An acclaimed chef and his team rushes to open a new restaurant in Japan in Ants on a Shrimp. Celebrity chef René Redzepi has won countless awards for his Copenhagen restaurant Noma. In 2015, Redzepi temporary closes Noma and relocates his team to Tokyo to open a new five-week pop up restaurant. With less than a month to go until opening, the team sets out to make a new and unique menu featuring local delicacies.
Ants on a Shrimp is an observational film that looks into the challenges of preparing a menu for a new upscale restaurant. There is much behind-the-scenes cooking on display in the film, featuring some not-so-common ingredients, such as snapping turtles and fried fish sperm. The whole team must work together to come up with a menu that hasn't been done before, which incorporates Japanese tastes.
The titular dish is only one of the many unique creations on display in Ants on a Shrimp, which definitely features much food porn on display, particularly towards the end when the final dishes are revealed. While there probably isn't much to differentiate this film from other cooking documentaries, it is somewhat interesting seeing what goes into preparing a new menu for an upcoming restaurant opening.
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