Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (폭군의 셰프)

BON APPÉTIT, YOUR MAJESTY

It is time to begin

the second round of the competition between Joseon and the Ming.

Today's theme is ji for "know," yeok for "change."

You must cook a dish from each other's country.

- Our second dish, Peking duck. - Let us begin.

Where did they get such a massive lotus flower?

It is overwhelmingly big.

A golden lotus?

Okay. We'll start by hanging the ducks to roast.

- Pouring oil over it makes it… - Crispy.

Is that the Northern Capital roast duck?

The Ming cooks in action are truly an impressive sight.

Trust me this once.

This is a temple dish.

This is Peking duck.

The dishes from both sides are complete.

This concludes the tasting of the second round,

and the evaluation will follow.

I will announce the scores for the second round.

ONE

EIGHT

1, MING: 8

- What? - My goodness.

I do not believe this.

Tang Bailong, step forward.

TANG BAILONG MASTER OF SICHUAN CUISINE

The skills you learned

from visiting temples all over Joseon

in order to create the ultimate taste are truly remarkable.

Not only did your temple dish take us by surprise,

but its flavor also offered profound insight and serene resonance.

YU KUN MING'S CHIEF ENVOY

However…

the scores of the second round

are invalid.

Your Excellency, I am not sure I understand what you are saying.

Bailong's score--

It seems my words fell on closed ears.

What did you say?

Look carefully.

That is the score

the Ming chief envoy gave Joseon's dish.

Just so the Ming could win,

he gave Joseon's dish a ridiculously low score.

However, Your Excellency,

the rule is that we score each other's dishes.

What is the matter with that?

Director Yu, do you truly not see it?

We are the two judges of this competition.

If we do not score the dishes honestly,

what is the point of all this?

Your shallow trickery

is embarrassing your own cooks,

who did their best to make outstanding dishes.

Do you truly not realize that?

However--

In the first round,

the very person who was most ashamed of winning with a dishonest ingredient

was the Ming cook, Tang Bailong.

Yet you, the chief envoy, decided to give such a dishonest score.

What you did not only disgraced the honor of the Ming cooks,

but also that of the Joseon cooks.

He asks how you wish to decide the winner.

We will judge in a way

that eliminates all these problems.

I wonder how.

Listen carefully.

The cooks of each nation will taste and score their own dish.

Humans tend to be blind to their own shortcomings.

Score your food with that in mind,

and that very score

will decide the winner of the second round.

He wants us to score ourselves?

What on earth is he thinking?

COURSE N° 9 PRESSURE-COOKED OGYETANG

First,

Joseon's Chief Royal Cook Yeon Ji-young.

You made a new adaptation

of the Northern Capital roast duck with an exquisite balance of flavors

that adhered to the theme of "know" and "change."

How do you score that dish?

Your Majesty, I'm sorry to say, but it's impossible to score.

What? You cannot score your dish?

Why is that?

It'd be a stretch to say our Peking duck was perfect.

But Cook Eom, Cook Maeng,

Cook Min, Cook Sim, and Gil-geum

poured their sweat, hard work, dedication, and hearts into the dish.

We devoted ourselves to making this dish,

so how could we dare evaluate it ourselves?

Your Majesty,

we can't evaluate and score our own dish.

I apologize.

I see.

Next.

Ming's Chief Royal Cook Tang Bailong.

You have captured profound enlightenment in the lotus leaf wrap

and presented us with Joseon's temple fare.

It was truly a refined dish

that showed the noble grace and skill of a Ming cook.

How do you score your dish?

Tang Bailong also says he is unable to score the temple dish

that he learned to make from many Joseon monks.

The truth is,

both dishes were equally good in every aspect,

including taste, elegance, and appearance.

Joseon's roast duck and Ming's temple dish

were clearly created by cooks who have reached the highest level of skill.

To judge the dishes on taste alone

is close to impossible.

That is why

I had the two cooks score the dishes to assess their mindset.

However,

it seems that both cooks

are evenly matched in that aspect as well.

I believe

that both dishes in this round proved to be equal,

which means

it is another tie.

Do you have more to say?

If the third round is also a tie, we will win the competition.

This outcome is in our favor.

Your Excellency, I believe that you made the most appropriate decision.

He says he has nothing to add.

In that case, the third round

will be held here tomorrow at the same time.

- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Excellency.

I lost.

However,

it was a victory in its own way.

No, I won.

But it feels like

I kind of lost.

If our dishes were evaluated tomorrow,

the result would have been very different.

I'm guessing you're saying the Ming would've won, right?

As the temple food would have lingered on their minds until the next day?

I focused heavily on the depth and meaning of my dish,

that I failed to captivate their tongues at once.

That also is a shortcoming of mine.

I focused heavily on captivating their tongues,

that I failed to add depth and meaning to my dish.

That's my shortcoming.

You always have the last word.

Because you keep talking.

I look forward to your final dish.

Thank you.

All right, let's get going.

What was that just now?

He lost, but he won?

Oh, well…

In this second round,

Tang Bailong's dish touched the heart,

while ours captivated the taste buds.

If today's scoring had been done properly, we would've won,

but his dish would've been the one that remained on people's minds.

That's what we said.

Then did you praise yourselves while standing face-to-face?

Well, we acknowledged each other

and praised ourselves too.

Whatever the result,

the best cook in the Ming acknowledged our chief royal cook.

- Right? - Right.

- That alone is a great accomplishment. - Yes.

It's not just me. It's us.

He acknowledged us .

- Goodness, miss. - Oh gosh.

Stop it. Let's go.

- Greetings, Chief Eunuch. - Greetings.

Well done, all of you.

Cook Yeon, His Majesty wishes to see you.

Right now?

Your Majesty.

Cook Yeon is here.

So you asked to see me.

Why do you look so upset?

You did so well today.

Keep it brief and to the point.

I don't have enough time to prepare for tomorrow.

That is why I summoned you.

Here.

Are you personally offering me wine?

This is not wine.

It is tea.

I called you here so you could have some rest.

Go on and try it.

A teacup holding the moon.

How fascinating.

That is what you call "moon tea."

If you sit there and look into the teacup, the tea reflects the moon in the sky.

It's mandarin leaf tea.

How do you feel? Does it ease your tension?

Yes.

It's almost like a warm consolation.

I was worried you looked too weak to even hold the duck.

How will you manage the remaining round with a wounded hand?

I just can't do any delicate cutting, but I can cook just fine.

"Fine"?

Maid Seo had to do the cutting for you.