“Midnight Cantina”: Japanese cuisine and stories of love, humor and friendship

Midnight canteen is a Japanese series that tells the story of a small canteen in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Its owner, whose name we do not know, but is known as the Master, opens this tiny establishment with few places around its bar, between midnight and seven in the morning. A small sign on the door indicates that it is a catering house.

You only have one dish on the menu. But if someone comes to order a particular meal and the owner has the ingredients, he cooks that dish for him. And if the customer brings the ingredients, they can also cook them. These are all simple recipes, although some are exquisite. Each episode revolves around a meal and that is why it bears his name. But these dishes are the pretext to tell a story, the starting point.

The series has 50 episodes. The first 30, made exclusively for Japan, and the next 20 for Netflix. This is why it can be found under two different names. The first 30, the simplest, are under the title of Midnight canteen and the last 20 like Midnight Dinner: Stories from Tokyo. This is the same series, but produced at two different times. There is an improvement in quality between the two periods.

Each of these beautiful episodes is less than 25 minutes including the melancholy streak of the titles and the closing. Nothing, neither this presentation nor the closing is wasted. As you become attached to the series, there isn’t a single second that you want to miss. Its short duration makes it a pleasant everyday moment that can be managed in fifty unforgettable installments.

The characters who inhabit this canteen are night owls, many of them lonely, who go to the canteen in search of a lost, forgotten flavor that brings them back to a memory of the past, of an old love or of the happy moments of their childhood. The food is the pretext, but the dishes are very present. Some are sophisticated in taste, but simple to make. Another is the simplest dishes in the world. Like the show itself, food tells us that sometimes the simplest things are the most important.

There are comic stories, others tragic. There is a lot of melancholy and also a understanding look at people. Happy endings and sad endings. Chapters of completely absurd humor and others with darker dramas. It is not known what will happen until a new character enters the canteen. It is one of the charms of the series.

The cook and owner, The Professor, is of few words. A scar that runs across her face from forehead to cheek to one of her eyes, which adds mystery and interest to her character. Sometimes he thinks, sometimes he looks. It’s relentless if someone doesn’t behave properly. His world is one of the very basic rules, but silently he is able to break these rules when the situation warrants it.

The protagonist is accompanied by a handful of secondary characters accustomed to the places. This serves as a chorus to the main story and often contributes to much of the comedy as well. The series has simple manners without emphasizing. For those unfamiliar with Japanese culture, the series is almost a visit to Shinjuku, Tokyo. You learn a lot about this neighborhood on the show, as well as the food of the country.

Each dish is presented in a way that whets the appetite. It’s almost impossible not to crave Japanese food at the end of every episode. Some advice on the recipe is given at the end of the episode, as well as some comments during the plot. The fourth wall is broken at the end of each chapter, where the characters look at the camera, say something about the recipe, and say hello. It’s the perfect closure for a series that is very easy to get familiar with.

In these nocturnal spaces and lonely beings, it’s easy to recognize Japan’s cultural tradition, and the series doesn’t hide a debt to the best Japanese director in history: Yasujiro Ozu, who throughout his incomparable filmography has been able to portray these canteens where the Japanese will free themselves from their sorrows and treat themselves to a little moment of pleasure. From him also emerges the idea that less is more, and that minimalism is a form of artistic purity.

The presentation consists of images from Shinjuku, Tokyo. The beautiful and melancholy song that we hear, called Omoide, generates the climate of this night that we see until the titles lead us to the door of the canteen. We hear Master’s voice saying that at the end of the day not everyone goes home. He also explains how his menu works, which means explaining how the series is. Any episode in any order is the same. They are all unique and tell a story that opens and closes during those twenty minutes.

Japanese culture, food, great stories and a deeply human outlook. As it lasts less than half, it is recommended that you watch a chapter of this series at the end of each day. Also well explained by the voice over with its characters. Instead of falling asleep directly stressed and anxious by everyday life, browsing this series is the best recipe to end the day in a different climate. Midnight canteen / Midnight Dinner: Stories from Tokyo This is one of the best series you will find today.

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