We just got back from the movie “No Reservations” with Catherine Zeta Jones… I enjoyed it immensely and it was the perfect antidote to a very, very busy (exhausting) week. The last time there was a food related movie in town, Ratatouille, a reader likened me to Anton Ego, and I must say, that amused me immensely. So I figured I would pre-empt any readers this time around and try to figure out if I was like any of the characters in this movie. I was amused to see my orange crocs on Nick, the male chef with a penchant for opera, and a preference for Italian cooking… However, I really did have to laugh out loud when a customer at the restaurant complained (twice even) about his steak not being rare enough and Kate (Zeta-Jones), stormed out of the kitchen with a raw steak impaled on a carving fork and she thwacks the steak down in front of the customer, the tines of the carving fork stuck on the table. Mrs. MM and The Kid stared directly at me in the dark movie theater with this incredulous look… After the movie was finished, they relayed that if I ever opened a restaurant, I would MOST DEFINITELY pull a stunt like that, BUT MOST DEFINITELY. Just so you know. And I do want to learn how to whip a tablecloth off of a table with plates and cutlery on it. :)
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i haven’t been to the movies in years!! I would see the “dibidi” stores in quiapo when i do my errands for baking but i feel scared to stop and check the wares thinking that a snatcher or pickpocket might be around waiting for a possible victim and I am aware of the consequences of purchasing something pirated and not getting what i paid for when i watch it.. sayang pera.. pede naman irent na lang..hahaha!
Having read that you liked the movie is surely a good sign that it was really good. I might see it with my hubby if I have time or if it’s still available at the moviehouse..hehehe..
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I wanted to see it because it was intriguing how Zeta-Jones would look as a chef. Mukha kasi siyang di nagugusot…mostly glam roles.
Enjoyed the movie too! I want to have an office/clinic like that of Kate’s therapist :-)
haha, great movie noh? it was one of the few english movies shown this month in china, so i watched it with my mom. only, the adoptive daughter was so bratty! gosh.
Like the movie too – has both drama and comedy.
From how you have described that particular scene from the film “No Reservations”, I have a feeling that it is just a US remake of the Italian/German film “Bella Martha” that I saw a long time ago.
It’s a cutesy film, wherein the German chef Martha falls in love with her Italian colleague who is her exact opposite.
I liked the way they played on their cultural differences, how they handled their work/lives in and out of the kitchen.
It would be good if you can see the original European version, too. :)
Raw steak nailed on the table. That’s what I feel like doing when served with a tough steak but I never asked the grillman to undercook it. Have not acquired the taste for raw beef either be it carpaccio or steak tartare (this one with raw egg yet). Last time I saw raw steak being wolfed down in a movie was with Mia Farrow as the wife of the devil in Rosemarie’s Baby. Scared me to the tip of my toes. Wags at the time tauted that her marriage to Frank Sinatra was her rehearsal for the part but that was when her domestic life with Woody Allen was far away into the future.
Jade186, you’re right, sounds like a remake of “Bella Martha” (“Mostly Martha”), 2001 German film. My favourite scene is Chef Martha tasting and guessing what the different sauces are, and getting them right. I aspire to get that good :)).
Worth taking the time to watch…
our physics professor taught us how to do the tablecloth thingy a few months back. it’s pretty cool and easy. i’m sure you can do it!! :D
deebee and Jade186, yes, this movie said it was based on the original scrrenplay or book of Mostly Martha… dee, parang I have to practice with plastic plates and glasses, but they won’t be heavy enough. Maybe I have to hit garage sales for real stuff but chipped and cheap to have several tries…
That would be really exciting if you open a restaurant. Thanks for the review. Now all I need to do is drag my husband with me to a date.
noemi, after that movie, a restaurant is even more of a remote possibility :)
I’m in the cruise business now for 17 years but believe me I still cannot fathom how on earth can people eat bloody gory red meat. As people slice the steak, I see blood oozing like a surgeon opening someone’s flesh.
No wonder why there are so many heavy set people in the United States. Cows, pigs, chicken and more are fed with heavy doze of hormones or fattening material to make it grow faster and then people absorb these things. Their portion per serving is enormously big!!
In the end they ask for diet soda as if it will wash away the food they eat. My apology but that is reality in the United States.
Saw it yesterday too and loved it.
only if i have watched the movie ahead of you, i would have likened you to nick too! of course, in the looks department :p
The movie was nice but, like most remakes, I thought this just wasn’t as good as Mostly Martha.
I love the movie. I love the characters. One would actually feel the organized chaos a real kitchen could always turn into. I was so curious about the saffron sauce that I even googled for it and got lucky to have found the recipe of the Seared Scallop with the not-so-secret Saffron Sauce (from nypost.com) created by Lee Ann Wong at French Culinary Institute. It looks easy to follow except for one problem… where could I get the secret ingredient kaffir lime leaves? Or do we have other names for that?
Hi MM. Did you read the PDI Sunday Magazine? They posted a picture of you working on your Viking oven but labeled it wrong. Check it out.
MM,
After reading asunta’s comment, I immediately searched for the article and this is what I found:
taken from inquirer.net
https://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view_article.php?article_id=91588
“The PBA’s plum “bloggers’ choice award†was won by Market Man of marketmanila.com authored by a semi-retired management consultant who writes about “overspending in markets and food shops,†“chopping vegetables for therapy,†and cooking up a storm in his kitchen with a six-burner Viking stove, three refrigerators, and 200 cookbooks.”
Hmmm…I wonder……I just hope that this article is not some agenda of some sorts for Inquirer after the latest ‘event’ that they were in with you.
Hi Marketman! It’s my first time to post a comment in your article but I constantly read your posts :) I also watched the movie “No Reservations” yesterday and I truly love it! :) I also have an orange Crocs (though different style) and it was nice seeing it in the movie :) I hope I’m as beautiful and sexy as Catherine! Hay!
Hi Market Man,
I preferred Mostly Martha. Then again it had the advantage of novelty. If you watch Mostly Martha after watching No reservations then perhaps you would prefer No Reservations. Let me know if you want to watch Mostly Martha I have a large collection of Food related movies and Cooking DVDs.
apm, thanks for the reviews, I hope to watch Mostly Martha in time…I just got my favorite food movie on DVD for my birthday a few months ago, Babette’s Feast. Ingrid, my sister says Catherine Zeta Jones looked to good to be a real chef…hahaha… Lei, no agenda there. The author of the article on blogs is a blogger herself and had asked permission to quote my about page weeks ago, actually at the height of the plagiarism controversy. And the picture is correctly credited to Mrs. Marketman as the photographer. The Inquirer is paying more attention to the source of their photos, if you notice their lifestyle pages, the fashion photos are now being attributed to several internet and blog sources…shows you where they find a lot of their article materials, as I did write about… asunta, label is right, Mrs. MM is the photographer, picture was requested from me. Nancy, I did a precious post on Kaffir or Makrut lime leaves, I have a plant in my garden and they are for sale in garden shops. The Kaffir lime is used extensively in Thai cooking…
Have you watched Eat Drink Man Woman? Apart from Babette’s Feast and Like Water for Chocolate, I loved this movie too…the Chinese cooking makes me so hungry! :)
ragamuffin girl, I have been meaning to buy a DVD of Eat Drink Man Woman… hmmm, I should just order it online…
This movie Eat, Drink, Man Woman, is this about a retired widower/chef who has three daughters and prepares mouth-watering sunday dinners? If it is, I saw this film on Swedish tv some months back and as most foreign films shown here, it was shown in its original language, Chinese, and sub-titled in Swedish. I enjoyed the film, esp. the culinary scenes. The dishes were so steamingly good, it reminded me of some of the lively restaurant scenes in Hongkong.
Have yet to see No reservations, and Mostly Martha. Will definitely check these out.
Thanks for the review MM!
Anton Ego is so haughty and cold. You don’t write like a haughty person.
saw it last sunday and enjoyed it. refreshing to see catherine with almost no makeup, lines and all. makes her less goddess like but still a great beauty.
Market Man Babette’s Feast is definitely my favorite food related movie. Eat, Drink Man, Woman is a close second and definitely worth watching especially the first five minutes. It was remade in America into a movie called Tortilla Soup but despite the assistance of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger it had none of the flair of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. Tampopo is also one of my favorite food movies. Other DVDs worth acquiring are Vatel with Gerard Depardieu, Big Night, and Dinner Rush.
apm, Tampopo is fantastic as well…just saw it again recently, too…
Yep, I agree with APM, i saw eat drink man woman and was able to compare it with the remake tortilla soup. Eat drink man woman was much better. And as an fyi, it was directed i believe by Ang Li of brokeback mountain. Just thinking about eat drink man woman makes me want to go out and eat some chinese food. Definitely worth watching!