Original Air Date: June 25, 2018
With the first bout coming to an end, the judges now have to test Nene and Soma's dishes and pick the winner.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bowdlerise: In the manga, Urara flips off the rebels when boasting that Shoko can still win the remaining battle. In the anime, she instead gives them thumbs down.
- Crazy Enough to Work: To everyone's surprise, Soma's choice to fry the soba noodlesnote turned out to be deliberate to defy the environment's effect on the dish. This was only possible by using thrice milled buckwheat flour for the dough.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Despite doing a perfect dish, Nene's paled in comparison to Soma's because she didn't take in consideration factors like environment temperature and altitude, which made her dish lose fragrance. Soma and Isshiki make her realize that since she always was taught to make things one way, she never took the time to understand why, or how to adapt to different circumstances.
- Impossibly Delicious Food:
- Nene Kinokuni's 90% Buckwheat Soba Garnished with Sakura Shrimp Kakiage is so light and delicate that the judges are able to eat them with ease and eat he whole dish without realizing.
- On the other hand, Soma Yukihira's Yukihira Style Barley Flour Soba is a play on instant noodle yakisoba, frying the noodles on duck fat with duck meat and scallions, and completing it with a special sauce made of bonito stock and kaeshi (Dark Soy Sauce, Mirin, Brown Sugar). As the judges eat the dish, they can also season it with ground ginger, sichuan pepper or toasted sesame seeds.
