regulation theme and then with asparagus as the overtime theme. He is the only competitor to have tied an Iron Chef twice — once initially and again in the overtime battle. He and Chen were subsequently declared joint winners. Arpège (Two wins and one draw in four battles) – a French restaurant in Paris that earned its first Michelin Guide star in its first year after its founding in 1986, its second soon thereafter and a third in 1996, which it has maintained since. It was also ranked 8th in The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2018. Alain Passard (One win and one draw in three battles): Arpège's owner and head chef. He represented France in the 1997 Iron Chef World Cup in Kyoto and beat American Patrick Clark with homard lobster as the theme before tying Nakamura in the final with foie gras as the theme. Short after his appearance, L'Arpege had received its third Michelin star. In the series finale, Passard was invited to Kitchen Stadium to be the final challenger during the final King of Iron Chefs series, where Sakai bested him with Long Gang chicken as the theme. Tetsuya Shimada: A Japanese French chef who worked at Arpège from 1987 until his return to Japan in 1992, his skills were recognized by Passard, who made him a seafood specialist while at Arpège. Also a member of Club Mistral (see below), Sakai also beat him with black truffles as the theme. Cheng Kazuhiko: A Chinese chef and the first challenger to win in Kitchen Stadium after he bested Chen in the sixth episode with octopus as the theme Tadamichi Ōta: defeated Iron Chef Sakai in an octopus battle, in which Sakai was particularly squeamish about handling the live creatures. Later became the leader of the "Ōta Faction" (大田軍団) of traditional Japanese chefs. The Ōta Faction regularly challenged Iron Chef Morimoto and his neo-Japanese style, winning one out of five battles. Ōta Faction was the name used in the translated version shown on Food Network. In the original Japanese version (shown in the U.S. and transcribed by the Iron Chef Reporter in southern California) the group is called Ōta’s Party of Heaven and Earth (OPHE; 大田天地の会). Every time he appeared, Fukui would point out that he was not related to Shinichiro Ohta, the show's floor reporter. Kyoko Kagata (One win in two battles): A French chef, the first