PADMA: Previously on Top Chef: World All-Stars.
- AMAR: Ah, geez. - BUDDHA:
- Oh, wow. - You gotta lick my plate.
Create a visually stunning dish that sends a message
and can be eaten without utensils.
Today I have prepared something vegan.
The over-production of livestock is harming our climate.
- I'm all in. - I made here a Lebanese flag.
I cannot forget where I came from.
It packed so much flavor.
AMAR: I need to bring back papaya salad.
Completely different from anything
- we've ever seen from you. - Amazing.
I'm on a roll, baby!
PADMA: Who won this
- elimination challenge? - Amar.
- Mama taught you well. - Thank you, Chef.
Keep on going, Amar. Don't stop.
TOM: The name of the dish is "The Mentor, The Pumpkin."
So, your intention is to have a dirty hand?
I mean, yeah.
If the mousse set, you would have won this thing.
Oh, wow.
Dale's chicken had a weird,
- flabby, floppy texture. - Absolutely.
Dale, please, pack your knives and go.
PADMA: Nine chefs remain to compete
in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winners,
a feature in Food and Wine magazine
and appearing at the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen.
$250,000,
furnished by Saratoga spring water.
And the title of "Top Chef World All-Star!"
♪
I said to Tom, "Hey, listen, Tom..."
- You good, Victoire? - Yes, I'm good.
But, you know, when I make a bad dish,
I know that it's bad.
But so far, this lineup what's left,
we need to be happy and celebrate
that we're still here.
- Hey, guys. - ALL: Hi!
Hi, I wanted to meet you all, thank you for cooking for me--
AMAR: No, thank you for eating it!
How are you? Give me a hug!
No, I-- I just wanted to spend five minutes with you,
because I've traveled all the way to be here.
- You want a beer? - A beer?
- [bleep], give me a beer. - [all laugh]
- AMAR: Now-- now it's a party! - GAGGAN: Yeah.
- [all laugh] - Yeah, that's good!
I wanted to say hi to all of you,
because I didn't just come here to have a celeb moment.
I wanted to share a beer with you all.
But truly an honor. Thank you. Thank you.
- Oh, no, great, great. - VICTOIRE:
- GAGGAN: Anytime. - VICTOIRE: Really?
Anytime, I'm a message away,
and I would love to have you in my kitchen,
and stand next to me and cook with me.
One thing I'll tell you.
- Just have----ing fun! - AMAR: That's right.
You will never be back on this memory,
the memory is amazing.
That will not make you a better chef
or a greater chef,
The only thing is this fun.
You having free beer and having a mother there.
This is one of those opportunity that only happens on Top Chef,
and I think that was the best advice,
and that's gonna be my approach going forward.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you. Such a great honor.
TOM G: Thank you, Chef.
Enjoy, and don't be fear of losing.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Chef.
- BUDDHA: Thank you, Chef. - And cook that----ing sheep!
- ALI: Yeah, we will. - AMAR: See you soon!
NICOLE: Have you ever, in the history of Top Chef,
- seen the judge come in? - AMAR: No.
This is amazing, guys.
♪
Hello, hello.
- Hello. - PADMA: Hello.
NICOLE: Ooh!
An international challenge.
I know you guys are so curious.
[all chuckling]
I'd like to introduce you to author, chef
and restaurateur, Judy Joo.
- [contestants applauding] - Thank you! Hello, chefs.
Who's ready to travel around the world?
- [Padma chuckles] - It's why we're here.
♪
It's important to travel
and learn about other cultures around the world.
One of the best ways to do that,
is by eating the local street food.
Some of the best meals I've ever had in my life
have been eaten on the pavement.
I love street food so much,
I even created my own concept,
Seoul Bird, around the street food of Korea.
What are some of your favorite street food dishes?
- I love a good funnel cake. - Dumplings.
Ah, anything from Southeast Asia.
For today's Quickfire Challenge,
we're looking for street food from around the world.
Each of you will be required to make one iconic dish
from one of these 16 countries.
The fun is, you won't know
what street food dish you'll have to cook,
until you come up here and pick a passport.
NICOLE: Oh, wow. Couldn't be that easy, hey?
I didn't get to travel a lot,
but I've been in Canada
after I won Top Chef Mexico,
so if someone grab the Canada passport,
- I'm going to fight! - Don't be afraid to have fun.
But we still want to be able to understand
what the original inspiration was.
PADMA: Chefs, you have 30 minutes on the clock.
All right, your time starts now!
Come this way, come this way, come this way!
[dramatic music playing]
Yes. I got what I want.
AMAR: Colombia, arepas.
Indian, man! It sounds really good.
I'm excited to try myself, to be honest.
Bánh xèo, which is like Vietnamese crepe.
I got Vietnam.
I've never made a bánh xèo in my life.
This one really got me.
Chunks of octopus. What the [bleep]?
I have travelled a lot, and I love Japanese food,
but what is Takoyaki?
I got Takoyaki, I never heard about it.
I think it's, like, octopus, like,
- in a little ball of flour. - CHARBEL: All right.
Out of octopus.
I put the flour, I crack some eggs,
I add some sparkling water,
I'm making my own recipe right now.
NICOLE: You got Jamaica? You got jerk chicken.
VICTOIRE: Yeah.
Never been in Jamaica,
but I have a spice in my blood.
- Gabri, how's it going? - GABRI: Good.
...but right now, I'm gonna make it with chicken.
I already know that the poutine course
has some fries, gravy and cheese on top.
If you are nailed those three things,
it's going to be great.
- [upbeat music playing] - NICOLE: I have China.
You think it'd be a dumpling, or something.
I got egg waffle.
My mother grew up in Hong Kong.
My brother was born in Hong Kong.
Egg waffles, they've been around me forever.
I have never made one. So annoying.
Maybe I should make this savory.
I gotta get creative here.
I'm marinating my lamb.
Ali, what you got over there, my brother?
I'm doing a doner kebab.
- It's from Turkey. - AMAR: Oh, wow.
Something you've never done before, ah?
I'm gonna make a big Colombian breakfast
using arepas.
I love Colombian food, so, it's a no-brainer.
20 minutes! Oui.
Have you ever made an empanada before?
I have not made empanadas,
but I've made hand pies many a time.
- It's like a pie crust dough. - NICOLE: Yeah.
I decide to make the dough from scratch.
Ever since Wafflegate...
There was trash talkin' from the white team
that you've made a boxed waffle?
Oh, we got the boxed stuff.
- Homemade! Homemade! - Whatever.
...I'm gun-shy
about using anything that's store bought.
You usually deep-fry an empanada, right?
- Yeah. - [dramatic music playing]
The judge are pushing us from our comfort zone.
ALI: Buddha, what country you got?
BUDDHA: I got Vietnam. The dish is called bánh xèo.
Bánh xèo almost looks like an omelet.
It's super technical.
You really gotta nail the fat out.
If not, you're done.
What are you making?
It's sort of a panipuri,
but it's an open panipuri.
I take India. No one took it.
I guess there's a valid reason for that.
I love Indian food.
Padma is well-traveled and Indian on top of it,
so that's very tough to cook for her.
Usually, it's with fresh mangoes,
so, I take mango pickled
just to freshen it up a little bit.
I moved from Germany with a backpack
to Austria, and then to Spain,
and then to Australia, and then to Malaysia,
then to Canada, and then to America.
I just want to see the world, and I feel like
that really influenced my culinary style.
How do you feel about the dish, buddy?
- Ask me in 10 minutes. - [Gabri laughing]
♪
CHARBEL: Nicole, how you doing?
NICOLE: Yep. I'm okay.
A bubble waffle
is basically a round waffle.
It has a little bit of a cakey texture,
crispy on the outside.
So, I'm gonna make individual spheres.
I gotta get the batter thin enough,
so I can move it to make the spheres
as it's cooking.
This is not an easy task.
How much time do we have?
- Not enough time. - [both laughing]
I never tasted it, I never seen it.
- How you gonna grill the ball? - What are you makin', bro?
I don't remember the name of the dish.
[all laughing]
I kinda like how it tastes,
but I don't know if that's Takoyaki.
This is the funniest challenge I ever did.
♪
SARA: I'm worried my pastry dough
isn't gonna hold up.
BUDDHA: I never made bánh xèo before.
I try to do it in woks and different frying pans,
but I'm having so much trouble cooking the crepes.
All of a sudden I just realized that my batter's too thick.
For the first time in Top Chef, I might not have a dish today.
ALI: Oh, two minutes, two minutes.
SARA: Holy sh--! It worked.
♪
GABRI:
It doesn't look like a poutine,
but that chicken is juicy.
My gravy's really savory.
I think it's good.
How's it going, Buddha, buddy?
BUDDHA: It's going all right. [chuckles]
The bánh xèos, they're not 100% perfect,
but I'm happy that I got something on the plate.
SARA: 30 seconds, you guys!
[dramatic music playing]
Time's up!
- Hands up, everybody. - That was hard.
PADMA: Previously on Top Chef: World All-Stars.
PADMA: Smells really good in here.
- JUDY: I'm hungry. - Right? Gabri, come on up.
- I select Canada. - PADMA: Wow.
My dish is poutine.
Instead of potato, I used parsnip
and chicken, and that's the gravy.
PADMA: Yeah, you need the gravy.
NICOLE:
PADMA: What country did you get?
- TOM: India. - PADMA: India.
TOM: Sort of an open panipuri.
So, we have a cracker and vegetables
on a mushroom steak, which is marinated
with chaat masala and cumin.
- Have you ever had this dish? - Not this way.
- You like cooking Indian food? - Yeah.
What country did you have, Ali?
Turkey, so it's a doner kebab
with a spiced sujuk and a yogurt pomegranate sauce.
- PADMA: Thank you. - Thank you.
- BUDDHA: I chose Vietnam. - Ah.
Wanted to just go for it, I've never bánh xèo before.
The filling, pretty traditional, it's pork and shrimp
with bean sprouts and coriander.
- Have you eaten this dish? - BUDDHA: Yeah.
I was kind of happy, but also very scared of it.
I know it's very technical.
- Here is your breakfast. - [upbeat music playing]
This is a colossal arepa.
- Yes. - [Padma chuckles]
I chose Colombia.
So, fried egg, pork belly bacon,
- chorizo. - What drew you to Colombia?
I was thinking it was gonna be empanadas
- or something like that. - Ah.
I got Japan, and it's Takoyaki.
I don't know what is Takoyaki,
I never seen it, I never tried it.
So, it's egg and flour batter
with chunks of octopus,
and then Japanese aioli, I don't know.
This is one of my favorite things, actually.
- Oh. Oh, really? - Takoyaki in general.
What did you think you were gonna get when you chose Japan?
I've been cooking my food the whole time.
And I also wanted to, like, try something different.
- I'm like, I want to have fun. - PADMA: I admire that.
I picked Argentina.
I was hoping that I would get empanadas.
I made the dough fresh,
it's been stuffed with ground beef,
shallots, corn, piquillo peppers.
Okay. Thank you very much.
What country did you get?
China. And I got egg waffles.
This is a homage to Canada.
- Canada? - Yeah.
It's a maple bacon
bubble waffle bite.
A little bit of condensed milk.
Glad I didn't go with Chinese.
- PADMA: Thank you. - Thank you very much.
PADMA: Hello.
Ooh, I know what this is.
VICTOIRE: I choose Jamaica,
and I made jerk chicken.
What's in that sauce?
The ginger, lemongrass, tropical fruit.
- Very tasty. - Thank you.
JUDY: Thank you.
I'm very impressed.
My taste buds have been transported around the world.
Let's get the bad news out of the way.
- Charbel. - I am not surprised.
Just didn't look like Takoyaki,
didn't taste like Takoyaki, had no resemblance of Takoyaki.
Thank you.
Nicole, bubble waffles are called bubble waffles,
'cause they're bubbly and light.
They just felt heavy and doughy.
Sara.
The filling was just a bit dry,
and there wasn't enough of it.
I appreciate that you made your dough.
There was just a little too much butter in it.
[imitates sad horn]
And now for some good news.
- Buddha. - Oh.
That was very technically difficult.
- It was beautifully executed. - I'm shocked. [chuckles]
Your crepe was really lovely and delicate.
- Thank you. - JUDY: Gabri.
I was so impressed with your modern interpretation,
an almost deconstruction of a poutine.
Thank you so much.
JUDY: Tom!
I was most impressed with the balance of your dish.
- It was really alive and fresh. - Thank you.
The chef with our favorite dish today
gave us a bite that truly took us back
to that country.
And that chef is...
- Buddha. - [all applauding]
First time ever winning
back-to-back Quickfire Challenges.
It was really delicious.
You also earned yourself
immunity in the next Elimination Challenge.
Feels amazing.
And Judy, thank you for joining us.
It's been a pleasure to have you here in the kitchen.
- JUDY: Thank you guys. - [all applauding]
Chefs, it is time to step up
if you plan to make it to the finish line this season.
♪
This challenge is going to be fast.
- And... - [engine rumbles]
- ...furious. - [engine rumbles]
- [tires screech] - [Padma laughing]
What the [bleep]? What's happening?
- PADMA: Who's ready for a race? - We are.
Here to give you some inspiration
are some folks
who know a thing or two about going fast.
Hey, team!
Sorry we couldn't be there
- with you today. - Whoa.
We brought a little sneak peek of Fast X
to get you excited.
- ANNOUNCER: Dominic Toretto. - Welcome the big shark...
ROMAN: Now, who the hell is that?
- [detonator beeps] - Boom.
That madman declared war on us.
WOMAN: He's coming for you with everything.
MAN: Let's all start shooting each other.
LETTY: Dom!
- DANTE: Hey, Dominic! - BRIAN: Dad!
DOMINIC: I'm coming for you, son.
That was awesome!
- [contestants applaud] - BUDDHA: Yeah.
Over the years,
we've travelled around the globe.
From LA to Tokyo.
To London, and now to Rome.
We've raced through some of the busiest streets around,
and now it's your turn!
So, buckle up, because Padma may have
a few twists and turns for you to navigate.
- Good luck. - What I'm talkin' about.
Who here is a fan of Fast and Furious?
Has anyone here seen all of the movies?
- TOM: I love it. - I love driving.
So I'm very fan.
All right, you ready to find out
what you're gonna be doing?
- Yeah. - Tomorrow...
you'll compete
in the fastest Elimination Challenge
in Top Chef history!
BUDDHA: Fastest elimination in Top Chef history?
Glad that I got immunity for it.
You'll compete in the notorious
"Mise en Place" race.
- [laughing] - [Nicole groaning]
PADMA: It's always been a Quickfire.
It's never been an actual Elimination Challenge.
In my season, we didn't do mise en place challenge,
but I've watch it.
- This is not gonna be easy. - Chefs.
It's time to draw knives.
[engine revs]
[chart beeping]
So, the Green Team is Charbel,
Sara and Amar.
The Yellow Team, Ali, Tom and Gabri.
TOM: I feel good about the team.
No pressure. [laughing]
And Red Team, Nicole,
Buddha and Victoire.
So, here's how it's going to work.
First, you'll compete in three rounds
of a mise race.
Once that race is over,
each team will work fast and furiously
to make three dishes
featuring your mise ingredients.
- How many minutes? - In just 30 minutes.
The team with the best dishes will take home the win,
and a trip to the world premiere of Fast X,
for you and a guest.
We gotta win this.
We have to win it for Victoire.
Enjoy your night off, and I'll see you for the race.
Bye.
SARA: What do you think?
VICTOIRE: I think we have to go to the gym.
♪
BUDDHA: Look at the lounge, what?
GABRI: Oh, look at the carpet!
SARA: Oh, I like this.
GABRI: Oh, nice sign, nice sign.
AMAR: This challenge is gonna be crazy tomorrow, guys.
Usually, you get this one out of the way at the beginning,
you're like "Okay, that's done with," but like now?
Somebody's gonna go home tomorrow
with a mise en place challenge.
Mise en place race, Top Chef,
is always a reality check.
Tough guys break down during the challenge,
so, uh, it's gonna be interesting to see.
Did they have mise en place on y'all's seasons?
I had to do a bass, and shallots,
and I made it through three rounds, I think?
The ingredients are gonna be a curveball.
- You think? - BUDDHA: Yeah, 100%.
Like, if they give you something amazing
like uni, scallops and then spotted shrimp,
it's like, "Well, I don't know, I'm happy having any of that."
There must be, like, something in there
that's gonna give your team a disadvantage
if you're last constantly, every single round.
The Elimination Challenge has become harder and harder,
but that's why we're here.
VICTOIRE: It's not good to be in the bottom.
- GABRI: Of course not. - AMAR: I've been there.
It's not good. You haven't been there yet.
So you don't know what it feels like.
- [Amar laughs] - GABRI: Yeah, exactly.
My season, I used to cook better in Quickfire.
But over here, it's the opposite.
I'm doing better in Challenge, so.
I mean, that's good.
- That's what really matters. - CHARBEL: Yeah.
Victoire, you are a big
Fast and Furious fan, right?
- Oh, yes. - And who's your favorite actor?
- Of course, Vin Diesel. - BUDDHA: Vin Diesel?
Yes. I dream with him.
You dream about Vin Diesel?
[Buddha laughs]
[engine revving]
- TOM C: Good morning, chefs! - PADMA: Hi, chefs.
I hope you got some sleep. You need a lot of energy today.
Please welcome Top Chef Canada judge, David Zilber.
- Welcome. - [chefs applauding]
TOM: David Zilber, worked in Noma for years.
He got famous for fermenting and pickling literally everything.
TOM C: They're very excited you're here!
- Standing ovation, I guess. - Yeah, yeah.
PADMA: This mise race will be taking place in three rounds.
Each round will have a protein, a fruit and a veg.
Round one will be featuring ingredients
from locations of the three first Fast and Furious films.
Los Angeles, Miami and Tokyo.
My season of mise en place, only had to do one thing.
This is three rounds,
three things for each chef, that's nine things.
They call it Top Chef World All-Star for a reason, right?
TOM C: For round one, the first person
must pit and fan out four avocados.
When you think you've completed the task,
call out "Check,"
I'll blow a whistle, everybody stops working.
If it's done to our satisfaction,
I'll blow the whistle again and you can start the next leg.
The second person must supreme eight oranges.
No pith, no white at all.
And the last ingredient of this round?
Filet two whole hamachis.
Pin bones out. And we want the collars.
PADMA: The fastest team to complete all three mise tasks
will get first pick of ingredients from that round.
Only your team will have access to that ingredient.
The second place finisher will get second pick,
and the third place finisher will be stuck with what's left.
The ingredient you choose must be featured
in one of your three dishes.
Protein's a lot easier to develop flavor
in such a fast amount of time.
I'm sure everyone's gonna try and win for those proteins.
PADMA: Please put on your aprons
and decide which of you is doing each task.
Okay.
- I'll do avocado. - Okay.
- You wanna do fish? - Sure.
Orange.
Please get in position.
Avocados, your time starts now!
[whistle blows]
NICOLE: Hey, Buddha, you got this.
Mmm, Sara's fast.
If it's too tough, move on.
AMAR: There you go, bro.
As a young female in the kitchen,
one of the things that I relied on
to show my value,
is to be way faster at prep than everyone else.
TOM C: Sara's slicing already, she's out to the lead!
I'm a lot competitive.
AMAR: Hey, over here, someone kicking some ass!
You're gonna get a lead on Sarah now.
With your slicing skills.
Take your time. Do it nicely. Don't worry.
- AMAR: Check. - CHABREL: Check!
- [whistle blows] - Stop working.
Holy sh--.
- Looks good to me. - Thanks, Chef!
- [whistle blows] - TOM C: Continue.
All the oranges.
You got this, Buddha.
- Check. - [whistle blows]
- TOM G: Check! - You're good.
But just one second.
You called check at the same time.
That's not gonna work. Wait-- this one too.
- You need one whole. - [blows whistle]
- Yes. Go, go, go. - You're good. Go.
TOM C: How's the old man doing over here?
SARA:----ing killin' it.
AMAR: When COVID happened,
I was opening my third restaurant,
and I had no choice then go back to the kitchen,
because we couldn't find people to work anymore.
When I work the line, I feel like I'm 20 again.
- Check. - [blows whistle]
- DAVID: All right. - TOM C: Good. Yep.
Onto the next.
Okay, move on to the next one.
No pith, no white at all.
You got this. Do it for Congo.
Amar has two more oranges.
Victoire has two and a half.
- Do you see Ali? - At least four.
- TOM: Ali, need to speed up. - ALI: Yes, sir.
AMAR: I see my boy Ali struggling there a little bit.
He couldn't do the oranges as fast as me.
He's only 28. Come on, bro.
- AMAR: Check. - PADMA: Check!
They are so close, it's good!
I'm----ing fast at fish.
- You're good! - Go, go, go, go!
ALI: Yes, bro, compete.
I'm very----ing furious!
Don't let Vin Diesel down!
- Amazing. Yep. Check. - Good.
- VICTOIRE: Yes! - Good! It's good. Go.
- Yes! - BUDDHA: Fish, fish, fish!
- Go! - BUDDHA: Absolute beast.
I do the fish because I love fish fileting.
I probably work with whole fish once a month.
Oh, you have four of them, and then take the pin bones out.
- Oh, my God. - That's how I pin hamachi.
- Take it into two loins. - NICOLE: Yes.
- Check. - Check!
TOM C: Yup!
[blows whistle] Go ahead.
We are the last team,
but you will never see a faster chef
cutting a fish than me.
Make a bone cut. Don't try to take it away.
Don't worry, they let me do my thing.
PADMA: Look at Gabri go!
♪
So fast.
Like, makes me nervous to watch it, though.
Let's go, Gabi!
Yellow Team is comin' from behind!
- ALI: Go, go, go! - BUDDHA: One more, one more.
AMAR: Let's go.
- AMAR: Let's go. - BUDDHA: One more, one more.
Yellow Team is comin' from behind!
ALI: Go, go, go, go, go!
- Yes. - Check!
- Check. - Yes.
- She clean the bones? - Did she do the bones?
No. No.
Took them out, all the way down there.
Collars are here? Yeah. Yeah.
You cuttin' all stuff right there.
- [whistle blows] - [cheering]
And we have winners. Red Team.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Check. Check. Check.
TOM C: Okay. You're good.
Good job. Good job. Good job. Good job.
So, Red Team, you won this round.
- We'd like to take the hamachi. - PADMA: Yes, okay.
- Green team, you're second. - Orange.
AMAR: We picked orange because it's more versatile,
but we are hoping to get a protein in the next round.
I mean, we need something to cook with.
PADMA: Yellow Team, you came in third.
- You have avocado. - GABRI: Yes, good.
Mm-mmm. Wrong. Wrong.
I love avocados.
PADMA: All right, Chefs.
The second round will feature ingredients
from films four, five and six.
Mexico. Rio de Janeiro.
And right here in London.
First up, representing Mexico,
peeled and diced, eight prickly pears.
Next chef must clean and de-vein two dozen shrimp.
And finally, shell peas to add up to one cup.
Chefs, on your marks, get set, go!
- [whistle blows] - Kill it. Kill it!
BUDDHA: Get it, get it, get it.
- SARA: Go, go. - CHARBEL: We have oranges.
I'm just afraid we're gonna get stuck with prickly pear.
I mean, what are we gonna end up doing, fruit salad?
You've done this before, Gabri?
Yeah, absolutely, Chef. This is a fruit from Mexico, so.
Oh, okay.
TOM G: Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
- [brakes screeching] - BUDDHA: Oh, dear.
Nicole's whipped out a peeler and she started peelin' it.
Usually you just slice it down the middle and just unfold it.
No, I-- I think it's better if I'm peeling it.
Well, usually, you just do, like, a slit
and you'll be able to roll it out.
Like that, yeah, yeah, exactly.
- Exactly. - Okay, got it.
Gabi is a monster. He's a beast.
He's going very fast on the prickly pears.
But on the other hand, you have Nicole dicing so fast.
I don't know.
Fingers, just-- no, no, no.
- BUDDHA: Check! - Check!
- That's bullsh--. - Diced.
[blows whistle] We're good.
- Thank you, Chef. - VICTOIRE: Go, Buddha.
Make sure you count for me, all right?
- NICOLE: You got it. - Check.
- [whistle blowing] - Stop, stop, stop.
- TOM C: What do you think? - Yeah, yeah,
- he's done it as well. - [whistle blows]
- TOM C: Okay. - DAVID: Heads on, tails on.
- NICOLE: We have eight now. - I got it.
- CHARBEL: Check. - Stop, stop.
- Go. Go. - Go.
Twenty four. Okay, go. De-vein, de-vein.
Here it is. 24 pealed?
All the poopy out.
We already sent someone home this season for shrimp poop.
[whistle blowing]
Twenty, 24, yeah, you did 26. Sure. Why not?
Twenty-six? That's the whole pack.
- BUDDHA: Let's go! - [whistle blowing]
NICOLE: Go, Victoire, go, Victoire!
[whistle blowing]
TOM C: This all looks good.
- [whistle blowing] - PADMA: Nice!
- GABRI: Come on, Ali. - All right.
- Check. - [whistle blowing]
Twenty-two, 24.
- Good over here, too. - [whistle blows]
SARA: Go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
- NICOLE: Oh, my God, yes. - You're in the lead.
When I was at home with my siblings,
working on the field was, like, a competition.
Oh, my God, look at this.
Boom! Go!
GAIL: Amar just caught up.
- BUDDHA: Where are we? - More, more, more.
- Just one more. - One more. Okay.
- NICOLE: Check. Check. Check. - [whistle blowing]
- TOM C: Yep. We're there. - [cheering]
PADMA: Red Team, congratulations,
you've won the second round.
Neck and neck.
- SARA: Push, papi. - There we go.
It's a check. It's a check.
- Check! - [whistle blowing]
TOM C: Yep. That counts! [blows whistle]
PADMA: All right, Yellow Team,
you are in second place.
And Green placed third.
All right, Red Team.
What ingredient will you be using?
- The shrimp. - PADMA: The shrimp.
- NICOLE: Yes. - PADMA: Okay.
F---ers. See?
BUDDHA: It's a tactical move.
Remove the protein from the other teams.
- PADMA: Yellow Team?
- Green peas. - GABRI: Yeah.
We are agreed that the green peas
are more easy to work with.
The prickled pear is pretty tough to cook with them.
- We want the cactus. - [all laughing]
We're a little worried
that we don't have any protein so far,
plus both of our ingredients are sweet.
PADMA: And the third round will highlight
the most recent three Fast and Furious films,
with ingredients from Abu Dhabi,
Cuba and Scotland.
You have to decide who will be taking on the task
of pitting two quarts of dates.
The second chef will have to brunoise
enough red peppers to equal a half a cup.
And the last chef must French two racks of lamb.
We're gonna be a real pain in the ass
about those lamb bones, they need to be clean.
Yup.
We need to get the lamb for this round.
I'll do it. I'll do it.
If we don't get a protein this round...
[clicks tongue] ...we're going down.
TOM: Let me do the pepper.
- Right, you-- you're sure? - Mm-hmm.
- I'm-- I'm pretty fast. - Me too.
They're not listening to me at all.
TOM G: Good, then I do pepper.
This not how a team should work,
but there's nothing I can do.
- It's done. - You're happy?
Happy?
- No? - I'm-- I'm-- yeah.
Yeah, I can do it.
Ready, set...
- go! - [whistle blows]
SARA: Push, push, push, push, push.
CHARBEL: Every morning, I have dates with my coffee.
There is no way someone gonna beat me.
Oh, Charbel's done a lot of dates.
Just don't let him beat you.
Push, Ali, push. We need to win this.
You're----ing destroying. Get those knives ready, pops.
NICOLE: Show 'em who's the boss.
- TOM G: Don't look at it. - You've got this.
- SARA: Call it, call it. - Check!
- [whistle blows] - Ah, nice one.
Good! [blows whistle]
- AMAR: Let's go! - GABRI: Two more, Ali. Yes.
NICOLE: You're there, you're there.
- VICTOIRE: Check! - [whistle blowing]
TOM C: Okay, Red Team. Good to move on.
- [whistle blowing] - Check.
[blows whistle] Okay, move on to the next one.
TOM: I'm starting last on the bell pepper,
but I can cut a pepper faster than anybody in this kitchen.
- Check. - Check!
- [whistle blowing] - NICOLE: Wow.
- Yeah. [blows whistle] - ALI: Let's go! Let's go!
DAVID: Yellow team onto the rack.
PADMA: So, Yellow Team takes the lead.
Get ready for your lamb.
TOM G: Take the saddle off.
And then you will take my small knife,
and you just scratch from each side
once on the bone.
- Check. - [whistle blowing]
Wow.
- [whistle blowing] - Okay.
- Check! Check! - [whistle blowing]
Gabi, listen. Take the knife.
[making scratching noises]
I'm not getting you at all, I mean, speak proper English.
- DAVID: Yep, half a cup. - NICOLE: Nice.
Buddha, go, go!
Come on, Sara.
CHARBEL: That's it, that's it, that's it.
That's the way I'd do it.
Oh, that's not the way I'd do it.
Is that how you do it?
- No. - No.
I-- I told you.
[laughs] Butcher's trick, this one.
NICOLE: He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
Green Team's fight for a decent protein.
We need to get this lamb. We have no protein whatsoever.
- Check! Check! - [whistle blowing]
Just take it with your hand, and rip it off,
and then you remove [indistinct].
I will definitely say one rack is better than the other.
- SARA: But they're both good. - No, you gotta clean that up.
DAVID: I-- I'd say this needs to be a little bit cleaner.
Use the check, use the check.
TOM G: Keep pushing, man.
SARA: Call it? Call it.
- Check. - TOM G: Check!
- We got winners. - [cheering]
[bleep] yes! Yes!
Sara, what was that?
Like, how did she do that?
NICOLE: It's okay, Buddha. Yeah, exactly, Buddha.
It's gotta be cleaner than that.
Looking for dry bones.
- BUDDHA: Check. - NICOLE: Check.
[whistle blowing]
- [whistle blowing] - Done. Good.
DAVID: Second place.
I told you I never do that.
I'm pissed, 'cause I made a fool of myself.
No.
- AMAR: Let's go. - BUDDHA: One more, one more.
Green Team, you took the third round.
Congratulations.
Finally we have a break.
PADMA: Which of these three ingredients
would you like to claim?
Lamb. We would like a protein.
- PADMA: The lamb. - Not surprised.
AMAR: We have oranges, prickly pear and lamb now.
It's a lot easier to cook a perfect protein,
and then work a dish around it.
Somebody has to use orange, and somebody has to use cactus.
AMAR: We could all use the lamb,
and then I could pick the prickly pear, man.
Red Team, you came in second.
You have hamachi, shrimp and dates.
Sticky toffee pudding.
We-- we want the bell peppers.
I'm glad you want that,
because that's what you're getting.
GABRI: We ended up last place,
with pure vegetables.
He can use, for example, avocado, and I can use peas,
or you can use peas, or if you-- you don't need to use all three.
All right, just to recap, you will only have 30 minutes
to make three dishes featuring your mise ingredients.
You have limited access to the pantry.
Each team will start ten minutes from one another.
That way, we'll eat your food as soon as it's ready.
Yellow Team, you're up first.
Your 30 minutes starts now.
This is the fastest cook time in Elimination history.
GAIL: Yeah.
So, they have three vegetables.
Do they have other protein?
- Bacon and chorizo. - That's it?
TOM G: Ali, what are you gonna use?
I'm gonna be using green peas.
TOM G: I'm gonna do bell pepper.
Gabi, Tom and I are very comfortable working
with veggies only, but by the end of the day,
the three ingredients needs to be featured in a team.
So each of us has different ingredients.
- Ali, what are you doing? - It's gonna be
spicy potato with peas, something like batata harra.
- Ah, that's nice. - Gonna be a hot appetizer.
Gabi, what are you up to?
I'm gonna do the best that I can. [laughs]
I don't want to go home, so...
I'm going to take avocado,
an ingredient that I am happy to work with.
I'm going to nail that.
- What are you making, Tom? - All about bell peppers.
Bell pepper puree, roasted bell pepper...
You can do a lot of textures with it.
I'm roasting the peppers with smoked bell pepper puree,
feta cheese and chorizo gremolata.
I like to be very playful with one or two or three ingredients,
but it's still a lot of work for 30 minutes.
ALI: Behind you!
TOM C: Look at Ali sprinting over there.
It almost feels like a Quickfire.
But more stressful,
because someone's gonna get eliminated.
- Quick-fired? - Yes.
Oh, sorry.
- [Gabri groans] - Ooh.
- ALI: Are you okay? - Stand up, bro, all good.
- Fight, fight. - GAIL: He's like a little--
- Whirling dervish. - Gabi, you okay?
Yeah.
TOM G: Twenty minutes!
PADMA: Start cooking, Red Team, now.
Hope they've got their sneakers on.
- You got dates? - Yup.
- What are you doing? - A sticky date cake.
Because I have immunity, Nicole's gonna take the shrimp,
and Victoire's gonna take the hamachi.
NICOLE: Are you soaking the dates
- in anything? - Baking soda.
Baking a cake in 30 minutes, that's a huge risk.
Gonna tempura some shrimp, buddy.
- Lovely. - NICOLE: I'm gonna put
a little roasted sweet potato
round on the bottom, instead of the sauce.
Better get that sweet potato on the fire.
Mine's quite complicated.
I have to start a prawn bisque,
I have to test a tempura batter.
I have to roast a sweet potato in 30 minutes.
Can I borrow the salt?
This is very risky,
but this isn't my first rodeo!
I think that Victoire is doing the fish.
If there's any ingredient I wish I would have won,
it would have been the hamachi.
NICOLE: How you doin', my lady?
Amazing, just fresh.
- NICOLE: Gonna put acid there? - VICTOIRE: Yes.
I am using a little bit of colatura di alici.
It's like a fish sauce, only from Italian.
- NICOLE: How much time, Buddha? - BUDDHA: Twenty minutes.
Green Team, please start cooking now!
That was 10 minutes? That was fast.
What kind of part of the lamb we using?
I'm gonna probably use just the loin--
If you take the loin, then I take the T-bones.
My team decided to all cook with lamb.
Especially, going against the Red Team,
a hamachi and the prawns.
- Are you gonna use the cactus? - Yes, I'm gonna use the cactus.
I'm gonna do harissa grilled lamb chops with the...
I decided to go with the three ingredients in the same dish.
I think that the judges will appreciate that more
than just using one.
[Padma singing] Everybody's cookin'!
TOM G: We have nine minutes, guys.
PADMA: Can you see what Sara was doing over there?
Grabbing another rack of lamb to French,
but she's just gone for the loin.
It's a smart move. Way less cooking time. For sure.
The biggest challenge
is how do we feature an ingredient
while we're all using lamb.
With that, I am going to put orange on the plate
lots of different ways, a little bit
of burnt orange juice,
finely, brunoised orange peel,
literally orange everywhere.
Feel good.
Yellow Team, you have five minutes left.
[tense instrumental playing]
- What are you makin', bro? - CHARBEL: Lamb loin,
roasted with carrot puree and honey carrot glaze.
I'm trying to keep it simple, I only have 30 minutes,
so I wanna make sure my lamb is cooked perfectly.
Oh, sh--, something burning!
Who is burning here?
- PADMA: Victoire! - CHARBEL: Ah, God.
My dish can be okay, but...
[Victoire groans]
Yellow Team, 10 seconds!
Everybody's good?
[tense instrumental playing]
All right, Yellow Team, time's up!
♪
Peas, avocado and peppers.
- Tom, what did you make? - It's a whole roasted
bell pepper with cumin and olive oil,
and a bell pepper and hazelnut smoked puree.
Gremolada with a little bit of chorizo
and some pickled red onions to give it
- a little bit of twist. - And that's feta?
- Yeah, a little bit. - Delicious mix of flavors.
- Really tasty. Yeah. - Yeah.
- Very nice. - Fantastic.
- Ali? - I've made a hot appetizer,
it's completely vegetarian.
Peas mashed with basil and mint,
and I have spiced potato.
DAVID: Some good spice there.
Gabri, what did you make for us?
Charred avocado, red pepper, and bacon
with vinaigrette and also, avocado cream.
You know, for all the fat on this dish,
the avocado on the bacon, you have enough acid there,
and bite that it's totally working.
- Great job. - Three very nice plates.
The ingredient is really featured.
- I dig it. - YELLOW TEAM: Thank you.
- PADMA: Delicious. - DAVID: Great showing.
Each dish, if you were looking for something
to complement the ingredient, you'd find it.
Yeah. Yeah.
♪
SARA: Somebody's burning sugar on the stove!
AMAR: That's me, that's me.
VICTOIRE: Three minutes, Chefs.
- Let's go, Chef. - Buddha.
- I might need help plating. - VICTOIRE: Let's go, Nicole.
NICOLE: I'm regretting making this dish so complicated.
I'm super stressed.
Red Team, you have one minute left!
I also like how there's pressure on us
to eat three dishes in 10 minutes.
PADMA: I know. It's true.
NICOLE: Dude. Dude. Prawn. Prawn.
BUDDHA: Okay. 'Kay, you got it, Nicole?
VICTOIRE: Are you good? You're good?
- [alarm beeping] - PADMA: Time's up!
Bring your dishes up, Red Team.
Thank you.
Nicole, what did you make?
I did a tempura prawn with a Thai coconut curry,
with roasted sweet potato.
I didn't want the prawn to sit in the curry
- and get soggy. - PADMA: Smart.
Heartwarming flavors. In every way.
Thank you.
- Victoire. - I made hamachi tartare
with colatura di alici dressing, lemon and dates.
- Why tartare, Victoire? - Because the hamachi
was very fresh, and the texture was very elegant.
You get the umami from the colatura.
- Thank you. - The dates work really well.
You get a little sweet inside the dish, which is nice.
- Thank you. - Buddha, tell us
about your dish.
I made date cake with a miso caramel.
And whipped cream on top. And a pecan praline.
This is the dessert I never knew I was missing.
- [laughs] Thank you. - Thank you, Chefs.
BUDDHA: Well done.
Three solid dishes, again.
Green Team, you have one minute.
AMAR: Come on, girl. Go get 'em.
[tense instrumental playing]
SARA: You guys, we have to make sure we're all
- on the plate, right? - CHARBEL: We will.
SARA: Or else we won't win.
It's risky, is the lamb featured in the right way?
That is a big question mark.
♪
Time's up! Hands up, Green Team.
Rapid-fire eating here.
♪
Green Team, you took the third round.
♪
DAVID: Okay. I did not see this coming.
- PADMA: Wow! - DAVID: A trio of lamb.
- AMAR: Lamb tasting menu. - Ballsy.
Sara, tell us what ingredient your dish featured,
and what you made.
Mine is orange and lamb, so I made for you
a dukkah crusted lamb,
and then, I made a burnt orange yogurt
and an orange-- maybe I'll call it gremolada.
- DAVID: Great flavors. - SARA: Thank you.
To your credit, the orange is coming through.
- All right, good. - DAVID: Loud and clear.
- Charbel? - I only used lamb,
so I made a seared lamb loin and carrot dijonnette purée,
and then I roasted carrot and deglazed it with some honey.
Were you trying to caramelize the face of the carrot?
- Yes, yes. - It could have gone
a little bit further, because it's getting
- stuck in my teeth. - Okay.
- PADMA: Amar? - I did a harissa grilled
lamb chops with brown butter, orange, pine nuts,
braised sweet potato, and then this sauce
is a jalapeño and prickly pear gastrique.
Have you worked with prickly pear a lot, Amar?
Not like this. I had it in a salad before.
So why the meditation on lamb?
I think we all decided we wanted to use lamb.
- Cause they could! - Okay.
- Great. Thank you. - AMAR: Thank you.
Good job, papi.
The Green Team made some interesting choices.
I think that was the fastest Elimination cook we've ever had.
It was, and I have to say, I'm not furious
- at the food we had. - Yes!
- Hey, hey! - NICOLE: Hey.
You guys make the same mistake as everybody else?
NICOLE: Oh, no. What was the mistake?
We all did, like, a different lamb dish.
One with prickly pear, one featuring orange,
and one, like, just lamb.
I mean, they seemed to enjoy it, but liked other plates, so.
It looks like we might have misunderstood the challenge.
I am super worried that my team's gonna be in the bottom.
At least we gave them three completely different
lamb dishes that were perfectly cooked.
All I want to say about the mise en place challenges,
I would love to attend a training from Sara,
how to butcher lamb in less than 30 seconds.
[Sara laughing]
♪
Overall, you guys gave us
a lot of well-thought-out dishes,
especially, for half an hour of time.
So for that, I really thank you.
Yellow Team, please stay here.
Green Team and Red Team, please step to the side.
[tense instrumental playing]
You guys are the winning team today.
[all applauding]
TOM G: I'm not at the bottom for once?
- [judges laughing] - DAVID: Take a breather.
It's nice to be on the other side for once.
Red bell peppers would have been my least favorite ingredient
across the board today,
and you managed to make them sing.
The cheese, the sauce,
the emulsification on it, it was just fantastic.
You treated each of the peppers a little differently,
and it was just really vibrant and just a fantastic dish.
Ali, I love that you didn't feel
you needed to give us any protein,
that you were just giving us peas,
and I thought you did a beautiful job with that.
- Thank you. - I love the peas,
but I also love the texture of those beautiful, creamy
sort of micro-brunoised potatoes,
and they added a really nice contrast to the peas.
- Thank you. - PADMA: Gabri.
What you did, that I loved so much,
was that the avocado is fatty, right?
And it's really rich, but then you took chewy bacon,
and then that fat on fat, I thought, was really good.
You could have just let the avocado sit on the plate,
and been not much of anything,
but you managed to pair it with just the right complements.
I commend all three of you.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
As the winners of this challenge,
the three of you, plus a guest,
get to go to the world premiere of Fast X.
- Thank you so much! - Thank you.
And while you all won as a team,
we did want to congratulate a winner.
The winning chef today
is the chef that did the best job
featuring the ingredient, and wowing us.
The winning chef today is...
♪
- Tom. - [applause]
- Thank you. - Congratulations, Tom.
- How does it feel? - Like a roller coaster.
After the last challenge, I just want to make
one dish Tom really liked.
[laughing] Nice job, Tom.
Thank you so much.
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
I love Fast and Furious, I'm very happy
I go to the world premiere.
I'm gonna wear a tuxedo and a big hat.
It feels good, especially, after the last challenge.
To fight your way back like this, I really needed it.
Congratulations to the whole team!
[Yellow Team chuckling]
Yellow Team, you can step to the side.
And Green Team, please step forward.
[tense instrumental playing]
Congratulations. I'm so happy for you, man.
Green Team, your team
had our least favorite dishes of the day.
And one of you will be going home.
♪
Green Team, how did the day go for you?
I think, we did our best to make sure
each ingredient shines.
- Mm-hmm. - But apparently, didn't.
I think maybe, now we're all realizing
that maybe we didn't give you guys what you wanted,
in one dish that was orange,
one that was prickly, and one that was lamb.
I actually thought it was really smart that you had lamb,
and decided "Well, we can spread this around."
But you're right in that the individual ingredients
that you were supposed to highlight
weren't necessarily highlighted.
Amar, I did like your chops.
I wish that prickly pear had just played a bigger role.
I wanted not just a little bit of the sweetness,
but the texture of prickly pear.
It wasn't about prickly pear, it was about lamb,
and the sweet and sour sauce that happened to have
- prickly pear in it. - It's totally my fault.
No one to blame, so...
Charbel, I thought everything on your plate was fine,
but I do think it was a little boring.
- Yep. - If you're only gonna put
three ingredients on the plate,
those three ingredients have to blow my bloody mind.
- True. - And they didn't.
Sara, out of all three of you,
I think that you had the best dish in this group.
The orange actually did feel like a feature.
It had saltiness, it had some fattiness.
I loved the dukkah on the lamb as well.
- Thank you. - TOM C: Sara, I think
you actually accomplished the challenge, we did get orange,
so it's really about Charbel and Amar here.
You both didn't feature your ingredient well enough,
and that's why one of you will be going home.
I agree with everything you guys said.
- So, I'm not surprised. - Okay,
thank you, we'll call you back in a bit.
You can exit the kitchen.
AMAR: Damn, that's rough.
♪
- Well... - I need one of these. [laughs]
ALI: Well-deserved, Tom. Your dish was amazing.
It was nice to be on the other side for once.
It's a competition, one day, you're on top,
- one day on the bottom. - Oh, yeah.
You guys kept saying, "Charbel, you're not on the bottom yet."
Now I am.
I thought Sara's-- I quite frankly think
she's off the table, because she did highlight
- the orange. - It was a great dish.
That leaves us, really, with just Charbel and Amar.
I feel like Charbel, in a way,
did feature prominently, the lamb,
whereas Amar did not feature the prickly pear at all.
TOM C: I disagree, and I'll tell you why.
You say he featured lamb. Lamb was on the plate.
There was no lamb flavor at all.
PADMA: At least, I can find the lamb.
- DAVID: It's there. - It's there.
We might think it's there more,
just because it is a piece of protein,
just because we're used to it being a center
- of the plate ingredient. - But did it sing?
Was it the star? Did he do that lamb justice?
But I didn't think Amar did any justice
to the prickly pear either.
But that's why I'm looking at both dishes side by side,
- and which is a better dish. - Yeah.
It was fun while it lasted.
Yeah, true.
I think we have our answer, yes?
- I agree.
- Yes. - All right,
let's call them out here.
[tense instrumental playing]
You know, Chefs, listen, you can cook,
that's why you're here, but this challenge
was very, very specific.
It was, "Take this ingredient
and highlight this ingredient,"
and we thought you both failed when it came to that.
So, at the end, someone is still going home
for making the worst dish.
[tense instrumental playing]
Charbel.
Please pack your knives and go.
Charbel, we'll see you in Last Chance Kitchen.
If you cook the way you've been cooking all season long,
you're gonna be tough to beat there,
so, look forward to that.
Okay. Thank you, guys.
I have no regrets, to be honest.
I learned a lot.
VICTOIRE: Who is it?
- All right, guys. - VICTOIRE: Oh! Charbel.
It was fun.
I'm so grateful that I'm able to put my country on the map.
That's an achievement by itself.
- VICTOIRE: Farewell, Charbel. - AMAR: Bye, habibi!
[chefs applauding]
At 25, I'm here.
I'm still a student, and I want to keep learning.
That's not the end for me, this is just the beginning.
I'll be back. Stronger.
♪
- PADMA: Tonight... - TOM C: Charbel enters
Last Chance Kitchen.
He went out like a lamb.
Will he come back as a lion?
CHARBEL: Bring it!
PADMA: Find out now on Demand,
or wherever you stream Top Chef.
Next time, on Top Chef: World All-Stars.
Eight chefs left in the competition.
- It's time for... - CHEFS: Restaurant war!
All right, but this year, we are giving you a restaurant
with an existing infrastructure.
- It's mine. - [all laughing]
BUDDHA: I've always dreamt of cooking for Claire.
Her being here is more pressure
than winning the show.
SARA: There it is.
GABRI: I need to make the sorbet!
Hey, are you yelling at me?
I'm not gonna freak out. Oh, no, no!
- Don't open it! Shut it. - I think they realize
- that they're-- - Falling behind a bit?
Oh, my God! How you doin', Ali?
I'm having the biggest issue of my life.
So hot inside. Buddha, how are you doing?
I'm not even there yet.
ALI: I'm in the sh--, brother.
Right, 10 minutes until the first guest.
- I'm in the sh--. - Me and Ali are going down.
Judges, ready to walk out! [bleep] gonna go down.
Excuse me one second, I just wanna see something.
Uh-oh.
♪