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Just released in the US is this award-winning French drama that will draw you in like a three course meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant with its gripping plot, quality acting and delicious food scenes.
“It took 30 years to get where I am. 30 years of slaving like a dog. 16 hours a day, six days a week. Sweating in the scorching heat. I have no friends, no wife, no family, no money, nothing! My job is my life, my whole life!”
Running a top restaurant in the city of lights comes with its usual ups and downs but things get more complicated for ‘le chef’ (played by Clovis Cornillac) when Romain (Hugo Becker) a young locksmith on parole for fraud, is thrown into the heat of his kitchen.
Chefs is a drama but it doesn’t glamourise what it’s like to work in the kitchen of a famous restaurant. Romain starts working as a dishwasher, starting from the bottom, and staff work endless hours. Investors are constantly on their backs, despite it being one of the best restaurants in Paris.
Creators of the series, which originally aired in France in 2015, reportedly did their research by watching top chefs like William Ledeuil, Pierre Gagnaire, and Guy Savoy at work. The plot is littered with real-life stories collected by the creators from kitchens in Paris. So although situations are romanticised, they feel convincing.
And of course there is food, lots of it. Many of the dishes in the series look like they belong at a Michelin-starred restaurant because they sort of are, thanks to chef David Toutain who created them for the show. Toutain is the chef-owner of the one star Michelin restaurant David Toutain in Paris, and has previously worked for French heavyweights such as Pierre Gagnaire, Bernard Pacaud and Alain Passard. The chef also helped in training the actors so they looked the part of a three-starred restaurant.
We guarantee you're going to want more of this show, which thankfully you can now watch on MHz Choice in the US. Just don't go watching on an empty stomach - you've been warned.
