‘Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories’ Is Decidedly Low-Key, But It Does One Thing More American Shows Should

Netflix’s Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories looks like a brand new show, but it’s been an incredibly successful brand in Japan for years. Midnight Diner is a best-selling Manga series about food, and last Friday, Netflix premiered Tokyo Stories, which takes Midnight Stories into the realm of streaming TV.

Set in one location, Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories is an anthology series about the comings and goings in the same Tokyo diner. The diner’s owner (Kaoru Kobayashi) cooks up one signature dish per episode and entertains a revolving door of customers. There are regulars and newcomers, and every episode put the spotlight on a different story. There’s the woman who knits sweaters for the oblivious men she knows (she really likes the pork steaks); a young wastrel being looked after by a gambler likes a good egg tofu. The stories are decidedly low-key, which is honestly a relief in these days of big TV bombast (it helps that the episodes are also a shade under 30 minutes. The stories are sweet and likeable, but the food is the real story here.

From the first episode — a custom-prepared bowl of tan-men noodles — the food looks utterly to die for. And it’s actually prepared so that the cast can honestly eat while they film. This is 100% something that American TV should should start adopting immediately. Even the most middling sitcom would be made so much better if, while some awful male character is hitting a punch line with something sexist, an elite chef is preparing a rack of ribs for him to eat. Or else, since Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories often comes across like Horace & Pete with ramen noodles, wouldn’t this be the perfect way to make the recent wave of sad-coms more interesting? Wouldn’t the unendingly depressing slog of these depressed comedians’ lives be made better if some elite pastry check were filling cannolis during the monologues?

What I’m saying: come for the decent-enough narratives. But stay for that steaming hot bowl of delicious-looking miso.

Midnight Stories: Tokyo Diner is currently streaming on Netflix.