As the days passed, by mid-June, the round of 16 would soon begin, but Nishino didn't need to participate - the first and second places in Group A and Group B were guaranteed to be in the quarterfinals, so the four places in the quarterfinals had already been decided, and the remaining four spots were contested by the remaining 16 young players.

Like Nishino Renyin, Ghost Gate Ryuya and the top two in Group B did not go to the scene to watch the game, mainly after the end of the knockout round, the next round of 16, and even the follow-up quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are all live TV and network broadcasts, unless it is a group of relatives and friends who support the players, otherwise you can watch it directly on TV.

When the day comes to June 15th, the list of the top eight is finally out.

First of all, the first and second in Group A, respectively, Ryūya Ghost Gate and Nishino Renyin, followed by the first and second in Group B, Kazuhiko Miura and Shuhei Nagayama - Kazuhiko Miura is a newcomer of unknown origin, Nishino Renyin has not observed his cooking process, and it is not easy to judge his level, and Shuhei Nagayama has advanced to the national competition in the first two years, and now he is 25 years old, which is just the upper limit of the competition threshold, and the level should not be inferior to Ghost Gate Ryuya, and he is also a strong opponent.

Moreover, a 25-year-old big brother is mixed with a group of young players of high school and college age, and it is a bit of an old-timer bullying children.

As for the other four quarter-finalists who advanced to the top 16, Nishino Renyin observed it on live TV and found that the level of these teenagers and girls is generally in the middle of lv3 - if the experience bar of lv3 is 100 points, then these players are probably around 50. Although it should not be underestimated, the threat is obviously not as great as that of a genius boy who is infinitely close to lv4 like Ghost Gate Ryuya.

So the biggest threat is still Ryuza Onimon, Kazuhiko Miura, and Shuhei Nagayama...... Of course, considering the death order given by the old man, the Onimon Dragon can be regarded as the primary goal of Nishino Renyin, and its importance is probably the same as winning the championship.

The quarter-finals are divided into two days, a one-on-one BO1 knockout format, and the dates are June 16 and June 17.

Because it happened to be a weekend, everyone from the Culinary Research Club could also come to cheer for Nishino Renyin on the spot as a cheerleader - after all, it was the first person in the history of the club to enter the national competition, and Yagi Haruka directly encouraged all the members to come to the venue to support Nishino Renyin, and the momentum was still very huge.

"Lianyin, Ganba Dad! It doesn't matter if you lose, you're already great! When she arrived at the competition venue, Kyoko cheered with a serious face.

"Hmm."

"Well, come on." Makino thought about it and said something, although it sounded a little perfunctory.

"Hmm."

"I'm sure you're going to win." Next up is Shizu Yoshihara.

"Hmm."

"Look at your appearance, what's there to worry about, will Brother Nishino lose? Are you kidding! Isn't it all about winning with your eyes closed? "Ryohei Fujiwara.

"Uh...... Well. ”

"Nishino-kun, come on!" Haruka Yagi and the other seniors of the Cooking Research Club cheered on - this was the best record in the history of the club, and it was the hope of the whole village, and they were all very nervous.

"Hmm."

After a round of encouragement, it was Hongyu's turn, and Hongyu also said unceremoniously and loudly: "Lianyin, there is a kaiseki restaurant outside, should we go and see it after the game is over?" ”

"You're dreaming." Nishino Lianyin looked at her speechlessly - everyone is blessing themselves with the truth, why did they cross you when they came here?

However, considering that she is just a cat, although she has been a little human-like recently, she is also a child, and she really can't ask for anything, Nishino Lianyin was helpless for a while, and quickly entered the backstage to prepare for a while.

When I entered the venue, the number of audiences was not very large, aside from the family group support group or something, the others were mostly related media, such as reporters from some food magazines. But it doesn't matter, after all, it's not a national competition, it's just a regional competition, and some residents in the Kyoto area watch it on TV, but there are still relatively few people who come to see it.

Nishino Renyin was the first to play.,The opponent in the quarterfinals is a young man who broke in the previous round of sixteen.,It seems to be a college student.,It seems that the family is running a restaurant.,And Nishino Renyin, who opened an izakaya at home, is a chess opponent.。

The theme of the first game was set yesterday, the content is rice bowls, the difficulty is still relatively low, and there is no time limit, and in terms of the ingredients needed, Nishino Renyin has also asked the staff to prepare them in advance, so when the time comes, the game will start immediately, and there is no place to drag mud and water.

……

On the judges' bench, Kazunari Nakajima was slowly drinking tea, and together with the other two judges, he quietly waited for the dishes of the two young contestants in the first group of competitions.

Nakajima himself is the editor-in-chief of a food magazine, and when he was young, he traveled with the editors of the magazine, tasted the cuisine of various countries around the world, and after the age of 35, he sat in the editor-in-chief, and has been serving as a judge for the God of Food Contest since he was 35 years old, and there is no doubt that he is a veteran gourmet.

At this time, he was drinking tea slowly, leisurely observing the cooking techniques of the two contestants in the field, and one of the two judges next to him suddenly spoke: "Mr. Nakajima, do you think who among the young contestants in our division has the greatest probability of winning the championship in this God of Food Competition?" ”

The young man who spoke, Masataka Hasegawa, is not very old, he looks like he is twenty-six or seventeen, he is a young food blogger who often posts food tasting videos on YouTube, and is very popular, and he is also one of the new judges this year.

Compared with Nakajima Kazunari, Hasegawa Mataka can only be regarded as a junior as a gourmand or as a judge, so his speaking posture is obviously relatively low, and Nakajima Issei has no interest in putting on a senior shelf, and after thinking about it carefully, he replied: "You want to ask me...... The top two in Group A and Group B of the knockout round are naturally the most probable, and the one I am most optimistic about is Ghost Gate Ryuya, after all, I am familiar with his grandfather, and I am quite clear about his level, and I definitely have the strength to win the championship. ”

After a pause, he continued: "And the other is Shuhei Nagayama, his first two results in the God of Food Contest in Kyoto were a quarter-finals and a semi-finals, this time, I think he should be the runner-up, unless his strength has stagnated or regressed this year." ”

"What about the other two, Kazuhiko Miura, who is the first in Group B, and Renon Nishino on the field, how does Mr. Nakajima judge?" Hasegawa Masataka continued to ask, and another middle-aged judge with a big bald head next to him was looking down at his phone with nothing to do, and when he heard the conversation between the two, he also pricked up his ears with interest.

"I haven't done much to understand these two players for the time being, but it shouldn't be better than the two players Ghost Gate Ryuya and Nagayama Shuhei, after all, even if these two enter the national competition, they can be among the best, at least they can compete with those top young chefs in Kanto." Nakajima Kazunari shook his head.

In fact, he knew Nishino Renyin, or rather, he had heard of the title of "Pleasure Food Magician", but, when Nishino Renyin filled in the contestant's information, the chef's resume was "optional" rather than "mandatory", and he simply didn't write anything, so Nakajima Issei didn't know Nishino Renyin's identity at all - he was not in Kyoto for most of the past six months, although he considered going to Nishino Restaurant to taste it, but he hadn't put it into action yet, and he hadn't seen Nishino Renyin himself.

After Nakajima Kazunari finished his evaluation, Hasegawa Masataka didn't say anything more, and the bald judge on the side was curious: "Nakajima-san, who do you think has a higher level of these two players on the field?" ”

The rating of the God of Food competition is comprehensively evaluated, and it is not about whether the contestants are proficient or not, but about the multi-faceted evaluation of the dishes - is the presentation good? How does it smell? How does it taste? Is it on topic? Is there a brilliant innovation?

But before that, just looking at the proficiency of the contestant's own cooking techniques, you can also see some clues - the skillful player is more proficient in cooking, faster, and more stable in taste, if it is a young player with unfamiliar skills, although it is not a sure loss, but it is definitely a disadvantage, unless this player can have any creative ideas in terms of the subject matter and turn the situation around through innovation.

"It all feels pretty much the same." Nakajima Kazunari glanced at him casually - in fact, he didn't understand it, after all, he wasn't a chef, he could only eat and not cook, how do you understand this, but since the other two people regarded him as a senior, he couldn't be ashamed to say that I didn't know.

After about forty minutes, the college student's meal was already finished in one step.

He makes a very traditional parent-child rice bowl, a rice bowl based on chicken and eggs, because the chicken and eggs are "parent-child" relationship, hence the name parent-child rice bowl. At the same time, because the college student contestant added some of his own understanding when seasoning the sauce, the rice bowl smelled exceptionally delicious, which instantly made the three bored judges all refreshed.

It's so fragrant, this parent-child rice bowl looks ordinary, but it smells much more fragrant than the normal parent-child rice bowl, and I'm afraid there are some special spices added...... is worthy of being a player in the quarterfinals, and it is really not easy!

"Ask the three judges to taste it." The college student brought three bowls of parent-child rice bowls to the judges, and the normal parent-child rice bowl production process is actually only 20 minutes, but after all, he has to make three servings, and he has improved the dishes, so it takes a little more time.

Seeing this, Nakajima immediately lowered his head and began to taste it, because of today's competition, he actually came to be a judge on an empty stomach, and he didn't expect that the first game would be a protracted battle, and he was about to starve to death.

Hasegawa Masataka and the bald judges were actually in a similar situation, and immediately slammed into the rice bowl, but fortunately, the three of them were still relatively rational and knew that there was still a rice bowl waiting for it, so they stopped after eating and moving, and began to wait silently for the next dish - there is no scoring mechanism for one-on-one, and it will be up to the three judges to see who each votes for.

But another hour passed quickly, but under the gaze of the audience and the judges, Nishino Renyin was still cooking his pot leisurely, not in a hurry at all.

The three judges were a little sore when they saw this - what is this contestant doing? It's been almost two hours, and because there is no time limit for this competition, is it just rubbing time unscrupulously? Is it because we are afraid that we have just eaten too much and have no appetite, so we deliberately delay the time and want to starve us?

It's too much, it's really too much!

You can't impress the judges, boy!