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The veggie dish is first and we have a pickled royale mushroom and pork belly char siu bao from Angelo, a terrine of eggplant and zucchini from Kevin, and a chilled corn veloute from Ed. Tom comments that Angelo’s dish needs work, Susan didn’t get enough “oomph” from Kevin, and Eric thought that Ed’s dish was well-executed. Tom notes at the end, though, that all three dishes were restrained.

The fish course is next and Angelo has a sauteed rouget with poached cuttlefish, Kevin has a pan seared rouget with cuttlefish noodles, and Ed has a stuffed rouget with glazed slipper lobster. Dana Cowen appreciates the well-cooked rouget from Kevin, Eric found Ed’s dish to be too complicated, and some other guy (no clue what his name is) thought that Angelo’s dish was the one that you’d remember out of the entire three.

The meat course follows, and Angelo servies up a sauteed duck breast with foie gras, Kevin has a roasted duck breast with a duck dumpling, and Ed has duck two ways: a roasted duck breast and a braised, stuffed duck neck. All diners agree that Kevin’s duck is cooked the best, Susan loves the ginger salad in Angelo’s dish, and Padma loves the flavor of Ed’s dish.

The dessert is last and as Top Chef fans will know, this is where someone inevitably crashes and burns. Angelo has a Thai Jewel (coconut vanilla cream with crushed ice), Kevin has his version of a Singapore Sling (some purple thing with fruit inside), and Ed has a toffee date pudding with fleur de sel.

Amazingly, all three desserts are good. Angelo’s dish is comforting and tasty according to Gail, another diner loves the caramel in Ed’s dish, but the one that takes the cake (sorry about the dessert pun) is Kevin’s dish. Everyone absolutely raves about it. One diner even says that Kevin just created their national dessert.

It’s clearly a really close race but I’m thinking that Kevin probably has this one in the bag.

Back at Judges Table, Gail thinks that this is one of the best finales they’ve had. Eric loved that the chefs took inspiration from Singapore. Padma is happy that everyone had to work with all the same ingredients so that we could see the difference in their personalities. Tom notes that the judging panel is made up of four people with very different views and tastes. Sounds like he’s ready to argue this thing out.

It sounds like Ed won the veggie round. Eric didn’t find Angelo’s dish to really highlight the vegetables, and Gail wasn’t excited by Kevin’s dish (Padma called it “timid”). Meanwhile, Padma calls Ed’s dish spectacular and Gail loved it.

I think Kevin wins the seafood round, with Eric complimenting the cooking technique used in the rouget and Tom saying that all components were in harmony. Meanwhile, Gail says that Ed’s dish was “confusing” and Angelo gets complimented only on his aromatics and broth.

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