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It’s crunch time, friends! Down to the final 5! This episode starts with Dale talking about how much he misses his son, how much he wants to win, and how much he wants the money. Francois says he didn’t have any fun on the bottom last week. Connie misses Andrea, and feels pressure as the only female chef left in the competition.
 
 
Quickfire! Rob Feenie’s in the kitchen, and will just be referred to as Feenie from now on, so we don’t confuse him with Rob. Cheftestants will have to create three distinct dishes with seafood, and they rush up to a huge table of live seafood to pick what they would like to cook with. Once they’re back at their stations, Thea makes them shift one position to the right. Rob’s laughing because he gets Dustin’s station and Dusty picked up something called geoduck which looks disgusting. After a hilarious shot of Dustin’s crab attacking a prawn, chefs get cooking.
 
Connie (Rob’s picks)
– oyster chowder with bacon foam
– spot prawn sashimi
– lobster cake with fennel and apple slaw
 
Dale (Connie’s picks)
– spot prawn and clam soup

– spot prawn curry with apple and caluliflower
– tomato, crab, corn and radish salad
 
Rob (Dustin’s picks)
– oyster with black pepper and citrus
– scallop ceviche
– geoduck with wasabi, ginger and jalapeno
 
Dustin (Francois’ picks)
– oysters with bacon
– lettuce wraps with crab salad
– crispy prawn salad with pineapple
 
Francois (Dale’s picks)
– pancetta, leek, oyster soup
– artichoke carpaccio with something I missed
– spot prawn something
 
Feenie says Connie’s ceviche was perfect, but he was disappointed with her lobster cake. Dale’s idea’s were brilliant, but he execution wasn’t on point. He loved Francois’ spinach puree with oysters and Dusty’s lettuce wraps too, but the winner is Rob. He’ll get an advantage in the elimination challenge.
 
As we saw in the preview from last week, this week’s challenge is all about street food. Cheftestants have to create two street food dishes, and the twist is that they also have to randomly draw two countries and blend those cultures into their dishes. Soooo fusion street food? My guess is that there’s a producer behind the scenes who’s obsessed with Japadog (Japan + USA). The chefs draws knives and the combos are:
 
Connie: Germany + Thailand
Dale: India + Trinidad
Francois: China + Spain
Dusty: France + Italy
Rob: Canada + Vietnam
 
Rob’s advantage is that he can swap one country with any of the chefs, and he takes Spain from Francois and gives him Vietnam. Dale is not feeling this challenge at ALL, and I believe he says “I’m not going home for fucking Trinidad”. RELAX DALE. Although I have to say, that at this stage of the competition, with five of the best chefs in Canada, are they seriously going to be judged on street food? Why not do this challenge earlier in the competition?
 
(I missed the Loblaws trip and prep in the Top Chef Kitchen because I was on the phone, and I don’t feel like watching it again right now, so I’ll fill this in later).
 
Chefs roll up to their food carts in Nathan Phillips Square, and it looks like Connie is wearing one of Dustin’s baseball hats. Too funny. Judges roll up and Shereen’s back (didn’t miss her!) along with Feenie, Mark and Thea. Let’s go:
 
Rob: Canada + Spain
a) serrano ham and canadian cheddar sandwich – Judges say: delicious, not too spicy, sweet and smoky, smoked ketchup is great
b) chorizo sloppy joe with manchego cheese and green onions – Judges say: sophisticated but toned down, chorizo in sloppy joe is great
 
Dale: Trinidad + India
 
***Do we even need to talk about the food after this: “Sometimes I’m a bit of a douchebag” AMAZING! The understatement of the season.***
 
a) curry soup with roti filling – Judges say: lots of heat, not much flavour, soup is not street food
b) warm jerk chicken salad with naan – one note, missing the next level of flavour
 
Dustin: France + Italy
a) duck confit pizza with bechamel, caramelized onions and emmenthal – Judges say: tasty, nice meld of two countries
b) nicoise sandwich – Judges say: taste is great, Feenie loves it
 
Francois: China + Vietnam
a) pork dumplings in pho broth – Judges say: this is not street food
b) peking duck in rice wrapper – Judges say: tricky to eat, very flat, Feenie finds it bland
 
Connie: Thailand + Germany
a) bratwurst with sriracha aoili and thai slaw – Judges say: mellow in flavour, nothing defined, missing thailand, flavour didn’t match presentation
b) beer braised chicken pad thai with mustard vinaigrette – bland, residual of chili, by trying to make it german she made it flavourless
 
In the supply closet, Thea calls in Dustin and Rob and they are the best! Shereen loved both of Rob’s dishes, and Feenie wants the sloppy joe recipe. Dusty was adventurous in his choices, the pizza was very clever and Feenie loved the sandwich.
 
The winner: Rob!
 
Everyone else goes in to see the judges. Mark tasted fat in Francois’ roll, and Feenie felt it had no flavour. Both his dishes were poorly executed. Shereen thinks she’s an expert on street food, and says it should have punch. Mark was disappointed in Dale’s curry soup, as well as the deconstructed jerk salad, it should have been a sandwich. Mark thinks Dale overcomplicates things in his mind. Connie had well conceived concepts, but fell flat on taste. Mark wonders how she could bomb on a sausage? Feenie says street food needs to spank your taste buds.  
 
Going home: Francois
 
Next week: GAIL! FINALLY!
 
So our final four are Dale, Rob, Connie & Dustin! Who do you predict will be the odd chef out for the finals? Which of the street food dishes would you have emptied out your pocket for? How hard did you laugh when Dale admitted he can be a douche? And what shall I try to re-create for our Finale Party?