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Tribune News Service

Next spring – that’s how long fans will probably have to wait to see Kristen Kish take over hosting duty from Padma Lakshmi on the next season of Top Chef.
But in the meantime, the TV landscape is hardly a desert.
There are new shows about some of the hardest restaurants in the world to reach, a five-star luxury hotel’s fancy kitchen, and so much more.
In no particular order, here are five shows about food you might want to start watching tonight.

1. Lessons in Chemistry
Apple TV+
Oh, the indignity of being a female chemist in the 1950s.
When your male colleagues aren’t calling you “sweetie” or mistaking you for a secretary, they’re suggesting you drop your life’s work to enter a beauty pageant.
But scientist Elizabeth Zott has another future in store – one in which she’ll use her knowledge of amino acids and the Maillard reaction to helm a TV-cooking show, in this adaptation of Bonnie Garmus’ popular 2022 novel.

To say that Lessons in Chemistry takes a turn after its initial set-up is an extreme understatement. There’s a descending stairway of head-spinning twists – and to go any further would be spoiler territory.
Let’s just say Brie Larson nails her character of a quirky savant fighting the patriarchy, one who at home puts 70-plus experimental trials into baking the perfect lasagne.
Oh, and there’s also a tear-jerker episode told from the perspective of the family dog, played by B.J. Novak. (You read that right.)
2. The Great British Baking Show
Netflix
Now in its 14th season, The Great British Baking Show isn’t new. But it does have a new host this season – Alison Hammond. A presenter on the UK’s This Morning, Hammond is the first person of colour to host or judge the show. She replaces former host and comedian Matt Lucas.
The Great British Bake Off, a breath of fresh air after MasterChef
Judging by the first several episodes of the season aired so far, Hammond is a supportive and calming presence in the notoriously stressful bakers’ tent.
She appears to have restored the show’s hallmark friendliness and warmth, which was noticeably absent in recent seasons.
Last season drew widespread criticism on points that ranged from non-baking challenges to tone-deaf episodes such as last year’s controversial “Mexico Week”. Showrunners have announced they’re dropping nation-themed episodes and going back to basics.

3. Five Star Chef
Netflix
The Langham is a five-star luxury hotel in London and, by George, guests must have the fanciest of foodstuffs! Enter seven contestants vying for head chef at the hotel’s Palm Court restaurant – but first they must impress chef Michel Roux Jnr.
Nobu Hong Kong reopens, and more: new fine-dining options in November 2023
He’s a stickler for classical technique and prone to ding a bad dish by lamenting: “It pains me.”
Sometimes, he’s right to be pained. Each chef has their own vision for the restaurant, whether it be Caribbean, Nordic or “theatrical dining experience”.
The latter chef serves things like Bondage Lobster (with tied-up claws and seaweed blindfolds) accompanied by gesticulating circus performers, mortifying every judge at the table.
BBC show Ben Fogle’s Lost Worlds takes him from desert to deserted island
The show’s a bit like Top Chef, but the focus is luxury food. Viewers will learn a lot about British food and dining traditions.
4. Restaurants at the End of the World
National Geographic/Disney+

Want to learn more about Kristen Kish, the new Top Chef judge? Check out Restaurants at the End of the World, a four-part series hosted by Kish that’s part adventure travel and part culinary spotlight with all the gorgeous visuals you expect from NatGeo.
Each episode highlights a different restaurant and the remarkable lengths their chefs must go to as they source local ingredients in very remote locations.
How remote? The restaurants include Panama’s Hacienda Mamecillo, a hike-up restaurant which sits high atop a mountain in a cloud forest.
Michelin-star restaurant in Arctic is the perfect luxury travel destination
Svalbard’s Isfjord Radio is perched on an island in the Arctic reaches northwest of Norway. Maine’s Turner Farm sits in the middle of Penobscot Bay, reachable only by boat. And Brazil’s Sem Pressa is a boat.
Kish rappels down a waterfall in Panama to source fresh watercress and digs in Brazilian mangrove muck for sururu, a bivalve mollusc, to make the perfect seafood meal.
In Svalbard, she snorkels in freezing water for sea urchins and snags fresh ice from a glacier, before getting to work in the chefs’ kitchen making reindeer tongue and melon appetisers and passion fruit-kimchi sorbet.
5. José Andrés and Family in Spain
Discovery+, HBO Max and weekly on CNN
You may know José Andrés as the visionary chef who popularised Spanish cuisine in the US through restaurants like Zaytinya, or perhaps as the philanthropist whose non-profit World Central Kitchen provides meals to people amid global disasters.

What the six-part José Andrés in Spain with Family shows is that he’s also a pretty goofy dad, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for Spain and its food is infectious even to his toughest critics: his daughters.
As he gushes over each bite at the world-class restaurants the trio visits – many at establishments operated by his friends – Andrés’ adult daughters, Inés and Carlota, respond with the occasional good-natured eye roll or “OK, Dad,” although they’re clearly having fun, too.
Seeing how this family travels together is almost as inspirational as the meals themselves. The Andres family seems to float seamlessly from one stop to the next, powered by tapas and Cava.
Super spam sandwiches, char siu, Sichuan: Spanish chef’s Hong Kong picks
Each episode highlights regional dishes, including pastas del consejo, cookies invented for a young prince at a royal bakery in Madrid; a fine-dining spread for the ages at Disfrutar, a restaurant by chefs who, like Andrés, previously worked at El Bulli; and a calcot (a vegetable that’s a mix between a spring onion and a leek) barbecue at a vineyard belonging to one of Andrés’ friends.
Father and daughters also explore local non-food traditions on their travels, from human-tower-building in Catalonia to flamenco dancing in Andalusia.
This show might just make you want to eat your way through Spain alongside family, too.


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Food and Drinks

5 new food TV shows you should be watching, from Netflix’s The Great British Baking Show season 14 to Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry with Brie Larson

Netflix’s new season of “The Great British Baking Show” is just one of the new cooking shows to watch now, along with “Lessons in Chemistry” with Brie Larson, “Five Star Chef” and more. Photo: Netflix

Brie Larson (right) in a still from “Lessons in Chemistry”. Photo: Apple TV+/TNS

Larson stars as Elizabeth Zott, a scientist who becomes a cooking show host, in “Lessons in Chemistry”. Photo: Apple TV+/TNS

In Five Star Chef, contestants compete for the position of head chef at a fancy London restaurant. Photo: Netflix

Kristen Kish travels the world visiting unique locations for restaurants in “Restaurants at the End of the World”. Photo: National Geographic/Disney+

“José Andrés in Spain with Family” sees the top chef take his daughters on a food tour through Spain. Photo: Discovery+, HBO Max

He fed Gordon Ramsay chicken feet: MasterChef winner Daniel Lee on changing perceptions of Chinese food in the UK

Chef Daniel Lee’s taro dumpling with shiitake, king oyster mushroom, and spring onion cream. Photo: Daniel lee

Daniel Lee, half-Chinese, half-English-Irish chef who won MasterChef Professionals in 2021, will be cooking at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong in November. Photo: Daniel Lee

Half-Chinese and half-English-Irish, Daniel Lee grew up between cultures. He aims to change British perceptions of Chinese food by serving his takes on healthy street-food dishes. Lee will be cooking at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong in November. Photo: Daniel Lee

Lee’s scallop, sweet potato, chive and XO dish. Photo: Daniel Lee

Lee’s chicken meatball skewer glazed in a two-year aged tare. Photo: Daniel Lee

Lee’s taro dumpling with shiitake, king oyster mushroom, and spring onion cream. Photo: Daniel Lee

Lee’s char siu is made with pork jowl and served with pak choi and jasmine rice. Char siu is the first Cantonese dish Lee remembers eating. Photo: Daniel Lee

Lee will be cooking at the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, on November 9. Photo: Daniel Lee

‘The first meal I ever made for Mum was a bowl of cornflakes with water’: how Mary Berg’s path to becoming a TV chef in Canada was lit by a family tragedy

Mary Berg, who won season six of MasterChef Canada, filmed the latest season of Mary Makes It Easy in her actual home kitchen. She talks to the Post about why she fell into cooking from an early age. Photo: CTV/Geoff George

Mary Berg barbecuing in her garden at home in a still from the latest season of Mary Makes It Easy (shown on ViuTV Six in Hong Kong). Photo: CTV/Geoff George

Tomato spaghetti dish by Berg. Photo: Instagram/@mary_berg3

Grilled cheese with grapes dish by Berg. Photo: Instagram/@mary_berg3

Pancakes by Berg. Photo: Instagram/@mary_berg3

Berg’s food leans towards comfort and casual, not trying to impress with fancy ingredients or exotic flavours. Photo: CTV/Geoff George

Lemon ginger orzo soup by Berg. Photo: Instagram/@mary_berg3

Berg has been a pescatarian for over 15 years, but nevertheless shows viewers how to cook dishes with meat. Photo: CTV/Geoff George

Berg’s food leans towards comfort and casual. Photo: CTV/Geoff George

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Brie Larson excels as a chemist turned TV host in Lessons in Chemistry, and Top Chef’s next host Kristen Kish leads Disney+’s Restaurants at the End of the World
José Andrés and Family in Spain sees the top chef eating with his daughters, while Five Star Chef and The Great British Baking Show bring the competition


Netflix’s The Great British Baking Show season 14, Lessons in Chemistry and Restaurants at the End of the World, with future Top Chef host Kristen Kish, are among new food TV shows to whet your appetite.
