This film is not haut cuisine. It wasn’t made by a cordon bleu director and it didn’t cost $8M to prepare, but it has been made to a good recipe with fresh actors, and cooked well. It is decent, nourishing, home-made filmmaking. Enjoy it with friends, a big bowl of pasta and a decent bottle of wine.

It documents one (particularly eventful) evening in the life of an up-and-coming New York restaurant. The owner is meeting his accountant. The owner’s son, the head chef, wants more of a say in running the restaurant. The sous-chef is up to his neck in gambling debt. A noted restaurant critic (and ex-conquest of the head chef) is visiting in a bad wig. A couple of gangsters are making a play for joint ownership. There’s a power cut. It all—excuse me—simmers along nicely, and when it comes to—ahem—the boil, it doesn’t feel contrived. It could quite easily have become the pilot for one of these well-written, long-running American soaps, à la E.R. or The Sopranos. It has the intertwined storylines, and the tight pacing.

It did take me a while to get into the story I must admit. Some of the acting is a bit rough around the edges. In the first half hour it seemed like lots of wee, clichéd stories, but the film does eventually draw you in. By about halfway through, the characters start to pop out as well-drawn, sympathetic, real people and the script really gets into its stride. There’s a bit of a twist (related to the gangsters and the gambling debt, unsurprisingly), and it is believable and set up well.

Oh, and the cooking. Obviously the movie is set in a restaurant, and it’s all about food. The camera follows waiters downstairs into the kitchen, and it’s all steam and whisking, and sharp knives and activity. It feels real. Apparently the thing was filmed in the space of only 21 days; it has a vitality about it, and a slightly raw edge that mirrors the just-in-time, practiced throwing together of dishes depicted in the kitchen scenes. The director is also a restauranteur, which perhaps explains the authentic feel.

I’m not sure why I missed this film the first time round, but then, nobody I know seems to have heard of it. Probably not on general release in this country. Seems surprising. I’m sure it would have done well and, judging by its page on the IMDb, it has a pretty devoted fan following. I only ever heard about it from relatives in New Zealand, who raved about it, and sent me the DVD. (Said relatives are eager fans of good cooking, so perhaps the film has a big following in epicurean circles.) Anyway, it deserves a bigger audience.

It is a very well constructed film which is more than the sum of its ingredients. It’s also a film with layers, like an onion. (Or a shallot.) I think it will bear watching more than once.