Originally posted by: Raina101
Finally watched the episode. Did Teja get help from Abhijeet and Archana? Thatâs what it seemed like to me, while the others only got help from one.
Also, I was so disappointed that they didnât show much of Archana with Gaurav. Theyâre such a fun pair to watch. I really hope to see them both together on a show.
Anyways coming to the dishes -
1. Faisu - I absolutely loved his idea and plating. Very unique, havenât heard of this combination and looked fantastic. I didnât even notice the negative plating until the judges spoke about it. But true that he couldâve added some more colour. But even then didnât mind it. The pĂątĂ© or what he called the mousse looked really good. And the sprinkling of chilli powder on the ghewar I think wouldâve added a nice flavour. Iâm glad he didnât just plate makhani sauce but went in with a red pepper sauce. For me, it was the most innovative dish of the day.
2. Nikki - her plating was bad. I think when I dump food on a plate it looks like what hers did. The kharda chicken looked ok, but where was the gravy? If youâre giving so many fried elements (rice cake, sabudana papad), you need something to balance the oiliness. Also, did she not serve thecha? She didnât mention it when she described the dish. There was no innovation, no presentation but still the judges could find something to praise. And her attitude during tasting was horrible (as always). Nikki wa down so Farah gave her a hug, where was Rajivâs hug? Theyâre mollycoddling her a bit too much.
3. Rajiv - hats off to him for even completing his dish. It was a mammoth task. I know how difficult it is to do frosting on a just baked cake. His dish didnât look good - I wish heâd gone in with pastel colours or Atleast a lighter colour instead of the red. It was in your face. Of course the cake was slightly leaning. I agree with Ranveer, he couldâve chosen to do his frosting in a way to make the tilt look intentional. His concept never appealed to me - monarchal is too heavy and dry to go with something so heavy. A lighter dish wouldâve been better, so maybe something airy like a soufflĂ© or a mousse with a base of mohanthal wouldâve been a better option. But Iâm happy some of his components were good. I think he just became over ambitious.
4. Gaurav - the dish looked very pretty, theres no doubting that, and the fact that someone who hasnât cooked much made it, just adds to the amazement. But to say that this is the best looking dish in masterchef ever, is a bit too much. I have seen better looking dishes on masterchef. Cakes with pepper and chilli and herbs have been done before, but I agree they are difficult, so kudos on that. Using cream cheese frosting as foam, again not a novel idea. I absolutely loved the chocolate stenciling effect (the leopard print), it showed his creativity and artistic talent and the berry crisp looked really good. What I liked is that he didnât just use his technique but incorporated mor techniques. Those sauces on his plate looked really nice and smooth. The best part is the texture and shine in them. Overall impressed.
Tejaswi - her dish neither sounded interesting nor did it look great. Although I loved the onions with kokum syrup - they added a nice colour and looked pretty. So she made pithla- which is basically cooked besan, a very humble dish made in most Maharashtrian households. I havenât understood how that can be elevated to masterchef level - itâs a very very basic dish. I was intrigued by the aubergine peanut butter. I love the Maharashtrian bharli vangi, Iâm wondering if it was just a pureed form of it. If it was, could it have been presented better? Because the centre of her dish just looked like brown elements stacked one on top of the other. Her ragi crisp was taking too much attention from the plate and not in a good way, could she have made them smaller, and maybe served it in a way that the main dish got more attention? Overall, for me it was a miss.
Gaurav got Ranveers knife and praises from all. Of course Iâm happy for him, but somehow today I felt Faisus dish deserved to be best. Of course I couldnât taste the dishes, and Iâd like to believe both were fantastic, I just think when it came to innovation, Faisu had a slight edge.
Also, its finale week, they gave them their best dishes to recreate, basically play on their strengths, Iâd really like to see them get to rework on their weaknesses. That would be truly interesting.
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