Best tv shows like Midnight Diner
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in a small restaurant in the corner of a shopping district. The unusual eatery is only open after midnight, and its standard menu consists of just a single choice. However, the customers still come for the amusing chatter and the proprietor's willingness to cook any dish that they request. This drama depicts the lives of the restaurant's patrons, including a yakuza, an unsuccessful actor, a group of office ladies, a newspaper delivery boy, and a stripper.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, melancholic, contemplative, anthology
Best tv shows and movies like Midnight Diner (2009):
Similar in 88%
Recipe for Farewell (2022)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of writer Kang Chang-rae. Da-jung used to be a sweet working mom, but as colorectal cancer strikes her, she gradually becomes unable to eat. Da-jung's husband, Chang-wook, has never cooked before, but he begins cooking to take care of his wife's health and meals. Chang-wook handpicks decent ingredients and tries to develop healthy recipes to make a precious meal for his ill wife. Although he may be clumsy sometimes, he begins to realize how to treasure the time cooking and having a meal together with his family.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 32 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Late Night Restaurant (2015)
Plot Summary:
A restaurant opens at midnight until seven in the morning. Its mysterious owner and chef, simply called the "Master," has no fixed items on his menu, but will take orders from any customer and cook up whatever they ask for. As the Master cooks, his customers tell him their life stories. Korean adaptation of the original Japanese drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 99
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: seinen
Similar in 78%
Antique: Western Antique Cake Shop (2001)
Plot Summary:
This story is about four men who work in a confectionary. Tachibana Keiichiro (Shiina Kippei) is the owner; Ono Yusuke (Fujiki Naohito) is the superb baker that has a mysterious and mesmerizing aura; Kobayakawa Chikage (Abe Hiroshi) is the waiter and close bodyguard of Tachibana; and last but not least is Kanda Eiji (Takizawa Hideaki), the ex-boxer who loves cake so much that he becomes a waiter at 'Antique'. This is a refreshing, yet heartfelt comedy about the 4 very unique personalities that work until the wee hours of the night at the small confectionary. The series follows the romance, family life, and most importantly friendship that these 4 men from different generations experience. This is a confectionary with a "flavor" not like most. Located in the middle of an ordinary residential area, "Antique" stays open until 2 a.m. Every single thing in the shop is antique, in fact even the sherry glasses that water comes in look like they would cost 50,000 yen. On top of this, all the sweets that are sold are unbelievably delicious. The thing that is most peculiar about "Antique" though is that all 4 of the men that work here are very handsome, and each has an interesting past. Those that frequent the store also have a story to tell. Edited Excerpt from JDorama.com.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: dorama
Similar in 80%
From Scratch (2022)
Plot Summary:
An artist finds romance with a chef in Italy and embarks on a life-changing journey of love, loss, resilience and hope across cultures and continents.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 422 min
Plot tags: touching, cute
Similar in 75%
Foodie Love (2019)
Plot Summary:
A pair of thirty-somethings meet through a food lover app and embark on a relationship despite past scars. Over the course of several dates, they discover where their tastes overlap and whether their passion for food, and shared distaste for foodie pretension, is enough to spark true love.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration:
Plot tags: sentimental, light, touching, captivating, entertaining, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Sweet Munchies (2020)
Plot Summary:
To get his own TV show, a chef known for delectable late-night eats tells a major lie that complicates his relationships with those around him.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, unusual plot structure, sincere, touching, suspenseful, romantic comedy
Similar in 85%
Chef: Three Star School Lunch (2016)
Plot Summary:
Hoshino Mitsuko is the talented three-star chef of famous French restaurant, La Cuisine de La reine, in Ginza, Tokyo. She has drawn attention not just from Japan but also the world for the new recipes she continuously conceives with her delicate palate and unrivalled creativity. Gourmands around the world visit the restaurant for her cuisine and there is a three-year wait for reservations. One day, trouble occurs between Mitsuko and the restaurant owner Shinoda Shogo and she is fired. She has difficulty finding a new restaurant due to Shinoda’s interference and her over-inflated pride, and ends up creating school lunches for a popular variety programme by a hotshot producer. It was believed to be something easy for Mitsuko, but she meets many obstacles and keeps failing. Moreover, this is aired on TV and made known to the world. Even so, Mitsuko does not give up and starts to create school lunches in order to hear children say her food is delicious and also regain her lost stars.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 88
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Forgive Me (2013)
Plot Summary:
A series that breaks the seal of the Catholic confessional booth. A young insomniac priest gets caught up in the sins of his congregants while a secret from his own past threatens his calling.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, touching, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Gourmet (2008)
Plot Summary:
Gourmet is a 2008 South Korean television series starring Kim Rae-won and Nam Sang-mi. It aired on SBS from June 18 to September 9, 2008 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 24 episodes. It was adapted from the popular manhwa of the same title by Huh Young-man, which was first serialized in newspapers in 2002. The TV series explores the theme of cooking through the rivalry between two hansik chefs, as one of them travels around the nation looking for the best ingredients and recipes.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 65
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: romantic drama
Similar in 80%
Sweet Bean (2015)
Plot Summary:
Sentaro runs a small bakery that serves dorayaki pastries filled with sweet red bean paste (“an”). When an old lady, Tokue, offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. She will soon prove to have magic in her hands….
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan, France, Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: culinary, sincere, thought provoking, touching, melancholic, motivational, sad, tear jerker, poignant, art house
Similar in 84%
Midnight Diner 2 (2016)
Plot Summary:
When people finish their day and hurry home, his day starts. His diner is open from midnight to seven in the morning. Pork, miso soup combo, beer, sake and shochu is all that he has on his menu. Nevertheless, he makes whatever his customers request as long as he has the ingredients for it.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, melancholic, anthology
Similar in 89%
Ramen Shop (2018)
Plot Summary:
Masato is a young ramen chef in the city of Takasaki in Japan. After the sudden death of his emotionally distant father, he chances upon a suitcase of memorabilia and a red notebook – filled with musings and old photos – left behind by his Singaporean mother who died when he was just ten years old. Acting on a hunch, he takes off for Singapore with the notebook, hoping to piece together the story of his life, as well as that of his parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Singapore, Japan, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, emotional, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Final Recipe (2013)
Plot Summary:
Hao's Singaporean restaurant is in danger of going out of business. Hao's grandson, Mark, secretly travels to Shanghai to attend a cooking competition despite his grandfather's wishes for him to become an engineer. Mark takes the place of a contestant who did not show up and must now impress the host, Julia Lee, and her chef husband, David Chen. Chen, who is originally from Singapore and misses his family, eventually learns he is Mark's father.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 485
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea, Thailand, Singapore
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Little Forest: Summer/Autumn (2014)
Plot Summary:
Abandoned by her mother, young Ichiko leaves her life in the city to live off the land in Komori, a small town nestled among the mountains in rural Japan. Despite the void left by her mother’s disappearance, Ichiko comes to enjoy her independence and revels in her new-found connection with food and the elements. Visually luxuriant, this film follows Ichiko through one summer and autumn, as she learns to use and respect the time-honoured wisdom of rural folk and read the cycle of life and connectedness in the environment around her.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, melancholic, contemplative, visually appealing, epic, aesthetic
Similar in 88%
Triads (2017)
Plot Summary:
Jason Height is a hot young gay man who's recently found himself displaced on the west coast. During his many sexual exploits in Palm Springs he stumbles into a three-way relationship with a couple who appear to be on the outs after years together. Thinking that a third might be the magic bullet their relationship sorely needs, they decide to move forward as a threesome. However, they all soon learn that there is no such thing as an easy fix when it comes to love. A thoroughly modern look at gay love in the late teens, The Third is a sparkling romantic drama with a twist.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 68
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, gay cinema
Similar in 77%
Little Forest: Winter/Spring (2015)
Plot Summary:
Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto) lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, captivating, realistic, epic, poignant, aesthetic
Similar in 86%
Ants without Umbrella (2016)
Plot Summary:
Jun Hashimoto is a sci-fi novel writer, but he isn't popular at all. He lives off of his savings. One day, his editor Tateyama assigns him a job: he is to write a "love" themed short story for a web magazine oriented towards youths. At first Jun refuses, because he has never written a love story before, but Tateyama pushes him to write one. The deadline is imminent. Jun's childhood friend Keisuke Murata then appears in front of him. Jun complains to Keisuke that he can't write, but while talking to him, he comes up with an idea.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 22
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Best Chicken (2019)
Plot Summary:
One day, Park Choi Go, decides to quit his job at a big company and open up his own chicken restaurant at what used to be a bathhouse. Meanwhile, Seo Bo Ah, an aspiring webtoon writer who secludes herself in the bathhouse, can’t accept that the building she inherited from her grandfather is turning into a chicken restaurant. To take her inheritance back, she becomes Park Choi Go’s employee along with Andrew Kang, a once promising chef who is now homeless. Can Park Choi Go become the ultimate chicken master and achieve his dream?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 52
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Close Range Love (2014)
Plot Summary:
In high school, Sakurai Haruka, Mirei and Kanata are good friends whom everyone envies. The three of them believed their relationship would remain like this forever. Then Haruka’s stepsister Ririko suddenly returns from overseas. After several years away, she has become beautiful to the extent that classmates call her “goddess”. Although Haruka has often built walls around other people, Ririko deliberately gets close to him. One night, she barges in all of a sudden and starts to cry against his chest. “I have no where to go. You’ll let me stay here, right?” Haruka is baffled by his pushy stepsister, Mirei secretly loves Haruka and Kanata has become aware of Mirei. The distance between Haruka, Mirei and Kanata who had taken it for granted that they would always be close, starts to change little by little.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 434
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, suspenseful, shoujo
Similar in 81%
Residential Complex (2018)
Plot Summary:
Story depicts the conflicts and growth of families who live at co-operative houses. Nana Igarashi is 35-years-old and works as a diving instructor. She is married to Daiki who is 32-years-old and works at a toy company. They live in a small apartment, while saving up to buy a house. They enjoy their life. Nana and Daiki decide to buy a co-operative house. They also try to have a baby. Nana and Daiki realize it isn't easy to have baby.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 55
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (2016)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, sitcom, anthology
Similar in 76%
The Knife and the Sword (2013)
Plot Summary:
French chef Ken travels back in time to Sengoku period. Due to traveling through the time slip, Ken has lost his memory, but still retains his knowledge on fine cuisine. Thanks to his excellence in cuisine, Ken eventually becomes the chef to powerful daimyo Nobunaga Oda.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 39
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Dr. Coto's Clinic (2003)
Plot Summary:
After making a serious mistake in his work in Tokyo, talented surgeon Goto Kensuke is invited to take charge of the only clinic on the small island of Yonaguni, Okinawa. It is difficult to get competent doctors to serve on this remote island, and the islanders are now used to traveling for hours via boat for proper medical care. Despite seeming weak and unreliable (he gets very seasick, and does not have a driving license), he wins over the skeptical islanders with his skill and dedication. Some children of the island make a flag for his clinic, but get his name wrong. Thereafter he is known by all as Koto.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 53 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Dragon Sakura (2005)
Plot Summary:
A struggling lawyer, Kenji Sakuragi, takes a position at private school Tatsuyama Gakuen to pay off his debts. Kenji decides to try to turn this hopeless school into one of the elite institutions in Japan to help rejuvenate his career. His barometer of success will be to get five of his students admitted to the prestigious Tokyo University the following year. But rather than cramming them with lots of general information, his down-to-earth class concentrates on unknown techniques for passing the entrance examination and how to live a good life in these turbulent times. His refreshing outlook and strategy may just be what is needed to turn around the future prospects of himself and his students, and teach the rest of us a thing or two as well!.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: sincere, dorama, touching, captivating, semi serious, entertaining, realistic
Similar in 85%
Chefs (2015)
Plot Summary:
Every year Le Chef (English: The Chef), owner of the restaurant Le Paris, and a figure in French cuisine incorporates a young offender on probation into his team. Romain, just released from prison, arrives in this new world where gastronomy and excellence mix. After a difficult integration, he shows a real talent for cooking and climbs the ranks.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, touching, captivating, realistic
Similar in 77%
Honest Men (2017)
Plot Summary:
Prepare yourself for an open and honest conversation between fathers, their sons, and the boy next door.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 39
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, romantic, sexy, touching, melancholic, gay cinema
Similar in 79%
Midnight Diner (2014)
Plot Summary:
Every night, Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) is busy with customers at the restaurant he runs. He has a worried face, looking at the funerary urn which someone left at his restaurant. His customers also talk about the funerary urn.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 77%
Futari Monologue (2017)
Plot Summary:
In the story, Hinata is an introverted high school girl and Mikage is the "gal" who sits next to her in class. Hinata realizes Mikage is her friend from elementary school, and she wants to strike up the friendship again.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 21 min
Plot tags: psychological, light, romantic, sexy, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, yuri
Similar in 81%
Miracles (2018)
Plot Summary:
A comical and heartwarming drama about a university lecturer on animal behavior who just loves all living creatures. Once he starts thinking about them, he becomes too absorbed to care about anything else! People think he is quite odd and eccentric! But gradually his attitude, free from restrictions of rigid common sense and social norms, changes the way of thinking of those around him. They can recall a time when they, too, were engrossed in something they loved.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 172
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, clever, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Jyouou (2005)
Plot Summary:
Fujisaki Aya is a young college student whose family is 150 million yen in debt after her father's corporation went bankrupt. To earn the money, she enters the Hostess Grand Prix.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 13
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing