Originally posted by: Raina101
Finally watched the episode. Did Teja get help from Abhijeet and Archana? Thatās what it seemed like to me, while the others only got help from one.
Also, I was so disappointed that they didnāt show much of Archana with Gaurav. Theyāre 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, havenāt heard of this combination and looked fantastic. I didnāt even notice the negative plating until the judges spoke about it. But true that he couldāve added some more colour. But even then didnāt mind it. The pĆ¢tĆ© or what he called the mousse looked really good. And the sprinkling of chilli powder on the ghewar I think wouldāve added a nice flavour. Iām glad he didnāt 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 youāre giving so many fried elements (rice cake, sabudana papad), you need something to balance the oiliness. Also, did she not serve thecha? She didnāt 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 Rajivās hug? Theyāre 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 didnāt look good - I wish heād 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 couldāve 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 wouldāve been better, so maybe something airy like a soufflĆ© or a mousse with a base of mohanthal wouldāve been a better option. But Iām 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 hasnāt 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 didnāt 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 havenāt understood how that can be elevated to masterchef level - itās a very very basic dish. I was intrigued by the aubergine peanut butter. I love the Maharashtrian bharli vangi, Iām 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 Iām happy for him, but somehow today I felt Faisus dish deserved to be best. Of course I couldnāt taste the dishes, and Iād 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, Iād really like to see them get to rework on their weaknesses. That would be truly interesting.
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