19x03 - Noodles and Rice and Everything Nice

[bunniefuu]

You'll face off under
the bright lights

- of a football stadium.
- Let's go!

Any kind of potato
I'm in love with.

Buddha is probably going to have

something floating
and invisible on his plate.

Judges raise your pompoms.

Whoa.

I started cooking rice too soon.

It's a little broken.

Stephanie, I think you could
have gone a lot further.

Chickpea I thought, could
present a different angle.

- It just felt like a dip.
- Okay.

Just fine is not
going to do it here.

Stephanie, please pack
your knives and go.



in the ultimate
culinary showdown.

At stake for the winner,

a feature in Food
and Wine magazine,

an appearance at the Food &
Wine Classic in Aspen,

$250,000 furnished
by San Pellegrino

and the coveted title
of Top Chef.

Hi.

My fiancé's name is Cameron,
and we met

as most chefs in love do,
on the line.

Well, I was in the top
for the first one,

the first elimination challenge.

But it was a team challenge and
I think the only reason

I was in the top was because
I'm a really good teammate,

you know,

and because I'm just
worried that I'm good at

people and not food.

Having made some decisions,
you know,

to leave New York City
after culinary school

and not work in Michelin
star restaurants,

I think you're left wondering
if you stack up.

I love you very much.

Hello, hello.

Oh wow.

So cool.

We are doing a night market?

- We're doing it?
- Yes, girl.

I want to welcome this week's
all star guest judge.

Top Chef winner Hung Huynh.

Congratulations, Hung,
you are Top Chef.

- Welcome back.
- Thank you.

Good to be back.

Chef Huynh, he was the first
Asian to win Top Chef,

and I'm like, "Oh yeah!"

He's the reason why
I own a cleaver.

It's been 15 years, but
it's good to be back.

I don't remember the kitchen
being this big.

Right? It's huge.

Houston is home to nearly two
and a half million people.

One-fifth of that population
is made up of several

large and vibrant
Asian communities.

Every so often, Houstonians
get to experience

the closest thing
to being in Asia

without ever having
to step on a plane.

The Asian night market.

My family came from Vietnam,

and I love going
to Night Markets

because it brings me back

to the streets in Vietnam
where I can get anything

as a child running around.

A noodle from here,
rice from here.

With us are 10 of the
best local chefs.

Many are James Beard award
nominees representing

Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese,
Filipino and Japanese.

And they're all here to give
you a special taste of Asia.

Chefs, you are in luck.

There's no Quickfire Challenge
this week.

For your Elimination Challenge,

we want you to take inspiration
from what you taste

to create a
street food dish

for your very own
Asian night market.

Is anyone afraid to cook
Indian food for Padma?

- I know I would be.
- I am so afraid.

Oh, no, no.

It's time to draw knives.

Oh, my God.

What did you get?

Me too.

- You got Chinese?
- I got Chinese.

The cuisine on the night

is the cuisine that will
inspire your dish.

And you may be happy
to know

this is an individual challenge.

Is anyone not familiar with
the food that they drew?

Yeah.
- Oh no, really?

And you have Indian?
Yeah.

I have Chinese. Chinese.

- Vietnamese.
- Japanese.

I've never cooked Japanese
food in my life,

so I'm not really sure where
I'm going to go with this.

- Filipino.
- Jo, you lucky duck.

Tomorrow night, you'll have
one hour to cook

before service begins
at the Post, Houston.

You'll be serving


Each group will get to shop at
an Asian specialty market

that specializes
in your cuisine.

That's what I'm really
excited about for you guys.

- Thank you.
- I'm so excited.

So use your BMW X5s to navigate
the streets of Houston.

All right. Get tasting.
Get inspired.

Good luck,
we'll see you tomorrow.

- Thank you.
- Good luck, chefs.

- Hi.
- Hi.

Oh, wow, so cool.

- What's up, Evelyn?
- Hello.

So what's in the sauce?

Peanut, cabbage.

And there's also banana hearts.

Ooh sh--.

Mapo tofu?
- -WOMAN 2:
- Yes.

Oh my God, I love this.

- Go in it, y'all.
- Oh, hell yeah.

That's all the meat
right here.

I'm allergic to shellfish.

No, but, like, only the shell.

I want to be buried
in whatever this is

- when I die.
- Thank you.

Which I might
because of all the shellfish.

What I have here is a little
bit of snapper on top.

I did a with
a little bagoong

which is a fermented
shrimp paste.

It's delicious.

Whenever we go back to Manila,

it's the first thing
that I always eat, so.

For sure.

Getting Filipino,
it's a best-case scenario,

but it's also a worst
case scenario.

I mean, tons of people
on Top Chef go home

for cooking the food that they
know, the expectation is high.

- This is really good.
- Thank you.

This is lamb
keema samosas.

It's delicious.
Thank you.

This is a fig sauce?

Yes, fig and tamarind.

Fig and tamarind. Yeah.

Do you mind sharing
what the dough is?

It's all-purpose
white flour.

I'm excited about picking
Indian because recently I did

a stage at an Indian restaurant

finding out how Indian food
is done.

But just because
you spend one day there

doesn't make you a master of it.

Would it be okay to use
puff pastry instead of--

Yes. It would be.

And then you can bake it.

If we decide to fry it,
is it still okay?

No, it gets
very greasy.

I feel like Buddha's asking
all the right questions.

Great questions.

This patty
is called tiki.

Aloo is potato.

My biggest passion right now
is teaching kids to cook.

They are the future, and they
need to be educated by the best.

Is that why Vindaloo is
vin for the wine

and aloo is the potato?
The potato, yes.

Ah! Now it makes sense.

I always teach the kids, keep
it simple, so I'm like, okay,

I'll just do potatoes with
the curry and rice.

Thank you so much.
Everything was delicious.

This is
a Cantonese style

shrimp and chicken
dumpling soup.

And then we have ginger
scallion egg noodles.

Oh wow.
What is this Red Vinegar?

It's a kind of rice vinegar.

The Sichuan style kind of
remind me of my food ways.

You get these fermented flavors

and methods that allow your
food to last longer.

I'm going take one more bite of
this because it's so good.

This dish right here I call this
a Nagoya karaage,

so karaage means fried chicken
in Japanese,

and we add the sweet miso sauce,

Fresnos, mint, and cilantro.

Can't wait to try it.

The Mississippi guy pulls
Japanese cuisine.

Didn't know I was going
to see fried chicken.

You know, I could
definitely put my spin on this.

- Great flavors.
- Yeah, I love the sweetness.

What are the stable herbs
in Vietnamese cuisine?

Thai basil, mint,
Vietnamese coriander.

I knew basically nothing about
Vietnamese cuisine.

And on top of that,

I got COVID a few months ago

and I lost my sense of smell
and taste.

Bao is one of my
favorite foods on the planet,

but I just unfortunately do
not know much else

about Vietnamese cuisine.

When we think of taste,

generally what we're talking
about is smell

what your tongue can taste,
sweet, sour,

salty, bitter, spicy, umami.

My tongue is pretty much back.

The smell really is not,

so I can't actually
taste anything.

As long as you understand
the basics,

if it works for you and
if it tastes good.

Be proud of your dish.

BMW, take me to 99 Ranch Market.

Let's go.

There we go.

How do you guys feel?
Indian food?

Well, we have the hardest
one for sure.

Yeah. What direction
you guys thinking of going?

I'm going to go
the samosa route

what are you guys doing?

I'm making a samosa.
- Okay.

Buddha has been cooking
a lot longer than I have.

So knowing Buddha is doing
something similar to what

I'm doing, I need to make sure
that my stuff is tight.

So many of the chefs that I've
worked for have been Filipino

but I've never cooked
Filipino food.

- Yeah.
- Like, there's this weird

shyness about cooking it

because it's like not what
we've seen as being fine dining.

When are we ever going
to cook Indian food

and give it to Padma, you know?

It might be the first
and last time.

Yeah, first and last time!

Oh, my God, this is so cool.

I love this stuff.

Grabbing some daikon,
cooking for a 100 people,

want to make sure
I have enough food.

Scallions,
I'm grabbing scallions.

It's really fun at the
Hong Kong market.

I can smell Chinese spices.

Somebody is making
some soup somewhere.

I'm hungry.

Alright, I'm going to spices.

For me street food is, you know,
noodles are always the best.

As a kid in Korea every summer,

I used to go to see
my uncles

and I got this udon noodle
from the little cart

at the train station.

I'm definitely using that
experience as my inspiration.

Whoa, some pretty melon
that I didn't expect.

Here we go, here we go,
here we go.

Fish sauce, soy sauce...

As an adult, I started
to really embrace my childhood

and the foods
of that time.

It was really tough
as a kid to do that.

When your mom's frying
up sardines

and serving banana ketchup
with French fries

at your house, you're not going
to have a lot of friends.

This is like the Filipino
shrimp paste.

Okay, thank you so much.

Yeah,
of course, dude.

Nick, what are you
thinking of doing today?

So I'm getting my spices and
my rice wine vinegar.

A lot of this stuff isn't
in English, obviously.

Yeah, I got to find somebody
I can ask some questions.

Literally just looking around
learning through seeing.

There's just a lot of stuff that
I've never seen before.

Can you pronounce this
word for me?

- It's a-- Oba.
- Oba.

Sarah!
- Yeah?

Where are you at?
Right here.

What are you looking for?

Oh, girl, I don't even know.

Girl, that's American [bleep],
come here.

I love Asian cuisine.

I've thankfully had the ability
to stage in Thailand.

I've traveled through Malaysia,
India, Philippines, China.

And I was just, like, "Oh,"
it clicked.

I was like, "You know, mom used
to make me this

maybe with different spices
and ingredients,

but it's the same technique of
layering flavors."

It's heartwarming.

And that's what I try to
create when I cook.

Girl, I need a bunch of spices.

Are you one for pho spices?

It's clove, it's all spice.

Evelyn, you're a godsend.

Making something called Samaloo.

Got a great ring to it.
- Yeah, great ring.

You know, I got the spices. Samaloo.

When I eat Indian food

there's only one dish that
I really appreciate,

which is Vindaloo.

I'm trying to make it a little
bit more Sam.

Thank you so much.

You don't use anything fancy.

I want to keep it simple
and just highlight

the beauty of a potato.



I just hope I have enough
food for everyone, you know?

I think so.

All right.

All right.

All right, here we go.

- Good luck, chefs.
- Good luck.

Robert, what are you making?

A rice cake with some chicken
thigh that I'm going

to marinate in peanut sauce.

- Awesome.
- Trying to get the...

- mousse in the oven.
- Mousse?

I'm doing a banh mi
with chicken heart.

There's just so much to do.

There's so much to do.

What are you making?

Chilled
chicken salad.

I actually had this dish
when I was in Vietnam.

Hell yeah.

I'm thinking of
adding a avocado crema.

I want to show my point of
view of being Latina

and also cooking Southeast
Asian flavors.

I'm cleaning my rambutan
right now,

adding it to my chilled salad
for a little bit of sweetness.

That's awesome.

Which cuisine
did you get there, Jackson?

Vietnamese, man. I don't know
exactly what I'm making,

but I think it's going
to be a spring roll.

Pho is one of my favorite
Vietnamese dishes,

but how can I make Pho portable,
right?

You can't walk around with
a big bowl of soup.

I believe in you, Jackson.

Yeah, thanks.

- Hello, chefs.
- Hi, Tom.

- Hey, Buddha.
- Hey, Tom.

What are you up to?

So I'm going to be doing

a chicken curry inside
a samosa.

You think there's any way you
can possibly please

Padma with Indian food?

The clock is not my friend
at this point.

Indian food needs time
to develop flavor.

It's not something that you
can just mix together.

- Hey, Luke.
- How's it going, Chef?

I'm okay. How are you?

I've never cooked Indian
food before.

I'm doing a samosa as well,

but we are doing a different approach.

I am going to be doing
a crab and corn samosa.

Are you making a masala
also, with all the spices?

Yes, I've already kind of
toasted everything.

I've never cooked Indian food,

but I understand how they
develop their flavors.

My plan is to try to emulate
two really good sauces

a spicy fig and tamarind sauce,

and then a coriander
yogurt sauce.

I might as well just try to
make it as tasty as I can.

Hi Jae.
What are you inspired by today?

Chinese cuisine.

So I would
like to make the noodle

with the Chinese sausage, ground
pork and ramen noodle crumble.

And that's what I grew
up with as a kid.

You have, like, a whole
pantry down here.

All the goodies down here.

I hope I got the right one.

Actually, this is my first time
cooking Chinese cooking,

so this is actually one of my
favorite ingredients.

Love that too.
Great for noodles.

Chili flakes
to make the chili oil.

That sounds good.
I'm looking forward to this.

I'm looking forward to cook
for you too.

- Good luck.
- Thank you.

Hey, chefs.

- How are you doing?
- Good.

I'm going to do mala style beef.

I've got some sweet
potato starch

and I'm going to coat it in
sweet syrup--

Oh, I see your face.

No, no I'm just picturing it.

I'm going to coat it
in sweet potato starch

and hopefully get a nice crisp
on the outside, very light.

Are you going
to marinate that beef?

Yeah, I'm thinking I should

based on the faces
that you're making.

So you're going to fry it?
- Yeah.

Don't make it too tough, though.

Okay.

Chef Hung with his
very cool hair.

He's worried that
this top sirloin

could end up being
a little chewy.

- Good luck.
- Can't wait.

After you start to prep, you
have so little time to pivot.

Everything smells really great.
Looks tasty.

- Good luck.
- Thank you, Chef.

Thank you.

There's nothing
I can do at that point.

I'm always so confident
until Tom comes over.

- How you're looking?
- Oh, good.

I've got to dice all this tofu.

I'm making a miso soup.

Going to add some ham hocks
to kind of make it taste

a little bit more like home.

I think it's the same thing.

I had a bite of that Japanese
fried chicken today

and I was like, "You know what?

I can do my thing with that."



I'm trying to get a
couple of these done,

so I'm not doing
a hundred tomorrow.

- You know, what I mean?
- Yeah.

Hot.

I have my aromatics
toasting right now.

I got curry going.

I have my curry and I
have my rice done.

I got potatoes on the
stove boiling

and I'm ready for tomorrow.



Chicken thigh running.

I'm not right on time, but
I'm going to make it work.

I got you. I got you. I got you.

Got it?

- Good?
- You guys are the best.



Three, two, one, times up.

Dude, I up.

I have potato's on the stove.

My dish
is called Samaloo.

Sam with potato.

How do you guys
feel about today?

Going into this
feel like I always do.

I love Ashleigh,
she's very easily fit in

with Evelyn and I and one of
our weird little group

that we've started.

I mean, it's Top Chef.

Like, there is no feeling confident.

Evelyn and I are just on the
same wavelength.

There is just a lot of people
who don't handle anxiety

and pressure well,
and there are some people

who just get funnier.

And Evelyn and I

have definitely just
gotten funnier.

This one. That's some sort
of cheating, I swear.

I was like, "This girl just
pulled the Filipino Kn*fe?"

It was like the sword in the
stone, I was like sh-bang!

Jackson's legs are so long.

How are you doing
over there, Ma?

Surviving, girl, surviving.

We have one hour on the clock
before guests start arriving,

which is just not nearly enough
time for me,

Jackson, what
are you up to, mate?

I'm just a little bit behind,

so I got to do a bunch
of veg prep.

I just have too much
to do.

I don't know why I
did spring rolls.

It's a lot to do in one little
tiny package.

After won ton.

Hey Sam, what are
you doing tonight?

Samaloo which is my take on
potato curry.

Yesterday, I left
the potatoes

on the stove boiling,
but I'm not worried

because I have
more russet potatoes,

Russet potato,
it is the chef's potato.

I'm trying to figure out how
hot this grill gets.

How cool would it be if you're
walking around the market

and you see this guy
just grilling?

I wish that we have a
great time, Robert.

That's all I ask that we
have a great time.

I hope you have
a great time too.



Heard.

All spicier.

I'm having a lot of
pressure because

I have 35
different ingredients.

I'm just pew.

Sugar, chili oil, fermented
beans, sesame oil,

starch water, fish sauce.

So
much spice here.

Oh my God.

It could be a little bit
more spicier.

Evelyn, why did I do skewers?

Are you doing okay?

Yeah, I'm all right.

You know, curries actually
taste better the next night, so.

Putting this dish together

definitely reminds me
of my mother.

My mother's from Malaysia.
Half Indian, half Chinese.

When it comes
to street food,

I believe you should be able
to eat it with your hands.

I decided to fry my samosas
instead of baking them

just because that's how my
mother would do it.

Luke, how are you doing
over there.

Man, I am sweating
b*ll*ts over here.

Welcome to Texas, bro.

This is not my weather.

It's been a while since

I've fried any sort of pastry
or things like that.

I work more
with baking a puff pastry.

And if you do it right,
brush it with an egg wash.

It puffs up really nicely
and it's flaky.

There's sweat in my eye.

How are you feeling, Ashleigh?
I'm feeling good.

I've got my beef in the fryer.
It's crispy beef.

I dredged it

in a light coating of
sweet potato starch.

Yeah.

Monique, I'm kind
of loving our spot.

- I know.
- How was your first test?

The biggest thing is just
separating the rice cakes,

so they don't
stick together.

My family's from the Philippines,

but in my career I never really
cooked Filipino food.

If I felt like my grandpa

or my dad could do it way
better than I could.

It came later on when I started
making my own menus,

mixing Asian ingredients
with the techniques

that I learned in Europe.

Pretty awesome.

Eight minutes.

Thank you, mate.

- Jackson, it's delicious man.
- Thanks.

Oh, diners are here.

Diners are walking in, chefs.

Good evening.

Ready to mingle?

Single, ready to mingle.

Hey guys, thank you.

Evening.
Can't wait to feed you.

Good luck, everyone.

Hey guys. Looking good.

How are you?
Nice to see you, my friends.

Who wants to eat?

Hi, how are you guys doing?

Ready to
eat some chicken heart?

Hey, Chef, how are you?

So the Vietnamese spring roll.

Yeah, it got a lot of chili
in there, so buyer beware.

- Thank you so much.
- Of course. Enjoy it.

Thank you.

- See, it's nice out.
- It's very nice out.

It's like a perfect
Houston night.

This is our first Asian
night market.

I'm surprised we've never done
a challenge like this.

I'm surprised we
haven't either.

The cuisines that we've brought
to them today

have such rich histories here,

and we want to see that they
can take inspiration from them.

Did you see anything
that excited you?

Yes, I did.

Something
very interesting.

Well, let's go taste some
of this food then.

Hey, how are you, folks?

Thanks, bud.

- Hi, Evelyn.
- Hi.

It smells really good.

- Smells like Vietnam?
- It does.

So I've made poached
chicken salad with fresh Rau Ram

I've added some sweetness
with some rambutan.

- Fresh rambutan or canned?
- No, no, no, fresh rambutan.

I put in the work
for these rambutans.

And I went with
an avocado crema

and then it's on top
of a sesame crisp.

Thank you.

Pressure's on.

Vietnam!

If I didn't have 10 other
things to eat,

- I would ask for a second.
- Yes.

- That was very delicious.
- Thank you so much, Evelyn.

That boosted my confidence
a lot.

I like that
the heat is mild.

It's actually real nice,
like a crunchy--

Okay, that was good.

It reminded me of Vietnam,
the taste was authentic.

It had everything you needed.

Texture, herbaceous notes from
the herbs, it had some acid.

- Glorious.
- Can I have another please?

I wanted one too.

A bunch of more people to feed.

I'm very interested in
what you're doing here.

You know, I know you are.

I'm doing Indian kind of my
version of a samosa.

Crab and corn samosa,
spicy fig and tamarind sauce,

coriander, cumin, some fresh
mint over the top.

All right. Thanks.
- Yup.

I think he has done
a great job

of incorporating all the spices.

The samosa has nice color
and he filled it very nicely.

The chutney really gave
you that kind of sweet

and sour spicy flavor
of chop.

Yeah.

Very good job
and very balanced.

It's the best dish he's made.

Yeah, he needs to cook
Indian more, I guess.

- Enjoy.
- Thank you so much.

Man. Oh my God. Top tier.

So today I
made my take on karaage.

So I did use 12 different
spices on the batter.

Not Nick's 26 tonight?

No, it wasn't Nick's 26.

But I'm glad you remembered that.

I have some pickled Fresno
and ginger as well.

My sauce is peach miso.

Oh, yum. Thank you.

That's good.

- I love that crunch.
- Nice work.

Thank you, Chef.

Thank you.

That was some
damn good fried chicken.

- Crispy fried chicken.
- I loved it.

It was very tender.

Not at all greasy.

I wish it had a little bit
more Japanese flavor.

I really liked the pickled
ginger and that made me feel

a little bit like his
inspiration was coming through.

Enjoy the chicken salad, guys.
Thank you.

So just take it, fold it
in half and then just dunk it.

Hi.

Hello. How are you keeping
track of all

- of this stuff here?
- It's a little crazy.

This is insane.

So what is it?

Szechuan style stir fry noodle
with Korean melon

and crispy ramen on top.

Wow.

That's something that I
grew up with as a kid.

Oh, not ready yet, chef.

Don't touch.

I know there's a couple of
things you left out over here.

Or 17.

It's good to go, chefs.

Enjoy.

We're all deep in.

Slurp mode.

- Very good, thank you.
- Thank you.

So far, there's not a bad
dish in the house.

- That was damn tasty.
- That was really good.

It had everything I wanted, the
sweet, the savory, the crunchy.

Just slurping.

- Very, very Cantonese.
- Is it?

That's all I cared about.

It got a bit of spice
with the chutney.

Hi, how y'all doing?

I'm doing a Mala style
crispy beef

alongside some red daikon.

I was very inspired
by the mapo tofu,

which is my favorite
Chinese dish.

All right, Tom's having some
trouble there.

- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.

I have teeth.

- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, absolutely.

Sorry about that, Tom.

Ugh, gave Tom

I felt like that daikon
is so big

it's hard to eat on a skewer.

Grate it or slice it
or something.

And even the meat was not really
done as great.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

The textures
are really awesome.

I appreciate that.

Hi, Sarah.
Tell us about your dish.

So I knew I wanted
to do a banh mi.

So yeah, liver mousse,
pickles, charred heart

and my interpretation of
a traditional dipping sauce.

I incorporated a little
bit of maple syrup.

Just go ahead and fold
it and dunk.

Fold...

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

Her charring, cooking chicken
hearts any other way

would not have been
that flavorful.

I love the playful
interpretation of Sarah's dish.

The bread needed to be much
more charred and crispy

because it completely gave way.

Hi Robert,

What's the cuisine
you're doing?

Filipino. So I did
a marinated chicken thigh

I marinated it in a peanut sauce
with a little bit of rice.

What is this sort
of chili sauce?

Thai chilies with some
fermented shrimp paste.

Shrimp paste is pretty hardcore.

- Yeah.
- Thank you.

I'm really happy with
the flavors.

It's kind of something that
I really like to eat,

like kind of in your face.

Oh, yeah, it's in your face.

Pungent.

- Thank you so much.
- Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

I mean, talk about
down and dirty.

- Yeah, funky.
- I liked it.

And I really liked
that--

- Shrimp paste.
- Shrimp paste, yeah.

I thought the shrimp paste
was really flavorful,

just too much of it.

Here you are, enjoy.

Hi Buddha.

I have made a chicken
karahi samosa.

It's a dry style chicken curry

with tamarind chutney
and yogurt.

How did you make
your pastry?

- This puff pastry is fried?
- Yeah.

Thank you.

Buddha made a valiant attempt
at a samosa

but frying the puff pastry just
made it this greaseball.

It was raw inside
and gummy and pasty.

I told them
not to fry at all.

I told them to bake it,

and his chutney was
very sugary.

Yes, there was no spices
and no heat.

It's like jam.

So I'm trying to grill these
potatoes, but I'm like, dude,

does this really
make sense?

And I'm like, "Yeah, it
makes a lot of sense.

We should grill these potatoes."

Hi.
Hi Monique.

What did you make?

I got Chinese, so I made rice
cakes with fermented beans,

braised pork belly and some
fresh pea sprouts

- and garlic chives.
- Thank you.

Thanks.
- Thank you so much.

Thank you, Monique.

She had all the flavors there,

but I think they needed to
get in to the rice cakes.

And I found them bland.

If she had sautéed
or stir fried

in the wok with those sauces,

those flavors
would have gone in.

Good evening, Jo.

What did you make for us?

Chicken Ticino skewers.

This is the street food
that I had

when I was in Manila
growing up.

These chicken thighs have been
marinated in banana ketchup.

Some
calamansi juice.

underneath is a sawsawan
and it's a chewy onion

sugarcane vinegar infusion.

- Thanks.
- Thank you, Jo.

I liked
the condiment.

Yes, my problem was

I feel the
chicken was really bland.

- The actual chicken.
- Agreed.

It needs to be more sweet
and more salty, more everything.

I wish Jo
had pushed herself more

since she knows this
cuisine very well.

Okay, now the rest
of the evening.

So I did a smoked ham
hock miso soup.

Just learned togarashi
means red pepper in Japanese,

so I thought of making
a togarashi hot sauce.

Oh, right.

Oh, that's delicious.

- Yeah. Thank you, Damarr.
- Thank you so much.

Thanks.

That was good.

The broth had so much flavor.

It had the umami I've
been looking for.

It was a very complex dish.

All right.

- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.

What are you making?

I got inspired yesterday
when I found out

Aloo meant potato,
so I was like,

"Oh, if I put my twist on it,

Sam's take on a potato curry,

so Samaloo.

- Sam's potato.
- Okay.

Today I'm making Samaloo with
a chutney made with grape,

pomegranate, mint
and cilantro.

Did you steam the potatoes
or did you boil them?

The potatoes-- I thought to
myself, I need to put on a show.

I need people to smell
what I'm cooking,

so I just grilled it.

I seasoned it nicely with
oil, salt, just grilled.

Okay, thank you so much.
- Thank you.

Thank you.

Samaloo.

The problem is
the potato, the aloo.

The aloo was undercooked.

And grilled potatoes
have nothing

to do in a potato curry.

It's shouldn't
be a thing.

When you make curry
all the flavor,

the spices go inside the potato.

It's confusing. Yup.

- Hey Jackson.
- I made a spring roll,

Vietnamese spring roll
made with sausage.

Some won ton, shallot

and the sauce is reduced
Pho broth.

I've made Vietnamese zero times
in my life, so.

Thank you.
- Thank you so much.

I mean, this is a good twist.

We don't do that originally
on spring roll

For Jackson never cooking
Vietnamese food before,

I think he nailed it.

The sauce was hot
and flavorful.

That roll felt so fresh.

It was really good.

This crazy technique of
reducing Pho way down.

Turning it into almost,
like, gelatin because.

You can't tell, right?

They give
you the poker face.

Naw, they won't
tell you nothing.

I got to say, all in all, the
food's very good tonight.

Yeah, I think that all of
the chefs really reached.

- Let's go back to Judges' Table.
- Sounds good.

There was one that I was trying
to hold back from Tom

because it was much bigger
than the other ones.

And he was like,
I want that one.

It's a difficult challenge.

In some cases
you had zero experience

with the cuisines that you
were presented with.

And I think overall
very exciting,

some very, very good food tonight.

The flavors, the techniques,
you know,

you literally almost have to
be born with Asian flavors

to bring out the kind of
flavors you all brought out.

Evelyn, Jackson and Jae,
please stay here.

Everyone else, please
step to the side.

The three of you had

our favorite dishes
of the night.

Congratulations.

Jae, I thought the harmony
between the udon noodles,

which were really chewy,
the vegetables,

they all were in harmony.

- Thank you.
- The oddball was the melon.

I mean, that was like
out of left field.

Koreans eat this melon,

and I wanted to give a little
personality to it.

It just completely worked.

Jackson, I loved how much heat
you put in your spring roll.

I loved the acidity.

I thought it was right
and gave us

a beautiful contrast to
this rich, deep sauce.

I was kind of worried
about your dish.

When you described it to me
and you came through.

that sauce really was fantastic, Jackson.

It was ridiculous.

Thanks.

- Evelyn?
- Yes.

You layered in the perfect
balance of so many flavors.

The creaminess you gave with
that avocado cream.

Yeah.

It was very balancing.

I'm happy you guys understood
it as it worked in my head.

I'm proud of you guys.

But there can only
be one winner tonight.

The winning
chef tonight is...

Jae.

What?

Congratulations, Jae.

You cooked with a lot of
confidence today and it showed.

And it just won you $10,000.

I can't believe this.

$10,000.

You know, the rent in
New York City is so expensive,

so I'm going to
cover my--

Thank you.

The three of you
can step to the side.

Now we'd like to see Buddha...

Ashleigh...

and Sam.

Please step forward.

You had our least favorite
dishes of the night

and one of you will
be going home.

Let's start with you, Ashleigh.

Did you feel good
about your dish?

I was proud of the knowledge
that I learned

and I did my best to apply it.

The sauce part, the more
Chinese part of your dish

actually was fine.

The problem was,
at least with my piece,

it was really,
really chewy.

The daikon was cut too big

and the whole dish
also needed the salt.

If you added more sugar, salt
vinegar, boiled it,

dumped it over the daikon

it would have
marinated instantly.

Buddha, what made you want
to fry puff pastry?

In Malaysian cuisine,
- which is Indian-
- Chinese,

they have something very
similar, curry puff.

- Yes.
- And it is fried.

The issue with your dish,
Buddha was the pastry.

It was piping hot but
when I broke into it,

the inside was still quite
pasty and undercooked.

You know, samosas are
a really savory thing.

And to me, the filling as
well as the chutneys

ate very sweet.

Indian food has to have
big and bold flavors.

I think it got lost in translation.

- Sam.
- Hi.

Hi.
- What's up, what's up?

Do you grill potatoes a lot?

You know...

I don't.

This is the exciting,
this is the new,

this is something different.

Anyone can boil potato,
who grills a potato?

- Exactly, Sam!
- No one grills a potato.

Would you ever grill
a potato again?

After this? Hell no.

When you're taking
a risk on a dish,

you have to remember
how to cook.

They just were not
cooked through.

Now that I'm thinking about it,
I'm like, okay,

if I took two steps back, maybe
I might have changed it,

but I don't regret what I did
because I'm learning.

All right.

We will call
you back in a bit.

Thank you very much.
You can exit the kitchen.

Let's hear it for Jae dog!

Nice!

Jae, we all want
noodles for dinner.

Buddha, what do you think?

I'm-- I'm just super surprised.

I had a lot of people come
up to me and said

it was their a favorite dish
of the night.

All three of these chefs made

a valiant effort
at taking inspiration

from all of the foods
that they had.

But each of them suffered
from technical mistakes.

Let's take Ashleigh's dish.

My issue with Ashleigh's
dish was the size

of the meat that made it
very hard to eat

and that lack of flavor
in the daikon.

You know, daikon just tastes
good even if you put salt

and lemon, nothing even more.

That's all you need
for daikon.

I just don't think the dish
went far enough.

It needed to go further.

This was not part
of my game plan,

but you know, here we are.

For Buddha, Kiran?

He tried very hard.

He just needed bold, strong
flavors and better techniques.

I also think that that pastry

should have been light
and flaky.

I just don't
think he used

the right cooking method for
that specific pastry.

It's not like I've never fried
that sort of thing before.

I tasted everything,
I really enjoyed it.

And then we have the grilled
potato vindaloo from Sam.

It's not a vindaloo.

Out of all
of the different curries.

Vindaloo is the least sweet.

It's very highly spiced.

- Very hot.
- It wasn't spicy enough.

Maybe it was too sweet.
That's not the issue.

The issue was the raw potato,
a grilled raw potato.

There was nothing he could
do to correct it.

It was misguided.

If I had to eat it again,

I would eat the sauce
and the rice without the potato.

I'm just being honest
about what I'm doing

and what I'm trying to do.

You know, like, I'm trying
to push the boundaries.

I think we have our answer.

- Uh-huh.
- Yes.

Let's get them out here.

Chefs, I think that especially
to cook right now,

it's so exciting that you
get to go on a journey

and explore different cultures
and sort of take bits

and pieces of that and bring
it back to your kitchen

and kind of play around
with things,

and maybe you'll do
several iterations

before it goes on a menu.

Unfortunately, we
don't have the luxury here.

If a mistake is made,
it gets you sent home.

Sam, please pack
your knives and go.

This experience was so much fun,

you know, like,
yes, it's heartbreaking,

but then I keep remembering
I have my right hand,

I have my left hand.
That's all I need.

Sam, in Last Chance Kitchen,
you'll get a chance.

Maybe you can grill a potato
and make it work.

- I don't know.
- Or maybe not.

Sounds good.

Take care, bye Sam.

No, no.

It's not about the failure.

It's about picking yourself up,
brushing it off

and fighting the good fight.

Crush it. And then whoever wins,
I'm coming to your house.

I'm so happy because
someone's going to watch this

and someone's going
to learn from my failure.

And they're going to be
better than I am.

If I can spread that love
I'm already winning.

Tonight, Sam enters
Last Chance Kitchen.

I'm here to shock the world.

His undercooked potato
left the judges cold.

He's going back for
more grilled potatoes.

Can he live
to grill another day?

Find out
now On Demand.

Or wherever you stream Top Chef.

Next time on Top Chef...

Please give a warm welcome
to Wylie Dufresne.

- Hello.
- What kind of science project

am I going to be asked
to do right now?

We want you to create two
dishes that look exactly alike

but taste completely different.

This is a double elimination.

This challenge couldn't possibly

be closer to my
worst nightmare.

Jo, what are you looking for?

A hope and a prayer.

If our technique
fails us, we fail.

If I change something,
we both have to change

complete components
on our dishes.

This is so fun.

That might be the
best dessert we've had.

It was leather.

Your dish was so progressive,
it was striking.

One of your teams
will be going home.

I'm sorry, very much, you know?