Made With Love, an Indonesian drama on Netflix, shows that you can make a show about a top restaurant and not have people screaming at each other or waxing poetic about how important restaurants are to the fabric of society. Sometimes a simple story and loving shots of food are enough.
Opening Shot: The sun rises over Bali. Someone does morning prayers and offerings on the beach. A woman drives to work. A restaurant opens.
The Gist: Umah Rasa has been a top restaurant in Bali for a quarter century, thanks to the attention to detail of its owner and head chef, Sari Saraswati (Sha Ine Febriyanti). Sari’s daughter Luka Amanda (Mawar de Jongh) has carried on her mother’s legacy, working as Sari’s sous chef. She toils away under what she considers her mother’s inflexible rules because she is determined to take over the restaurant when Sari decides it’s time to retire.
But Sari isn’t going anywhere, and she continues to run the kitchen and business. Luka wishes that she gave the chefs and line cooks that work for them room to grow and spread their culinarily wings, but Sari feels her way has worked so far, so there’s no reason to change. A point of dispute between them is going for a Craft star, akin to a Michelin star; Luka wants to pursue it, but Sari thinks that satisfied customers and great word of mouth are the most important honors the restaurant can have.
When Sari sees the pastry chef watching an interview with a well-known chef named Dennis Surta (Deva Mahenra), who worked with Gordon Ramsay and is rumored to be back in Bali looking for a kitchen to run, Sari asks the pastry chef to email the video to her for future reference.
Sari has been having problems tasting food, though she won’t admit it. She keeps thinking sauces that are coming out of the kitchen are bland, but when her line cooks add salt according to her orders, the dishes come back as being too salty. When an investor comes over to talk to Sari about pursuing Craft stars, he has to send his lamb dish back because the sauce is too salty. Eventually, so many dishes come back that Luka tells Sari that she’s taking over for the rest of the day.
Finally admitting that she’s not well, Sari decides to step aside as head chef. Luka thinks this is finally her time to lead. But she’s shocked when her mother decides to bring in Dennis as head chef.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Made With Love (original title: Luka, Makan, Cinta) feels like The Bear if it was made like a Hallmark movie.
Our Take: Made With Love is telling a straightforward story, punctuated with loving scenes of dishes being cooked and plated. It’s as in love with food and cooking as the aforementioned Bear is, but it’s telling its love story with a gentle tone as opposed to the other show’s chaos, angst and pressure.
There’s certainly some angst on this show, as Luka has spent her entire career hoping to get her mother’s approval. As the sous chef at Umah Rasa, she’s no rookie in the business; she not only knows how the dishes the restaurant are known for should taste, but knows how to up the restaurant’s profile. The fact that she’s going to have to report to a new boss when her mother steps aside is likely going to make her question whether to stay in the family’s business.
But it does seem like Sari’s health is going to take a downturn, which will of course change how Luka sees their relationship, as she tries to adjust to working for and with Dennis. That dynamic, paired with the lingering shots of the food the restaurant makes, should keep the 30-minute episodes moving along.
Performance Worth Watching: Mawar de Jongh immediately makes Luka a character that shows her talent and work ethic, and gets viewers on her side when her mother decides to give the lead chef job to someone else.
Sex And Skin: Food porn, but that’s about it.
Parting Shot: Luka is shocked when her mother introduces Dennis as the head chef.
Sleeper Star: None we could find, but we suspect a lot of the people playing line cooks and other kitchen personnel have worked in restaurants. And the food stylists for this show are top notch.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Made With Love could describe how this series was made as well as the general plot. It’s in love with food and the people who make fantastic dishes, and the story is simple but compelling.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
