With rapid-fire precision, an assortment of onions, mushrooms, carrots, peppers and the occasional strawberry are sliced and diced before thrown into a fire-hot wok to be prepared in an off-the-cuff seven-course Chinese meal.

The temperature rises as the kitchen becomes increasingly filled with bustling bodies set about the task of another day at Golden Wok, 223 Welch Ave. #201.

Eyes intensely watch every move as the man deftly improvises and arranges these raw materials into a culinary masterpiece.

Once the meal is prepared and arranged on the plate, each dish is meticulously positioned on the table and moved until everything is in its proper place, down to the last salt and pepper shaker set.

A lesser man might crack under the pressure, but Cheng-Chung Chen is used to it. He is, after all, an Iron Chef.

Chen became famous for his appearance on the popular television show “Iron Chef” on cable’s Food Network.

Chen, chief instructor at the Department of Chinese Culinary Arts at the Kaohsiung Hospitality College in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, was also head chef at Taiwan’s five-star Han-Lai Hotel and and has won numerous gold medals in culinary competitions across the globe.

The chef has made Ames his home for the past month under the request of Kei Kuo, Golden Wok owner.

Kuo says he believed Golden Wok’s recent location change from Chamberlain Street to Welch Avenue in Campustown was a good time to “bring in somebody special.”

He says Chen’s culinary expertise as a world-renowned Chinese cook was well worth the cost required to bring him here from Taiwan, as it will set Golden Wok apart from other Chinese restaurants in Campustown and the rest of Ames.

“Everybody has the same food,” Kuo says. “You can change vegetables or something, but it’s basically all the same entrees.”

Chen’s main purposes in coming to Ames were to provide a sort of personalized show, to instruct the Golden Wok staff and to help rejuvenate the restaurant’s menu, Kuo says.

“He’s doing my entree, but he’s doing it his own way,” Kuo says. “He just changes the way he cooks it.

“We are kind of old-style,” he continues. “There are too many Chinese places in Campustown. We need to do something special.”

Kuo realizes there are limits to what he can change about the menu and still turn a profit, however.

First of all, some kinds of Chinese food Americans are used to eating have little to no place in Chinese culture.

For instance, Kuo says he was surprised to come to America and see how popular sweet and sour chicken was.

He says his only response was, “Oh really! It’s basically ketchup and vinegar on a chicken nugget.”

Regardless of his opinion on the item, Kuo says he realizes he must cater to the desires of his customers.

“The reason we do it is people will buy it. We have to pay a bill,” Kuo says. “If we do traditional food, I don’t think many students will buy it. They will pay $5 for sweet and sour chicken.”

Kuo also says he’d like to offer some different items, but the food materials available to him in the Ames area make preparing some dishes impossible or cost-prohibitive.

“We are using whatever we can find,” he says. “We want to use real Mandarin oranges but we can’t find them.”

Kuo says he’d also love to carry an item called Dragon Lobster, but the lobster carried in this area are far too puny for his purposes.

“I could buy them from New York or Los Angeles for $100 or $150 apiece, but I don’t think anyone here would pay for it,” Kuo says.

Kuo says he’s never heard of any other local restaurants bringing in a famous chef.

In the fickle world of doing business in a college town, however, having a famous person for a chef is a great way to attract customers during financially difficult times.

“Every Chinese place here has either changed owners or been up for sale in the last couple years,” he says.

Kuo seems pleased at the results and is proud to have his own Iron Chef in residence for a month.

“I can almost guarantee you that he’s the best chef in the whole state of Iowa right now,” he says.