AG141
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Hail to the Chef!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Hail to the Chef! (Japanese: ニューラとバリヤード！どっちのレストラン！？ Nyula and Barrierd! Whose Restaurant!?) is the 141st episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 415th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 1, 2005 and in the United States on June 3, 2006.
Blurb
Chasing after a hungry Munchlax, Ash and his friends end up at Rhonda's, a restaurant run by a girl named Rhonda with Mr. Mime as its head chef. Team Rocket stumbles across another restaurant, Rhoda's, run by a girl named Rhoda with Sneasel as its head chef. Meowth quickly takes a disliking to Sneasel, but Jessie and James want it for Team Rocket.
Back at Rhonda's, Mr. Mime puts on a fantastic show for Ash and company, but the food is terrible. Over at Rhoda's, Sneasel's food looks terrible, but it tastes fantastic—except for Meowth's, because Sneasel purposely made him a horrible meal. The two start to fight, breaking through the restaurant wall and right into Rhonda's. Rhonda and Rhoda are actually twin sisters who split up the family restaurant; Rhoda accuses Rhonda, and they challenge each other to see who deserves to run the place.
Team Rocket coaches Sneasel while Brock advises Mr. Mime, and after a night's practice it's time to allez cuisine! Mr. Mime's presentation is great, but now Sneasel also puts on a show. It looks like a close battle until Team Rocket steals the chefs and Pikachu too! Team Rocket hops in their balloon to make a getaway, but Rhonda tells Mr. Mime to use Trick and Psychic. This frees all three Pokémon, who head home and send Team Rocket packing along the way.
Impressed, Rhoda leaves the restaurant to Rhonda. But Rhonda makes Rhoda co-manager and Sneasel the head chef; with everyone working together, the restaurant is now better than ever! And after a wonderful meal, Ash and his friends can happily continue on their way.
Plot
The group continues towards Saffron City for May's first Kanto Pokémon Contest. Suddenly Munchlax pops out of its Poké Ball, starts to smell something delicious the air, and then runs off in search of its source; Rhonda's restaurant. Rhonda and her head chef Mr. Mime smile at their guests and welcome them in. Brock’s flirting startles Rhonda, though Max pulls him aside.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket are starving as they continue to follow after the twerps, when they come across another restaurant up ahead. As James and Meowth bound for the doors, Jessie reminds them that they don’t even have any money for food. Luckily for them, Rhoda welcomes the trio to her restaurant's grand opening and all of the meals are free, to Team Rocket's delight. As they sit down, Rhoda mentions the Saffron Contest, and Jessie's interest perks up. Meowth says that Jessie is interested in Pokémon Contests too, and Rhoda instantly runs back, shocked at the talking Pokémon. Jessie explains that that was just their stomachs growling and tells Rhoda that she is a Top Coordinator. Rhoda instantly returns to her guests, excited at meeting such a famous person. She suddenly remembers that she must get the menu, and runs off, apologizing. Over at the kitchen, the Pokémon chef, Sneasel, looks on snickering to itself. Jessie and James are impressed to see Sneasel, admitting that at least it’s useful. Meowth takes offence to the snide comment, though Jessie pushes his head down to keep him from frightening the waitress again. The Sneasel laughs again, this time at Meowth, sparking an argument between the two Pokémon. Rhoda returns with the menus and orders Sneasel to apologize, and it concedes with a bow of its head. She explains that her Sneasel is an amazing cook, and Jessie and James become excited at the prospect of tasting some of it.
Ash and his friends sit inside Rhonda's restaurant, excited as they wait for the cooking performance to start. The curtains are pulled back and the group looks on in wonder at all the cooking equipment. Rhonda tells Mr. Mime to start, and the Psychic Pokémon does so, using its psychic abilities to cook, stir, and chop the ingredients. Sneasel has already finished cooking its meal though; a simple meat dish with sauce. Team Rocket look on, a little underwhelmed having been told that Sneasel was an amazing chef. James and Jessie take their first bite, and are instantly amazed at the quality. Meowth, however finds the food to be disgusting. Rhoda presents the trio with their next course, a plate of meatballs. Jessie and James try some, and once again find the food delicious. Meowth dumps his meatballs down his throat all in one bite, but is forced to drink all of his water as he finds the food alarmingly hot. Suspecting that some trickery is afoot, he steals one of Jessie's meatballs and eats it. Expecting it to taste horrible, he's shocked to find that it is delicious. Meowth instantly becomes angry however, as he realizes that Sneasel must have made his food nasty on purpose.
Unlike Sneasel's rather plain-looking food, the meal that Mr. Mime has cooked up looks delicious and extremely edible. The group looks on, amazed at such an appealing meal. The group digs in as soon as their dishes are served, but instantly fall back in their chairs. Even Munchlax, who would eat nearly anything, falls over in dismay. It seems that while the food looks delicious, it actually tastes disgusting. Rhonda apologizes, and just at that moment, Meowth comes crashing through the wall followed by Sneasel. The two Pokémon are fighting, and Rhoda desperately tells Sneasel to stop, but to no avail. Sneasel jumps past Rhoda, knocking her over and into Brock's arms who mistakes her for Rhonda. The real Rhonda confronts her doppelganger, revealing that it is actually her twin sister Rhoda. It seems that the two restaurants are part of the same building, but are separated by a wall. Jessie and James walk through the hole in the wall, and the two groups are shocked to see each other. The two sisters argue over whether presentation or taste is most important in preparing food before deciding to settle their argument with a cooking competition. Meowth, hoping to sabotage Sneasel’s chances, followed by everyone else volunteer to help judge the competition
That night, Rhoda turns to Team Rocket for assistance. She admits that her Sneasel prepares delicious food, though it has problems with making it look so and worries that it cannot put on the same performance as her sister's Mr. Mime can. Jessie plays along as her Top Coordinator persona, though whispers her true intentions – to steal Sneasel, Mr. Mime, and Pikachu. Meanwhile, Ash and his friends are talking to Rhonda, who explains that she has the opposite of her sister's problem. While her Pokémon can make food look delicious, Mr. Mime has problems actually making it taste good. She begs Brock to help her improve Mr. Mime's cooking ability, and Brock agrees to mentor Mr. Mime. A little later, Mr. Mime is preparing some stew under Brock's supervision. Mr. Mime, who up until that point had been stirring the meal by itself, tries to use its Psychic power to add flavoring. Brock stops it however, explaining that it must rely on its own cooking ability, and master the art without help from its Psychic powers. Meanwhile, Jessie orders Sneasel to carve an ice sculpture out a huge block of ice she has prepared. Sneasel slashes away reducing the block to a miniscule Sneasel statue, which Jessie and James need a magnifying glass to see. Team Rocket moves onto putting ridiculous makeup on Sneasel and getting it to try on lots of different, stylish clothes. The two Pokémon work throughout the night, perfecting their techniques.
The next day, the competition begins, with Brock and Meowth acting as referees and Ash, May, Max, Jessie and James acting as the tasters. Brock explains that the object of the contest is to not only make a delicious meal, but to also put on a performance. He tells the two Pokémon to start, and they rush off to their respective benches and start cooking. Jessie and James wish Sneasel luck, and Meowth does the same for Mr. Mime, but is stopped by Brock who tells him that as a judge he must remain impartial. Mr. Mime puts on a dazzling performance, and Sneasel seems to have picked up some pointers as it gracefully slices some vegetables. Mr. Mime also stops itself from using its Psychic powers, and instead physically puts its herbs and spices into the dish, test tasting each time for the right balance.
The contest soon gets into full flow, but is stopped when a black whip grabs a hold of Sneasel, Pikachu, and Mr. Mime; it is Team Rocket. The three Pokémon are thrown into small cages and the two villains laugh. They start their motto, but stop as they wait for Meowth to say his line. Jessie is furious, so she whips Meowth over and demands answers. Meowth says that he was confused as to why they were helping Sneasel, and James explains that it was just a ruse to get close to Pikachu. They continue and finish their motto, with Meowth's spirit and confidence restored. Rhoda is particularly upset that Jessie lied to her, and Rhonda steps as she orders Team Rocket to give back the Pokémon. Team Rocket, however, ignore them and jump out of the window into their waiting balloon. Ash, frustrated, tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, which proves useless against the electricity-proof cage. May then sends out Combusken and Brock sends out Mudkip to use a combination of Fire Spin and Water Gun, but Jessie laughs as the attacks fail to make the distance. Jessie starts to mock them, twirling the key around her finger while James cries happily. Back on the ground, Rhonda tells her sister to let her handle the situation, and shouts to Mr. Mime to get the key with Trick. Mr. Mime does so, swapping its ladle for the cage key. Mr. Mime then uses Psychic on the key to open the whole cage, and the three Pokémon jump out, but not before Sneasel slices the balloon with its claws, which sends Team Rocket blasting off.
The three Pokémon land safely, and their Trainers run over to them happily. Rhoda tells her sister that she is grateful to her and content with handing full control of their father's restaurant over to Rhonda. Rhoda apologizes to Sneasel, and wishes Rhonda all the best. As Rhoda walks off, Rhonda looks on sadly, and calls out to her twin sister. Rhonda says that there's no need for her to leave; they can run the restaurant together, as a team. Afterwards, the group sits inside the now-combined restaurant, where Sneasel and Mr. Mime are happily working together to create an equally aesthetic and delicious meal for the whole group to enjoy.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Dustox
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Chimecho (James's)
- Combusken (May's)
- Munchlax (May's)
- Mudkip (Brock's)
- Mr. Mime (Rhonda's)
- Sneasel (Rhoda's)
Trivia
- When Team Rocket is in their balloon after capturing the three Pokémon, the song that Jessie sings to mock the people on the ground is to the tune of the series' ending theme Pokémon Counting Song.
- Exciting Pokémon Relay was used in the cooking competition scenes.
- This is the final episode in which Lindsey Warner voices Brock's Mudkip.
- Nearly a week before this episode debuted in the United States, Weavile and Mime Jr.'s names were released. They happen to be the evolved form and pre-evolved form of the two main Pokémon in this episode.
- The episode's title is a pun of the name of the presidential anthem of the United States, "Hail to the Chief".
- This is the second time that Meowth has been worried about being replaced by a Sneasel.
- In the end of their motto, Team Rocket are standing on a CGI animated food portion.
Errors
- The ending credits list Jessie's Seviper and James's Cacnea as being in the episode, when in fact they never appeared.
- In one scene during the motto, James's hair is not completely drawn and colored.
- In one shot, Ash and company are wondering when Mr. Mime's show will begin and they will be served food, even though food is already on the table. The food disappears in the next shot.
- In the Latin American dub, Mr. Mime is called "Señor Mime". This previously happened in Showdown at the Oak Corral and The Scheme Team.
Dub edits
Pokémon Trainer's Choice
- Question: Trainers, which Pokémon is not a Flying type?
- Choices: Swellow, Dustox, Masquerain
- Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Dustox, you were right!
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 狃拉與吸盤魔偶！餐廳屬於誰的！？ | |
 Danish
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For mange kokke! | |
 Dutch
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Voor het keukenblok! | |
 Finnish
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Hurraa kokille! | |
 European French
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Un combat de chefs | |
 German
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Duell am Herd! | |
 Hebrew
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קרב השפים | |
 Hindi
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खाना और खज़ाना Khaana aur Khazana* | |
 Italian
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Gara di cucina | |
 Korean
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마임맨과 포푸니의 요리 대결! | |
 Norwegian
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Hyllest til kokken! | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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Salve o Chefe! | |
 Russian
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Слава шеф-повару | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Vivan los chefs! |
 Spain
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Felicitaciones al chef | |
 Swedish
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Länge leve kocken! | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
