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- Region：Japan
- Type：TV
- English name：Oishinbo
- Official name：美味しんぼ
- Chinese name：美味大挑战
- Premiered：October 17, 1988
- Status：Finished Airing
- Tags：Source manga / Gourmet food
- Original author：雁屋哲・花咲アキラ(小学館・ビッグコミックスピリッツ)
- Director：竹内啓雄
- Scenario：中西隆三 / 田波靖男 / 山崎晴哉
- Storyboard：安藤敏彦 / 影山楙倫 / 松園公 / えんどうてつや / 吉永尚之
- Co-director：ムトウユージ / 安藤敏彦 / えんどうてつや / 吉田実 / 久米一成
- Character design：河南正昭
- Music：大谷和夫 / 浦上靖夫 / 松田昭彦 / AUDIO PLANNING U
- Studios：シンエイ動画
- Production cooperation：アニメーション協力：スタジオディーン(1話-82話, 84話-98話) / グルーパープロダクション(83話) / プロジェクトチーム・サラ(129話, 134話) / 遊カンパニー(制作協力)
- Producers：シンエイ動画
- Copyright：©雁屋哲・花咲アキラ・小学館 / シンエイ動画
- Family：Oishinbo
- Rating：12+
Oishinbo
Oishinbo is a drama about newspaper reporters.
The main character is a cynical food critic named Yamaoka.
Oishinbo is a popular mainstream comic for adults in Japan.
It is even mentioned in an episode of "Iron Chef."
Tags
PV EpisodesTiles view / List view
Main EpisodesTiles view / List view
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EP136 - The Ultimate Wedding Reception Part 2
雄山の説得で木曽の出席が実現。あとは荒川･田畑の披露宴を舞台とした”究極”が披露宴の本質を体現した雄山の”至高”に勝てるかどうかが問題だ。”至高”を凌ぐ士郎の”究極の披露宴”とは！？
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EP135 - The Ultimate Wedding Reception Part 1
田畑との結婚迫る荒川は恩師・木曽友二に披露宴出席を諸うが近年の披露宴を愚劣と考える木曽の怒りを買う。見かねたゆう子は木曽と懇意の雄山に取りなしを頼むが、厳しい試練を受けるはめに！
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EP134 - Sole and Flatfish
第一志望の有名大学失敗のショックで第二志望の名門にも行かないとぐずる社主の孫・公一。大学を名前で選ぶ愚を諭すため、カレイ漁に公一を連れ出す士郎だが彼自身の判断するカレイとヒラメの差は？
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EP133 - The Crab and the Monkey
借金の肩代わりに結婚資金を失った写真家・荒川に、美術品蒐集家・佐高が木彫りのきかザル入手の代理交渉を依頼。持ち主は荒川と親しいが一刻な松森。高額の成功報酬を約束され荒川は松森邸に足を運ぶが・・・
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EP132 - The Gift of the Sun
小泉局長最愛の猫・パシャが消化不良をきっかけに拒食症に。大好物のアジの干物も効果なし。このままでは命が危ないと士郎に泣きつく小泉。対策を探る内、士郎は干物作りの現状に思い当たる。
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EP131 - Ultimate VS Supreme, Battle of Sweets!
菓子対決を控え、和菓子「甘善堂」主人宅へ陶人設計の茶室を見学に来た士郎は、偶然訪れた雄山に”菓子の本質はこの茶室の中にある”と謎をかけられる。この意味を解いて士郎は勝負に臨めるか！？
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EP130 - The Spirit of the Sardine
まり子の祖父が、婿取りの伏線として士郎に大レストラン経営を依頼。心動く士郎だが結局、僥倖に頼らぬ人生を選ぶ。士郎はその志をまり子の祖父に伝える場にいわし料理専門店・佐伝を選ぶ。
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EP129 - Pizza and Yokozuna
ピザレストランに足繁く通う島高部屋の鏡洋。目的は相思相愛のオーナーの妹・とし子だが、ちゃんこ絶対主義の親方に結婚話を打明けられずにいる。話を聞いた士郎とゆう子は彼の為に一計を案ずる・・・。
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EP128 - The True Value of Kajiki
写真家・近城は料理の写真に今一つ情熱が持てない。貧しい幼少期の御馳走だったカジキの刺身と、食べさせてくれた母をかつて食道楽の師匠達に愚弄された事が原因。士郎はカジキ漁取材に近城を伴い、その真価に迫る！！
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EP127 - Two Bridal Candidates
風邪で会社を休んでいる士郎を見舞ったゆう子とまり子。そこで出会ったのは中川の妻で士郎の育ての親的存在の「ちよ」。二人を士郎の花嫁候補とみなしたちよは咄嗟の出来事を利用し、二人に花嫁試験を！？
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EP126 - The Porgy Inside the Porgy
大原社主の自宅に年始に集った文化部一同。そこへ大原の幼友達でライバルの大金持・大河が乗込んで来る。金にあかした鯛料理で次々に無礼な挑発を受けた大原は、士郎に名誉挽回の期待を託す。
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EP125 - New Year's Udon
数年前に消えた妻・冬美発案の豪華鍋焼うどんを京極や士郎達に振舞う岡屋。そにに良三が駆け込み、スキー場で彼女に偶然会ったと言う。岡屋は即座に現地へ。思い出の鍋焼うどんに冬美の心は！？
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EP124 - An Embarrassing Dish
ゆう子の同級生季子とその恋人、教一は大変な美男美女。だが互いに相手を裕福な令嬢・御曹司と思い込み”自分のような者は相手に相応しくない”と悩む。二人の滑稽な誤解に一計を案じる士郎。
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EP123 - Ultimate VS Supreme, Battle! Spaghetti
“日本人好みの味”と話題のスパゲッティ店で雄山は「基本を外しながら“日本好み”も何もない」と店主を一喝。居合わせた土郎に究極対至高のテーマとして“日本人好みのスパゲッティ”を提案する。
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EP122 - Spicy Mentaiko
小泉局長は辛し明太子が大好物。だがフリーの写真家・近城がその味を否定した事から士郎をも巻き込んでの大喧嘩に発展。３日後に 岡星”で争いの決着をつけると宣言した士郎だが・・・！？
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EP121 - Life and Bowls
二都銀行会長は孫・まり子の見初めた士郎の評判を探りに東西新聞へ。だが社主の語る士郎像は最悪。その日陶人の作品をうけ取る席で偶然士郎と同席した会長は悪しき先入観を覆す事件に遭遇する。
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EP120 - Jumbo Chawanmushi
まり子の叔母・輝子と偶然知り合った士郎。彼女は美人だが気位が高く、長年の恋人・片森に対しても高慢さ故に婚約を逃しかけている。一計を案じた士郎は輝子の好物で片森に彼女を諌めさせる。
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EP119 - Japanese Roots
パリで活躍するデザイナー平尾英が帰国した。疲れきった平尾に、引退を心配した近城は、士郎と雄山に平尾がパリに帰りたくなるような料理を作ってくれと頼む。
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EP118 - The Spirit of Challenge
「世界味めぐり」の写真に不満のまり子が、新進カメラマンの近城勇の起用を提案。早速、３人で頼みに行くが、料理の写真には挑戦精神が涌かないと断られてしまう。
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EP117 - Prohibited Bird
まり子の父、仁木に鳥料理屋に招待された士郎と雄山。だが出された料理は禁鳥のツグミだった。知らずに手をつけた士郎に、雄山は激怒する。
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EP116 - New Project
東西グラフの新企画「世界味めぐり」に、士郎とゆう子も参画して欲しいとの事。担当は才色兼備の仁木まり子だ。だが小泉局長の反対に会ってしまう。３人の秘策は！？
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EP115 - The Secret of Spices
士郎は中松警部に保護された記憶喪失の男を記事にした。それを見て妻が現れ、男がカレーショップの店主であると判る。しかも過去に傷持つ妻は夫を愛する故に彼の記憶の回復を恐れているようだ・・・。
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EP114 - Aged Liquor
酒仙とまで呼ばれる文芸評論家・古吉は”日本には本物の精神・文学を育てるスピリッツ（蒸留酒）がない”と嘆く。士郎はこれに異を唱え大衝突。古吉を納得させる酒は究極の酒・古酒しかない！！
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EP113 - Cool Breeze Somen
ゆう子の祖母・たま代が助けた暑気当たりの易者は会社相談役の大柱。毎日看病に通った、たま代だが今度は自分が暑気当たり。恩返しにと自らそうめんを作る大柱だが、たま代の食欲は回復しない。士郎の出番だ！！
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EP112 - The Heart of Hojicha
夕刊連載直前の作家・加村はスランプが長く、今回も書出しに苦しんでいる。部長の依頼で彼を訪ね、その妻に焙じ茶の入れ方のコツを教える士郎だが暴君・加村と従順な妻に亡母と雄山の姿が重なる。
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EP111 - Cooking Skills and Painting Skills
一流料亭・芝浜の若旦那は”料理は総合芸術。私はプロデューサーだ”と言い放ち板場に立つ事を軽視する。だが彼の個展で絵を一目見た士郎は彼に料理素材の選択眼が全くないと指摘。
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EP110 - Mild Vinegar
祇園祭りの帰りに士郎は陶人の妻・領子に頼まれた鯖寿司を買うが、事情を知らぬゆう子達に食べられてしまう。領子は自ら不足分を作るが、食べた陶人が食中毒で入院。原因は領子の腕か？それとも！？
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EP109 - Toji and Water
清酒江戸一番の専務・均野は社運を賭け招聘した杜氏・喜山を我知らず激怒させ、就職を拒否されるが理由が全く判らず狼狽。事情を聞いた士郎は均野の兄（社長）の味覚と嗅覚に全てを託す。
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EP108 - The Rain of Umeboshi
母親の蒸発で残された幼い兄妹。しばらくの間、塾の経営者・幡中が二人の面倒を見てくれることになった。ある日、塾のピクニックで彼の作ったお握りの梅干しを捨ててしまう兄妹。幡中は厳しく咎めるが・・・。
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EP107 - Sea Pine Mushroom Rice
日本画の大御所・清谷吟香は京極の喧嘩友達。京極の自慢の松茸に”海にもこれに劣らぬ物がある”と張り合う。初夏・それをとろうと海に潜った吟香が脳内出血で倒れた。海のマツタケご飯とは何か？
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EP106 - Nostalgia Dish
士郎はドイツの豪華客船のシェフ・寺杉に、彼が昔修行をしたドイツ料理店・ハンザの味を確認してきて欲しいと頼まれた。彼はかつてオーナーの娘と婚約までしたが、不幸な事件のために別れたきりだと言う。
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EP105 - Pasta After Five Years
浮浪者の辰さんの仲間に入った信は料理上手。大阪のレストランのオーナーシェフだったと言う。店は繁盛、順風満帆の彼がなぜ妻子を置いて蒸発したのか？意外な事情を聞いて力を貸す士郎達だが・・・。
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EP104 - Skills of the Second Generation
名人と言われた先代が死に、老舗天ぷら・銀屋は息子の則夫が継いだが客は極端に減った。腕は父親に劣らぬ彼ゆえに理由が判らず悩む。客の心理を見抜いた士郎は彼が先代を超える為の活路を発見！
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EP103 - Gourmet Oriented
世界の一流レストランが東京に支店を出し始めたのを機に「世界味めぐり」の企画を練る士郎たち。そこで評論家の桜田に協力を依頼するが断られてしまう。理由はレストランに行けばわかるといわれて・・・。
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EP102 - Donburi VS Norimaki
「ワールド」副編集長・アーサーは士郎の協力で”日本文化丼論”を書き、大成功。それを見たフリーライターのアンナは「日本文化はのり巻だ」と主張し、記事採用を求めるがアーサーは納得しない。
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EP101 - Bean Sprouts
富井副部長の息子ヒトシの運動会に出場することになった士郎とゆう子。そこで士郎はヒトシの同級生マサシが、体が弱いことを理由に「モヤシ」といじめられていることを知る。士郎のモヤシ料理でマサシを救えるか！？
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EP100 - A Luxurious Meal
Kurita and Yamaoka are dining out in an expensive French style restaurant with Sushimoto's Ms. Natsuko and her boyfriend Mr. Kitao. An old school friend of Kitao and son of the owner of a Ryōtei in Ginza, Yasutaka Ashida, also arrives at the restaurant. Ashida states that he has little interest in the family business and sends an expensive vintage wine to Kitao's table, but Kitao accuses him of being a spendthrift. Later, Ashida's former girlfriend, Nobuko Kanichi, arrives with money for him. However, when she says that her father, a fish commission agent, will no longer provide money for him, he slaps her and leaves. Kitao explains that Ashida rejected Nobuko for another woman who then dumped him. Yamaoka suspects that Ashida is acting out and arranges for Ashida to attend a dinner hosted and funded by Nobuko. Ashida is served luxurious Japanese food which involves a lot of waste, such is the just the skin of a tai and flesh from the fatty belly of a bluefin tuna. The extravagance causes Ashida to realize that he has been selfish and wasteful since the woman he desired dumped him for a man who could provide an even more luxurious lifestyle. He decides to return to the restaurant business and reunites with Nobuko who still loves him.
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EP99 - Dad's Korokke
In spring, Dainippon TV proposes to make a program about which cafeteria has the best food. That day, Mr. Black visits Yamaoka and confesses that he doesn't understand the meaning behind the rakugo story Parting From My Children , a story about a divorced couple who reunite because of their love for their child. As they leave, the divorced cafetaria chef Aikawa from Touzai News encounters his son Takashi in the street and his story seems parallel the rakugo. Dainippon TV requires that the list of dishes for the competition must include Korokke which is in common in cafeterias. Aikawa makes some flavorsome korokke, however Yamaoka suggests that Aikawa should enter his regular unassuming regular potato korokke. At the competition, Aikawa's simple well-made version of potato with fried meat and onion is chosen as the winner over the exotic korokke from 20 different cafeterias. Takashi convinces his mother to watch the televised program and when she sees the effort Aikawa made, she realizes that he is a changed man and reconciles with him. Meanwhile, Black has observed the interaction between Takashi and his parents which provides the key to him performing the story successfully on stage.
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EP98 - Is the food three generations?
A college friend asks Kurita to host her wedding reception. Her co-host is Soichi Tayama, who comes from a wealthy family but denies his reputation as playboy. Tayama is smitten with Kurita and invites her to his father's Dainichi Hotel restaurant featuring a French chef and his cuisine. Later, Yamaoka and Kurita are sent there to evaluate the restaurant for Touzai News and Tayama joins them with the food critic Takehara. Takehara asserts that Yamaoka and Kurita are too young to develop the Ultimate Menu as that it takes a family three generations to appreciate good food. However, it is a ploy by Tayama to demoralize Kurita. Yamaoka and Kurita correctly identify five different raw meats, and then find no difference in two complex sauces which were mixed up by the kitchen staff so they each had plates with the same sauce. Takehara apologizes for his rudeness. The next day Tayama brings Kurita flowers and asks her to dinner again, but she declines.
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EP97 - Grandma's Adventure
An elderly woman from Hakodate enters the Touzai offices to sell the half-dried squid she prepared, but as she leaves and crosses the street she is hit by a car and taken to hospital. Inspector Nakamatsu, Yamaoka and the Touzai staff offer to help sell her remaining squid, however she has brought 300kg of squid to sell to help pay for her orphaned granddaughter's wedding. General Affairs Manager Iikura refuses to let the squid be sold in the company's market because he doesn't like squid. Yamaoka offers to convince Iikura that he will enjoy the real taste of squid, or resign. He treats Iikura to freshly caught squid sashimi and freshly caught squid marinated in soy sauce which he enjoys. Iikura agrees to sell the lady's squid at the company market while Yamaoka gets to keep his job.
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EP96 - The Taste of Edo
Tomii embarrasses himself in an underground railway station when he sees a rat and he is later reprimanded for overreacting by the Human Resources director, Hiyama. Yamaoka's attempt to cheer up Tomii only makes matters worse, reinforcing Hiyama's plans to cancel the Ultimate Menu project. Yamaoka asks director Ohara for a chance to lampoon Hiyama's taciturn behavior. Mr Black invites the culture department to his opening performance at Mr. Hassho's show about a daimyo in Edo who tried to eat commoner's food which gives Yamaoka an idea. At a formal dinner arranged by Yamaoka, the first dish to arrive is spring onion and tuna hot pot (こざめ, negima), popular with the commoners of Edo. Ohara convinces Hiyama to bite off some of the scalding hot, thick spring onion stem which burns his throat. Before Hiyama can react, Tomii throws himself on the floor, overreacting to eating the hot vegetable, saving Hiyama from embarrassment. However, Hiyama eventually discovers that it was all a plot by Yamaoka to make him lose his composure which he does completely when he physically attacks Yamaoka. Later however, the dinner party all enjoy the same jape at Black's performance.
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EP95 - A Passing Porridge
Editor-in-chief Koizumi requests help from Yamaoka. Koizumi's son Norio, a last-year student in jr. high, is not studying for his exams, and instead stays out late, drinking alcohol and getting into trouble. Koizumi believes that, since Yamaoka is a former delinquent, Norio might listen to him. Yamaoka takes Norio to a bar where Yamaoka is greeted by two intimidating men who Norio believes are Yakuza. When their boss arrives (who is actually Inspector Nakamatsu) and the discussion turns to illegal drugs, Norio becomes afraid and runs out. Afterwards, Kurita tells Koizumi she believes Norio rebelled against him because he feels neglected. Norio returns to his studies. His mother brings a meal cooked by his father to his room, including a type of rice porridge traditionally eaten by those trying to pass the Chinese Imperial examination. When Norio brings the empty tray back, he asks his father to make the porridge for him again, and father and son seem reconciled. Back at work, Koizumi thanks Yamaoka for the porridge recipe.
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EP94 - Ultimate VS Supreme, Rays and Sharks Part 2
In preparation of the Ultimate VS Supreme menu challenge using rays, Kaibara and Yamaoka separately approach Touyama to borrow dark green glazed plates to display the white flesh of the fish. For his dish, Kaibara selects a French style of preparation and Yamaoka also decides on a European approach. At the dinner, Kaibara presents his dish of ray flesh cooked with vinegar which proves popular, then Yamaoka presents his version using the ray's fin. The judges begin arguing over the qualities of each dish until the film director Fusamoto interrupts them and declares that he has been convinced that rays and sharks can taste good. Touyama declares the menu challenge a tie, but is unable to convince Kaibara and Yamaoka to reconcile.
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EP93 - Ultimate VS Supreme, Rays and Sharks Part 1
After watching a documentary on rays and sharks made by the filmmaker Mr. Fusamoto, Mr. Tanaka proposes making a feature film featuring Fusamoto. Fusamoto refuses because he has taken a dislike to Tanaka, but Yamaoka realizes that he dislikes many things, including the exotic foods he often films as part of his documentaries. Yamaoka goads the picky Fusamoto into tasting the rays and sharks he dislikes. First Yamaoka introduces Fusamoto to jellied shark (nikogori) at a street cart, but he dislikes the natural ammonia smell. Next, along with journalists from the Weekly Times, they travel to the Australia Fair in Osaka Hiroshima, where they try Japanese bullhead shark (こざめ, kozame), with orange sauce. They then go into the hills behind Hiroshima where the eat traditional local dishes based on shark because it was the only fish that could be transported the distance without spoiling. Fusamoto and the journalists are so impressed by the food that they decide the next Ultimate VS Supreme menu challenge will be based on rays.
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EP92 - The Agony of the European Restaurant
The Culture Department go to the inexpensive Ginyotei European restaurant for breaded oysters (カキフライ, 牡蠣フライ, kaki furai) but find the chef Nakazato despondent. He believes that he cannot compete with the well-known owner/chef of Restaurant Che Murono, Hiroy Murono who also grew up in Sendai. Yamaoka goes to Che Murono to sample the French-inspired food and orders oysters (namagaki) and brings his own nihonshu (日本酒) rather than order the restaurant's wine. When Murono objects, Yamaoka insists that they eat and drink together to test his palate. Yamaoka proves that the nihonshu tastes better after eating raw oysters because the French wines contain more organic acid and salt which taste fine before eating raw seafood, but are less palatable when drunk afterwards. Yamaoka convinces Murono to visit Ginyotei for kaki furai and he is impressed by the tasty dish and combination of flavors, restoring Nakazato's confidence.
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EP91 - The Delicacy of Midwinter
Yamaoka and Kurita are sent to a Battle of Taste TV quiz, competing against food enthusiasts from Teito News, Sports Times and Shina Economics. Yamaoka is unenthusiastic and during the quiz Touzai is in last place, however Yamaoka displays a strong knowledge of food and Touzai eventually wins. He also promises within a week to produce a product better tasting than the karasumi made from mullet roe presented at the quiz which he asserts was collected out of season. He goes to Nagai Port in Kanagawa where he gets fresh surumeika, from which he extracts the livers, drains and salts them. A week later he presents his dish and the TV host and other contestants declare the flavor is excellent, causing them to reappraise their opinions about gourmet foods. Later, Kurita is furious when Yamaoka reveals that he cashed in their prize, two tickets to Europe.
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EP90 - Ultimate VS Supreme, Battle! Gyoza Edition
Yamaoka enlists the help of two gyoza masters, Okutsu, who works in a publishing company, and Fang, a Chinese student. They both prepare boiled gyoza and the group is impressed by their versions. The dumplings are made more carefully to withstand boiling, the wrapping is more flavorsome and they do not use garlic as an ingredient. Fang also uses a sauce of black vinegar and sugar to finish his meal. On the day of the battle, Kaibara criticizes traditional Japanese fried gyoza because of inferior wrapping and overuse of garlic. He presents three different steamed gyoza wrapped in translucent rice flour skins; leek, shrimp and fish. Yamaoka then presents his version, boiled gyoza with a meat and vegetable filling, wrapped in wheat flour skins. Although they are highly rated, he looks like losing the battle with Kaibara until he introduces his second effort, a sweet brown sugar gyoza which balances the heavier former version and the battle is declared a tie. Dissatisfied with the decision, Kaibara storms out, while both Chikada and Yamawaki vow to study and improve their respective menus.
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EP89 - Ultimate VS Supreme, the Spring of Gyoza
Kurita's friend, Yoshiko Morisawa, asks her to help her boss Tsutomu Yamawaki, founder of a chain of Oharu gyoza restaurants. He makes traditional gyoza to a recipe developed by his late wife Oharu, but he is feeling the pressure of competitors and wants to update his menu. Yamaoka offers to create the ultimate gyoza for him. While Yamaoka and Yamawaki are tasting the food at his competitor Mr. Chikada's Ipponyari restaurant which offers 100 types of gyoza, Yamaoka encounters Kaibara who proposes to create the supreme gyoza. Meanwhile, Chikada berates Yamawaki for trying to steal his ideas.
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EP88 - Osechi and Bride
A heya's yobidashi, Oyakata, asks President Ohara to choose an appropriate bride for sumo wrestler Wakayoshiba from three candidates. Ohara suggests that they each prepare osechi dishes to determine the best potential wife. Meanwhile, Sumiko Senkichi, daughter of the heya's former yobidashi, is fond of Wakayoshiba and gets help from Yamaoka to prepare sweet kuromame (black soybean) for her own osechi. The three candidates present their extravagant osechi but Wakayoshiba prefers the home-made version by Sumiko and asks Oyakata if he can marry her. He refuses, but his wife insists that Sumiko and Wakayoshiba are right for each other and she forces him to sanction their marriage.
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EP87 - Intriguing Karaage
Some local restaurant owners visit the Touzai offices seeking payment for meals Yamaoka has bought on credit. Kurita lends him the money, but he has to play Santa Claus at an orphanage in return. He proves popular with the children, however the director explains that the orphanage has only one month before they must vacate the premises. Yamaoka learns that the large company, the Yoto group are the owners, and he arranges an introduction to the group's president, Moriguchi. At the opening of the Yoto Ginza Hotel, Yamaoka points out to Moriguchi that the ordinary tasting Karaage frogs legs are from a larger variety ushigaeru (牛蛙) rather than the more flavorsome smaller variety used in China. Moriguchi openly accepts his criticism, and Yamaoka offers to present a karaage which tastes better. Yamaoka invites Moriguchi to taste his version at the Okaboshi restaurant. Moriguchi is impressed by the excellent flavor, but surprised when Yamaoka explains that is the quartered head of the torafugu (虎河豚). Yamaoka then asks a favor of the Moriguchi, and later the orphanage director is surprised to learn that the property owners have decided to allow the institute to remain on the land for free.
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EP86 - The Table of a Family
Three months ago on a night out in Kabukicho, Yamaoka and the Culture Department rescue the teenager Yoko Nishio from some men who were harassing her. She explained that although her father Yasukaza is a famous architect and her mother Yoshiko runs the Bisai Cooking School, her home life is unhappy. She invited Yamaoka and Kurita home to meet her parents, and when they visit her home, they realize that her parents don't share the romantic love of teenagers. At the dinner prepared by Yoshiko's students, Yamaoka realizes that her parents have little interest in each other's work or Yoko's wellbeing and he explains this to her parents. Back in the present, Mr. Nishio has received an architecture award, and the Touzai management are invited to the ceremony, including Yamaoka and Kurita. He explains that his winning apartment design features a focus on food preparation and dining contributed by his wife Yoshiko. Later, the Touzai staff attend a garden party at the Nishio home, where Yamaoka and Kurita are greeted by a happy Yoko and they realize that Yoko's parents have overcome their differences and are now more involved in Yoko's life.
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EP85 - The Warmth of an Ordinary Town
Inspector Nakamatsu takes Yamaoka and Kurita to a small Fukagawa style restaurant run by his friend Hankichi Tsunahama who prepares peasant style food such as satoimo (里芋), renkon (蓮根) and boiled (nikorogashi, 煮転がし) kinmedai (金目鯛) fish. However Nakamatsu reveals that Hankichi was in love with the pop idol, Mayumi Asuka, but she no longer visits him since she became famous. Both from Fukagawa. Nakamatsu reveals that Hankichi and Mayumi were childhood friends and sweethearts, but Mayumi has become betrothed to the businessman Mr. Saga. However, after a sudden fall in stock prices, Saga has called off the engagement and fled the country. A distraught Mayumi visits Hankichi's restaurant and he prepares a traditional Fukagawa nabe (stew, 鍋物) for her. She is embarrassed by her past behavior, but Hankichi gladly welcomes her back into his life.
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EP84 - An Ugly Fish
The Culture Department Flower Trio of Touzai News insist on following Yamaoka to a regular evening rendezvous expecting to find a woman, but instead see him meet Inspector Nakamatsu at the Sai restaurant run by Naotaro Moriguchi. The specialty of the house is gori chitoseni made using the ugly fish endemic to the Sai and Asano Rivers in the Kanazawa Region. Miss Kuniko arrives from the Ryotei Maedaya restaurant, and asks Naotaro to return to the restaurant because the owner has had an accident. Later, over dinner Kuniko explains that Naotaro planned to marry Maedaya's daughter, but she married Seiji, a junior of Naotaro last year who took over the restaurant. Naotaro was responsible for preparing the Kinchakai (Friday Tea Meeting), but with Seiji in hospital, no-one has the experience to prepare it. Yamaoka convinces Naotaro to return to Maedaya to help with Kinchakai and facilitates a blossoming romance between Naotaro and Kuniko.
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EP83 - Ultimate VS Supreme Battle!! Vegetable Edition
The Ultimate VS Supreme Menu competition using vegetables continues with dishes based on turnips. Kaibara's dish consists of steamed turnip filled with mushroom paste which proves popular although Kaibara declares that it is unfit because the mushrooms were overcooked and he walks out. Yamaoka's version is presented, which is simply turnip steamed with a fish stock and Yamaoka admits that Kaibara's effort should win. Yamaoka follows Kaibara outside and confronts him about his behaviour, but Kaibara explains that Yamaoka has caused him so much public shame during his rebellious youth that Kaibara intends to impose the same level of shame on Yamaoka whom he rejects as his son.
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EP82 - Ultimate VS Supreme, the Live Rice
The Weekly Times suggests that for the next round of the Ultimate VS Supreme Menu competition, both chefs use the same ingredients and Yamaoka suggests vegetables. Kabara agrees on one condition, that they both use vegetables from the same farm, grown without the use of pesticides. Meanwhile Tabata Kinue invites Yamaoka, Kurita and Hanamura to a dinner she is preparing for her fiancée, Mr. Arakawa, and his mother. Kinue accidentally overcooks the rice after using a new rice-polishing machine, but they discover that problem was the rice had lost too much moisture during storage. On the evening of the Menu competition, Yamaoka presents cabbage rolls stuffed with swellfish shirako (白子) while Kaibara presents slivers of raw cabbage heart with a tomato sauce. Kaibara is declared the winner because his dish brought out the charms of the cabbage. Following the win, Kaibara gloats that Yamaoka ignored the unique quality of the raw cabbage, however Yamaoka looks forward to the second course based on turnip.
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EP81 - The Gift of the Sea Breeze
Yamaoka's friend Okaboshi calls him because he is concerned about the mental health of his brother Ryozo who works at the Gourmet Club. Ryozo was attracted to a young woman called Suzuko, but she became engaged to another chef. The chef then broke off the engagement to marry someone else and Suzuko attempted suicide. She now refuses to eat, and even food prepared by Kaibara cannot tempt her. Yamaoka takes Kurita to Izu seaside where Suzuko grew up and collects local food including brassy chub fish and the seaweed haba nori (幅海苔). He has Ryozo grill the pressed haba nori and the smell reminds Suzuko of the sea breeze and the taste revives and restores her will to live. Later she visits Izu with Ryozo.
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EP80 - Perseverance and Wild Yam
The Culture Division staff travel to Kamakura to visit Manager Tanimura who has been ill. Yamaoka accidentally bumps into his childhood friend and ex-yakuza Kazuo Hirai who has opened a small restaurant with his wife Tomoe However, although the food is good, business is slow which Yamaoka attributes to the standard Japanese menu. When they visit Kazuo's mother she reacts angrily because of Kazuo's yakuza past and his lack of perseverance. To appease his mother Kazuo offers to cook to local dish, tororojiru (薯蕷汁) consisting of rice with wild yams (山芋, yamaimo). To help, Yamaoka finds a local yamaimo in the forest over a meter long which Kazuo carefully digs out. Tamaoka convinces Mrs. Hirai to visit Kazuo's restaurant and she is greatly impressed by the tororojiru and size of the yamaimo, that she and her son are reconciled. When tororojiru is added to the menu, the restaurant thrives.
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EP79 - Ultimate VS Supreme, the Ability with Yolk
Following the win by Kaibara in the first round of the Ultimate VS Supreme Menu competition, Tōyama objects because of the high quality ingredients that Kaibara used. Kaibara agrees to supply the same eggs to Yamaoka who remakes his dish with just the egg yolks in truffle sauce and the result is declared a tie. However, Kurita later teases Yamaoka, saying that he really lost because he modified his recipe after experiencing Kaibara's dish.
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EP78 - Ultimate Menu VS Supreme Menu
Rival news organization Teito News announces that they will produce a Supreme Menu , and have engaged Yuzan Kaibara to lead the project. They plan to release it before Touzai News completes their Ultimate Menu placing President Ohara in a difficult position. Ohara challenges Yamaoka and the Culture Department to prepare dishes which will be published each month instead of waiting until the menu is complete. Kaibara assigns his wankata Ryouzou Okaboshi to prepare the dishes for the Supreme Menu. He instructs him to let Kurita know that the first appetizer dish will be made with egg and Yamaoka accepts the challenge. The editors of the Weekly Times offer to select judges for the competition and Touzai is forced to agree. At the first Weekly Times tasting, Yamaoka presents a soft-boiled egg accompanied by a truffle sauce which is countered by Kaibara's egg yolk misozuke. Kaibara's dish is surprisingly declared the winner because of the care taken in selection of the miso and eggs.
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EP77 - The Specialty of the Cottage
In Autumn, the culture division revisit the Chikaraya udon restaurant (Episode 30) and the owner reveals that the three retired sportsmen, Otani, Oyama and Ouma are ready to graduate as chefs. Over dinner, Kurita mentions that the division will spend their holidays at a cottage in Kiyosato run by Yuzuru Takeda who quit last year. They arrive and find the American style cottage comfortable and the French style food excellent, but discover that the business is not doing well. Yamaoka suggests that the problem lies with the fact that it is not clearly differentiated from the competition who offer similar accommodation and food. The others pressure Yamaoka to find a solution, and after trying Takeda's mother's homemade udon, he invites the Chikaraya boys to learn from her. He explains that being an older woman with less strength, she uses more water, making softer noodles with less effort. He also explains that her noodle soup which is a Yamanashi specialty and uses kabocha is also more flavorsome. Everyone agrees, and Takeda and his wife agree to switch their menu to Yamanashi style which makes the business a resounding success.
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EP76 - The Charm of the Smell
Ohara secures a business partnership with President Shovan of the french news organization Le Tanne, but during the celebratory dinner they argue about the flavors of Japanese versus French food and the deal is almost broken. Yamaoka is tasked with organizing the next dinner and chooses Mr Chu's Chinese restaurant. The evening goes well until the end when the two company presidents disagree over the strong smells of fermented cheese and fish. Chu then introduces a strong smelling tofu and both executives baulk at the smell. After tasting these foods in which microbes have dissolved the proteins they accept their cultural differences. Yamaoka then introduces the strong smelling funazushi and they all travel to a factory where it is made by fermenting fish which has been stuffed with rice and salted. All agree that the smell is pungent, however when it is eaten with rice and hot tea, they enjoy the taste and congratulate Yamaoka on his diplomatic choice of food.
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EP75 - Seafood of the Northern Sea
Tatsuya Miyai is an earnest young man who works as an assistant in the kitchen of the Gourmet Club and impresses Kaibara with his tea making. One day, when he opens the kombu storage cabinet, a cockroach scuttles out and he notices a sheet with a hole in it. Kaibara angrily blames Miyai for not keeping the kitchen clean and fires him. Miyai is devastated, so his coworker Ryouzou Okaboshi calls Yamaoka for advice. They meet in the Okaboshi restaurant and after eating fresh sea urchins Yamaoka invites Miyai to join him and Kurita on a research trip to Rishiri Island. After arriving on the island, they go to an area where kombu is laid out to dry. Miyai sees kombu with a round hole in it and a worker explains it's caused by sea urchins and Yamaoka adds that a cockroach would eat kombu by nibbling at the edges. Meanwhile, Kaibara arrives on the island, and after realizing his mistake, rehires Miyai to work at the Gourmet Club and make tea for him again.
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EP74 - Black Sashimi
Sai Shin'ei is one of a group of Japanese children orphaned in China during WWII who travel to Japan seeking information about their families. Deputy Director Tomii recalls his happy time as a child in China and thinks he recognises Sai as a childhood friend, but he is mistaken. However, Tomii offers to help Mr Sai find his family he was separated from during a Soviet bombardment of Japanese refugees. He was rescued by the Sai family who raised him as their son. His only recollections are of the landscape of the bay where he played as a child and the taste of black sashimi he ate with his family. Tomii asks Yamaoka to find Mr Sai's birthplace within a week before he returns to China. Yamaoka and Kurita believe the place Sai described is near Nagai and when they travel there, Yamaoka recalls that the dark liver of the local kawahagi is eaten raw. He arranges for Sai to try it and he immediately recalls the flavor from his childhood, and that his original family name is Sekimoto. Tomii confirms his name as Koichi Sekimoto and later at the orphan information center, they accidentally encounter Koichi's sister Etsuko who had returned to Japan with other refugees. The brother and sister are tearfully reunited after 40 years apart.
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EP73 - The Flower of Tofu
Mr Black seeks out Yamaoka and his associates to see his performance of Sudofu . It is a story about people who live in an apartment building who scold the owner by giving him rotten tofu because he brags about being a gourmet. Black has fallen in love with Terue who is part of a comedy duo with her sister Teruko. Terue falls ill because she has limited her diet to misoshiru and refuses the potage soup offered by Black. He is despondent because his parents will be arriving from America in a month. Black tries to make a yuba soup but fails. He then tries high protein hikiage yuba (tofu sheets) which is unsuccessful, but instead accidentally creates a thick nutritious soup where the soya bean protein clumps together. Terue initially refuses to try it, but after her sister Teruko reprimands her, Terue tries it and finds it delicious and recovers in time to meet Black's parents.
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EP72 - Gum Substitute
Deputy Director of the Arts and Culture Department, Tomio Tomii, tries to invite members of staff out drinking, but they all decline except Yamaoka and Kurita. Tomii then reveals he's meeting his younger brother Osamu who is a CEO of a construction company. Their relationship is strained because during the post-war period when the family was very poor, Tomio received a college education while Osamu had to work. Tomii recalls when their father made chewing gum from flour for Osamu, but he doesn't remember and Osamu claims their father was unkind. To prove his statement, Tomii tries to make chewing gum from flour but fails. Later, when Yamaoka is eating nama-fu he realizes wheat gluten can be chewy, and invites the Tomii brothers out to dine again. This time, Yamaoka washes flour under running water until all the starch is dissolved, leaving only the gluten and protein. The brothers try it, and Osamu recalls the smell, taste and texture from his childhood and realizes that his father had in fact created the gum for him, and the brothers are tearfully reunited.
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EP71 - Fish Without Bones
A friend of Hanamura and her husband, Isamu Yarimura, is competing in F3000 races to become a F1 driver. However his performance is suffering because of insomnia and Kurita suggests that Yamaoka should find a solution. Yamaoka realizes that Yarimura's insomnia is caused by him obsessing about minor details of his racing car after Yarimura begins pestering Yamaoka for details of the fish without bones dish Yamaoka suggests for a group dinner. That night Yarimura falls asleep thinking about fish without bones and wins the final race of the championship the next day. That evening they all dine on zen naing ling wi a Chinese dish of flathead grey mullet (ボラ, bora) where the flesh is removed, mixed with other ingredients and stuffed back inside the fish's body which is lightly fried and then steamed. Yarimura can now sleep soundly by thinking about topics other than racing when he goes to bed.
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EP70 - Brown Rice VS White Rice
The Touzai Culture Division staff visit the spa at Shirakawa for a vacation where they had previously enjoyed hamanabe and takenoko sashimi.[m] They arrive and see a judo team training, including Tawara and Kanazawa from Butoku Women's University. They see them again later while eating hamanabe with rice for dinner on the beach. While the staff are celebrating late into the night, three of the judo students arrive desperate to eat white rice. They explain that they are kept on a strict diet which includes only brown rice which they find rough and unpalatable. The girls are caught and reprimanded by Tawara and Kanazawa who argue that their organic brown rice is good for health. Yamaoka disagrees and asks for a week to prove that brown rice can be nutritious and tasty. A week later, Yamaoka is unprepared, so the judo women take him to their dojo where he meets the manager, Takeko Miyamoto. She challenges him to a judo contest, but Kurita intervenes and asks for more time. Meanwhile, Yamaoka had the team's organic brown rice analyzed and it showed traces of fertilizer and antibiotics which had been introduced accidentally through the farm's food chain. Miyamoto apologizes and switches to true organic rice which appeases the judo team and helps them improve their performance.
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EP69 - Reunion bowl
When Yamaoka cooks up beef tendon in the office for a lost dog, the strong smell annoys the other staff. The owner, Kissho Senkichi, comes to claim the dog and Yamaoka recognizes him as a rakugo student. Kissho's father, rakugoka Fukufukutei Suekichi, sent him to study under Kairakutei Master Hassho. Kissho progressed well and when he became a star performer (真打, shin-uchi), he proposed to Hassho's daughter Keiko and also asked to be announced as the second generation Suekichi to follow his father. However, because of Kissho's popularity, he had developed a huge ego and had lost his edge. Hassho refused both requests and Kissho stormed out, but he was unable to work again as a rakugoka. Yamaoka invites Kissho to perform for the Touzai staff and he invites Keiko and Mr. Black who also a Hassho student. Yamaoka wants to serve a meal but must do it on a limited budget. His solution is to prepare stewed beef tendons (牛筋煮込み, Ushi-kin nikomi) which he cooked slowly over three days and flavored with sake (日本酒, nihonshu), ginger (生姜, shouga), soy sauce (醤油, Shouyu). He then presents the meat with green leafy vegetables and rice, which proves to be a popular hit. As Kissho prepares to perform, Yamaoka reveals that Master Hassho is in the audience. Following Kissho's successful performance, Hassho also tries the stew. He declares that as long as Kissho remains as humble as the meal, he will be the second generation Suekichi.
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EP68 - Tamago and Frying Pan
The Culture Division celebrates the 20th birthday of Miki who has been working part-time at Touzai for three months. His friend Ueda arrives who is a trainee chef at Western Cuisine Ginka, but he is unhappy because the restaurant owner has little interest in cuisine. Yamaoka asks Ueda to prepare lunch for him and Kurita, and although his fried pork is excellent, Yamaoka declares his omelette a failure. He takes Ueda to the Maison de France, an omelette restaurant, where the owner and chef prepares an omelette in her own way. The difference is marked because of the freshness of her eggs, her preparation and cooking method. Ueda becomes more enthusiastic about cooking and gets a trainee ship at a quality restaurant. The entrance exam involved cooking a simple omelette in which he excelled, assisted by the dedicated egg frying pan Yamaoka had bought for him.
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EP67 - Boxer's Pain
The Japanese boxer Katsumura loses his bout against the world champion, and Yamaoka suggests to the Touzai staff that it was because he is overweight. The next day, sports photographer Arakawa tells Yamaoka and Kurita that he intended to propose to Tabata when Katsumura won, but now lacks the confidence to do so. Kurita suggests backing Sawaya who is competing for the lightweight world championship. When she and Yamaoka watch him training, they see he lacks fitness because he has a strict diet to keep his weight down. Sawaya says he enjoys eating so Kurita and Arakawa press Yamaoka to find a solution. After dining with Director Koizumi on a vegetable dish at the French restaurant Maquereau, Yamaoka asks the chef Saito to come up with some delicious western vegetable dishes that are high in fiber and low in fat. Sawaya enjoys the mainly vegetarian meal and goes on to win the championship. Arakawa then proposes to Tabata and she accepts.
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EP66 - Wankata Test
Kaibara enjoys a lunch of subtle complexity which has been prepared by the young chef Ryouzou. Kaibara decides to appoint him as his wankata (bowl chef) if he passes a series of tests. Ryouzou fails the taste test of shimiji sumashijiru (clam broth) and when Ryouzou tells his older brother, who owns the Okaboshi restaurant, Yamaoka offers to help. Ryouzou prepares sumashijiru for Yamaoka who realizes the mistake and he suggests that they go to Shinjiko in Shimane. There, a fisherman takes them out onto the lake to collect the freshwater clams, and he shows the difference between those that live on the soil or sandy lake bottom which causes them to have a different flavor. Ryouzou now knows the difference, and secretly prepares a dish with the sandy bottom clams for Kaibara. Ryouzou passes the test and is appointed wankata.
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EP65 - Boke and Tsukkomi
The American rakugoka, Mr. Black, invites Kurita and Yamaoka to one of his performances at a Yose. A star act on the bill is the comedy duo of the tsutkomi Subeta and boke Koronda. Later at dinner, Subeta declares that he is more popular, and during the meal constantly berates Koronda. When a dish of tai roasted fish head (兜焼き, kabuto-yaki) is served, Subeta takes Koronda's portion and suggests that he eat the tail instead. When everyone objects to Subeta's behaviour, he declares that he will become a solo act. After some initial success as a TV show host, Subeta's popularity starts to wane as his crass humour misses its mark. Meanwhile, Koronda has little success using old material without the spark and edge of Subeta. Yamaoka invites Subeta to dinner, and takes him with Kurita and Black, to the countryside where they dine on dojo fish prepared in different ways, including a Kinpira style yanagawa nabe combing the dojos with gobo (burdock root). Everyone enjoys the food, and Yamaoka reminds them that the yanagawa nabe worked because the plain tasting dojos combined with the unappetizing gobo made a delicious dish together. Subeta realizes his mistake and humbly thanks Yamaoka. He then joins Koronda back on stage and they become a popular duo again.
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EP64 - Salad and Beauty
President Ohara of Touzai is asked by an associate, Mr Moriya, to provide a likely marriage prospect for Ms Akiko, one of his relatives. Moriya has already arranged 197 marriages and is aiming for 200. Ohara nominates Yamaoka, and after the introductory dinner, Yamaoka and Akiko discover they were both pressured into attending the meeting. Akiko later reveals that she only eats salads to reduce weight, but it is not working. Akiko's former fiancée and a famous fashion designer, Nakao Hirota, still loves her and he asks Yamaoka to find out why she broke off their engagement. Akiko tells Yamaoka that she broke off her engagement because she had gained weight and felt self-conscious. Yamaoka deduces that her diet consisting of salads only twice a day with rich dressings is unhealthy and he suggests that she eats more high fibre vegetables without any dressing. Yamaoka then explains Akiko's situation to Hirota and he appears later with a wedding dress he designed for Akiko and they are reunited, although she also vows to improve her diet.
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EP63 - Natto of Love
Mie Katsuta, Kurita's friend from college, asks Kurita out to dinner to meet her fiancé, Yasuo Kirita. Kurita thinks it would be awkward to turn up alone, so she drags Yamaoka along with her. The newly engaged couple are excessively affectionate, to the degree that Kurita and Yamaoka become irritated, but when Mie suggests that they will eat natto for breakfast every day, they end up in a shouting match and leave the restaurant. Days later, Yasuo shows up at the Touzai offices and asks Yamaoka to help him appreciate natto. Yamaoka takes Yasuo to a restaurant where they prepare natto in a number of different ways and he becomes a convert, saving his relationship with Mie.
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EP62 - The Red of the Earth
Yamaoka and Kurita visit Tōjin Tōyama on the day he removes ceramics from his kiln, but he is dissatisfied with many of the pieces and smashes them. He is especially disappointed with a red glaze which he has been trying to match to the colour of tomatoes. While arguing with Yamaoka, he trips and fractures his ankle. In hospital, Kaibara brings some fresh organic vine-ripened tomatoes, however they lack flavour which Yamaoka attributes to using non-organid fertilizer. He offers to take everyone to visit a farm growing vine-ripened tomatoes in the middle of winter. The travel to Kakegawa in Shizuoka where they meet Mr Nagata who uses the ryokuken farming method. He uses greenhouses to reproduce the harsh native invironment of tomatoes in the Andes mountains. The tomatoes are pronounced delicious, and Tōyama believes that he has found the red colour he was searching for. However Kaibara is publicly unwilling to accept this method of cultivation or that Yamaoka is right.
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EP61 - Emergency Food
Nobuko Mayama invites Yamaoka and the Culture Department Flower Trio to visit the Mayama mountain villa. After a day skiing, the group eats dinner in the villa and is joined by Mr. Oide, a wealthy hotel owner, and his wife. Mr. Oide appears to be rude and domineering and his behavior makes his wife unhappy. When the group wakes up the next morning, a heavy snowstorm is raging, and they find themselves trapped in the hotel and the phone lines are down. Mr. Mayama then explains that the villa caretakers just cleaned out the pantry so they are out of food, which leads to Mr. Oide angrily blaming him for their predicament. Yamaoka digs up green onions from the garden and the women find some flour and sesame oil. Yamaoka uses these ingredients to make a type of flatbread called Laobing (Chinese Scallion pancakes). The group enjoys the meal and surprisingly, Oide compliments Yamaoka for calmly solving the problem and revises his way of thinking. Meanwhile, the storm has died down.
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EP60 - Effort in Kimchi
Touzai proposes to publish a book on Korean culture with the cooperation of Korean publisher. President Kim Changyoung of Saehan Books visits the Touzai offices to discuss the publication, but the emcee Tomio Tomii offends him and he cancels the deal. The staff review the meeting and Yamaoka recalls that Tomii started smoking and drinking before President Kim did, and the kimchi was too spicy. Yamaoka arranges for some kimchi made the Korean way to be sent to President Kim and the tactic is successful. Talks resume, and this time, Tomii displays much more courtesy to the Korean businessman.
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EP59 - Friends of Rice
The Touzai Arts and Culture Department staff visit a trade exhibition of California rice, and the economist Ryo Osaki accompanying the Deputy Prime Minister Kakumaru announces the liberalization of the rice import policy. Yamaoka objects, claiming that Japanese rice grown traditionally, tastes different. While preparing for lunch back at the office, the Touzai staff start discussing their favourite rice accompaniments and decide to have a Friends of Rice contest. Yamaoka causes a stir because he also invited the Deputy Prime Minister. The tasting competition goes well, with many varied and tasty dishes to accompany the rice. Yamaoka then argues the case for maintaining import restrictions to support the tradition of rice-growing in Japan and Kakumaru decides to reconsider the import liberalization policy.
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EP58 - Music of Hometown
Toshio Amano, a shy young part-time student worker at Touzai, is fired because of his difficulty in talking to people. Yamaoka and the Culture Department Flower Trio invite him to lunch where Amano explains that he is embarrassed by his Tōhoku accent although he later impresses them with his singing. Yamaoka gets Toshio a job selling roasted sweet potatoes from a street cart but Toshio has trouble attracting customers because he is too shy to call out loudly. Kurita suggests that Toshio sings out in his natural Tōhoku accent which attracts the attention of the neighborhood, making him a success.
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EP57 - Fond de Veau
Noriko Hanamura announces her engagement and invites Yamaoka, Kurita and Tabata to meet her fiance Mitani at Ginza's Gingintei restaurant where they plan to hold the wedding reception. They are impressed with owner-chef Mr Nakazato's meal, especially the with the Fond de Veau (veal sauce) but his drunken son Yasuo creates an embarrassing scene. Yamaoka and Kurita discover that Yasuo was fond of Hanamura and was hurt by her engagement to Mitani. A few days later, Mr Nakazato is involved in a car accident, and they try desperately to find an alternative chef. Yasuo offers to cook and tries to sober up and prove his skills. The meal is successful, however the flavor of his veal sauce is lacking which Yamaoka attributes to the type of bones used. They try again, using the ingredients of the first sauce as the base and this time, the result more than meets the approval of the guests.
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EP56 - Yum Cha
Daisaku Hoshimura, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, visits President Ohara at Touzai News. He asks Ohara to arrange an invitation to the Gourmet Club for the Chinese Vice Chairman Chen Yong Liong who is visiting Japan. Ohara pressures Yamaoka to ask his friend Tōyama to provide an invitation, but Kaibara refuses to serve politicians. Yamaoka approaches another Gourmet Club member, Mr Shu who is an old friend of Chen, to invite Kaibara to a special yum cha dinner and he eagerly accepts. Kaibara greatly enjoys the meal, but is surprised to find that the chef is in fact Vice Chairman Chen. Kaibara agrees to invite Chen to the Gourmet Club which is a diplomatic success, although Kaibara suspects that Yamaoka had a hand in the arrangement.
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EP55 - Mystery of Soy Sauce
Hanamura and her friend are returning from a ski trip when their car slides off the road and ends up stuck in snow. A passing driver stops and pulls them back onto the road, and before leaving, gives Hanamura a bag of senbei rice crackers. Hanamura tells of her adventure at the office and claims that when she saw her rescuer it was love at first sight but the man never told her his name. The office staff thinks the senbei Hanamura brought are uncommonly tasty and Kurita and Tabata suggest finding the store that sells them might help in tracking the man down. However, wherever they look, they can't find a place that sells this kind of senbei. Yamaoka thinks the soy sauce the senbei are flavored with is not mass-produced but made by a small traditional brewery. He contacts a soy sauce maker called Kimura-ya in Gobō. They sold their sauce to a store in Asakusa and when Hanamura goes there, the proprietor, called Mitani, is the man she was looking for.
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EP54 - Tokyo-style Zoni
amaoka's elderly acquaintance, Mr. Date the head of the Edo firemen , is in low spirits and barely leaves his room. He wanted some zōni soup for New Year's Meal but the place where he had always bought kamaboko paste, an essential ingredient, had closed shop and he didn't like the kamaboko from anywhere else. Yamaoka wants to cheer up the old man, but when he tries some commercially available kamaboko he finds them unappealing, as artificial flavors and polyphosphate have been added to the product. Eventually, Yamaoka makes his own kamaboko from scratch using traditional methods. Now Mr. Date can properly celebrate the New Year with Edokko zōni. He feels invigorated and few days later participates in the Dezomeshiki, an annual event where modern and Edo period fire-fighting techniques are displayed.
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EP53 - Candy and Dream
Yamaoka's friend Toshio Sakamura decides to quit his job at the expensive Dream of Angel cake shop. He gets into an argument with the owner who believes that Sakamura will steal his recipes. Toshio also alienates his fiancée Sumiko who is the daughter of the boss. Yamaoka demonstrates to Sumiko that Toshio spends time caring for his niece by providing cakes each day for the pre-school that does not contain potentially harmful additives. Once Sumiko realizes his motives, she convinces her father to help Toshio and he provides a van so they can sell cakes without additives directly to customers at a lower price.
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EP52 - The Charm of Fish
The wealthy Mr Kyogoku visits Tokyo and invites Yamaoka and Kurita to a special restaurant for fugu, however Kaibara arrives and immediately insults Yamaoka. The restaurant is unable to serve fugu shirako, disappointing the customers, especially a young couple are about to leave for work in the Middle East. Yamaoka and then Kaibara offer to provide an alternative the following evening at the Gourmet Club. Yamaoka flies to Toyama to buy a fresh Pacific cod (鱈, tara) for the meal and when he arrives, the staff warmly welcome him. Yamaoka presents his tara shirako, both raw and cooked and is highly praised for his effort and the flavor of the food. Kaibara laughs at his attempt and instead presents a torafugu from Simonoseki and the guests praise the taste as being better than the tara shirako. Incensed, Yamaoka proposes another challenge the following day using alternative ingredients. The guests declare that although it looks different, the food tastes as good as the fugu shirako and Yamaoka reveals that it is lamb's brains. Kaibara's offering is calf's brains which provides a similar taste, but Kyogoku declares Yamaoka the winner because lamb is more common in the Middle East.
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EP51 - Lemons and Health
A photographer named Seisaku Arakawa has taken a liking to Kinue Tabata and invites her to his exhibition. He then invites the Culture Department staff on a hike in the Tanzawa Mountains the following Sunday. During the hike, the Touzai employees have a hard time keeping up with Arakawa so Tabata, Hanamura and Kurita decide they must get in shape. After Deputy director Tomii reads an article about how men who are disliked by their female co-workers are not promoted, he invites the Flower Trio to lunch but they repeatedly decline. Tomii becomes distressed, but it is revealed the women have been using their lunch breaks to go jogging. Yamaoka considers this a bad idea, both because of the car pollution in central Tokyo and because they use lemons to refresh themselves during the run. He points out the lemons are imported and have been treated with harmful preservatives like TBZ. Arakawa returns, and presents Tabata with a picture he took of her working at the office. Yamaoka dislikes the picture because in the background he is clearly seen sleeping at his desk.
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EP50 - The Ultimate Manners
Branch Manager Tokiyama of Touzai News Paris has become the new foreign news editor back in Japan and the Culture Department staff take him to dinner. He is upset because his daughter Etsuko and her and grandfather had a big argument over the use of chopsticks which she regards as barbaric. Kurita offers to meet and talk to her along with Yamaoka, but Kaibara overhears and accuses Yamaoka of being the last person to teach the manners of Japanese cuisine. Yamaoka takes Etsuko to visit a teak chopstick factory, where she sees the craftsmanship involved. Later, they use the cedar chopsticks at an exclusive ryotei in Kyoto, but Kaibara also arrives as an invited guest. They enjoy eating their meal with chopsticks, but Kaibara insults Yamaoka's manners for wetting too much of the end of the chopsticks while eating in what he considers a display of poor manners.
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EP49 - The Power of Gyuniku (Beef)
Ayoyama, a reporter for Number One Sports magazine, is writing an article on the diet of baseball players and Yamaoka and Kurita are assigned to assist him. Meanwhile, the owner of a major baseball team invites Kaibara to the opening of his new beef restaurant, where Kaibara wants to try Miyazakigyu. The reporters visit two baseball camps where the ryokan are supposed to provide a balanced diet, but the players prefer eating gyuniku[k] and yakiniku and are also allowed soft drinks and snacks. The Number One Sports editor in chief invites Yamaoka to report his findings to the owner at his restaurant however when they arrive, they find Kaibara dining with him. When the group taste the meat, Yamaoka and Kaibara are critical and Yamaoka gives the reasons why the meat has little flavor. Then next day, they all visit the farm, and Kaibara asks Yamaoka to choose which calf (子牛, koushi) is will produce the best beef. Yamaoka choses one but is criticized by Kaibara as the calves are all male and castrated, whereas he says the best beef comes from cows who have not yet given birth. Yamaoka is devastated by his mistake, however Ayoyama publishes the article based on their research which is well-received.
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EP48 - Mother's Ringo (Apple)
Minako, Kurita's old classmate, introduces Yamaoka and Kurita to her fiancé, art dealer Satoru Aosawa, for an article in Touzai News. They all dine out together and Satoru orders apple tea and apple pie at a café, but then loudly complains that they lack flavor. Minako explains that he always orders the same combination but is never satisfied with the taste. Satoru reveals that as a child, his mother left with his younger brother and he has been bitter ever since. He announces that he has decided to break off the engagement to Minako as he no longer wants a family. Weeks later, Satoru's mother in the United States visits Japan after reading Kurita's article about his gallery, and makes contact with her. She explains that following her divorce, she could only take one son and wants to apologize to Satoru, but he refuses to see her. Yamaoka convinces his mother to make apple tea and apple pie and arranges for Satoru to taste them in a tea house. They are made from an older style apple that is more sour than common apples and it is the taste Satoru remembers. Satoru still refuses to speak to his mother, but Minako convinces him that he has really been missing her for 20 years. He relents and they are reunited.
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EP47 - Egg Yolk and White
Mr Black, the American rakugo disciple, visits the Touzai offices for information on the Japanese fried egg. He is looking for the Japanese words for sunny side up and turned-over for an International Fried Egg Conference (IFEC) to be held in Japan. His question provokes a discussion among the office workers about the best way to eat fried eggs, and each person Yamaoka and Kurita speak to has a different opinion. At the conference, there is intense discussion about the cooking and eating of fried eggs, and Yamaoka demonstrates a way of cooking without turning the egg over. The discussion then turns to seasoning, but at the conclusion of the conference, there is no consensus on what constitutes a prefect fried egg.
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EP46 - Showdown in Hong Kong Part 2
After watching the Dragon Lee movie, the Touzai trio goes the Lei Yue Mun fishmarket. Just outside the market Tomii notices two refugee children trying to sell their catch. He feels sorry for them and buys an entire bucket of crabs. Yamaoka asks the children to find nuoc mam sauce for him. That evening the competition starts. The first two dishes are based around swallow's nest and shark fin soup and are adjudicated as a draw. The main ingredient in the third dish is an expensive fish called Humpback grouper. However, Yō had bought all the high-quality large fishes on the market. Yamaoka remembers a Japanese dish using a related fish called Ara. He prepares a dish using only the eyes and lips of the fish and the authentic Vietnamese nuoc mam, provided by the children, as a dipping sauce. The dish goes so well down among the yacht club members that Yō concedes the competition and says he shouldn't have allowed the Japanese to compete. Fuyumoto apologizes to Mr. En for his rudeness the previous evening. Back in Tokyo, the office ladies are unimpressed when Tomii and Yamaoka try to reenact Kung-fu fights from the movie.
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EP45 - Showdown in Hong Kong Part 1
As representatives of Touzai News, Yamaoka, Kurita and Tomii have been invited to Hong Kong to attend the premiere of the newest Dragon Lee movie. The evening before the event, they are invited to a banquet hosted by Mr. En[i] the president of the film's production company and noted food connoisseur. Their table companion, Fuyumoto from Teito News, complains that the food is inadequate and acts rudely towards Mr. En. Yamaoka starts arguing back and says Fuyumoto doesn't understand Chinese cuisine. After Fuyumoto leaves in a huff, Mr. En asks for Yamaoka's assistance. En wants to become the next president of the yacht club and use the position to help the many Vietnamese boat people refugees in Hong Kong. Who gets the position is decided by a food competition and En's competitor is Mr. Yō,[j] one of the richest people in Hong Kong. Yō and Fuyumoto happen to be old acquaintances, and Yamaoka agrees to participate as long as there is a battle between him and Fuyumoto.
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EP44 - The Beauty of Women
Yamaoka's friend Shoichi Kitao takes him and Kurita to the Tsukiji fish market in the early hours of the morning which is alive with activity. They overhear an argument where the sushi restaurant owner Ms Natsuko claims the fish provided by the merchant Mr Uosata was unfit to eat. She maintains that women sushi chefs like her are looked down upon by society. When a famous kabuki actor visiting her restaurant says that women cannot make nigiri sushi, but his male companion and onnagata[h] criticizes his attitude. However, the onnagata also chastises Ms Natsuko for not creating a welcoming atmosphere in which to enjoy the sushi because she is too concerned about being compared with male chefs. Yamaoka invites Kitao and Natsuko to dinner and Natsuko is surprised to find the chef and owner is a woman, but feminine at the same time. The experience shocks Natsuko and she completely revises her approach into successfully making sushi with a beauty and elegance that a man could not match.
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EP43 - The Aroma of Aodake
Yamaoka and the flower trio are in Kamakura when they come upon a beautiful bamboo grove and decide to have a picnic. They meet the caretaker who tells them the forest is owned by Bitō, an owner of a chain of hotels, who intends to cut it down to build a villa. When Mr Bitō shows up, Yamaoka tells him off and says that a bamboo forest like this is more valuable than any building, but Bitō just scoffs at him. Back in Tokyo, Yamaoka asks president Ohara for a favor. Ohara invites Bitō and Itayama to dinner where the theme is Japanese sea bass. The first dish is sea bass cooked in rice paper, the second is French-style quenelle and the third looks like normal baked fish but the three men are amazed how savory and fragrant it is and declare it the far best of the dishes. The cook of the third dish is Mr Shu. He used a Chinese method where the fish is baked inside a tube of green bamboo (aodake). Mr Shu apologizes for taking bamboo from Bitō's forest without permission, but says it's hard to find good bamboo these days. Next when Yamaoka is in Kamakura, he learns that Bitō has decided to spare the forest.
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EP42 - Soy and Nigari
Director Tanimura invites his subordinates to a rakugo performance by his acquaintance Kairakutei Hasshou. Afterwards, Hasshou joins the Touzai group for dinner at a tofu restaurant. Their meal is disturbed by a loud argument between the chef and a customer, who claims the place doesn't serve proper tofu. Hasshou and Yamaoka side with the customer, who introduces himself as Stan Black, a food researcher from Los Angeles and author of the Book of Tofu. Yamaoka promises to settle the issue. The following morning, the chef, Mr Black and Hasshou meet him in a tofu shop where the soy milk is coagulated with a strong solution of magnesium chloride called nigari. Yamaoka explains that most modern tofu makers use a different method that is quicker and produces more but results in tofu that is smelly and watery. The chef tries the shop's tofu and agrees that it's what proper tofu should be, apologizes to Mr. Black, and considers changing suppliers for the restaurant. One day, the Touzai staff run into Black and Hasshou on the street and learn that Hasshou has taken Black in as his disciple in the art of rakugo.
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EP41 - The Ideal Technique
The elderly Tōjin Tōyama visits the Touzai offices with his young wife Ryoko, and presents Yamaoka with a large Bizen serving plate. He invites Yamaoka to his 77th birthday will be held at Ryotei Konparu with the food served on plates he has made, but Kaibara will also be attending. At the dinner, one of the guests suggests a chef's competition using tai and to be presented on Tōyama's plates. Yamaoka creates a controversy when he suggests that he, as an amateur, could also enter the competition, but then struggles to think of a better way to prepare the fish than usual. He goes to Akashi where the tai are of high quality and gets inspiration after swimming there and almost drowning. On the evening of the contest, each of the restaurateurs present innovative and delicious tai dishes prepared by their chefs, but Yamaoka surprises everyone by preparing tai himono (鮟肝), prepared only with sea salt from Akashi. His dish impresses everyone except Kaibara who storms out.
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EP40 - Midsummer Ice
The employees in the Culture Department are relaxing on the beach when Tomii tries to show off by eating ten bowls of shaved ice in one sitting. This causes him to collapse and be off work for three days due to an upset stomach. When Tomii returns to the office, Yamaoka and the Flower Trio try to cheer him up and invite him out for a drink. First they go to a dance club where Yamaoka orders his whisky straight because he doesn't trust the tap water. Later they go to a small and quiet bar. The bar owner, Mr Otsuki, says he is closing the business down because of how hard it is to get good water to mix his drinks. He used to draw water from a well in Koishikawa, but the well became polluted with waste water from a nearby factory and residential buildings. He adds that bottled mineral water is just purified water with minerals added to it. Otsuki then pulls out his precious souvenir a chunk of ice from Antarctica, and shaves it into drinking glasses and pours the group whisky on the rocks . When they leave, Yamaoka remarks that they are losing a treasure.
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EP39 - The Taste at the Hottest Moment
The employees of Touzai News are alarmed to learn that an uncrupulous businessman is buying up shares in the company and attempting a takeover. To make things worse, President Ohara is feeling poorly because of stress and the hot weather, and is unable to put up a fight to protect the company. Yamaoka recommends a diet of rice porridge (okayu) but Ohara flatly refuses, and says that kind of food is disgusting. One day, Ohara faints and is taken to a hospital. Yamaoka makes a porridge in the hospital kitchen with rice he acquired in Miyagi prefecture. Ohara reluctantly tries it and is surprised how tasty it is and asks for another serving. Yamaoka explains that to make good porridge, the rice has to be of high quality. It has to be sun-dried and carefully milled, and most importantly, properly stored, as the rice available in the middle of summer is from the previous year's harvest. Ohara regains his appetite and health, and successfully convinces a large shareholder to not sell his shares in the company and so thwarts the takeover attempt.
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EP38 - Beer and Edamame
Yamaoka takes a group from Touzai News to a beer hall to experience good beer but he is disappointed by the quality. He is horrified to hear that the best beer pourer, Mr Morisawa, has quit. Yamaoka discovers that the establishment has a new owner and he visits Morisawa to ask the reason why, and he says that he has lost his heart for work. Yamaoka talks to the new owner, Jinno, who explains that Morisawa insulted him by serving him black edamame which he considered rotten. Yamaoka invites Jinno to taste freshly picked and steamed beans and Jinno orders a helicopter to fly to the farm. Jinno picks fresh edamame, but when it is steamed, the beans turn black but taste delicious. Yamaoka explains that they are a special variety and Jinno realizes his mistake, so he reinstates Morisawa and makes him manager of the beer hall.
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EP37 - Ninniku Power
The baseball team Tokyo Gallants are playing in the Tokyo Dome. Gallants' player Nagahara hits a foul ball that flies into the audience and strikes Yamaoka, who ends up hospitalized. Nagahara visits the hospital to apologize and the conversation turns to his performance. The previous year Nagahara had been voted rookie of the year, but this year he has been doing poorly. Nagahara claims that he lacks energy and quickly gets exhausted even though he is eating health foods like garlic. Yamaoka and Kurita take Nagahara to a Korean restaurant where they are served cooked garlic dishes. Yamaoka explains that while garlic restores the body, eating minced raw garlic kills intestinal bacteria and has the reverse effect. The restaurant chef then teaches Nagahara a simple way to make garlic soup. Later, after Nagahara has hit home runs in several games in a row, Tanimura enters the office with a present from Nagahara, tickets to tonight's game. Tanimura says the Sports Department wants an interview but Kurita declines, and says it's a trade secret.
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EP36 - Soup and Noodles
Hoshimura, a reporter in the Home & Garden Department, wants to write an article on hiyashi chuka. She goes to a restaurant with Kurita and Yamaoka, where Yamaoka criticizes the food so scathingly that he is only saved from the irate cook by the appearance of Inspector Nakamatsu. Hoshimura has scheduled an interview with a noted gourmet who turns out to be none other than Yūzan Kaibara. Kaibara is gravely insulted that he is expected to talk about such vulgar dish , but Yamaoka challenges him and claims to be able to make hiyashi chuka he'd find palatable. Yamaoka experiments with various types of noodles but decides the problem lies in poor-quality ingredients. Yamaoka procures some good chicken and flour made from domestically grown wheat, while Nakamatsu acquires Kurobuta pork. They also enlist the help of a Chinese noodle maker in Wang's restaurant. Kaibara seems pleased with the dish, but then goes into the kitchen and produces another serving which everyone present finds better than the first. Kaibara says Yamaoka paid attention to the ingredients but forgot to consider the dish a whole. While hiyashi chuka was developed in Japan it's based on Chinese cuisine and Chinese condiments are better suited to it. One day, the Touzai staff notice Kaibara is on television claiming hiyashi chuka is a proper Chinese dish.
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EP35 - Tonkatsu that I Miss
Deputy Director Tomii assigns Yamaoka and Kurita to follow up on correspondence the newspaper has received about food, and their first letter is from Shinichi Satoi, a Japanese who has lived in the United States for 30 years and became a successful businessman. He has returned to Japan, and wants to taste traditional tonkatsu in Shibuya, but has not found one with the flavour he remembers. He tells of when he was a poor student, the Tonkatsu Daio restaurant owners, Mr and Mrs Nakahashi, were kind to him and their tonkatsu was delicious. Yamaoka decides to find the Nakahashis and convinces his reluctant editor that it will make a good news story. He eventually finds them in a retirement village and reunites them with Satoi. Yamaoka prepares high quality pork and other ingredients for Nakahashi to make tonkatsu, and Nakahashi successfully recreates the flavour Satoi remembers. In a surprise gesture, Satoi reveals that he bought the establishment for the Nakahashis who decide to come out of retirement to run their new Tonkatsu Daio restaurant.
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EP34 - Awabi Zukushi
Kyōichi Koizumi, the new editor-in-chief of Touzai News, wants the Culture Department to focus on modern pop culture to appeal to younger readers, and intends to remove Tanimura from his position as director. Both suggestions Yamaoka finds appalling. Koizumi meets with Yamaoka and Kurita in a restaurant and tells them their work on the Ultimate Menu is going too slowly. They are served raw sliced awabi (abalone) which Koizumi says is the only way to eat awabi. Yamoka begs to differ, and takes Koizumi to other restaurants that serve awabi cooked or dried. Yamaoka manages to get Koizumi to join him on a trip to the Shima peninsula the day after, where they eat awabi steak . Koizumi admits he misjudged the many ways awabi could be cooked. Yamaoka asks Koizumi to reconsider his decision regarding Tanimura, but Koizumi angrily tells him to leave. Later, Tanimura tells the staff of the Culture Division that he will remain director and adds that Koizumi had called Yamaoka an awabi-like person . Yamaoka takes this as praise, but Tomii suggests Koizumi is implying Yamaoka's one-sided love for Kurita.
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EP33 - Dish Made by the Bride
As payday approaches, Touzai staff begin eating more often in the staff canteen. Kurita's old college friend, Miyoko Kasada, says that she is divorcing her husband of 3 months because she believes he is seeing another woman. Kurita buys Yamaoka dinner so he will help follow Miyoko's husband after work. They follow him to a mother's style eatery where he spends 3 hours before heading home, which he apparently does every day after work. Yamaoka and Kurita visit Miyoko and she offers them her food, all learned from cookbooks and heated in the microwave. Yamaoka explains that he husband prefers home-style cooking, and does not like her exotic meals. He teaches Miyoko how to make a simple home-cooked meal, uzume-meshi (うずめ飯), from fresh ingredients and her husband begins coming home early every evening to eat her meals.
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EP32 - Hamburger Ingredients
A chef working in the Gourmet Club named Uda has decided to quit and open a hamburger restaurant. Kaibara is furious and believes Uda is wasting his training. Head chef Nakagawa and Uda meet with Yamaoka and Uda explains he wants to make food that is appreciated by the masses, not just a small select group of people. Uda, with the help of Yamaoka, opens a street stall, but the customers don't like his hamburgers. Uda is puzzled by this as he used high-quality meat and good condiments. Yamaoka suggests they go to a sushi place. The sushi chef presents them with various types of sushi including a type containing belly-side cut of tuna. However, it does not taste good as the tuna and rice don't complement each other. Uda realizes his mistake. He had not chosen bread that would go well with his burgers. After changing bread, Uda's stall does roaring business. He sends a hamburger to Kaibara and the day before the restaurant opens, Nakagawa arrives with several cases of pickles, implying Kaibara's tacit approval.
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EP31 - Home of the Ayu
Kyogaku suffers a bad fall and has to stay in a hospital for a few days. When Yamaoka comes for a visit, Kyogaku complains about the hospital food so Yamaoka promises to cook him ayu (sweetfish) tempura when he is discharged. Then Kaibara barges into the room and throws doubt on Yamaoka's abilities. To end the confrontation, Kyogaku suggests they both make ayu tempura and he'll judge which one he likes better. Yamaoka is confident in his frying skill, so he just has to find good ingredients, particularly the ayu. After some research, he settles on fish from the upper reaches of the Hozu River. The contest takes place in the residence of Tōyama. First Yamaoka's ayu is served and receives high praise, then Kaibara's. All find them quite similar, except for Kyogaku, when he takes a bite out Kaibara's ayu tempura, tears of joy run down his cheeks and he declares it the best thing he has ever tasted. Kaibara says he picked ayu from the Shimanto River close to Kyogaku's childhood home. He then triumphantly states that cooking is not just about ingredients and skills, but an art that can stir up emotions. Afterwards, a contemplative Yamaoka decides to keep this in mind for the Ultimate Menu.
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EP30 - Elasticity of Udon
Yamaoka and the Culture Department Flower Trio enjoy last day of Ozumo and then go to eat at Chikaraya, a traditional udon restaurant, but it appears run down. The noodles are perfect but their meal is interrupted by local gangsters demanding service and who have chased away the local customers with their rude behavior. On their way home, Yamaoka stops Otani, a young sumo, from jumping off a bridge because he has progressed too slowly and the heya have only offered him a position as a chef and chanko cook. The next day Otani appears at the Touzai office, and chief Hideo Tanimura introduces him to Oyama, a judo competitor, then the Manager Maehara of sports division introduces Ouma Ginkichi, a wrestler. Over lunch, the sportsmen reveal that they are retiring, so Yamaoka arranges for them to work at Chikaraya. After they rid the restaurant of its gangster problem, their strength and enthusiasm prove to be the perfect ingredients for making elastic and soft noodles, and the restaurant becomes hugely successful.
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EP29 - Wisdom during the Trip
Tomii organizes a Touzai News company trip to the Izu Shirakawa onsen, but finds that Akasaka, manager of the rival Teito Shimbun News has also booked his staff in. Touzai are staying in a small guesthouse, but Teito have booked into the new Tropical Hotel which has bought up all the local seafood for its guests. However, Mr Matsu, a local fisherman that Yamaoka befriended, comes to the rescue and suggests hamanabe, a local hotpot with small local fish and a selection of other ingredients. The Touzai staff have a pleasant evening on the beach, while the Teito staff miss their meal because they have to evacuate the hotel due to a fire. The Touzai staff rush to help, and Matsu and Yamaoka rescue the managers, then share their meal with the Teito Shimbun staff. The next morning, Yamaoka takes everyone to Matsu's bamboo forest, where they eat fresh takenoko sashimi.
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EP28 - Battle of the Whales Part 2
Mr. Watt told Jeff that whaling wasn't really important, but in order to raise money for the environmental movement it was easy to paint Japan as a barbaric nation who killed endangered species. He also threatened to use US sanctions against Japan unless whaling was banned. Yamaoka speaks to political journalist Matsukawa, who arranges an interview with deputy prime minister Kakumaru. The minister is unhelpful and explains to Kurita and Yamaoka that trade relations are more important than whaling and kicks them out. Later, when Kaibara enters the Gourmet Club he meets Kakumaru who says he is concerned about the whaling issue. Kurita and Yamaoka receive invitations from Kakumaru to a bunraku puppet theater performance where he and Mr Watt will be in the audience. In the reception after the show, the puppet master mentions that the puppets are controlled with wires made from whalebone. Mr. Watt reacts angrily and declares that whales are more important than bunraku. Kakumaru says whalebone could just be imported from the US, which continues whale hunting even when trying to stop Japan. After a loud quarrel, Mr. Watt leaves, but Kakumaru declares his support for continued hunting of whales.
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EP27 - Battle of the Whales Part 1
Protests against Japanese whaling are in the news. This gives deputy director Tomii cravings for whale meat so the staff of the Culture Department goes to a whale restaurant in Shibuya. There they coincidentally meet Kyogoku and Kaibara. During their meal, the restaurant is invaded by protestors; among them is Jeff Larson. Kaibara goes on a rant about how the Japanese are unwilling to protect their traditions and storms out. Kurita and Yamaoka take Jeff with them to Osaka to visit the estate of Kyogoku. There they are served sashimi. Jeff praises the taste but gets upset when he realizes it's whale and calls whaling a barbaric practice. Kyogaku claims whale meat is part of Japanese culture and Yamaoka asserts that killing whales is no different from killing other animals. Jeff claims that whales are going extinct, but Yamaoka responds that endangered species are not hunted and that numbers from the IWC show that many whale populations are growing. Jeff says that Mr. Watt, the vice president of an anti-whaling organization, is coming to Tokyo and he will ask him. One day, when Yamaoka arrives at work, Jeff is already there and is very agitated.
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EP26 - A Reason Not to Eat
Shuji Itayama requests that Yamaoka and Kurita explain the behavior of one of the members of the Ina Gourmet Club. President Inamura just picks out the ingredients of any dish he is served but declines to taste it. Yamaoka and Kurita interview Inamura, who turns out to be a kind man who greatly cares for his wife who is in bad health. Inamura is also very knowledgeable about Japanese and French cuisine. Yamaoka arranges the meeting of the club in a Chinese restaurant. There, he serves a soup called Fó tiào qiáng, a dish noted for its many ingredients and is said to be so delicious that it makes even Buddha break his vows . To the surprise of the other club members, Inamura consumes the soup eagerly. Kurita says she talked with Inamura's wife and that he had sworn to refrain from eating fine food at restaurants until she had regained her health. Inamura admits this is true and apologizes to his fellow club members.
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EP25 - Memory of the tongue
Kurita, along with her brother and parents, invites her grandmother to a restaurant named Torigen (鳥玄) in Tsukiji. There, they eat mizutaki, the favorite food of her grandmother's late husband. The old woman says that the chicken is bad and nothing like in the old days and becomes very upset. After Kurita tells her story at work, Yamaoka takes her to a large poultry farm, where she is horrified at the treatment of the birds and the use of antibiotics. They then visit a small farm, run by an old lady Yamaoka is acquainted with, where the chickens are free-range. Kurita invites her grandmother back to Torigen. This time, she is delighted with the meal, which was cooked by Yamaoka using free-range chicken. The restaurant owner laments that he has to buy chickens from factory farms because of lower prices. Soon afterwards, the Kurita family start raising chickens in their own backyard.
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EP24 - Chuka Soba's Life
Kurita is at her high school class reunion, where she meets the twin sisters Mayumi and Masumi who married brothers that ran a ramen restaurant, Ryuryu-ken. They explain that their husbands had a falling out after the magazine Ramen Mania gave the restaurant three stars and it came very popular. Eventually Masumi's husband, Hakuryu, left and opened his own Ryuryu-ken across the street. Kurita asks Yamaoka for help, and although he is in a bad mood because he misses horse race betting, he relents and agrees to help. They go to the offices of Ramen Mania where the editor introduces them to his expert team of ramen researchers. Kurita, Yamaoka and the researchers go to the two Ryuryu-ken restaurants for evaluation but the ramen from both restaurants is deemed unsatisfactory. Yamaoka suggests that Hakuryu cook the noodles made by Koryu and now the ramen is a success. The editor asserts that the restaurant will retain its three stars only if Koryu is the noodle maker and Hakuryu is the cook. The next day, Kurita declares she won big at the horse races and invites everyone at the office to lunch.
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EP23 - Flavor of Gyuunabe
Touzai News invites the African Poet Amal Julah and his wife to Japan and takes them to a sukiyaki restaurant in Ueno called Ushimatsu, but they arrive at the wrong Ushimatsu restaurant. The young owner throws them out, and they go to the intended sukiyaki restaurant. However, the flavour of the beef is disappointing, and they overhear Kaibara in the next room criticizing the food as substandard. When they try shabu-shabu instead, he is equally unimpressed. Later, the other chef from the first Ushimatsu, attacks the owner and accuses him of cheating him out of his inheritance. Yamaoka suggests that the young chef make a variation of the famous Rosanjin style sukiyaki, but combined with elements of shabu-shabu. They arrange for Kaibara's chef Nakagawa to invite Kaibara there to try it and Kaibara is impressed by the result. Even though Kaibara detects the hand of Yamaoka in the recipe, he praises the restaurant, making it a success.
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EP22 - Terms of a Chef
Touzai news holds an Impressionist exhibition and Mantaro Kyogoku loans a Renoir painting. Chief Tanimura takes Mantaro to the Okaboshi restaurant again in gratitude. The talented young chef has his younger brother, Ryouzou, to prepare the next course. They learn that Ryouzou was fired from Kaibara's Gourmet Club after Kaibara criticized his sashimi. When Mantaro asks Ryouzou to prepare the same dish, Ryouzou becomes nervous and goes outside for a while. When he returns, he prepares the meal, but Yamaoka detects that he has smoked a cigarette which has tainted the taste of the fish. Ryouzou quits smoking, and Mantaro and Yamaoka arrange for Ryouzou to secretly prepare food at the Gourmet Club. The subtlety of Ryouzou's first dish so impresses Kaibara that he is reinstated.
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EP21 - Knife Basics
Jeff Larson, an American chef, visits Touzai Chief Tanimura looking find to work as a chef in a Japanese restaurant to improve his skills and he even brings his own knife. Tanimura takes him to the West Coast restaurant which has franchises in the United States. The sushi chef skillfully prepares sashimi with great showmanship, but Jeff says the sashimi is below par and Yamaoka agrees. Yamaoka challenges the chef to a chilled perch competition in a week's time. Yamaoka takes Jeff a sushi bar where the chef Oofuji takes Jeff on as an apprentice. He gets Jeff to practice how to properly use a knife by shaving a daikon radish, followed by the secrets of cutting a fish and its preparation. A week later, Jeff wins the competition back at the West Coast restaurant, but graciously also respects the skills of the chef.
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EP20 - Expanding Horizons
Ex-staff member Nobuko Mayama, formerly Hayashi, visits the Touzai offices. Although in the past she had a crush on Yamaoka, he ignored her and she married Mayama, the owner and President of Oboshi Realty. She reveals to her former co-workers that the marriage is unsatisfactory as her husband only eats a limited diet which he supplements with vitamins. Kurita persuades Yamaoka to help, and they all visit Nobuko at her home. They meet her husband and Yamaoka challenges him to a game of spinning tops, one of his eccentric pastimes, wagering that if he loses, he must have dinner with Yamaoka. They play the game and the husband loses, so he must eat a meal prepared by Yamaoka. Yamaoka has Nobuko help him prepare a meal of tonkatsu using only the best ingredients. The husband resists, explaining that he was raised by a strict tutor and maid who only prepared a limited menu. However, after Yamaoka forces him to honour his agreement, the husband tearfully realizes that a new world of flavour is open to him.
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EP19 - Love and Ice Cream
Kurita and her friends take Yamaoka to Roppongi and they come across a very popular ice cream parlor. While waiting in the queue they see police Inspector Nakamatsu ejected for creating a disturbance. When Kurita and Yamaoka question him he confesses that he is in love with an ice cream saleswoman, Utako Mizumori, but her shop is doing poorly. They try her ice cream and find that, although she uses the best ingredients, it tastes thick and heavy. Yamaoka devises a plan to improve her manufacturing technique, getting Nakamatsu to slice the Roppongi ice creams and hers with a samurai sword. Yamaoka shows that the Roppongi ice cream has more aeration, giving a more melt-in-the-mouth feeling. She changes her style accordingly and her shop becomes a success.
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EP18 - Freshness and Speed
Yamaoka writes an article for Touzai News claiming bōsōzoku (biker gangs) are cowardly and compensate for it by riding powerful machines. A group of bikers invade the Touzai offices and accuse Yamaoka of misunderstanding their pleasure from riding at high speed. Motomura quits working for Tōyama who decides to throw a farewell party for him. When Yamaoka tastes the less than perfect oysters at the restaurant, he decides to enlist the bikers to take him to the Shima Peninsula to source the best oysters for dinner that night, a 1,100 kilometer round trip. The bikers take him there and arrive back at the restaurant just in time, but they are arrested for speeding. The oysters are a success, but Kaibara still criticizes Yamaoka for grandstanding.
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EP17 - A Hospitable Heart
Tōjin Tōyama, a national treasure and famous potter who taught Kaibara, marries the much younger Ryouko Suzumura. At the wedding, Tōyama asks Yamaoka to teach Ryouko how to cook. Kaibara disparages Yamaoka's culinary skills, and Tōyama proposes a contest between father and son to cook rice and miso soup. The contest takes place, with Tōyama's assistant Motomura preparing for Kaibara. Motomura's offerings are judged to be better and Kaibara explains the difference is the attention to detail and the hospitable heart that is part of the preparation. Yamaoka is devastated, and gives up betting on horse races, at least for a while.
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EP16 - The Power of Open Flames
Kurita and Yamaoka travel to Yokohama to work on the Ultimate Menu. The are invited to visit Shu, whose wife asks for their help. Her daughter, Mei-Mei, fell in love with their cook, Wang Xiaolong. They ran away and opened a small Chinese restaurant which has proved very popular. To achieve recognition from the Chinese community and be able to borrow money to establish his own restaurant, Wang will have to prove his culinary skills. He prepares a meal for the Chinese community leaders, but his fried rice fails to meet the standard they expect, and the loan is refused. Yamaoka intercedes and asks for a second chance. He shows Wang how to confidently control the flame and his second effort is successful. Shu and the other community leaders lend him the money he needs, and he is welcomed back into the family.
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EP15 - Japanese Curry
Gentarou Torasawa, an elderly judo master stops a purse-snatcher from stealing Kurita's money. He takes her with her two friends and Yamaoka to a Japanese curry restaurant run by his granddaughter Asae and her husband Kitao Tochikawa. Torasawa requested a curry without meat, and Kitao made one with sea perch but Torasawa declares that it is inedible. Yamaoka agrees that it is sub-standard because the fish is low in fat causing a lack of flavor. Torasawa storms out, taking Asae with him. Kitao explains that he was a going to represent Japan in judo at the Olympics but was injured and had to withdraw, opening a restaurant instead. Later, quite by chance, Yamaoka has the idea to incorporate bone marrow into the curry and it is successful, winning Torasawa's approval.
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EP14 - The Champion's Favourite Food
Ohara takes Kurita and Yamaoka to the Takayama sumo wrestling school where they sample the special stew, and are surprised when Kaibara also appears. Ohara will be hosting the school's pep rally, hosting the champion, Wakayoshiba, who requests a fish stew for the meal. On Ohara's recommendation, they decide on yellowtail as the fish to use. However, Yamaoka realizes that the fish is not in season which could embarrass his boss, much to Kaibara's delight. Yamaoka and Kurita fly to Hakata where he convinces Otsuka, the owner of a sumo tea-house there, to let him have a giant fresh saw-edged perch. As a fan of Wakayoshiba, Otsuka offers to travel to Tokyo and prepare it himself. He dramatically prepares the huge fish before the admiring guests. The dinner is a huge success and Yamaoka rescues Ohara from what could have been a very difficult situation.
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EP13 - The Value of Labor
Kurita, Tabata and Hanamura go to the Yokohama Chinatown to try some Chinese food. To Kurita's surprise, Yamaoka has agreed to join them. They wait in a queue outside a highly-rated restaurant, but once inside, Yamaoka is angered by a rude waitress and they leave without eating. They try another venue, again with a long queue, but this time Yamaoka complains that the food is bad. The chef prepares to attack him, but the owner, Mr Shu,[a] intervenes and challenges Yamaoka to come to his house and do better. In the mansion of Mr Shu, he and his wife judge the dongpo cooked by Yamaoka superior to what they serve at the restaurant. Yamaoka blames their slipping standards on the undiscerning Japanese clientele, who blindly follows reviews in the mass media. The chastised chef promises to do better, and dongpo becomes one of the dishes to be added to the Ultimate menu.
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EP12 - The secret of Stock
President Ohara wants Yamaoka and his father to reconcile so that Kaibara can contribute to the Ultimate Menu but Kaibara flatly refuses. Ohara arranges for the Touzai Culture Department staff visit the renowned Hanayama restaurant for dinner while he also invites Kaibara dine with him separately. However, Kaibara complains about the quality of the food, especially the fish soup, and orders it to be remade. The Touzai staff learn about the difficult customer, and that a temporary chef has been engaged for the night. Yamaoka offers to help and he prepares a replacement soup stock and fish dish which impresses Kaibara. When Kaibara proceeds to the kitchen to compliment the chef on the meal, he discovers it was prepared by Yamaoka. He insults Ohara and Yamaoka then storms out, dashing Ohara's hopes of reconciliation.
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EP11 - The Power of Clay Pots
Mr. Fukuman, president of Tsurumori Transportation invites the Touzai cultural news team to a special meal. He presents blowfish on a heritage platter and a turtle soup cooked in his solid gold pot, however Yamaoka is unimpressed with the flavour and asserts that he can produce a better soup. The next day, Yamaoka presents everyone with a simple broth cooked in an old clay pot which has been used for making turtle soup for 30 years. The soup is delicious, and Fukuman offers to exchange his golden pot for the old, charred one.
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EP10 - The Rules of Cooking
Le Canard, a famous French Restaurant opens in Ginza and invites selected guests to dinner. Tanimura, Tomii, Yamaoka and Kurita attend, but so does Yūzan Kaibara. Kaibara severely criticizes the fish entree, declaring that Japanese fish cooking style is better. When the main meal of duck is presented, Kaibara criticizes the traditional French sauce, preferring Japanese condiments. However, Yamaoka praises the sauce and accuses Kaibara of being conservative and reactionary. Kaibara challenges the guests to sample traditional Japanese cooking and prepares a series of dishes. When he serves bonito sashimi, Yamaoka asks for mayonnaise and combines it with soy sauce to accompany the fish. Everyone agrees that the unconventional flavors work together and Kaibara storms out in disgust. However, a few days later an article by Kaibara is published, praising the cuisine of Le Canard.
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EP9 - The Heart of Sushi
Touzai President Ohara takes the Culture Department staff to a renowned sushi restaurant run by Gingorou but Yamaoka criticizes the quality of the preparation. He challenges Gingorou to visit another sushi restaurant to sample the food there. Yamaoka takes the Touzai staff to an obscure restaurant where Gingorou and the owner, Tomi, each prepare sushi with the same ingredients. In a blind taste test, Tomi's sushi is declared the winner much to Gingorou's annoyance. Yamaoka uses a hospital scanner to show the difference between preparations in the compactness of the rice. Tomi is then revealed to be the famous sushi chef, Tomijirou who left his restaurant to find happiness in preparing food for regular customers whom he regards as friends.
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EP8 - An Odd Dinner Date
Ohara is seeking donations for the newspaper's African food appeal and approaches President Heikichi Narisawa of Dainichi Oil. Hideo Tanimura and Kurita visit Narisawa at his headquarters which is a run-down building clearly reflecting the miserly attitude of the president. Narisawa agrees to donate if Touzai can provide him with a decent meal. Ohara invites Narisawa to dinner, but the oil baron storms out, objecting to the amount of money squandered on the meal in an expensive restaurant. To rescue the situation, Yamaoka invites his friend Tatsu to take Narisawa on a tour of a food fair in a department store where they indulge on the free delicacies and sake on offer. Narisawa is so impressed by the fact that Touzai spent no money on the food that he makes a very generous donation.
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EP7 - The Magic of Charcoal
Inspector Nakamatsu seeks Yamaoka's help after Kinzo, a former chef at a famous eel restaurant called Ikada-ya, is arrested for creating a disturbance. He objected to the former owner's young son switching from charcoal to gas for grilling eel for efficiency. Yamaoka and Kurita help Kinzo set up his own temporary restaurant in Itayama's department store food court to compete against Ikada-ya. Kinzo' charcoal grilled eel is very successful and the chastened owner of Ikada-ya re-hires him to work in the restaurant.
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EP6 - The Phantom Fish
The Touzai staff are invited to the re-opening of Hatsuyama restaurant, famous for traditional Japanese dishes and Yamaoka is ordered to attend. Before the meal, Kaibara also arrives and he insults his son's abilities. During the meal Kaibara and Yamaoka are asked to name their favourite sashimi fish. Kaibara names many fish, by Yamaoka names mackerel, a common fish which spoils easily and can cause food poisoning. Kaibara derides Yamaoka's choice but agrees to taste it. Yamaoka travels to Hayama seeking a phantom mackerel , and goes out on a fishing boat to attempt to catch one. After three days, with the help of a local fisherman, Kurita manages to hook a large one. When it is prepared for the Touzai staff and Kaibara by a sashimi chef, it proves popular and full of flavor. Kaibara tastes the fish, but then storms out, complaining about the ugly design of the plates. However, a few days later, he sends some of his beautiful handmade plates to the restaurant.
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EP5 - Thick Soba Broth
Kurita offers to buy Yamaoka a cheap meal, so he takes her to an alley of vendor's stalls where he selects one run by Hanakawa which serves handmade soba noodles. The noodles are perfect, but Yamaoka states that the broth is lacking in flavour. Police arrive to shut down the stall because Hanakawa has no licence, but after police Inspector Nakamatsu tastes the meal, he offers to provide a licence if the broth improves. Hanakawa tries different recipes but is unsuccessful until Yamaoka tricks him into visiting a soba restaurant where he learns their secret broth recipe. Hanakawa uses it in his stall, and when Inspector Nakamatsu visits again, he grants him a licence, however Nakamatsu still expects some improvement in the flavor of the broth.
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EP4 - Fresh Fish
President Kuroda of Dainichi Electronics invites Ohara and Yamaoka to his recreation facility at Karuizawa for their annual banquet. Kuroda fancies himself as a chef and prepares the food for his guests, which include business clients and selected staff. He begins with a live white trevally from a holding tank which he serves as sashimi to great acclaim for his preparation skills, but a young boy says it does not taste fresh. Kuroda is outraged, however Yamaoka agrees and he offers to supply fresh fish for comparison the next day. Yamaoka takes Kurita to a fish market, where he buys a fresh trevally and has it quickly killed and bled, then packed in ice. That evening he and Kuroda both prepare their sashimi. The diners unanimously declare Yamaoka's dish better and he explains that a fish straight from the ocean is in better health and condition than fish that has been kept alive in a tank for over a week.
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EP3 - Fresh Vegetables
Yamaoka takes Kurita to the launch of a new department store built by Shuji Itayama, a well known gourmand. Yamaoka tastes the vegetables, but although they look good he finds they lack flavor. Itayama introduces them to his food court, featuring venues run by famous restaurants across Japan. However, Yamaoka regards them with disdain and accuses Itayama of selling stale vegetables and exploiting the restaurants who are forced to use substandard ingredients to cover their high rent. Itayama complains about Yamaoka to Touzai and withdraws his advertising from the paper. To salvage the situation, Yamaoka takes Itayama to a farm where he experiences the taste of fresh vegetables he ate as a child. As a result, Itayama changes his supply system and the store becomes a success by selling fresh produce.
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EP2 - Father VS Son
Ohara decides to start an art section in Touzai and hopes to borrow a Renoir painting from Mantaro Kyogoku. Ohara entertains him at a restaurant in Ginza, but Kyogoku finds the foods substandard and storms out. Ohara then asks Yamaoka and Kurita to find a quality restaurant in Ginza. Yamaoka consults his friend, Tatsu who recommends Okaboshi restaurant which has a new talented young chef. The dinner party arrives and is presented with a meal of rice, miso soup and Tosan-style grilled fish. However, Kyogoku is incredibly impressed with the quality of the simple meal. He asks if Yamaoka is the son of Yūzan Kaibara, but Yamaoka denies it and offers his resignation at Touzai to avoid comparisons with his fastidious father. Kaibara then visits the Touzai office and challenges Yamaoka to a taste test of tempura. Kaibara and Yamaoka each select their chefs, but Kaibara's choice is declared the winner. Yamaoka is crushed, but later he withdraws his resignation, hoping to prove that he is the equal of his father.
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EP1 - The Ultimate Menu
To commemorate its 100th anniversary of the newspaper Touzai Shimbun, President Ohara announces a plan to publish the Ultimate Menu . The assignment will be allocated to the reporters with the best taste in food and as a test, the assembled staff must distinguish the difference between three samples of water and tofu. Yamaoka is badly hung over and arrives late, so instead of carefully sampling, he drinks all the water and eats the tofu. When the results are examined, only Yūko Kurita, who has just completed her reporter training, and Yamaoka have correctly identified the samples, which means that they will be to ones to implement the project. Ohara gathers Japan's most famous gourmands to devise the dishes that will go into the “Ultimate Menu”, but Yamaoka insults their pretentious international choices such as foie gras. He spends the following week with fishermen who catch a Monkfish. Yamaoka skillfully removes the liver, washes it in sake and steams it, creating ankimo as the ship returns to port. At the tasting, Ohara declares that the fresh ankimo tastes better than the canned foie gras and dismisses the gourmands.
