"He's my head chef and I'm his sous chef. Nothing more, nothing less."
— Ella
Replacing Chef Chico is a 2023 Filipino romantic drama series created by Dan Villegas for Netflix. Its eight episodes premiered on the platform on November 24, 2023.
Ella (Alessandra De Rossi) is the devoted and talented sous chef at Hain, an exclusive fine dining restaurant known for its personalized menus. Hain is owned and run by the volatile head chef Chico (Sam Milby), but when he falls into a coma, it falls to Ella and Raymond (Piolo Pascual), the consultant hired by Chico's wealthy family to improve the business, to keep the restaurant afloat. Meanwhile, the personal tribulations of the wealthy guests are also focused on.
Tropes:
- Angry Chef:
- Chico, the head chef at Hain, has high standards and a temper that is particularly short when these standards are not met. Part of it is because he has a chip on his shoulder from his older brothers being successful businessmen.
- Will from the second episode is a renowned celebrity chef who goes off on a tirade about the supposedly subpar food Hain has served him. His wife graciously lets the staff know that the food is fine, and his temper is due to suffering from Alzheimer's.
- Bait-and-Switch: Chico tells the team that a renowned food critic is anonymously coming to the restaurant and that they will probably be a middle-aged white man. He then blows up when a man fitting this demographic berates them for a steak. All the while, Ella has been patiently serving and conversing with a Filipina woman who has been coming in along with a famous influencer couple. The woman is revealed to be the food critic and writes a glowing review praising Ella in particular.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Tessa, the first guest shown, takes off her hat to reveal a completely bald head, hinting that she's ill. It is later revealed that she has metastatic cancer and she has three or so months to live.
- Cat Fight: Discussed and subverted in the third episode. Upon realizing that they're serving a man's wife and his mistress on the same night, Wena thinks that they're going to have a catfight and promises to film the smackdown. However, the two women actually spend the night on good terms, and resolve to leave the man — they even stick him with the bill!
- Face Death with Dignity: Tessa, the guest in the first episode, knows that her cancer has spread. So she's decided to quit her chemo, consume disallowed foods, and live out her remaining days in Italy in peace.
- Food Porn: The Filipino and Filipino-fusion foods the fine dining restaurant creates for its guests are given a lot of attention. For example, in the first scene, Ella is shown painstakingly putting a plate of lumpiang sisig together, with the camera focusing on each ingredient being chopped before she puts it all together with stellar plating.
- Hysterical Woman: In the fourth episode, Ella is increasingly frustrated with the staff not following her orders during a blackout. Rye comments that Ella seems like she's on her period. Juancho calls him out, saying you can't say that in 2023... and promptly calls her crazy instead.
- Late Coming Out: Carlon is an older man who is hesitant to come out, but a heart-to-heart while Locked in a Room with Juancho gives him the courage to kiss his husband in front of all the staff and guests.
- Metaphorical Marriage: Since gay marriage isn't legal in the Philippines, the drag queen officiant of the "wedding ceremony" at Hain in the seventh episode has to clarify that the ceremony isn't legally binding, but it means a lot to both men.
- The Mistress: Brittany from the third episode is the younger mistress of Dave, and has met up with his wife to discuss their situation.
- Plot Parallel: The tribulations of the guests often parallel the struggles of the main/supporting cast. For example, in the fourth episode, Ella's difficulty wrangling the staff lets her relate to the woman who has been estranged from her children.
- Power Outage Plot: In the fourth episode, the power has gone out and the restaurant has to work without fridges or airconditioning until the electrician arrives.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Near the end of episode 7, Chico blows up at Ella and accuses her of sleeping with a critic to get them on a list of Asia's best restaurants. Ella's only response is to take off her uniform and walk out of the restaurant, finally having had enough of Chico's abusive behavior.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Angry Chef Chico drops a cuss in every other scene, to the point that Dita, one of his workers, has nicknamed him "Chef Whatthefuck".
- Sleeping with the Boss: Carlon insinuates that Ella became sous chef because of her flirtation with Chico, while he has to suffer a glass ceiling as a gay man.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The couple in the second episode were scions of rival businesses and ran away so they could be together.
- Teen Pregnancy: The fifth episode reveals that Wena had a baby at sixteen and gave him up to his father's family because she could not provide for him. She is torn up when her ex and son turn up as patrons.
- Transparent Closet: Carlon worries about his coworkers learning he's gay, but when he comes out to Juancho, the latter tells him that everyone already thought he was.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Juancho, who is insensitive at best, tells Carlon that he's a great chef even though he's gay. This causes some raised eyebrows from the latter.
