Grand Maison Paris sizzles with admiration for the fine art of cooking and the staff that make it happen.
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Grand Maison Paris is about a head chef, Natsuki Obana, who opens a fine dining restaurant in Paris, with a dream of winning three Michelin stars. After a prestigious gala dinner with the world’s top food critics ends up being a disappointment, Obana makes a promise to his former mentor that if he does not win the three Michelin stars, he will quit the restaurant and leave France. Together with his team, they work hard to overcome setbacks and borders in their quest to win the world's highest honor for a chef.
All too often, films and shows about cooking are enamoured with the high-minded drive of great chefs not stopping at anything for the pursuit of perfection. But Grand Maison Paris makes it clear that it does not care for ego, with Obana’s excessive demand for control being his downfall.
So begins a tale of deliciously filmed cooking scenes, the crackle of shells peeling, and the most delightful mix of Japanese and French parsed over the wintery streets of Paris. It bursts with love for the art of cooking, with an intense specificity only those who’ve worked in commercial kitchens would know about.
In a scene where Obana and his team seek to get the best quality caviar from a wholesaler, they are refused. Instead, priority is given to established restaurants from local chefs.
“Do you think a Frenchman would be able to get the best ingredients if he opens a sushi restaurant in Tokyo?” asks the caviar wholesale owner. All of them blink at his question, knowing the answer.
Or when Obana’s sous chef, Rinko, gets called out for being unable to taste the food they deliver out because she was hit with covid, and is ashamed to admit that she has lost her skill as the second-in-command.
Grand Maison Paris is full of scenes like that which elevate the film from being a niche, feel-good, simple drama. It has just enough bite to keep the story fresh and memorable, while being a comforting watch for both fans of the source material, and new viewers who want to try something original and new at the cinema.
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