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| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Battle (Season 8) · On to Saffron City: May’s first Kanto Ribbon arc (AG137–AG145) |
| Episode | Season 8, episode 48 · English episode 413 · Japanese episode 417 · Bulbapedia code AG141 |
| English title | Hail to the Chef! |
| Japanese title | ニューラとバリヤード！どっちのレストラン！？ Nyūra to Bariyādo! Dotchi no Resutoran!? — “Nyula and Barrierd! Whose Restaurant!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 1 September 2005 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 3 June 2006 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Battle Frontier – Akina Takaya · Pokémon Kazoe Uta (Pokémon Counting Song) – Akiko Kanazawa |
| English opening | Unbeatable – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which is not a Flying type? (Swellow / Dustox / Masquerain) → Dustox |
| Previous episode | Sitting Psyduck (AG140) |
| Next episode | Caterpie’s Big Dilemma (AG142) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeTwin restaurantsSneasel vs Mr. Mime
Hail to the Chef! is the 48th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Battle, the eighth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 413th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 417, Bulbapedia code AG141). It first aired in Japan on 1 September 2005 and in the United States on 3 June 2006. It falls within the season’s On to Saffron City: May’s first Kanto Ribbon stretch (EP137–EP145).
Synopsis
On the way to Saffron City, May’s Munchlax escapes from its Poké Ball and follows a delicious smell to a restaurant run by a woman named Rhonda, whose head chef is a Mr. Mime. Not far away, the starving Team Rocket stumble on a rival restaurant owned by Rhoda, where the head chef is a Sneasel. Rhoda is offering a free grand-opening meal, and she is thrilled to hear that Jessie is a “Top Coordinator”. Sneasel and Meowth take an instant dislike to one another. Sneasel’s dishes look plain but taste superb, except for Meowth’s portion, which Sneasel has deliberately ruined, as Meowth discovers when he steals one of Jessie’s meatballs and realises how good the food really is. Meowth quickly works out that Sneasel has singled him out.
At Rhonda’s restaurant the reverse is true: Mr. Mime’s dishes look magnificent, conjured up with flashy Psychic powers, but taste dreadful, as Ash, May and Max discover with their first mouthfuls. Meowth and Sneasel come crashing through the wall in the middle of their fight, and Sneasel knocks Rhoda straight into Brock’s arms. The two owners turn out to be identical twin sisters who split their father’s restaurant between them, and each is determined to prove that her cooking is better. They agree to settle the rivalry with a cooking contest, with Ash and his friends as the judges, while Meowth, remembering an earlier run-in with a Sneasel, fears that the clever Pokémon might replace him in Team Rocket. Jessie and James, meanwhile, are only too happy to keep eating for free.
That night Team Rocket coach Sneasel in ice-carving and presentation, while Brock teaches Mr. Mime to cook with care rather than relying on Psychic powers. On contest day Mr. Mime puts on a dazzling show and tastes its dishes by hand, and Sneasel slices vegetables with elegant precision, until Team Rocket cage Sneasel, Mr. Mime and Pikachu with a whip-like arm and take off in their balloon. Thunderbolt, Fire Spin and Water Gun all fall short, but Mr. Mime uses Trick to swap its ladle for the cage key and opens the cage, and Sneasel slashes the balloon to send the trio blasting off. Rhoda offers to hand her restaurant to Rhonda, but Rhonda asks her to stay, and the twins decide to run their father’s restaurant together, with Sneasel and Mr. Mime cooking a celebratory meal side by side.
Major Events
- Twin sisters’ rival restaurants with a Sneasel and a Mr. Mime as chefs
- Meowth feuds with Sneasel
- Jessie sings a taunt to the tune of the Pokémon Counting Song
Trivia
- The English title plays on "Hail to the Chief".
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.
Changes in the English Dub
- Mr. Mime uses “Psychic” (Japanese: Confusion)
- Exciting Pokémon Relay as Japanese background music
- Jessie sings a taunt to the tune of Pokémon Counting Song
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Battle guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.