Accepted under the mentorship of your idol and the world's hottest chef Gordon Ramsay, you must prove your skill and determination through competing in Hell's Kitchen- A month long cooking contest versus fifteen other fierce contestants and difficul...
The limo pulls up to Nobu. We exit and an old Japanese man greets us.
"Chef Ramsay! Good to see you and your winners." He bows his head slightly, to which Gordon bows back and shakes his hand.
"Good to see you Chef Nobu. My friends and I are here to have a sampling of your most amazing dishes. May we come inside?"
"Of course! Come, come!" He waves us inside then puts his hand on Ramsay's back and walks with him. They talk quietly until they approach a large beautiful wooden table with a long tablecloth in the center of the room.
The restaurant is stunning. This is my first time inside a fancy restaurant that isn't Hell's Kitchen (or completely dark) and I am blown away. The whole building has a warm, earthy feel. Dark, hardwood flooring sprawls across the ground. There is a sushi bar with two chefs behind it and large leather stools pushed under the bar.
Glistening golden lights hang from the ceiling and plush-looking booths dot the corners of the high-class restaurant. I'm thankful for our new outfits, so I don't feel under-dressed.
The red team slide out their chairs and sit. Chef Ramsay sits at the head of the table and I sit on his left, across from Gina.
Within a few minutes, plates are brought out to our table by well-dressed servers, along with glasses of champagne. Chef Nobu stands at the head behind Ramsay and speaks, his hands on either side of Gordon's chair.
"Good afternoon, Hell's Kitchen chefs! Today I will be serving each of you the 'Chef's Daily Omakase', which includes eight courses. But first, let's get started with your appetizer. This is what is called a vegetable temaki with sesame miso paste."
The small hand roll doesn't last long, we finish it off cleanly before the first course of our eight-course meal. My stomach was sent into knots by Gordon's touch an hour earlier, so I'm not sure how well I'll handle eight courses. But either way, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to try Chef Nobu's best.
The first course is brought out soon after, it's a small bit of what looks like tuna in a blue bowl with sauce underneath it.
"Your first course today is toro tartare with caviar in wasabi soy sauce. Toro is another word for fatty tuna, for those of you who didn't know!" Chef Nobu smiles then heads back to the kitchen.
The tuna is delicious, silky, and melts in my mouth.
Soon enough, Chef Nobu is at the head of the table again with the next course hot on his heels.
"For your second course, we have an assorted sushi collection including tuna, mackerel, and surf clam sushi. At the very end, you can see a small sushi taco, a favorite invention of mine."
The sushi is amazing as expected, and the crunch of the sushi taco adds a new level of depth to the taste of the fish within.
Before too long, our third course arrives along with Chef Nobu.
"Now we're going to try the trio sashimi platter. This platter has whitefish with dry miso, bluefin tuna and wasabi whitefish with salsa. Please enjoy." He bows his head and disappears into the kitchen.
I'm not hungry anymore by the time I finish eating. Many of the red team members are chatting with each other, but Gordon stays unusually quiet as he eats. I wonder if he's engrossed in thinking about us. I know that I am.
"The fourth course today is yellowtail sashimi salad in yuzu dressing," he says as he serves Gordon his plate. The other plates are brought to the rest of us by servers.
This plate is not as good as the others, I think the yuzu dressing is a bit too strong and overpowers the fish flavor.
Right as my stomach starts to settle, the fifth course arrives.
"Now we have king crab tempura in amazu ponzu sauce along with king crab leg in aji amarillo aioli as your first main course."
The king crab is tender and juicy, but I am starting to feel the effects of having eaten five plates of food.
"Number six today is beef tobanyaki, be careful, it's hot!" He smiles as he leaves the table again.
Suddenly, I feel a shoe against mine under the table behind the draping table cloth. The cool feeling of leather touches my skin through the straps of my heels. Is- is that Gordon? Is he trying to play footsie with me? He continues to eat his soup but I feel his shoe slowly move against the side of my foot. This man, I swear. I smile down at the bowl as I tap the bottom of my shoe to the top of his in return.
"Seventh course, are we all full yet?" Chef Nobu jokes, laying down Ramsay's plate.
"This here is just to wind down, seafood soup with fresh mushroom and shrimp."
I can barely finish my soup and settle for eating the pieces of shrimp from the bottom instead. Gordon has stopped moving, but his shoe is still pressed up to mine. I suppose both of us are aching for the other's touch. This is the best we can accomplish for now, but it's something.
"Finally, our grand finale!" Chef Nobu lays down the final course, a bento box with a chocolate lava cake, paired with green tea ice cream.
I'm not able to resist chocolate, it's a weakness of mine. I finish the lava cake and leave the ice cream, thinking of how I should have probably skipped the last three courses so my stomach wouldn't be so dangerously full. I can feel pressure on my stomach in the dress, but thankfully it's made of stretchy material so I'm not literally in danger of bursting my seams.
Gordon leans forward. "Did you know the chefs back at Hell's Kitchen have eaten some fine Japanese food as well? Want to know what I've left for their lunch?"
All of us nod, eagerly listening in.
"It's called nattō, it's basically fermented soybeans. You can ask them how it was when we get back, but stand a few feet away when you do, because their breath will be liable to knock you out." He grins as he pushes his plate back and then scoots out his chair, removing his shoe from the side of mine.
The rest of us follow suit, rising from our chairs.
"Before we go, let us thank our amazing host, Chef Nobu!" Gordon claps and we join in, calling out "Thank yous" to him while he bows and smiles then waves to us as we exit his beautiful establishment. Though I'm full to the brim from Nobu's delicious assortment of food, my stomach feels light at the thought of whatever Gordon is planning for us. Whatever it is, I can't wait.
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