and took a gentle bite.
Two screws were placed side by side, first secured with a toothpick, then dipped in flour for deep-frying. Afterward, the toothpick was pulled out, and it became a shaped little gourd.
The fourth dish was a small tomato.
The small tomato was coated in a layer of clear sugar, resembling candied hawthorn.
When Little Taotie bit into the tomato, she found glutinous rice inside.
The fragrant sweet and soft glutinous rice, the refreshing tomato, mixed with the sweet coating, created a flavor that was a child’s favorite sweet-and-sour taste.
Alas, there was only one glutinous rice tomato.
The fifth dish was a stir-fry with vegetables and beef strips. Little Taotie tasted a piece of zucchini and then a strip of beef, her eyes lighting up.
The beef was tender, yet it was cooked just right.
It was really delicious, the chef’s control of the heat was just perfect, any less would be undercooked, any more would be too tough.
After all five dishes were tasted, it was time for the scoring round.
Being first always has its advantages, as good or bad is relative, and without a comparison, the first contestant seems very impressive.
The eight gourmet judges all gave quite high scores, with Little Taotie lifting a card showing 10 points, a perfect score!
Eliminating the lowest and the highest scores and averaging the rest, the final score came to 8.8 points, considered high.
Little Taotie couldn’t believe it.
Such delicious food, only scoring 8.8 points, not even 9.
How tasty must the dishes with a score of 9 be?
As she pondered, a suspicious liquid trickled from the corner of Little Taotie’s mouth.
Teacher Li passed her a tissue, teasing with a smile, "Your drool’s going to become a waterfall!"
Little Taotie’s face turned red, and she quickly wiped her mouth with the tissue.
The cheongsam-clad beauty came over with a tray, on which were five small plates, each presenting a delicacy for tasting.
Little Taotie’s eyes were glued to a "little rabbit."
Inside the small plate lay a little rabbit, soft and squishy, with red eyes, long ears, and a tiny tail.
It looked so fluffy that it seemed it would be nice to touch, and Little Taotie couldn’t resist poking it with a finger, indeed, it was soft!
Little Taotie ate the other four dishes but hesitated to eat this one.
Teacher Li asked, "Why aren’t you eating it?"
Little Taotie looked troubled, "It’s too cute, I can’t bring myself to eat it."