‘The Chef Show’ Volume 3: Refreshing, delicious and the best food show we have seen on Netflix
There’s a reason why Forbes magazine, quoting hosts Jon Favreau and Roy Choi, named ‘The Chef Show’ as “Netflix's Best Food Show To Date”, when the show first dropped in June 2019. And they stuck to their opinion, again in September 2019, when it came back with a second season. And now, as the dynamic duo comes back with the third volume of their culinary journey, we fully agree with their opinion. Here’s why.
Let’s start from the beginning. The documentary series is not just about a celebrity chef and an award-winning director-producer-actor-writer on an adventure across the country, exploring different foods, with different people. It is about reinventing food, learning and unlearning the tricks of the trade while being in your elements!
Yes, the earlier volumes had a lot of star power to spice up the content with celebrity guests like Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Holland, Seth Rogen, Bill Burr, etc. So, you would naturally assume that such ingredients enhance the flavor of the show. And they do, obviously! But even when you do not drop names and still go out there, focusing on the food, watching an ace filmmaker learn from legendary chefs and making mistakes, it makes it all very relatable; as if they have opened a window into their homes, letting you feel like a part of their passion.
If we have to point out one highlight of the show, it was how easy and homely Favreau and Choi made us feel. In a market full of overwhelmingly dramatic and jargonized food shows, watching a completely non-scripted (except for the planning of dishes, or the storyboard, of course) content with the hosts being just themselves on camera, is refreshing to the senses. The men don’t bother you with unnecessary culinary terms or Michelin-rated techniques; as we said, they make you feel like you are standing in their kitchen, watching them do wonders.
There is no romanticizing of recipes or the idea of the perfect dish on 'The Chef Show'. It’s simple, hearty, and every item cooked by these men makes you hungry right there! Most importantly, seeing accomplished personalities trying to learn their way through great food and perfect recipes, is something you don’t get to experience every day. Take Favreau’s experience making an omelet for Wolfgang Puck for instance. He knows what he is doing and yet, Puck’s instructions on how to do it more professionally, comes across very innate for a culinary legend like him, and Favreau being the perfect mentee. Or teaching Sam Raimi how to make the perfect sourdough bread!
While we do say that this show is all about simplicity, let’s not forget the fun element and most importantly, the “cooking” element of it. From sampling the fanciest steaks from around the world to making the most basic, hand-rolled pasta, improvising on classic Jewish dishes, and a lot more, you will surely get to see some unique cooking going on all through the show.
In simple words, watching Jon Favreau cook under the “trained eye” of Chef Choi brings a smile to your face, and yet they are all at ease with themselves, being as real as one could get.
For all the gastronomes out there, don’t miss ‘The Chef Show’ now streaming on Netflix.
