Best movies & TV Shows like Midnight Diner

Revered sushi chef Jiro Ono strives for perfection in his work, while his eldest son, Yoshikazu, has trouble living up to his father's legacy.

On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?

After her mother's death, mediocre chef Amanda Shelton is having trouble attracting customers to her family's restaurant. While shopping for ingredients, she is given a magical crab by mysterious Gene O'Reilly. Afterward, Amanda's dishes suddenly become excellent, inducing strong emotional reactions in everyone who eats them. Tom Bartlett, who is preparing to open his own eatery, tries her cooking and falls in love.

A Chinese man who is living illegally in Japan bluffs his way into a job preparing traditional Japanese soba noodles.

A playboy learns to love, while a virgin learns to live -- a queer romantic comedy set inside the restaurant industry... 'John Apple Jack' brings East and West together to create one sumptuously heart-warming dish. When John discovers his sister's fiance is Jack, his childhood crush, passions ignite and his life spirals out of control... losing his job, his playboy reputation and his underwear, all while rushing to the altar to finally confess his love!

An overweight cook is given the opportunity to woo the girl of his dreams when he is given a "handsome suit" that transforms him into an idealized human being in this absurd Japanese comedy.

A young man suddenly rises to the top of the underworld in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Other crime bosses now conspire to take him down.

A restaurant opens at midnight. Both the menu offerings and personality of the owner draw a series of flawed patrons including Tamako, whose boyfriend has passed away, live-in worker Michiru, and ruckus-raising Kenzo.

Ava, an award-winning chef at a big-city restaurant, has lost her spark. Her boss sends her out to find herself to save her menu and her job. She returns home and finds little to inspire her, but when she reunites with her childhood friend Logan, Ava has to get her head out of the clouds and her foot out of her mouth to rediscover her passion for food.

Fleeing heartbreak in the big city, Ichiko returns to Komori, her rural hometown. She battles summer's rain and humidity, bakes her own bread, grows hothouse tomatoes and tills the fields. During autumn, the time for pickling and preserving fish and sweet potatoes, Ichiko begins reaping rice and recalls her departure five years before.

The Master’s late-night diner welcomes a woman troubled by funeral fans, an elderly scam victim, and a noodle delivery man struggling with love.

Following the adventures of a bunch of nobodies who get up to a whole lot of nothing in the fictional prairie town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, Corner Gas focuses on the life (or lack thereof) of Brent LeRoy, proprietor of a gas station that is the only stop for miles around and a hub of action on the Prairies.

12 to 16 contestants with poor cooking skills are taken through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.

Britain's top chefs compete for the chance to cook a four-course banquet for a high-profile figure.

This is a youthful romantic comedy about a love-struck girl, who enters an all-boys school in pursuit of the guy she loves.

A story about a talented child actress who wins back her dream after retiring from acting. Keito was once a popular child actress, but she had shut herself away from society for 10 years after a traumatic acting incident. She is now 17 years old and incidentally enrolls to a free school for dropouts where she makes true friends. Together, they build trust and find the meaning of life. --NHK

Kishi Minetaro is a skilled and serious-minded plastic surgeon. He looks down on doctors earning money through cosmetic surgeries as well as on women asking for such medical procedures. However, having to repay his father's debt, Minetaro chooses lucrative work at a clinic specializing in aesthetic plastic surgery. The clinic is full of beautiful women, including the director Yukawa Mari, who is well known for her skills in breast reconstruction, a highly-trusted doctor Ichii Mutsumi, and a cheerful nurse Kishitani Aoi. But most of them have already had some work done to their faces, and they strongly believe that “faces are for lives.” Various types of patients visit this clinic. As Minetaro needs to keep this job to continue paying off the debt, he has no choice but to respond to the patients' selfish requests, such as, “I need my previous face back because my husband suspects that I may cheat on him now that I have a surgically-altered, young-looking face,” or “I want to change my face and look different from my twin sister.” But their wishes makes him wonder...If they change their appearances, will their futures become brighter? Will their worries disappear? “Beauty” is the keyword set in this human drama, depicting the true feelings of women through the eyes of a surgeon who isn't attuned to reading a woman's mind.

Handa Sen is the "okami" (proprietress) of a long-standing restaurant in one of the lower parts of Tokyo. Though she is normally airheaded and loves to drink, she has an impressive mastery of a wide range skills, from cooking to ceramics to calligraphy. While the drama follows various events surrounding the restaurant, one of the series' highlights is its illustration of Japanese food and culture.

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

The story is about the daily life of a 30-year-old new wife, Hana, who cooks “Zubora Meshi”, while her husband is on a job transfer away from home. ”Zubora-Meshi” is the corner-cutting and easy cooking people usually cook only for themselves to eat.

Akiko (Satomi Kobayashi) lives with her mother, but suddenly her mother passes away. Since then she quits her editing job and takes over her mother's small restaurant. At the restaurant there's only two items on the menu: sandwich and soup.

The newspaper office, Tozai Shinbun, plans to publish the Ultimate Menu to commemorate their 100th anniversary. It would not only describe foods but also pass on dietary cultures for many generations to come. Despite its importance, Shirou Yamaoka, a lazy employee, and Yuuko Kurita, a company newcomer, are selected as the editors.

Tamako works for a company in the restaurant business. She experiences betrayal from Makoto, a chef she recently hired. Rumors then spread at work about her. Tamako decides enough is enough and quits her job. She decides to open a restaurant and run it from a woman's perspective. Tamako soon learns that Makoto has opened a luxurious restaurant across the street from her modest restaurant.

The drama series depicts the life of Tokuzo Akiyama, head chef of the Imperial Household Ministry’s Imperial Cuisine Division during the Taisho (1912-1926) and early Showa (1926-1989) eras. Based on a true story and book by Hisahide Sugimori, 'The Emperor’s Cook' follows the life of country boy, Akiyama, who arrives in Tokyo in pursuit of the culinary arts. Driven by a deep love for his wife and family, a great reverence for his teachers, strong reliance on friends and an abiding love for cooking, Akiyama eventually rises to become 'the Emperor’s cook'.

Koizumi is a mysterious and attractive high school student. But what most people don't know about her is that she's a ramen master who is always on the lookout for great ramen restaurants. Everyday, she goes hunting for real-life places serving the best ramen dishes and delightfully eats the delicious noodles. The way Koizumi downs a giant bowl of ramen–more adeptly than any large man—will amaze and delight you!

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.

30-year-old Kamata Rinko is single and a struggling scriptwriter. She has no boyfriend and keeps having night outs at drinking spots with her girlfriends Kaori and Koyuki. “If I become beautiful, a better guy will appear!” “If we grow to like each other, we can get married!” They will not stop talking about these hypothetical questions. Then a younger, handsome, golden-haired guy suddenly utters, “These “what if” women!” and the trio have to face the harsh reality that they are no longer girls. Rinko enters her 30s while still immature, seeking happiness and struggling with romance and work.

Seventeen-year-old Mugi Awaya and Hanabi Yasuraoka appear to be the ideal couple. They are both pretty popular, and they seem to suit each other well. However, outsiders don't know of the secret they share. Both Mugi and Hanabi have hopeless crushes on someone else, and they are only dating each other to soothe their loneliness. Mugi is in love with Akane Minagawa, a young teacher who used to be his home tutor. Hanabi is also in love with a teacher, a young man who has been a family friend since she was little. In each other, they find a place where they can grieve for the ones they cannot have, and they share physical intimacy driven by loneliness. Will things stay like this for them forever?

Sample the bold new flavors of France with chefs who are pushing the boundaries of fine dining and reinventing a rich culinary tradition.

Sumire Iwaya works as an editor for a well known newspaper. She is attractive and graduated from a prestigious university. She goes through a difficult period after being dumped by her boyfriend and getting demoted at work. One day, she picks up a beautiful young man, Takeshi Goda, out of a box. Takeshi looks like her former pet Momo and Sumire offers to let Takeshi live in her home as her pet.

Western Restaurant Nekoya is a popular eatery located on a street corner in a Tokyo shopping district. Serving both traditional Japanese fare as well as Western dishes, this eating establishment is popular among Tokyo's residents. But this seemingly ordinary restaurant is also popular with another type of clientele... While the restaurant is thought to be closed on Saturdays, the truth is that on this special day each week, its doors are instead opened to the inhabitants of other worlds. From dragons and elves to fairies and mages, this restaurant has no shortage of strange customers. Nevertheless, the enigmatic chef known only as "Master" will be waiting to serve up their favorite dishes with a kind smile and keep them coming back for many more Saturdays to come.

Meet the Brass Sisters a.k.a. THE FOOD FLIRTS! Two passionate food explorers of a certain age on a mission to tackle their culinary bucket list...one bite at a time! In each episode, the ladies 'flirt' their way into chefs' kitchens to discover two ethnically unique and delicious delights, then head home to experiment and create cross-cultural culinary mash-ups to tantalize your taste-buds! Food, fun, flirting and friendship are always on the menu!

A stoic book salesman leads a double life as he plays hooky from work to write his sweets blog. In his journey to attain a glimpse of sweets heaven Kantaro samples various Japanese and Western sweets.

Experienced head chef Nobuyuki Yazawa and friendly waitress Shinobu Senke run a traditional Japanese izakaya called Nobu—a bar known for serving a tasty array of food and drink. Welcoming any and all customers, the pair strive to showcase Nobu's exclusive menu and provide the best possible experience. However, despite its ordinary appearance, the establishment opens to the heart of Aitheria, a city from a parallel universe. As news of the restaurant's exquisite dishes spreads throughout the lands, Aitherian citizens from various social backgrounds travel to Nobu in search of new and delicious cuisine, bringing with them an empty stomach and riveting stories to tell.

Tetsu Himokura is a parasitologist. He enjoys researching the lives of parasites at his home laboratory and he barely leaves his home. He also has assistant Haruma Takaie to help him. Tetsu Himokura's right hand is a robotic prosthetic hand. He is very smart, but blunt to others.

Kakei Shiro is a lawyer who works at a small law firm. He is a good cook and a meticulous and thrifty person who keeps the monthly food budget to 25,000 yen. Shiro’s daily routine is to leave work on time and head to a discount supermarket nearby. His partner Yabuki Kenji is the affable hairdresser. The two of them share a two-bedroom apartment and the finer points of two men living together comes up at the dining table every day.

I never thought I would see him again. Aki Terada said goodbye to her first love long ago. When her current boyfriend is caught cheating on her, Aki moves out of her apartment and into a sharehouse, where she's reuinted with her first love. When things get heated between them, he drops a major bomb… Heart and body and everything in between intersect in this fresh new adult love story.

Mifune Shinobu is a chef for a French restaurant. He learned French cooking at restaurants in the countryside of France more than 10 years ago. Shinobu doesn’t talk much and he is calm, but he has a warm heart and he is considerate of other people. He isn't interested in achieving success as a chef and he only cares about healing people with his food. He also has an excellent memory and remembers the smallest of details. Shinobu is also a great private detective, who solves customers' problems or worries.

A shy baker tries to reach out to his pretty cake-loving customer.

Yuki earns a living as a rental girlfriend. Rina drowns her loneliness in men. Aya constantly receives plastic surgery. Moe lives her way uninfluenced by others. Yua lives in the moment in the nightlife district. Each are riddled with their own complexes, worries and emotions. What lies ahead as they struggle to make their way in the world garners much empathy.

39-year old Nozue is facing a mid-life existential crisis. Can Togawa, his reliable, younger subordinate, come up with a plan to help him out? With the aid of lunch, dessert and a little love, there may yet be hope.

Cooking is how Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she finds herself making way more than she can eat by herself. And so, she invites her neighbor Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this impromptu dinner invitation...?

Ramen is a savory combination of umami-packed broth and perfectly cooked noodles. This program offers an encyclopedic view of this delectable dish, taking you on a journey across Japan to discover ever-evolving local variations. Join us as we explore a tapestry of local customs and food culture through the lens of ramen.

Though handsome and successful, Satoru Mukai suddenly realizes he's been single for ten whole years and has no idea how to initiate a new relationship

Popular handsome man and weather forecaster Segasaki is actually a tyrant at home. Yoh, an ero-manga artist in a tight spot knows this very well. This is because the two of them are living together. More than that, it's because he cooks and cleans for Segasaki! To no surprise, in exchange for being provided food, he must "obey everything that Segasaki says". What comes from such a contract is?

After Gaku Kitada, a talented mathematics scholar, suffers setbacks on his dream of becoming a mathematician, he meets Kai Asakura, a young but similarly talented chef, as he is running his own food business, and joins Kai in an attempt at something new.

In Sapporo's North 24th neighborhood, five stations away from the Susukino business district, a bar's proprietor, junior proprietor, odd regular customers, and its share of walk-ins recount their strange lives.

Gomez is at the top of her game as a musical artist, actor, businesswoman, and philanthropist, but she calls in the experts to help amp up her kitchen skills for the holidays. This year she has invited all-star chefs Eric Adjepong, Alex Guarnaschelli, Michael Symon, and Claudette Zepeda to bring their favorite dishes and culinary wisdom to her home kitchen so they can cook up perfect holiday meals to share with friends and family.