Original subtitles

This is the last item.

Disgusting?

Ow, ow, o?

Honestly!

I can't believe you've all made it this far preparing such horrible food.

In particular, that oyster porridge at the end.

Yes! It was as if...

It tasted like taking a bath with a Western Lowland Gorilla!

Once again, that's pretty obscure...

WESTERN LOWLAND GORILLA

Sure enough, her sense of taste is different from ordinary people!

I'd say you took a shortcut or two with the mise en place, yes?

I know your group is expanding its business,

so you're trying to make things more efficient.

But even so,

did you think you could pollute my tongue with something like this?

I- I...

We're so very sorry, Miss Erina!

NAKIRI

It's time to get on the road, Soma.

Come back once you've learned what you're made of.

GOD TONGUE

Man, I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.

How come all the other test-takers have butlers and bodyguards?

DAD CELL PHONE

Huh? Didn't I mention?

You're taking the transfer test for one of the best cooking schools in Japan.

It's a super-elite school with a graduation rate of less than 10%.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE TOHTSUKI FINE DINING ACADEMY

Well, good luck, Soma. That school will--

Hey, Joe!

Please wait a moment.

Dad, where are you right now?

New York City,

the Manhattan Royal Hotel, at the VIP reception hall.

Huh?

I'm makin' food here right now.

Hey, Joe, I'm so glad you came back to New York.

This is the ultimate dinner!

Keep your voice down, Dr. McFlee.

You'll raise your blood pressure again.

Delicious!

I had to leave Congress after I got sick,

so I thought if I could eat Yukihira's cooking one last time,

I'd have no regrets.

But now I've gotten greedy and want to eat it over and over.

Sir, let's come here again.

Yes, over and over!

Is this where Yukihira is?

Let's go back please, High Priest!

You're in the middle of fasting.

You have to set an example for the other--

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

You're saying I can't eat Yukihira's food when it's right in front of me?

Then...

I'll abandon my faith!

High Priest!

Yukihira!

I worked in India first, then Italy and Spain.

I came to America yesterday.

I plan to be cooking here on the East Coast for a while.

Huh? I can't keep up with what you're saying.

Well, I got asked a favor.

So, Soma...

Thinkin' you can survive that school till graduation

and get better than me is a laugh.

I'll friggin' do it!

Fine.

Then I'll tell you the secret to improving your cook--

He hung up, dammit.

Where is Yukihira?

Coming!

Listen up, Soma.

The trick to being a good chef is

meeting the kind of woman

that makes you want to offer up all your cooking to her.

Well? What's the next item?

This, ma'am.

Judging the transfer exams?

Joining the council means I get this kind of work, huh?

I'll head there once I've changed.

Dammit! He thinks it's "a laugh," huh?

I will make it to the very end!

Ah!

Sorry! I got some on you.

Not to worry.

You want to transfer in too, huh?

Please, sit down.

Okay...

Tohtsuki's middle school division

announces their advancement exam results today.

Plus, students like us from other middle schools are here for the transfer exam,

so it's pretty lively, huh?

I'm Yoshiaki Nikaido.

My family runs a French restaurant.

Huh? That's a coincidence.

We have a family restaurant, too.

It might not be a coincidence.

That fellow over there is the heir to a nationwide restaurant chain.

The other is the son of a major wholesaler

that distributes fresh fish throughout Kanto.

Mostly everyone here works in the food industry in some way.

What's the name of your family restaurant?

Ah, it's called "Yukihira."

Yukihira...

A high-end establishment?

Nah, it's nothin' that fancy.

It's just a little diner in Shitamachi--

Huh?

You lowly plebeian,

you will not sit next to me!

Listen and listen well.

This school is not a place for you plebes!

It is a sacred grove where only those

who live in the world of fine cuisine may learn!

That's what this place is!

Tohtsuki Fine Dining Academy!

Common rabble like yourself will surely fail even the written exam--

Don't go deciding what "class" I am when you ain't even had Yukihira's food!

Young sir!

Look at that.

Someone from a diner thinks he can transfer in here.

What a joke!

Somebody really needs to learn his place!

I can tell this will be rough.

If things are like this right off the bat,

how hoity-toity is the judge gonna be?

DIVISION TRANSFER EXAM LOCATION

Is that... Could it be...

Y- yeah...

All potential transfers,

I will be overseeing your transfer exams today.

ERINA NAKIRI (15) 3RD-YEAR, MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

My name is Erina Nakiri.

A girl?

What's more, she's in an academy uniform.

She's gonna be the judge?

The message from the Entrance Exam Department?

I'll read it now.

"First, there will be group interviews of up to ten people

to review your applications.

After that, you will prepare three dishes.

Those who proceed--"

Such drivel.

All right...

Bring the cooking station here.

-Ma'am! -What's up?

Ingredients?

What's going on?

Your main ingredient will be eggs.

Make me one dish.

Only those whose dish impresses me may transfer into Tohtsuki Academy.

H- hey!

All of you...

You have just one minute, starting now,

to exercise your right to abstain from the test.

Huh? One minute?

I- I abstain!

Hey, wait!

Why are you running?

Don't tell me you don't know who that person is!

No clue. Tell me.

That's Erina Nakiri, holder of the greatest palate known to man.

She's the God Tongue!

Huh?

Children usually start talking between the ages of one and two,

but at just three months she said her first words:

This lacks flavor.

She showed such talent soon after being born that from a young age

she was asked to taste test for famous restaurants all across Japan.

All the big names in the culinary world are clients of Erina Nakiri!

Any critique she gives will spread throughout the industry!

If she deems that you have no talent,

your life as a chef will be completely over!

Sure enough, a bunch of dimwits with no promise.

I can't waste my time on people like that.

That's all for today, right?

Um, yes.

I'm going to my room to try out a new dish.

A new dish made by Erina-sama?

What is it, Hisako?

Your face says that you want something.

Uh, no, I...

Do you want the right to taste my food?

I- I want it!

My, such a greedy girl.

I'm so sorry!

But first, we have to make our report:

that zero candidates passed.

Ma'am!

So, hey!

Can I make whatever I want?

What?

Someone would challenge me?

So long as you use eggs, you're free to make what you like.

But do you really want to do this?

If you'd rather quit, now's your--

Man, I was really worried!

I was like, "What if I flunked without making anything?"

Get off her!

Just who do you think she is?

Who is she?

She's the top student in the middle school division

and the youngest member in the history of Tohtsuki Academy's Council of Ten,

the highest decision-making body on campus:

Erina Nakiri!

Whoa, this is a nice knife...

Quit wandering around the place!

I'll ask you again.

Do you really intend to take my exam?

Well, I mean...

I just have to make you say it tastes good, right?

So of course I'll take it.

This man...

Erina-sama...

Soma Yukihara...

Your family runs a diner.

You appear to be a second-rate chef.

You don't know my pedigree, do you?

Much like a stray dog doesn't realize a gemstone's worth.

Well, you'll have the honor of me tasting your food.

The flavor of the low-end of the culinary world, I'm sure.

I'll be pleased

to serve you a specialty of our shop!

Coming up!

O Exam Monitor, Miss Nakiri!

Eggs are a staple of Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine.

Erina-sama tastes the egg dishes of many high-end restaurants daily.

What sort of food will he make?

It seems he'll scramble the eggs, but...

I can't see the finished product at all.

Soma Yukihira-kun,

just what are you making?

You've watched but you still don't get it? Tee-hee-hee!

I'll flunk you here and now!

Listen up: I don't have time to spend on some poorly made item.

I'm asking, do you intend to make a dish that is suitable for my tongue?

Well, fine, I'll tell you.

I'm making No. 8 on Japanese Eatery Yukihira's secret menu!

"Secret menu"?

What sort of refined dish is it?

Furikake rice.

Don't toy with me!

Sure enough, you're a bottom-level chef.

This was an utter waste of time.

Erina-sama!

Of course, this ain't normal furikake.

What I'm making is...

Transforming Furikake Rice!

"Transforming Furikake"?

Well, it should be about done!

Soma Yukihira...

Just what type of dish does this man intend to make?

Sorry for the wait!

No...

Sure enough, he's making a fool of me!

It really looks like normal furikake.

This is the work of a second-rate chef.

It doesn't make me hungry at all.

My palate is such that I'm called the "God Tongue,"

and only extravagant, top-class dishes grace my dining table.

It is a heavenly world of deliciousness.

Such is where I have lived.

Yet you would give me something like this?

The exam is over.

Erina-sama!

This dish hasn't taken its true form yet.

What might that mean?

There's something behind the egg.

Well, take a look.

The true worth of a furikake

is when it's on top of rice, right?

Now then...

It's done.

The rice's heat is melting it!

As it melts, it coats more and more of the rice!

This aroma...

Chicken?

The delicate scent of slow-simmered chicken is slowly building.

This is...

Transforming Furikake Rice?

It looks completely different from before!

Just what does it taste like?

I'll grant you just one bite from me.

Hurry up and give me that bowl!

Order up!

What have I done?

While tasting it, I forgot to judge it!

What was that texture just now?

Huh?

Gonna go for a second bite?

I thought I heard you say "just one bite."

You have a problem or something?

I'm just kidding. Relax and eat.

Nikogori, huh?

We have a winner!

Those cubes are jelly made with chicken wings.

Nikogori is meat or fish broth with lots of gelatin

so it hardens into a kind of jelly when cooled.

I simmered the chicken wings in fish seasoning, saké, and mild soy sauce,

chilled the broth to harden it, then sliced it up fine.

When it goes on top of the hot rice, the broth from the chicken wings melts,

binding with the soft-scrambled egg.

So this nikogori is a soup, so to speak,

rich and infused with the flavor of the chicken.

The richness and saltiness of the smooth broth

draws out the gentle sweetness of the fluffy egg.

With each bite, fluffiness and velvetiness caress the inside of my mouth!

The melted nikogori dramatically elevates the deliciousness of the egg.

This is unlike any dish I've ever had.

It's a world of flavor unknown to me.

Well, whatcha think?

Glad you didn't leave without eating?

Y- you be quiet!

I'm in the middle of judging.

Through originality and creativity, you can transform even everyday dishes.

That is the food of Yukihira!

But I live in the heavenly world of deliciousness.

I can't approve this.

Food made by him, the very picture of the common man!

I can't approve...

I can't... mustn't... approve!

This flavor!

It's as if...

It's like being lovingly stroked by angels' wings!

Go away!

Stay back!

No, stay back!

No!

I don't want to approve this!

My tongue... My body...

They mustn't respond!

True, we're just a piddling little diner,

and you may be the super elite of the food world,

but if you just sit at the head of the table acting cocky,

there will be some things you can't make.

For sure.

Erina-sama...

Well, whaddya say?

Yukihira-style furikake rice.

Is it delicious or not?

Say it!

Dis...

It's disgusting!

Huh?

What the heck? What the heck? What the heck?

How can he be so cocky?

Toward me, Erina Nakiri!

Unforgivable!

STING STING

Soma Yukihira...

Tohtsuki Academy doesn't need people like you!

Hello? It's Erina.

Please inform my grandfather, the Academy director.

In today's transfer test,

the number of successful applicants was...

...zero.

SOMA YUKIHIRA FAIL

TO BE CONTINUED

Subtitle translation by: Javier Lopez