“Why don’t I just cook you something?” It’s the kind of line women like me dream about, especially conveyed by a chef with a knife tattoo running the length of their forearm. Unsurprisingly, when Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) delivers it – alongside an artfully twirled dish of late-night pasta – beautiful brunette Scarlett Johansson (Molly) gets bedroom eyes. Sure, this feel-good foodie flick is a bit paint-by-numbers in the sewn-up story department, but who cares when it delivers everything from full-screen restaurant plating, to lovingly grilled four-cheese sandwiches at home, to killer Cuban sandwiches from a food truck! Throw in a father-son road trip through key foodie destinations – like Austin’s Franklin’s BBQ (which many Aussies have already salivated over, courtesy of Anthony Bourdain) – and there’s a lot to make you hungry. It’s saved from being too saccharine by kick-arse Cuban tunes, Twitter flame wars ‘flying’ across the screen, and saucy chef banter, from “amuse douche” to “cornstarch on my werewolves”. Real L.A. food-truck consultant Roy Choi (Kogi) pops up in the credits, so stay seated for his technical rundown on making perfect cheese toasties; because if you “fuck this up, everything sucks in the world.”

Chef hits cinemas May 8^th.
www.studiocanal.com.au/Chef/