There are countless films and TV shows centred on the restaurant industry, but some (although not completely accurate) are more realistic than others.

The restaurant menu

What’s real

In any restaurant scene, the menu portrays the style and pace of the filming. TV series such as The Bear are fast and chaotic, the ensemble noisy and frantic, creating a kind of tension and anxiety to meet the demands put on the kitchen. On the opposite side of the spectrum, movies like Burnt are slower and articulate, emphasising the detail involved in the creative process through complete focus and, as a result, a steely kind of tension is created. Both scenarios are accurate for what they each are.

Another concept of the high-end restaurants portrayed in the movie Chef is the dynamic between Jon Favreau’s chef character and the owner of the restaurant that is very representative of an everyday situation in restaurants, and that is the dynamic of the owner trying to hold back costs, while there’s a push of the creative from the chef, which does often play out in restaurants – it’s a challenge on both ends from a menu perspective.

What’s fake

Beneath the sinister theme of the film The Menu, starring Ralph Fiennes as chef Julian Slowik, is more realistic gastronomy than it is satirical gore. It’s a film that takes the viewer through a rollercoaster of fear, the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped by a multi-course menu where the diner cannot leave or escape neither the menu nor the restaurant, and its portrayal serves the elite fine dining scene on a skewer. It gives a scathing commentary on consumerism, class and idolising one’s idols. This isn’t a realistic representation.

The fictional restaurant created for the film is actually a real one (well, sort of). A restaurant in Scandinavia also offers you the opportunity to trap yourself on the island for a period of four hours until the ferry comes to fetch you. If that’s not something that you’re into, but you’d still like to experience similar food from the film, there are plenty of world-famous establishments that were referenced in the film. A nod to American chef Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry restaurant for his signature ‘Oysters & Pearls’ amuse-bouche, or maybe that hyper-localised, foraged thing that Noma in Copenhagen and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in outer New York do. If you’re after something more ‘modern gastronomy’, then the references to Alinea (Chicago), The Fat Duck (Bray, UK), Mugaritz (Basque Country) and El Bulli (now closed) are clear and obvious.

The shouting chef

What’s fake

You’ve seen him on television in every possible way for food to be portrayed on the small screen – cooking competitions, travel, investigative “journalism”, a fly-on-the-wall peek into his own restaurant operations and how he runs a service, food tours, you name it – you know him, and you know his temper.

What’s real

Truth be told, Gordon Ramsay is not really like that, and having based his reputation on being the angry chef from his early years, he leans into it and plays it out for the audience. The man has very high standards, and his many Michelin stars will attest to that (his flagship restaurant in Chelsea, London has retained three Michelin stars since 2001). But he has a strong team that understands the standards, and they hold themselves accountable so that he doesn’t have to. The days of the shouting chef are mostly gone – good leadership is not through fear, but rather respect. A chef that shouts and screams has lost control of the ship, and that’s a bad sign for everyone – especially the staff that are supposed to feel confidence and control in the leadership.

The restaurant or chef’s own vegetable garden

What’s fake

Most restaurants do not have the luxury of space to do this, and even if they did, they would need a lot of space to do it properly. But films love to portray a very Julia Child-esque romanticism of every restaurant having a kitchen garden available. If they were to do it, the amount of produce required for one service would not be sustainable to continue for very long.

What’s real

Instead, more eateries could take a page out of the menu of some top SA restaurants and hero the actual farmer or grower in their dishes.

Whatever one might see on the big or small screen, you might be right in thinking that they’ve added a pinch of seasoning to make it more watchable. My advice, if you want to find great food, at a fraction of the price, and a more real-world experience, you need not look further than our local restaurant scene (and they’re more friendly and welcoming too!).