Weekend Watch: The Chef Show Season 2 And The Great British Bake-Off Series 11

Whisking up some comforting culinary viewing

Image Credit: Netflix

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, things are cooking with the return of Jon Favreau’s The Chef Show and the launch of the latest season of The Great British Bake-Off, both on Netflix.

As if knowing that we needed something to warm our hearts and (virtually) fill our stomachs, filmmaker/foodie Jon Favreau and chef Roy Choi return with a new season – or five episodes, at least, an amuse-bouche – of The Chef Show.

The form remains unchanged; a mixture of Favreau and Choi visiting with well-known chefs and other food-related types, and episodes where they’re simply trying out new recipes. The fun is still there too – the two hosts are easygoing and charming, with Favreau eager to learn new culinary tips and Choi providing expert analysis and occasional ribbing of his one-time apprentice (he taught the writer/director/actor how to cook properly for 2014’s Chef). This season, for example, the duo rocks up at Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar dessert store in Los Angeles, where the celebrity cookie boss shows them the secrets behind a variety of sweet treats (and looks disturbingly like she might have been an early case of COVID, with her scratchy throat and washed-out pallor). 

The recipe still works – whisk in some lighthearted banter, a sprinkling of cookery knowledge, lashings of fun stop-motion transitions that show the ingredients for the next dish and a side of bubbly, roasted or fried food visuals once the dishes are done. Like cooking at home, there’s a trial and error feel whenever Favreau and Choi are just making food in the former’s home kitchen. Mistakes are made (mostly Favreau), and that’s okay: it’s a loose, evolving concept, not a set-in-stone How-To show. 

Film fans might feel vaguely short-changed this time out. While earlier episodes saw Marvel cast members and director Robert Rodriguez guesting, there’s no sign of movie folk here. So don’t go hoping that Baby Yoda will pop up assisting in the roasting of a Kowakian monkey-lizard. One for the Mandalorian fans, there. Talking of, Favreau’s busy duties on the Star Wars series likely contributed to the sparse offerings here, which means, with the relatively swift, sub-30 minute running time of each episode, it passes quickly – fast food, rather than a gourmet meal. Still, it’ll fill that hole if you’re after a chilled-out cooking show that feels like you’re hanging with friends rather than taking culinary courses. And the food is good, filling stuff, not some fancy, complex cuisine.

One proviso: like going grocery shopping, don’t watch it if you haven’t eaten anything. Your stomach will not thank you.

The Chef Show Season 2, Volume 1 is on Netflix now.

Image Credit: Channel 4

Keeping with the uplifting theme, it’s great to have The Great British Bake-Off (no, I will not call it the “Baking Show”, no matter how much Netflix might wish me to) back on our screens. After pandemic-fuelled worries that it might not even be possible to whip up the show this year, the production team figured out a COVID-safe way to proceed. The location has shifted, and the tent is now much more open to the elements (to allow fresh air to flow through). Contestants agreed to stay (along with the judges and crew) in a bubble for several weeks, leaving their families as opposed to the usual schedule of filming on weekends. 

And there are changes in front of the camera too, with Sandi Toksvig replaced by Matt Lucas. While it’s slightly sad to see the gender dynamic of the show shift from where it started (Mel, Sue, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood) – and Prue Leith even comments that “none of you is a grown-up” – Lucas fits in seamlessly. His comic partnership with Noel Fielding feels much more natural than Sandi’s ever did. The Netflix version omits the Boris Johnson-spoofing opening video, though you can find it here. 

Yet for all the changes, this is still Bake-Off at its core: the challenges are tough, the contestants are mostly delightful and game, and Paul Hollywood still looks a bit like Game Of Thrones’ Night King. This first episode of the new series was Cake Week, with a Battenberg Signature, a tricky Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Technical and, toughest of all, a Showstopper that involved building cake busts of historical figures or celebrities. Human shapes are not easy to make from cake (particularly sponge) and to have the result also be edible requires even more work – most of those big cake design shows you see on TV feature displays that are meant to delight your eyes, not your mouth. Cue a lot of cakes that make their subjects look less like themselves and more like slightly melted statues. 

What transpires is the usual mixture of laughter and tears, of designs and disaster, though the drama is on the light side, mostly around one of the bakers accidentally nudging another, causing their cakes to spill to the floor. And there’s still that feeling of warm support for everyone, even as Noel and Matt are making their cracks, and Paul and Prue are offering critique of the cakes. 

Welcome back, Bake-Off. You were needed more than ever.

Episodes Of Series 11 (Volume 8) will air weekly on Netflix US following a Tuesday night debut on Channel 4 in the UK.