Seven Days Out: Eleven Madison Park

Just landed on Netflix is this series in which each episode explores a very different event, from a major dog show to the Kentucky Derby to Eleven Madison Park (that’s the park at the foot of Manhattan’s splendid Gridiron building), supposedly the world’s best restaurant. Now we don’t take that at face value, for the simple yet undeniable reason that nobody can truly know which is the best restaurant in the world unless they’ve actually eaten at every restaurant in the world. And we’d put a life’s savings on there being nobody on the planet who has done that. But it’s clearly pretty good, and this is an eye-opening look into this undeniably notable eatery and its insane quest to re-invent the perfect formula. If it works, don’t fix it? Um, nope. Let’s chuck everything out and start again. No pressure then.

Salt Fat Acid Heat

You can’t not like Iranian-American Samin Nosrat once you’ve discovered her in this wonderful four-part series which explores those four simple elements of cooking and explains just how and why each is key to cooking pretty much anything. It’s been on Netflix for several months and if you have been passing it over all the while, change your mind and spend a few hours of great foodie-tainment. It’s likely to flip a few switches in your cooking brain. And not many food programmes are able to do that.

Whites

Alan Davies in Whites (Acorn TV)

This British sitcom was made in 2013 and aired on BBC2 but was never commissioned for a second season, which made its co-producer and star Alan Davies – he of QI fame alongside Stephen Fry – steaming mad. And for good reason – it’s a disgrace that this was not given a chance to go to 10 seasons, never mind two. It’s a delight for anyone who appreciates the pressures of a real restaurant kitchen and all the idiosyncrasies and foibles of the industry. It’s on Acorn TV, and is a very good reason to subscribe to it. Now, could we persuade Acorn TV to contact Davies and offer him a chance to pick it up again with a second season? It’s time for these new TV platforms to teach the dull old suits at the BBC and other traditional broadcasters a thing or two. Get to Whites now – and add your voice to those of us who want more, please.

The Final Table

This world cooking competition isn’t for the ordinary home cook or even the aspirant chef hoping to break into the culinary big time. These contestants are already at the pinnacle (for now) of their careers, having won Michelin stars and other accolades and been rated in the world’s leading awards systems. But once pitted against one another in a milieu reminiscent of the Australian MasterChef kitchen, they’re reduced, so to speak, to seemingly ordinary (and aspirant) chefs vying to be the best of the group. Lots of tension, plenty of intriguing dishes, and there’s a South African contender too in Ash Heeger.

Parts Unknown and The Mind of a Chef

Chef Anthony Bourdain speaks during the recording of his television programme in Lisbon, Portugal, 05 December 2011. EPA-EFE/Jose Sena Goulao

Say a final farewell to the late, lamented Anthony Bourdain by dipping into either or both of these two series, which are on Netflix in their very many episodes. There’s an abundance of riches to be explored or revisited, just as you would when travelling to the many parts, known or unknown, of the world he loved and loved in and ultimately chose to leave. Which will forever baffle us. DM