Food Wars volume 9 - Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

 Awright, time to pick up Food Wars again, as I now obtained a few volumes to continue reading this excellent series about cooking.

 

Which intrests me by topic alone already, and I haven't regretted reading any of the previous volumes either. 

And it begins with the conclusion of Soma's quarter final cook-off versus Alice Nogiri.  When it turns out he used... convenience story candy in his recipy, the judges are totally flabbergasted.  Alice is corrected on her faulty assumptions of a bento box by the dean, her own grandfather, as she is soundly defeated by Soma.  In the meantime, Megumi is preparing for her own quarter final, in which she will face Ryo Kurokiba, Alice's assistant, in a ramen themed challenge.

 

As Megumi reflects on her practice dishes, using ingredients from her home village.  But Alice confides in her that her opponent also knows the seaside well, as she met him years ago when he was still a young bloke and already in charge of a diner for dockworkers.  He was a real prick back in those days, but of exceptional skill, seeing the kitchen as a battlefield.

 

He serves a ramen dish inspired on a french fish soup, impressing the judges, while Megumi brings a crystal clear broth made of scallops and vegetables from the Aizu area in Japan.  After a tense duel, the dean selects Ryu as the winner, but Megumi bows out of the contest under applause from the crowd.  The dean admits to himself that this class might just be diamond generation, as the survivors so far prepare for their cook offs.

 

Soma meets the last qualifier, Subaru Mimasaka.  While he looks like a big, rough biker, he is actually a really relaxed guy.  While the third quarter final is based around hamburgers, putting Hayama against Hisako Arato, the spice master against the medicinal chief, Soma, Aldini and Megumi get to watch the contest in Subaru's waiting room, witnessing how Hisako makes a burger from turtle meat.

 

But what will Hayama put up against her dish?  That is something to look forward to in volume 10 of this highly enjoyable manga series...