As the penultimate episode of Top Chef’s season seven began, it felt more like No Reservations than typical fare. The remaining chefs met Seetoh (billed as the king of Singapore street food) in an outdoor eatery, which was like a food court gone wild. It was lined with kiosks, each offering its own specialty. Seetoh acted as culinary sherpa, guiding the chefs as they ate their way through an impressive and unusual array of dishes. Though everything looked exotic, and I half-expected to spot Andrew Zimmern across the way scarfing down a goat’s testicle, it turned out that Singapore’s national dish is true comfort food: poached chicken, broth, and rice served at room temperature. Although Singaporean food is a blend of its three main cultural groups — Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian — the country’s unique geography allows these influences to mix in ways they might in few other locales, resulting in delicacies like the mouthwatering chile crab that the chefs enjoyed.
Angelo, Ed, Kelly, and Kevin, the four remaining chefs, were all exhausted from making the 13-plus-hour journey to Singapore, yet, when they reached the last stall in the market, Padma greeted them with a Quickfire challenge (surprise!). It was less surprising that they were supposed to put a personal twist on the Singaporean street food they had just sampled by creating a dish that used a bevy of local ingredients and was cooked in a wok.
The chefs soon substituted their jetlagged fatigue, made worse by bellies full of curry, with the adrenaline rush of the competition — particularly once Padma mentioned that the winning chef would have immunity for the Elimination Challenge and be guaranteed a spot in the finals. To challenge them further, all of the food labels were written in Cantonese, so if the chefs weren’t sure what an ingredient was (and there were many unusual and exotic items at their disposal), they had to taste everything before deciding what to cook.
Angelo made it clear that he was very much at home with the flavors of Singapore, the use of a wok, and the subtlety of wok hei. He even decided to switch his protein from crab to frog legs with only a few minutes left to cook. Kevin, in contrast, had never used a wok before. He expressed surprise when Padma chastised him for not preparing by experimenting with a wok before traveling to Singapore, and for once, I have to agree with her. He knew the finale would be in Singapore. If I was going to fly halfway around the world to display my cooking acumen on television, and I hoped to win $125K, I definitely would have boned up on the region’s most ubiquitous cooking method.
Kelly decreased the wok’s intimidation factor by making seafood broth. Doesn’t a wok become just another cooking pot if most of its contents are floating in liquid? But, as we all know, playing it safe doesn’t get you the win on Top Chef. That honor went to Ed, who wowed Seetoh with his stir-fry noodles with black-pepper sauce, lobster and gai lan. Ed soaked up his moment of glory, as he told Padma that he liked to “wok it out on the weekends” when she asked if he was familiar with cooking in a wok.
For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs learned they would be serving for 80 guests at a party hosted by Food & Wine’s editor-in-chief, Dana Cowin. It was a little strange that Cowin judged last week’s Quickfire and this week’s Elimination. And the Elimination was a team challenge, although there was only one team, and the chefs had to cook à la minute. Talk about pressure! Without a Whole Foods in sight, the chefs went shopping for spices and dry goods at a local shop that had a range of regional delicacies, including century eggs.
The highlight of prep, hands down, was watching Ed hassle Angelo. Ed freely admitted that he was trying to rile Angelo up, and it appeared to be working. Angelo claimed he was “glad” he didn’t have immunity because it kept him on his toes. But Ed proved that he was interested in more than taking the piss out of Angelo when he took on the extra task of meeting with the wait staff, and electing an expeditor. Unfortunately, the wait staff had great difficulty with service, no matter how clearly they were given directions. Multiple order tickets were written in Cantonese, or as Angelo described it, “scribbleydo.” Fortunately, the wait staff’s shortcomings had little effect on the judges’ enjoyment of the food. For once the judges actually seemed to be eating — relishing their food rather than rating it. They thoroughly enjoyed everything that the chefs prepared, peppering their praise with only the mildest criticism.
It became clear at judges’ table that only Ed was safe from elimination, simply because everyone cooked so well. Ed’s second dish, the chile-banana fritter, which Tom called “the perfect stoner food,” may have been the most orgiastically praised food of the season.
What a difference a few episodes make. Somewhere during judging Angelo started to tear up, and then he started to sob. But canny viewers everywhere knew that Kelly was doomed the minute Tom called her fish prep skills “a little rough.” And so it was, that Kelly was eliminated. It wasn’t that surprising that Kelly made it to the final four, nor was it a shock that she went home when she did. But Kevin’s continued presence on the show is more puzzling. Has there ever been a more unassuming (or clueless) chef outside the kitchen that has come this far in the competition? Was I alone in thinking he was never going to pull off 80 perfectly cooked 63-degree eggs, and yet, he did?
With one episode left, the final three chefs are a group that few odds-makers would have chosen. I’m not a betting woman, but if I were, I wouldn’t start putting money on Kevin now. I’d also hate to bet against him.
