Previously on Top Chef: World All Stars...
You'll compete in three rounds of 45-minute matches.
The goal is to beat Gabri, Luciana, Begoña.
It's like baby food. It's too runny.
Oh, sh--, I won't touch you.
Wow, that's unanimous. - Oh!
Round two.
I just----ed up big time in the last speed challenge.
You made a cake. It wasn't a biscuit.
So, let's do it. It's actually, a nice dish.
It's----ing banging.
By unanimous vote.
That means one of you will be going home.
This competition has been a roller coaster.
I mean, I never been in the middle.
Interesting dish, but it just didn't work.
It was just a beautiful plate of food.
I appreciate it.
I thought the dish was really, really successful.
Gabri, let's go, your shoes are on fire.
Gabri made a better dish.
He made a very tasty plate.
I'm doing a Yakiniku sauce.
The least creative and the most under seasoned.
Luciana, please pack your knives and go.
Eleven chefs remain
to compete in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winner,
a feature in Food Wine magazine,
an appearance at the Food Wine Classic in Aspen,
$250,000,
furnished by Saratoga Spring Water
and the title of Top Chef: World All Star.
My husband's name is Simone.
We are married five years, and we have two kids.
When I went to culinary school in Italy,
when the school was closed,
I don't have a house, you know?
I was homeless.
I had lunch or dinner
in the trash of McDonald's, you know?
But now, I have my house, I have my family.
Cooking saved my life.
Good morning, Chefs. Good morning!
♪ Honey, honey
You look good, how are you feeling, Victoire?
I am very good.
I'm glad you're feeling better.
Thank you.
Chefs, please welcome back your guest judge for this round,
Michelin-Starred chef and restaurateur, Adam Handling.
Hi, Chefs. It's great to be here.
Thank you.
The food that I tasted in Kew Gardens
was pretty special.
I'm very excited to see what's to come.
Chefs, as you can see, things are about to get sticky.
Known to be the world's oldest alcoholic beverage,
mead was known as the nectar of the gods
in ancient times.
Mead was also given to newlywed couples
to continue the toasting for one cycle of the moon
following their wedding, hence the term "honeymoon."
Not only is honey the key ingredient in mead making,
it's also a key ingredient in cooking.
For your Quickfire Challenge,
we want you to make a celebratory dish,
featuring mead and honey.
Think about those life events or milestones
where you want a memorable dish to help you celebrate.
Winning this Quickfire, you'll receive immunity
in the next Elimination Challenge.
Let's go. All right, Chefs.
You have 30 minutes on the clock.
Your time starts now.
Have to go get the honey, first.
Mead, mead, mead.
There's truffle honey.
Like...
Yes.
I discovered this is very, very sweet.
- That's good. - Yeah, it's nice.
I was thinking it was like a vinegar, you know.
I've been mead drunk before,
but it's usually a little sweet for me.
It's my first time trying it.
I know in Canada, you guys are good at this.
♪ O, Canada
How you doing, Buddha?
I choose honey mead and manuka honey.
Are you gonna make a dessert?
Yeah, gonna make a dessert.
I'm gonna make poached lobster
with mead beurre blanc.
This is one of my favorite melons.
Canary melon.
Since I have kids,
I am making chilled cucumber and melon soup.
That's lovely. You know what?
I'm from Poland, I'm doing dumplings.
I'm really pushing myself.
Are you using potatoes today?
Of course. Sweet potatoes this time.
A potato's a potato.
It's very hard, you have to do filling,
all dough, and then sauce in 30 minutes.
That's my potato girl!
ing boozy, eh? What're you making?
I'm making a trifle. Damn.
I'll try and make a zabaione.
I've got strawberries simmering in honey.
And if I can get this puff pastry done,
that's an awesome trifle.
Charbel, what are you doing with honey?
I'm going to glaze my butternut squash with the honey.
I made it one time for my sister-in-law baby shower.
In Germany, when people get married,
you always serve duck,
because the duck chooses his partner once in his life.
How romantic is that? I like that.
I want to do honey and mead caviar.
I only use the two ingredients,
and you combine them with a little bit of agar agar.
14 minutes. This is inspired
by a dish I made for my brother's wedding.
My brother is super annoying, to be honest.
He's, like, taller than me and smarter than me.
He got, obviously, married.
Frustrating, perfect person. But I love him.
Thank you, brother, I love you.
How do you celebrate your birthday?
- I usually drink. - I just drink.
I'm going to make shrimp...
- Does it have mead and honey? - Yes.
Fast, fast, fast.
Guys! Pancakes!
- Buddha, your pancakes! - Crepes, crepes.
Birthday crepe.
It's inspired by my wife, Rebecca.
She works at Eleven Madison Park
as a pastry sous-chef.
Finding someone that's just obsessed
about food as I am is a perfect match.
Ali, what celebration are you doing?
This celebration happens in springtime,
where we celebrate beekeepers,
they're gathering their honey, and milk the cows.
So I have prepared fresh cottage cheese,
honey and mead reduction...
Lovely.
Gonna make hot honey fried chicken.
You're making, like, my favorite dish.
I am a father now.
I have a little bundle of joy named Cyrus.
My son loves anything sweet.
So, I'm gonna make some honey pancakes
to set my chicken on top and whipped mead.
What's up, Amar? What's up, player?
This is whipped mead kind of resembles whipped cream.
I'm trying to be fancy like Tom, you know?
That's perfect.
When I was young, this is a really long time ago,
the only thing that I can cook was anchovies.
When I have people in my house, and I have something
to celebrate, I always did anchovies for them.
I made whipped feta cheese.
The trickiest part is the sweetness
from the honey and mead.
So, I'm balancing the whole dish
by adding feta cheese.
You have five minutes.
Sh--.
Oh, my God, my arm's gonna fall off.
It's not coming together like my normal zabaione.
This is the stupidest plan ever.
Sugar melts and like, binds,
but honey gets watery when you heat it up.
This is a disaster. Oh, my God.
Two and a half minutes.
Some of my dumplings...
...time is going out, and this is the best I can do.
Oh, my God.
I'm gonna be making some Funfetti.
Pastry, last minute.
Chefs, you have one minute left.
Oh, my God.
Ten seconds left.
Time's up! Hands up.
Good.
Okay, Buddha, come on up, please.
Wow. What is this?
The inspiration's a birthday crepe.
Usually get the Funfetti
with all the different things on top.
I get the honey coming through. It looks very pretty.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
- What did you make?
Mead beurre blanc with poached lobster
and honey poached baby corn.
Oh!
Thank you.
My family and I, we are farmers,
so every spring, we celebrate altogether
by eating cheese, honey, and fruits.
So, I have prepared homemade cottage cheese,
poached apricots, and glazed mead.
Thank you. Thank you.
I made Polish and Turkish dumplings
with sauce made of whole grain mustard,
- honey, and mead. - Honey and mustard
is like a match made in heaven.
Thank you.
You guys will need a spoon for this one.
All right, I'm ready.
I've made a canary melon and mead soup
with a honeyed yogurt and some fried seeds.
Very tasty.
Reminds me of a melon gazpacho from Spain.
Wow!
- Will I need a spoon? - No, eat with your hands.
With my hands?
- You saved it beautifully. - BEGOÑA: Here.
Okay, tell us what you made, Begoña.
BEGOÑA: Mediterranean party.
The thing that I try to do is like a cookie,
and then I have the tomatoes,
then I put the anchovies in it, also honey.
I like food that you can eat with your hands.
- I love textures and touching. - Thank you.
Hi. Hi.
I made a shrimp guacamole
with Spanish lavender on it to give a little bit
of flower and contrasto.
The bitterness of the endive in the honey
- is a beautiful circle. - Thank you.
Wow.
We did fried chicken for my son's baby shower.
So this is hot honey-fried chicken
with orange pancakes and whipped mead.
He loves sweet stuff now,
like, he wants to dip everything in ketchup and honey.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
I made this dish for my brother's wedding.
The duck is marinated with the pine honey
and then I used Mexican honey
and the mead to make honey caviar.
- That's interesting. - You did a lot in 30 minutes.
Thank you. Yeah.
What did you make for us?
Grilled butternut squash
with feta cheese, toasted cashew,
and honey and mead sauce.
I made a very similar dish
for my sister-in-law baby shower.
Thank you so much.
- Nicole. - I have something
a little sweet for you.
Being that we're in England, I thought about trifle.
So, I tried to emulate that with a mead zabaione
on honeyed strawberries.
- And what is this dough? - I have puff dough.
I just thought I'd give it a little bit
of texture and chew on.
Thank you. - Thank you very much.
Mead and honey, if you don't use it that often,
it's quite difficult to use, and I really do think
you've all smashed it, you did a great job.
But there were a couple of dishes
that fell short.
Nicole, your dish, it was a little touch
on the sweet side, and I feel that that zabaione
became a little bit soupy.
Amar, I love the chicken, but I feel like maybe if you had
some acidity in there, it could have counterbalanced
the sweetness.
Who else? - Sylwia.
The flavors of the honey and mustard
brought me back to my childhood,
but I feel that the execution up against such wonderful chefs,
needed to be a little touch tighter.
Overall, a very tasty dish, though.
And now for some good news.
Which chefs had dishes worth celebrating?
Tom, you have some serious skills.
I was really impressed the way you used the bee pollen.
Thank you.
Who else had one of our favorites?
Victoire, with your shrimp and guacamole.
Your dish was probably the best-paired
- and the most balanced. - Thank you.
Who else?
Charbel with the squash.
The way that you used the honey and the acidity,
I thought it was a magical dish.
I also loved the sauce
- that you made with the feta. - Thank you.
The chef with the winning dish today
fundamentally understood mead and honey.
And the winner is...
Tom.
I needed that.
I never won a single challenge anywhere,
not on Top Chef Germany, not in Top Chef World All Stars.
You just won yourself immunity
in the next Elimination Challenge.
Immunity! How about that?
Adam, I want to thank you for being here with us today.
It was a pleasure. Thank you. See you later. Good luck.
Chefs, I think this next challenge
will make you feel right at home.
Please give an extended welcome
to acclaimed Top Chef Mexico judge...
Martha Ortiz.
Hi, Martha. Welcome.
Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.
Do you recognize somebody here?
Of course. Hello.
- How are you? - Good to see you.
This is super nice to see...
I hope you're rooting for me, bitch!
No matter what part of the world you're from...
Pack your bags, because our friends at Vrbo
are sending you on a holiday of your own
in the countryside of Kent,
also known as the Garden of England,
where you'll have a whole vacation home to enjoy.
There, you'll get to put on a celebration
for your new Top Chef family, each other.
And, of course, the judges, we're in the family too, now.
Tonight, you'll head to your VRBO vacation home
and tomorrow you'll each be responsible
for a dish inspired by your favorite holiday.
We expect a family holiday feast,
so you guys will have to work together
to give us a complete holiday table.
Just like every family,
you have a shared family budget
of £1,000 to spend at Whole Foods Market.
There's a twist.
Luckily, London is not expensive at all...
but I'm much more worried about the home kitchen.
There's a lot of chefs, so, it could work...
or not.
The chef with the winning dish
will receive a Vrbo stay
anywhere in the world, for up to $10,000.
Wow!
I can't wait to hear all your stories tomorrow.
Good luck and happy, safe travel.
Thank you. Hasta la vista.
Come, guys. - Come here, guys.
I want to make a soup. Me too.
What kind of soup would you like to do?
It's soup with fagioli, uh, bean.
- So two soups? - Two soups? Really?
Okay, so mine will be much more liquid-y, so--
Yours is more like a stew? Exactly.
So, we're saying it doesn't have to be
- a cohesive meal? - No, it doesn't.
Essentially, the challenge is a potluck,
but we're all really strong personalities.
We all want to say what we want to do.
I'm making a Moroccan braised lamb shank with prunes.
- I'm gonna be doing kebabs. - I'd like to do pork belly.
I want to do pork belly as well.
Everyone decided to go for a real hearty main,
you know, lots of meat,
but I feel like there should be
a progression in some sort of way.
I will take a room temperature fish sort of salad.
BEGOÑA: Okay, so, starter, Buddha.
Anyone want to do a dessert?
Okay, yeah, I get it.
Dessert is tricky in the challenge.
I have immunity, I'll take the dessert.
Okay. Tom, dessert. Fantastic.
Nobody is planning a dish
that they need, like, three burners, right?
Because that's not gonna happen.
I will need one fryer,
I need to fry the chicken before the service.
Since you're frying, can we use the same pot?
- Yeah, yeah, for sure. - Actually, I'm gonna make
a mole bowl, a different kind of mole.
I know!
- I need [indistinct]. - I know.
The last time that I made mole,
I spent all my money and also May's money.
Can I use the rest of your money?
Sure. - Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. You saved me.
It was terrible, but this time,
it's more simplistic mole.
Everyone's got £90.
Let's agree that we're going to share the budget.
Okay. Just make sure,
90 bucks, your dish needs to be there.
All right, let's go.
Yup. Thank you, guys.
Do you have any whole sides of salmon?
Do you have a whole slab?
Budgets.
White vinegar and oregano.
How's that immunity feel? Shopping feels good.
Like, a little bit more relaxed right here, like this.
Right here. Let's go.
Gabri, are you making tacos?
Well, I'm making tortillas.
I bet it's going to be good.
Well, I'm Mexican. I hope so.
I'm thinking immediately of Dia de los Muertos,
which is a holiday from Mexico.
We are offering to our dead
the food that they enjoyed when they're alive.
Panko, you know, anything like that.
BEGOÑA: I'm making my interpretation
of a chicken Christmas stew.
These days, I want to make something
that is really like a fine dining.
So we have enough, right? - BEGOÑA: Yeah.
Four and they have one more.
Okay, so I don't need to buy.
Six minutes!
Let's go. Kisses.
I didn't get olive oil.
Bye, bye, cart. Good luck.
Just in case. If there's anything
that you don't need 100%, it goes in here.
And then, when we have enough money,
we will go through at the end.
Anybody have a bay leaf? Bay leaf?
- I got bay leaves. - Okay, we'll use together.
Anyone using flour? I am!
Okay.
Everyone's got 90 bucks to spend.
No, no.
523.
So, I can't go more than 613?
Okay. Fine.
This is making me very scared.
Come on, you too?
£30 left!
I say we go with Tequila.
Can we get a price check?
We can't go to a house and have no tequila. Come on!
♪ Vrbo, Vrbo, Vrbo Yes, baby.
You guys know Tom was a pastry chef for two years?
- Three, three. - Yeah.
- At a two Michelin Star. - Wow.
He's like, "Yeah, I'll make the cake."
Yeah, you'll make the----ing cake.
I was really happy when you won. I was thinking.
I just feel like I needed it. Let's go on vacation.
You snore? A lot.
Like, loud, like-- Oh, my God.
Don't sleep in the same room with me.
No, I don't recommend anybody to sleep in the same room.
Oh, look at this. Oh, this is the house.
Ooh, la, la. Damn!
Oh, my God. Wow.
Let's grab our bags and get cooking.
BEGOÑA: Here we go.
All right. Wowzers!
Oh, the kitchen's stunning.
Look at this.
Oh, my God!
This is a kitchen! Wow.
Here we go!
What a kitchen.
I wish I had a kitchen like that in my house.
I think it's enough space for all of us.
The burners are still going to be a challenge.
I'm gonna go see all the rooms.
So many bedrooms, so many beds.
There's probably like 24 beds in that home.
Oh, there's a loft, too.
This is my room! This is my room!
Oh, what?
Whoa! It gets even bigger in the backyard.
There's a pool back here!
Guys, there's a pool!
Oh, sh--, y'all found it.
I just want to start to cook now.
I know, me too.
All right, you guys, it is nine o'clock.
Are you guys ready to cook?
Yes, in such a beautiful kitchen.
Let's do this.
Even though this is smaller
than the Top Chef kitchen, it feels much calmer.
I don't feel the stress, actually, right now.
Right now. - Yeah, right now. Exactly.
I'll make you guys a cake, mate.
A nice cake, mate.
You know, I have immunity,
let me just be back here.
I grew up between a lot of animals and wine.
When you finish your harvest seasoning in the winery
and you collect the last grapes,
you vote for the flavor of the cake for that day.
And that's something which really connects me
with my family and I love it so...
I'm gonna make that cake.
I'm making a five-spice pork belly.
This is something we eat on Chinese New Year.
Hey, do we feel home for the holidays or what?
Cooking on holiday, yeah?
I actually don't like holidays.
No? - No.
I only like Dia de los Muertos,
the only celebration that I remember with love.
Celebration, right?
The holidays...
...my dad, he passed away last year.
He gave me a call...
and because I was working,
I wasn't be able to answer him.
I'm making this mole verde to my dad
because I couldn't say goodbye.
My relationship with my dad was-- was complicated,
but when I won Top Chef Mexico,
he was very proud of me that-- that day.
He started to cry, you know. And it was beautiful.
I'm sorry.
He would be proud of you, you know?
Sorry.
I'm doing a Moroccan style braised lamb shank
with a lot of saffron, turmeric.
Why Moroccan? I love the food there,
I love the culture.
The lamb is very savory, but then it's covered
with this beautiful, sweet onion,
cinnamon, prune marmalade.
It's like flavor bomb.
...I really, I don't feel like I want to--
to make anything.
My grandfather has been
the most special person in my life.
And he passed away when he was 84.
Now for Christmas time, they do some rice,
or some vegetables with the leftovers on top.
Everything that is left over from the day before.
The days after Christmas is when I meet my friends,
or the people that I really want to be with.
We have the leftovers
and then we do a nice sauce to put over.
For me, it's special.
Can't wait to try it tomorrow.
I feel like I'm cooking in my pajamas.
I wish I was cooking in my pajamas!
I do that often.
So I'm making a dish inspired by salmon tarator.
I would make this dish every Christmas.
I don't really have a lot of traditions in Christmas,
I only started about four or five years ago.
Growing up in my family's restaurant,
we always worked on Christmas, we didn't really celebrate it.
But my wife, Rebecca,
their family, they have a huge Christmas.
I'm just slicing my nuts.
Oh, come on. Grow up! Please.
Victoire, why are you wearing a mask?
Because some chefs are cooking with walnuts,
so I don't want to die today, you know?
My national recipe.
From Italy or from Congo?
- From Congo! Not from Italy! - Okay.
Just checking!
You speak seven languages,
so it's hard to keep up with you.
Today, I have to cook the beans
to make the stew.
During Christmas, we usually cook black-eyed beans
because they represent prosperity.
Smells spicy. Is this you? Yes.
Your food tastes like what I think of is,
like, my food.
This is Wakanda.
I'm Black Panther with this soup.
I'm a Jew, I don't have Christmas.
But I have eight days of Hanukkah.
Just a reminder of everything that is mine
is labeled with my name, "Nicole."
Hi, Nicole, nice to meet you.
Hi.
Ali, tell me more about your dish.
I'm doing something called mashawi.
Like, a mixed grill. Okay.
It's coming from Eid al-Adha.
Back home, my family and I,
we just gather in our garden and we make barbecue
because Eid al-Adha,
it's more about sacrificing what you have
to give it to the poor.
It's like sharing your food. That's nice.
When there's a lot of chefs in the kitchen,
it reminds me of home.
I'm doing the traditional Polish soup.
I think if somebody can cook the good soup,
they can cook everything.
You love it? I love it.
When I sit down with my family, very important for us.
And now we're one family, so we're gonna eat together.
Come on, you have to be - ing kidding me.
Why they don't--
They don't fit in the oven? No, no.
I hate to be this person,
but is there a burner somewhere I can use?
I need only one.
Gabri, how many burners do you have going now?
Two. - Okay.
Does someone have a burner I can use?
In seven minutes. Okay.
Tell me if you need to be in the oven.
- I'm gonna go in here. - This one, this one.
I just need some twice and then I'm out of here.
I was planning to bake the cake,
but I realized really quickly this is not gonna happen today.
I got a great idea to do dessert.
So, tomorrow, I still have a lot to do,
but I have immunity, whatever.
It's a dangerous game.
Please, Buddha, let me know
when you're finished in the fire.
I'm just doing the
How's everybody looking? Good? You're looking good.
I'm gonna cook overnight
so I can get out of everybody's way.
Same thing with me.
The key to cooking lamb shank
is to do it nice and slow, like, slow braise.
Hot, hot coming through, guys. Hot, hot, hot.
It's either gonna be moist, braised lamb,
or it's gonna be overcooked and dry, so.
I'm not worried. I'm gonna start to pack.
Oh, boy.
You guys, I'm getting ready
to turn that other oven down.
My stuff is put away. My dishes are washed.
Look at the skills.
Nicole, what do you think of my bartending skills?
Not bad. - Oh, it's not bad.
So, it's not good?
All right, guys, let's bring it in, huh?
Get your cup. Thank you, sir.
To all of us, guys. Cheers!
Oh, my God. You want to kill me.
Okay. Let's go.
Guys, isn't it nice to cook cake
in the countryside of England?
This is once in a lifetime.
Getting the chance to enjoy that peaceful atmosphere
with Top Chef family,
it kind of connects me to everyone around me.
Buddha, do you snore? No.
You better not.
Amar? Yeah?
Make sure you close your door, bro.
I'm gonna close my door, okay?
Okay, good. Okay, good night, boys.
Good night, player.
Buddha, don't fart, yeah?
Good morning. Top of the day.
You wanna help me fill out my book?
Of course. - Okay.
So, it tracks everybody's performance.
If you are in the top, I black out the box.
If you're on the bottom, I make stripes in it.
You are the one who's never been on the bottom.
Don't say that!
Don't put that out in the atmosphere.
Sorry, no, I'm just saying.
Buddha hasn't been on the bottom, so.
Buddha and I are tied.
Did you check your lamb shank?
I cook my lamb in the oven all night.
How is it?
I'm praying that it's tender.
It's freaking tender. Yes!
You nailed it.
Guys, happy holidays!
I feel renewed.
I have a little bit of hangover as well.
But, you know, this is a new day,
so I'm going to start cooking with a smile on my face
because I'm going to offer this dish to my father,
so I need to do it with my heart.
Every day is a new day.
It suits you. Yeah. - Yeah?
Is there anything that doesn't suit this guy?
Exactly. Let's go.
Let's start. Family meal.
All right.
You want yours on, Charbel? Yes, please.
I'm going to just get this in the oven.
Backs, be careful. Backs.
Smells like Marrakech in here.
Wow.
Amar, what are you going to do today?
I just want to reduce my sauce a little bit, make my garnish.
How much more do you need to do?
I just need to fry the chicken.
Charbel and I, we both have to fry things,
so we have a plan.
...then the oil is hot...
- I'm okay. - How's the brisket?
I mean, you tell me. - Look at that.
Look at Gabri go with his tortilla, baby!
Absolutely.
Oh, God, whatever you guys are cooking
smells absolutely delicious.
This dish reminds me of my hometown
up in the north of Jordan.
When I was a kid, we'd go to my grandfather's.
We sit down on one table and we enjoy a family barbecue.
The pita, the shish kebab, the salsa.
Try it, papi. That's moist.
We take our holidays very seriously.
It's a little salty now.
I don't think it's salty.
What was that?
Something exploded. Charcoal, charcoal.
Bro, you gonna burn this house down or what?
Why would I burn it? I love it.
Okay.
Hour, 33 minutes!
This is my holiday.
Please don't open the oven, please.
Please don't open the oven.
BEGOÑA: Charbel? Where's Charbel?
Charbel?
20 minutes.
BEGOÑA: 20 minutes?
Charbel. What?
BEGOÑA: 20 minutes, I think it's very long.
20 minutes?
Begoña and I supposed to share the oil,
but it took so long.
I don't have the time.
I need the oil now. We are running out of time.
Under an hour. Nice.
Oh, my God, I get to eat a pork rib.
My baked salmon for my tarator is looking good.
It just needs to rest a little bit.
And then you're gonna [indistinct],
cover the top with it? Exactly. Like a salad.
All these different textures and grapes.
Cake's out. Cakes are cooling down.
Cake is quite hot,
so, I cannot really start garnishing yet.
So, I just show patience.
I should have made a----ing muffin and move on.
Oh, look at that. Good.
How my tortillas have to be exactly. Need the pop.
I'm stirring your mole, because
- there's a bit of sticky. - All right, thank you so much.
Smells good in here, doesn't it?
Hi, guys! Hello!
- Hola. - Hard at work?
This is a cozy family kitchen.
This looks great. It's like Thanksgiving in here.
It's really nice.
Look at all the things going on here.
What do we have here?
Christmas stew. Oh, okay.
Fried. Very nice.
BEGOÑA: Finally, I got the oil,
but because I get too close to the end,
I was really worried the chicken can be raw.
34 minutes.
Ooh! Look at that. Hi, Padma.
Hi. How are you, Ali? - I'm doing very well.
That's for the mole verde?
Yes, chef. Yes?
Yes, I'm gonna use sea bass, fresh sea bass--
Your tortillas? Fresh tortillas.
Wow. Handmade.
All right, guys, we're gonna let you cook.
Gracias, gracias. - Gracias.
It smells good. It does smell good.
And my hair smells like grill now.
Holy drizzle-bizzle. It's a salted caramel.
My mom makes it better, I'm telling you that.
If she sees that, she's gonna laugh and say,
"Nice try, young man."
- What a beautiful setting. - It is.
- This tree is glorious. - It really is.
It seemed like they were having such a good time in there.
- Yeah. - They were so comfortable.
I love the aromas together.
Sparkling? It's local.
I didn't know England made sparkling wine.
Yes because of the climate.
Whatever holiday we're celebrating,
happy holidays.
12 minutes, y'all.
That looks delicious.
One of my favorite dishes.
Is there tamarind in there?
No, it's pomegranate, molasses, yogurt.
I really love all these different textures.
This is magical.
Ali, how are you doing?
My pita's already done. I'm doing my kebab.
The stupid cakes, they all need to cool down.
my life, you bastard.
You want to taste my mole?
Yes.
This looks good. - Dude, I hope so.
BEGOÑA: Sorry.
Begoña, you okay? - BEGOÑA: I think.
Can I make one more tortilla?
Yes because I'm nicer than you.
You got that? One minute!
Hot, coming through, hot, coming through.
My God, Victoire, that looks so pretty.
Mine looks like old lady Thanksgiving.
30 seconds!
Man, look at that.
Now that's what you call a feast, no?
So much food.
Coming through.
There's that timer.
So much food.
Gabri, oh, my God, that looks so good.
If you can take eggs, that will be lovely.
Eggs for me.
If I drop it, you will be upset or?
I'd kill you. Kill? Jesus Christ.
- Hello. - Wow.
Here we go.
Beautiful.
What a feast!
This is insane. It looks fantastic.
Smells great, too.
To see everybody sit around this table,
to see the face of the Judge, it's love.
This is the magic and the power of food.
Okay. What are we waiting for?
Soup? Yeah. Soup.
This is a Polish borscht
full of pork, polish sausage,
and, of course, must be full of potatoes and carrots.
We finish that with fresh horseradish and garlic
and we always eat that with hard boiled eggs inside.
We not see...
In Mexico, we know the red more than this one,
but it is delicious.
I love it. Thank you.
Red is Christmas and the white one is for the Easter.
How nice. It's really good.
This is a flavor I never tasted before.
Absolutely delicious.
What's next?
This too is from my country.
And what is the name of this stew?
Madesu.
It's simple stew with bean, tomato, onion, some spices.
This stew, we make it
when we want to wish the best life.
- And this sauce goes with it? - The green sauce on the top.
The tuille. With black bean.
Oh, it's bean? - Yes.
Victoire, the flavor in that soup, it's like, what is this?
There's a lot of different flavors
that are just very unique, it's amazing.
Black eyed peas is such a humble ingredient
and they were perfectly cooked.
Whose fish is this? It's mine.
Well, my dish is sea bass with mole verde
and pickled onions with radish,
and fresh blue corn tortillas.
This celebration is for the Dia de los Muertos.
I just made it for my dad, actually.
He passed away last year.
Because he loves green mole?
Yes, exactly.
You know, I do it for my grandmother,
but she didn't like green mole.
She liked, you know, tequila, that kind of thing.
Ali, you talk to us about your kebab.
Today I have prepared flatbread, lamb kebab, shish kebab
and on the side, I have prepared mezze style dishes,
tartar sauce with pomegranate molasses.
This reminds me of Eid al-Adha.
Every Eid al-Adha we go and buy lamb, sheep, cow, or camel
and then we slaughter it.
And you're only allowed to take one third of the whole animal
and the rest you give away to people in need.
I think the silence is a good sign.
People are eating and enjoying.
It feels like something
that I would want to serve my family.
Once again, my other brother, Ali.
Kebabs, dips, and the bread and everything.
Delicious.
Just gonna keep eating. Don't mind me.
- Oh, yeah, that's nice. - Thank you.
Buddha, I'm digging into your salmon here.
Okay, this is a Middle Eastern dish,
that I would cook every Christmas, salmon tarator.
It's a salmon that's been baked.
You then smear tahini yogurt, pearl couscous, sumac,
chili, salted lemon, walnuts, pine nuts, fresh grapes.
This Middle Eastern dish, you make it every year now?
Every year now, yeah.
This is a riff
on traditional Chinese New Year's pork belly.
It's five spice scented in a master stock,
so I just did a sous-vide version of it.
Roasted. Everything is so good.
This is crazy.
- Nicole, this is delicious. - Oh, thank you.
- I'm full. - This-- What is this?
This is the side. So, this is my dish.
So, the first time that my mother ever took my father home
to meet the family,
my grandfather asked my dad to come out in the yard
and help cut down a tree.
He went through the tree
and then the back of my father's leg
and my mother was, like, inside,
trying to cook this beautiful spinach soufflé.
It stayed in the oven, like, while they're at the hospital,
they came home, and they thought it was absolutely delicious.
So, it's tradition in our family
to have really cooked creamed greens.
And then it's got brisket gravy.
Your father must have made some other impression,
because they got married.
Yeah. Now, that's a sacrifice.
I'm gonna pass you guys Begoña's dish.
Christmas time, we do always, like, a stew
with chicken inside and the stuff.
And the next day, we just do, like, the leftovers,
which is chicken, vegetables, and peanut sauce.
So, this is a new tradition
that you've created in your home.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love the sauce from the chicken.
I can definitely take that under my pillow right away.
Okay, Charbel.
So, this is called eggplant fatteh.
At Christmas, all the family gathered together
and my grandma used to cook us the dish
and I couldn't wait to eat it.
In the bottom, it's tomato and onion concasse.
The second layer's gonna be fried eggplant
with yogurt and tahini.
On top is crispy pita, fresh herbs, and pomegranate.
It's so savory and homey, creamy, lovely.
You cook with so much love, buddy.
- Thank you, thank you. - A lot of food.
We still have Amar's plate.
That's the main dish.
Everything else was just an appetizer.
So, I'm from the Dominican Republic
and we never eat savory with sweet.
So, the first time I went to Morocco on vacation,
this was the first dish that was sitting at the table.
It's a braised lamb shank with prunes, cinnamon,
sweet onions on top, and toasted almonds.
You were able to cook all night?
Oh, yeah.
I love so much, the texture of the lamb.
It'’s all so delicious. Yes.
I've been trying Amar'’s food, since yesterday,
like, since we started,
and then, I tried it now and spot on.
I think you did a pretty good job.
I feel like we haven't even made a dent.
I wish I had three stomachs right now.
Padma has, like, ten. - I know!
You're a really good eater.
Thank you. Wow.
I'm uniquely qualified to do my job.
Should we get dessert, Tom? Time for sweets.
Dessert time. Yeah, do it.
When we finish our harvest season,
because I'm born and raised on a little winery,
you vote to choose the fruit of the cake for the night,
and then, all the grandmothers, they make a cake
only out of these ingredients,
plus another fruit, for the sauce.
So, the cake is actually an apple cake.
It has some pastry cream on it,
apple sauce on it, honey, Chantilly,
chocolate sponges,
and on the side, we have the hot plum.
Mm. - Do grandmas in Germany
always make cake this dense?
Yeah.
It needs to be big and dense.
You have immunity, Tom, so I can crack on you.
Oh, that cake. Jesus Louise.
It'’s a good thing he has immunity.
It's gonna be tough to sort through this.
It'’s very tough. Good luck to you, guys.
You need to judge that.
Now, as you tasted,
we have some very difficult work to do.
Yes. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you for a fabulous meal.
Delicious, man. Oh, my God.
All was amazing.
Really?
It's supposed to be that dense?
Yes. I'm so nervous.
This is a very personal challenge.
I'’m praying for the best, because Mexican mole verde
means a lot to me.
Let's make a pact.
The Vrbo winner will hire this out
for all of us and fly us all over.
And then we order food take out, right?
We had such a bountiful, beautiful, delicious meal
and got to know a lot of you better.
From the moment that we walked into the kitchen,
it was apparent that we were in for a fantastic meal.
Ali...
Victoire...
and Amar.
Please stay here.
Everyone else can step to the side.
Congratulations, the three of you
had our favorite dishes of the day.
Thank you.
Amar, how did you decide to make a lamb shank?
Being a chef, being an owner of two restaurants,
you don't get to enjoy meals like that.
So, vacation to me is something that I take very seriously.
So, my business partner is Moroccan,
so the first time I went to Morocco,
everything was so tasty, so I just fell in love
with that cuisine, so I figured if we're all
going to be sitting down together today,
well, might as well do something
that brings us all together.
Often if you cook with dried fruit,
sometimes it gets overly sweet,
and it was a great balance there.
It had punch and tang
and it was really a celebratory dish.
And what about you, Victoire?
I'm happy, because to show my story,
to show my gastronomy, it's amazing for me.
We loved it because it was nothing
we'd necessarily ever eaten before,
but you showed us another dimension
of the culinary world that we all love so much.
It gave us all comfort.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Every single bean in that bowl was perfectly cooked.
It felt seasoned well. It was a beautiful stew.
I think you did a lovely job.
And I look forward to having
more of your food from the Congo.
Ali, how about you? I feel great.
I mean, I have been in this position before
and I told myself earlier, "If I'm on top,
"I need to stay humble, because it's a long run."
It feels great challenging myself every time.
The lamb patties were so well-seasoned,
and it was really the mezze
that I think brought the dish together.
Thank you, guys. I adore it.
I think it was like a symphony, you know,
you have the opera tour, and all the instruments
that there are taste.
They were fantastic. I really like it.
Martha, as our guest judge,
you have the pleasure of telling us
who won this Elimination Challenge.
For me, it has to be with love.
It is, in a way, obvious, because we say in Spanish,
Love is...
Amar.
Not bad for an old man.
I won my first Elimination Challenge.
This is crazy.
Congratulations, Amar.
Vrbo is giving you a stay
in a vacation home of your choice
anywhere around the world for $10,000.
- Woo-hoo! - Are you sticking to your word?
- We'’re going together, papi! - You're sticking to your word?
We're going on vacation!
It's gonna be a family vacation for Ali,
just hanging out, chilling.
Thank you, chefs. You can step to the side.
And now, we would like to see...
Begoña...
- Gabri... - Damn.
...and Buddha.
The three of you had our least favorite dishes
and one of you will be going home today.
After the meal we've had
and the time that we've spent together around the table,
it feels so odd for me to say
these are our three least favorite dishes.
Buddha, I think your salmon was cooked nicely.
I do think it was too many things
and also, too much of all the things.
The pine nuts and the walnuts and the couscous
and the salmon roe and the two kinds of grapes
and the radish and the herbs and the lemon.
Beautiful. They all go together.
I just think that they distracted
- from the salmon itself. - My intentions were not to make
the salmon the star, to be honest.
It's supposed to be, like, a salad,
like, you mix it up.
- It's flaky fish-- - Oh, that's fine,
but you didn't tell us to eat it like that.
- I'm sorry. - I thought the salmon
was really under seasoned and no matter how much garnish
you put on something, it's not going to compensate
for one part of dish that is under seasoned.
You got caught between cheffing it
and being a home cook.
Gabri, tell us about your dish and how the day went for you.
Well, yesterday was a very emotional day.
I have so many thoughts in my mind.
If you're not cooking with a smile on your face,
it reflects immediately in your food.
You know, sometimes the weight of things
we put ourselves under
gets the better of us and I empathize
with the feeling of wanting to make this for your father.
It's hard when it's not what you want it to be
and it's for someone so important.
I think that's it. It's hard.
I appreciate it.
What I think is the fish was good,
the mole was good,
and the tortillas were very good,
but together, they need to speak to each other
on another level.
The sauce, I think, it was too much acid.
It was very, very acidic
and I tasted a bit of scorch,
as if it got burnt on the bottom.
It didn't come together.
Begoña, I'm curious
why you chose to make this dish, the leftovers dish.
I choose to do the thing that I do in the holidays time.
It's just, like, the leftovers
and also, you put the leftover sauce on top.
For me, I thought the sauce was nice.
It ate a little sweet.
I think also the vegetables
didn't seem to have anything to do
with the sauce or the chicken.
It's not the food I'm used to eating
from you, so far.
I mean, you've done some extraordinary things, you know.
Beyond anything else, the chicken, to me,
just ate dry, even with the sauce on top.
This dish felt like it was, like,
putting a few things together and we'll see what happens.
It never became a dish.
Thank you all. We'll call you back in a bit.
So, bottom three. Tight competition.
Very tight. Yeah.
Tom said, "Oh, you know, you went a bit too cheffy today
and, you know, you should be more of a home cook."
What the [bleep]? What show am I on?
Am I on Top Chef, or Top Home Cook?
What do you want me to do?
It's also, like, just embracing the challenges.
It's not all about making the fancy and stuff like that.
If they want family style, give them family style.
That wasn't the height of the criticism.
- What do you think it was? - That it was under seasoned.
Whether it was a salad or a salmon or a salmon salad,
it was still under seasoned.
It was under seasoned
and I still think even for a salad,
there were so many things
that you couldn't differentiate them.
I think he needed a little bit more editing.
I think to make a salad, you will need more herbs,
less ingredients, you know?
And to have it more simple.
I think the way they talked to me was not fair.
Don'’t take it personally, I don'’t think it was personal.
I don'’t take it personally, I think about my job,
because I think, whether or not, that's what they say.
Your dishes are extremely well-thought and complex.
They say it was simple.
And I agree with you, but he did not criticize
your skills, which is very good.
I hope so. I mean, if anything,
they actually say your skills are, like, amazing,
like, you've been giving them great food,
and we're not perfect, right?
We all have bad days.
There were a million ways to present us
chicken, vegetables,
and a really great curry-inspired sauce.
What Begoña gave us today was not that dish.
Because why do you love a curry?
You like it because the meat or the vegetables
- are cooked with those spices. - Simmered in it.
We didn't have any of that.
It was used as a condiment, it was curry as a condiment.
Yes, it was, and it just sits there,
and she knew that it would do that,
which is why she didn't want to pour it over the chicken,
- which was also dry. - Yeah.
You need to think when you prepare a dish
for a competition.
Cooking is about love,
it'’s about impress your energy in your dish.
So, I was in-- in a very bad mood yesterday.
I was so angry with myself
and that reflects immediately in my dish, you know?
He's right and you know,
if you're down, and you're not feeling up to it,
and you start cooking, everything becomes drudgery.
Mole has the spices always, you know,
cinnamon, clove, a lot of herbs,
and I don't feel this Mexican power in that mole.
The aromatics. The aromatics.
I really feel like he clearly put so much pressure on himself
and he couldn't get out of his own head.
Pretty priceless experience.
And everyone's food was delicious to me.
I think we have our decision. Yes.
It's difficult to send someone home
when we're having such a great time,
but these dishes that we asked you to make
had to feel special.
And these dishes were just not at that level.
Begoña, please pack your knives and go.
I'm so sorry.
We'll see you in Last Chance Kitchen.
That'd be all. Thank you.
I'm sad to go out of the competition for sure,
because I would prefer to go out
with a really, really nice dish,
than something that really represents me.
I'm going, but look at him.
Come on, Gabri.
BEGOÑA: I'm proud of myself and then...
...they would be proud about what I did.
It was a pleasure to be here, guys.
All right. - BEGOÑA: I had a lot of fun.
See you, Begoña.
My deal now is to win Last Chance Kitchen,
come back to the competition, and win Top Chef.
This is what I'm now fighting for.
Tonight, Begoña lands in Last Chance Kitchen.
You remember these two, right?
Can she outcook two chefs
and return to the competition?
Find out now on-demand,
or wherever you stream Top Chef.
Next time on Top Chef World All Stars...
The final two chefs from Last Chance Kitchen
are currently in the kitchen cooking,
- Oh, my God. - battling it out for a spot
back in the competition.
For your Elimination Challenge,
we want you to create a ready-to-serve picnic basket
at Highclere Castle, home of the Crawleys
in Downton Abbey.
Amazing.
Both!
You ready for this sh--?
I'm gonna kill it.
I love a picnic. [bleep].
- Ooh! - Beautiful, thoughtful,
very well made.
Making it overcomplicated didn't make it any better.
Some of them just didn't work.