Mitsuru Sasaki is a talented Japanese
chef known for having the taste bud of
a mythological Giraffe. He never forgets the
taste of the food he eats and is always spot
on when copying dishes even without a recipe.
One afternoon, a bedridden man and his wife
call him to make a last meal for the dying man.
Sakaki comes to the hospital room with a table
fitted with all the ingredients and
utensils. The dish he is making is a
simple fried rice and omelet but it has
to be exactly like the one the man and
his wife used to have when they were young.
They watch him closely as he showcases his skills
with knives. Halfway through the cooking, the
familiar aroma of omelet spreads around the room,
shocking the couple. It is spot on
with how their house smelled like every
morning when they were young and struggling.
At last, they get to taste the food and tear up
because of the memories it brings. After devouring
it all, the man declares it his last meal and asks
his wife to reward the chef for his work. Sasaki
is thanked but he doesn’t show any emotion while
being praised. All he cares about is the one
million yen he is getting to cook the dish.
Somewhere else, Sasaki’s best friend Ken is at
a funeral. Sasaki and Ken were brought up in a
children’s home by the director. Recently, he
passed away but Sasaki refuses to go to his
funeral. A flashback reveals that the director
never supported their decision to learn culinary
art. Hence, Ken and Sasaki ran away from
the children’s home when they were teens.
Ken kept in touch with the director but
Sasaki never did, which is why he doesn’t
feel like he deserves to be at the funeral.
Ken calls him repeatedly because it was the
director’s last wish to meet his son-like
boy but Sasaki hangs up without listening.
We find out that Sasaki’s restaurant failed
a while ago which put him in a lot of debt.
Currently, he makes money by cooking
rich people their last dishes.
A flashback shows that the restaurant was doing
pretty well and was renowned for its authentic
taste. However, because of Sasaki’s perfectionist
nature, he threw away a lot of dishes made for the
customers if they weren’t perfect. This caused
his employees to hate the work environment and
ultimately, no one wanted to work with him.
That night, Sasaki gets a call from an agent
asking him to come to China to cook the last
dish for someone important. They offer him
three million yen for a single dish, a deal Sasaki
cannot refuse. The next day, he lands in Beijing
and meets the said important person.
He is an old man named Seimei Yoh, a chef
respected by every Chinese culinary artist.
He cooked for generals and emperors during
the time of world war two and is regarded as a
legend of East Asian and European cuisine.
Sasaki is confused as to why someone
like Yoh wants him to cook his last dish.
The man introduces himself before revealing
that a teacher Naotaro taught him to cook
everything he knows. Naotaro paved the way for
his career and made him into who he is today.
When they were in Manchuria during world war
two, they created one hundred twelve dishes,
each made with different flavors and
different cooking techniques.
They were the rarest world delicacies but the
recipes have been lost. No one knows Naotaro’s
whereabouts but Yoh believes that he still
has the recipe book. Sasaki’s job is to find
Naotaro’s book and cook the dishes he created.
Since the work is tedious, he will be compensated
with fifty million Yen. The money will pay off
all of Sasaki’s debt but he is still unsure
about the task. He goes to Ken’s local restaurant
with the three million Yen he got as an advance
and asks him for advice. Being a good friend, Ken
gives him a green light to accept the task because
even if he fails, he has nothing to lose.
The next day, Sasaki goes to a government office
and looks at Naotaro’s ancestry. He discovers
that the man retired in 1964 but no one knows
what happened to him after that. While looking
through the pages, someone named Tatsumi catches
his eyes. He seems to have been a close friend
of Naotaro who might know his whereabouts.
In the following scene, Sasaki goes to Tatsumi’s
house and finds out he has been dead for over a
decade. However, his wife gives him the address
of another man who might be able to help him.
The man’s name is Kamata and he was
Naotaro’s helper when he was in Manchuria.
Kamata lives on a secluded mountain running a
small restaurant. He discloses that he doesn’t
have the recipe book but he can tell
Sasaki how the recipes were created.
From there the story goes into a flashback. In
1933, Naotaro, his wife Chizu, and a young Kamata
came to Manchuria for the first time. They were
called by the Japanese army general who wanted
Naotaro to create the best delicacies for the
emperor about to visit in a few months.
Naotaro was given his private kitchen with all
the ingredients and equipment he needed. They
were also introduced to a Chinese helper named
Yoh, none other than the old man who is now a
retired world-famous chef. Sasaki is shocked upon
hearing the name of the person who hired him.
Yoh was arrogant on his first day. He comments
that the Japanese cannot make dishes better than
Manchurians but Naotaro doesn’t take it to heart.
He instead asks the helper to make something for
the family because they are tired.
Yoh makes a famous watermelon dish
and puts something special in it which
he claims is a secret ingredient.
After devouring the food, Naotaro gets up and
skillfully creates an exact replica of it.
Yoh tastes the food and is astonished because the
chef has nailed the taste exactly even without
the secret ingredient. Naotaro reveals that he
never forgets the taste of the food he eats,
a unique talent he has learned over years.
Yoh is much more welcoming after the incident.
They start working together beginning the
next day and the first dish Yoh makes is
a Manchurian spring roll. Naotaro puts a twist on
the dish, creating a version that suits both Asian
and European taste buds. This spring roll
has fish and meat inside and is delicious.
Back in the present, Kamata
makes the same dish for Sasaki
and asks him to taste it. Even the critical
chef is blown away by the taste but he comments
that the amount of salt could be reduced.
Kamata freezes in shock as the comment sounds
a little too familiar to him. Naotaro frequently
used to comment that he puts too much salt in
everything when they worked together. Moreover,
he was very critical of the food he created
and threw away anything that wasn’t a hundred
percent perfect, much like how Sasaki is.
After Naotaro’s first week in Manchuria, the
army general is presented with the first dish
he came up with. The man devours it all and
allows him to create more of such dishes.
As work continues, Chizu takes on the
responsibility of being the group’s photographer.
She also helps her husband write the recipes down
at the end of every day but refrains from helping
in the kitchen because she is pregnant.
We are also introduced to the regular military
chefs whose job is to cook for the
people on the base. They do not go
inside the special kitchen, knowing that it
is for experimental and special purposes.
The chief cook and his son are always eager to
socialize and grow close to Chizu with time.
One day, Naotaro introduces the concept
of one hundred and twelve dishes assigned
to four respective seasons. They will continue
creating new dishes and adding them to the wall,
innovating and removing some in the process.
In the following montage, we see them
experimenting with many foods from around the
world. The wall eventually fills up with recipes
and they finally make one hundred twelve new
dishes. The team wants to celebrate but Naotaro
surprises them by tearing off some of the dishes.
According to him, their real challenge has just
started because now, they have to pick the good
ones out and throw away the average ones.
For the next few months, Naotaro immerses
himself in work but fails to come up with new
ideas. Chizu sees him struggling and advises him
to start trusting his colleagues. Up until now,
Naotaro only trusted his craft and didn’t believe
Yoh and Kamata could come up with great ideas.
Chizu knows that he can only win if
he keeps this arrogance aside.
A few days after that, Chizu gives birth and
passes away. Not even an hour later, the head cook
finds Naotaro in the kitchen cooking something
and calls him out for being a heartless man.
Naotaro reveals that he is making Chizu’s favorite
dish and they enjoy a feast in her memory. Now,
the responsibility of his newborn
daughter is entirely in his hands.
Back in the present, Kamata stops talking and
gives Sasaki the address of a Russian man named
Joseph. Sasaki has to go to him to hear the rest
of the story. Upon reaching Joseph’s restaurant,
he finds out the man is dead but his son Robert
is ready to tell him anything he wants to know.
Robert used to be best friends with
Naotaro’s daughter Misa when she was a child.
At one point in history, Naotaro was
called to cook for a Jewish exchange
party where he met Joseph. It is also when
Robert and Misa met for the first time.
Naotaro and Joseph have their differences at
first but Naotaro manages to impress him with
his non-traditional cabbage roll dish. It
has elements of Russia, Japan, and China,
making it a perfect dish for a meeting
with people of all these nations.
The meeting was highly successful and all
credit went to Naotaro. This marked the
beginning of Naotaro and Joseph’s friendship. At
present, Sasaki is offered the cabbage dish that
Joseph’s restaurant still serves. He is yet again
blown away by another of Naotaro’s dishes.
After devouring it, Sasaki inquires where the
recipe book with the one hundred twelve dishes is.
Robert reveals that one afternoon, Naotaro came
to Joseph in a hurry and trusted him with the
recipe book and a letter. At that time, Manchuria
was swarming with spies from different communist
parties. Naotaro was told Yoh was a Chinese spy,
who has not only been keeping an eye on them but
was selling the recipes to outsiders.
The betrayal prompted Naotaro to kick Yoh
out of the base, asking him to never return.
Sasaki is in shock that the person he met at
the beginning of all this was the villain. But
then, Robert hits him with another surprise,
disclosing that Naotaro asked Joseph
to give the recipe book to Yoh.
This means, the old man had the recipe
this whole time but he still made Sasaki
run around for it. After finally figuring
everything out, he goes to Yoh and inquires
what the last piece of the puzzle is.
Yoh still says that he doesn’t have the recipes
and asks him to read the last letter left
by Naotaro. In it, Naotaro discloses that
he was asked to poison the Japanese emperor
when he came to feast in their establishment.
The army general is being given a lot of money
to do so and is offering the same to Naotaro.
If the plan goes right, they will blame Yoh for
poisoning the emperor because he is Chinese.
Not just that, but Kamata turns out to be a
Japanese spy sent to keep an eye on Naotaro
and the group. Naotaro doesn’t have the option to
refuse the offer so instead, he kicks Yoh out of
the establishment to save his life.
However, the general doesn’t give up,
still asking Naotaro to cook for the
emperor and poison the food. Hence,
the night before the food trial, Naotaro copies a
second recipe book and hands it over to Joseph.
On the day of the trial, he burns the original
copy of the book, angering the general because
his plan is ruined. As a result, Naotaro is
imprisoned. To ask for forgiveness, Kamata
tries to break his master free at last. But before
he succeeds, the general shoots Naotaro dead.
His daughter Misa remains with the head cook who
takes care of her like his own daughter. Soon,
the Sino-Japanese war starts and he brings his
son and Misa to Japan to save their lives.
Yoh says that he made connections with Japanese
high profiles and climbed the ladder of success,
meanwhile, Kamata went to the war.
Several years later, they reunite and
look for Misa because she is the true heir of
the recipe book. They find her still with the
head cook and his son who she calls her elder
brother. She also has a little son but her
husband turns out to be dead.
On finding out about her father,
Misa breaks into tears and promises
to open a restaurant using his recipes
to honor him. Everything goes well until the day
of the restaurant’s opening. It lights on fire and
Misa dies trying to save the recipe book. Her poor
kid screams for his mother but she never returns.
The book, however, was miraculously saved.
A few days after her death, her elder brother
took the responsibility to take care of her
son and established a children’s home for less
fortunate children. This is when Sasaki realizes
that the kid is himself. He is Naotaro’s grandson
and Misa’s son who lost his family and was
raised by his uncle in a children’s home.
Yoh sent him on this mission so he would find
out about the history of culinary art in his
family through research. In the end, the
director wanted to meet him before dying
because he had the recipe book and he wanted
to hand it over to its rightful owner.
At last, we see Sasaki return to the
children’s home and pay respect to
his uncle’s shrine. He finally receives
the recipe book and sees the pictures
of his family on it. His uncle didn’t
want him to become a chef because he
had seen his family suffer because
of their obsession with food.
In the final scene, Sasaki
recreates his grandfather’s dishes
for the children of the establishment.
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