There are 3 things I dislike; Ecchi, Harem and Erina-Sama.

Despite that what made me read this manga, I wanted to read a cooking manga and that crazy, homoerotic one just wasn't hitting the right spot unfortunately. So I decided to keep an open mind and read this one.

I'm going to keep it short, and just say I was pleasantly surprised. The focus in this story is food and glory. Simply loving food isn't good enough, you have to be excellent about making it. Ergo you have a high school entirely focused on shaping the future of the gourmet world via food contests and basically being graded for every egg you boil.

I should mention for anyone like me who is averse to Ecchi and Harem that there is NOT a shortage of it. It is simply that there are enough interesting characters and excitement within this story to counter it. Plus there's some Free-style fan-service here and there too, didn't hurt. ;)

The main character is a dedicated young teenager who loves nothing more than to cook, and to be better at it than his peers. He's definitely a 'cool' kind of character, almost never flustered, but always ready to help his friends.

I should mention that I usually like my Tsunderes. So I'm not sure if Erina is even classed as one, just beware of her, she's evil, even her soft-spot is EVIL! Even the EVIL people are less evil than her. Excuse me. What I meant to say is that she is the only thorn in the rose. (A rotted, blunt, useless thorn)!!!