Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
Flavor of Happiness
TITLE DETAILS

Flavor of Happiness

2008-10-11 · 124 min · ★ 6.3

Drama

Yamashita Takako works in the food section of a department store. She pays frequent visits to a reputable local Chinese restaurant about opening an in-store branch. The owner of the restaurant, Wang Qingkuo from Shanghai, who does all the cooking by himself, gives Takako the brush-off. One day, however, Wang collapses due to overwork, and is left with partial paralysis. Hearing the rumor of the restaurant’s closure, Takako resigns from the department store and becomes an apprentice to Wang.

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
Mitsuhiro Mihara
Production companies
Toei Video Company, Video Planning, Sony Music Associated Records Inc., Toei Company, dentsu, VAP, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation
Countries
Japan
Status
Released

Top Cast

Miki NakataniMiki NakataniYamashita Takako
Tatsuya FujiTatsuya FujiWang Qing Kuo
Kei TanakaKei TanakaTakahashi Akira
Kaoru YachigusaKaoru YachigusaYuriko Nagata
Masahiro KomotoMasahiro KomotoKazuyoshi Ueda
Shirō ShimomotoShirō ShimomotoShiro Shima
Houka KinoshitaHouka KinoshitaYoshio Nomura
Masato YamadaMasato YamadaIchi Ishida
Sei HiraizumiSei HiraizumiNobuo Miyajima

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Availability not listed for this country.

Recommendations

Midnight Diner
★ 7.7
Midnight Diner2014Drama

A restaurant opens at midnight. Both the menu offerings and personality of the owner draw a series of flawed patrons including Tamako, whose boyfriend has passed away, live-in worker Michiru, and ruckus-raising Kenzo.

Sweet Bean
★ 7.5
Sweet Bean2015Drama

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.

Ramen Shop
★ 6.8
Ramen Shop2018Drama

Masato is a young ramen chef in Japan. When he finds his late mother's journal after the sudden death of his emotionally distant father, he takes it with him to her native country, Singapore, hoping to piece together the story of his family and his life.

The Joy Luck Club
★ 7.2
The Joy Luck Club1993Drama

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

Boiling Point
★ 7.3
Boiling Point2021Drama

A head chef balances multiple personal and professional crises at a popular restaurant in London.

Here
★ 6.5
Here2024Drama

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

Adopt a Highway
★ 6.9
Adopt a Highway2019Drama

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

Goal!
★ 6.8
Goal!2005Drama

Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer... However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that—a dream. Until one day an extraordinary turn of events has him trying out for Premiership club Newcastle United.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
★ 7.3
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover1989Drama

When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.

Dinner Rush
★ 7.0
Dinner Rush2000Drama

One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting characters. In addition to having to please a whiny food critic, Louis must fend off a hostile takeover from a pair of gangsters, to whom his sous-chef is in debt. Further, Louis has an argument with his son, the star chef, whose culinary creativity has brought success to the business.

The Kindness of Strangers
★ 6.4
The Kindness of Strangers2019Drama

Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

Hardball
★ 6.5
Hardball2001Drama

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

The Safety of Objects
★ 6.5
The Safety of Objects2002Drama

In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

Mr. Church
★ 7.4
Mr. Church2016Drama

A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.

Bastard Out of Carolina
★ 7.1
Bastard Out of Carolina1996Drama

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Poor Cow
★ 6.4
Poor Cow1967Drama

Joy lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age, she marries and has a child–with an abusive thief who quickly ends up incarcerated. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to give her some happiness but who also ends up locked up. She then takes up with a series of seedy types who offer nothing but momentary pleasure–if that.

Sunshine State
★ 6.4
Sunshine State2002Drama

A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.

Harmonium
★ 6.5
Harmonium2016Drama

Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.

Eleanor the Great
★ 6.8
Eleanor the Great2025Drama

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

One Million Yen Girl
★ 7.2
One Million Yen Girl2008Drama

A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.

Similar titles

Three Goodbyes
★ 7.1
Three Goodbyes2025Drama

After what seemed like an insignificant argument, Marta and Antonio separate. He, a promising chef, takes refuge in his kitchen; she, in her silence, begins to feel something more than sadness: she has lost her appetite… and not only because of heartbreak. When she discovers that there is a health problem behind it, everything takes an unexpected turn: food tastes better, music reaches her like never before, and desire awakens her will to live without fear.

Cassandra's Dream
★ 6.3
Cassandra's Dream2007Drama

The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

Michael Clayton
★ 6.8
Michael Clayton2007Drama

A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit.

Amy & I
★ 8.0
Amy & I2022Drama

When Amy and her boyfriend have a nice dinner in a restaurant where they first met, it turns out there's some pressure on their relationship.

The Last Recipe
★ 6.9
The Last Recipe2017Drama

A famous chef who is tasked with tracking down a 70-year-old missing recipe.

A Great Chinese Restaurant
★ 6.7
A Great Chinese Restaurant1999Drama

Han-kook starts to work as an apprentice chef at a Chinese restauraunt belonging to his father's friend, but rather than follow the painstaking process of preparing the food by hand, Han-kook begins to use pre-processed ingredients.

Isabel
★ 3.0
Isabel2026Drama

Isabel, a sommelière in São Paulo, dreams of escaping her boss and opening her own bar. When plans don’t go as expected, she must decide whether to halt everything or take bold steps to uncork her fate on her own terms.

Doddmane Hudga
★ 5.8
Doddmane Hudga2016Drama

Surya, a boy belonging to a big family of the town, moves out of the house when ignored by his father Rajivappa. However, after a few years, he comes back to rescue his land against Babu, an evil man.

Alice's Restaurant
★ 6.2
Alice's Restaurant1969Drama

After getting kicked out of college, Arlo decides to visit his friend Alice for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner is over, Arlo volunteers to take the trash to the dump but finds it closed for the holiday, so he dumps the trash in the bottom of a ravine. This act of littering gets him arrested and sends him on a bizarre journey.

Waiter
★ 6.2
Waiter2006Drama

Edgar works as a waiter in 'Het Westen', a restaurant. He is married and has a lover. His neighbors terrorize him with loud music and garbage. One day after he is mistreated by some customers he is sick of it all and goes to talk to his creator, the scenario writer.

Serial Cook
★ 6.4
Serial Cook2018Drama

Meet Neslihan. A perfect cook, an expert on Turkish cuisine, strictly loyal to her husband, an impeccable house wife... and a serial killer.

Under a Piaya Moon
Not rated
Under a Piaya Moon2024Drama

In 1980s Bacolod City, a young man aspires to continue the family legacy by winning an inter-city pastry competition with the help of his feuding grandfather and grandmother.

Cold Lunch
★ 4.4
Cold Lunch2008Drama

Bird droppings on a work shirt lead to extreme unintended consequences.

Dinner Rush
★ 7.0
Dinner Rush2000Drama

One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting characters. In addition to having to please a whiny food critic, Louis must fend off a hostile takeover from a pair of gangsters, to whom his sous-chef is in debt. Further, Louis has an argument with his son, the star chef, whose culinary creativity has brought success to the business.

Ghost Kitchen
Not rated
Ghost Kitchen2024Drama

A headstrong chef drives her gourmet restaurant into the world of modern delivery apps.

The Ramen Girl
★ 6.6
The Ramen Girl2008Drama

An American woman is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend. Searching for direction in life, she trains to be a ramen chef under a tyrannical Japanese master.

Like Water for Chocolate
★ 7.3
Like Water for Chocolate1992Drama

Tita is passionately in love with Pedro, but her controlling mother forbids her from marrying him. When Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares, infecting all who eat it with her intense heartbreak.

Big Night
★ 7.0
Big Night1996Drama

Primo and Secondo, two immigrant brothers, pin their hopes on a banquet honoring Louis Prima to save their struggling restaurant.

Before the Rain
★ 7.3
Before the Rain1994Drama

The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during the war in Bosnia, Christians hunt an ethnic Albanian girl who may have murdered one of their own. A young monk who's taken a vow of silence offers her protection. In London, a photographic editor who's pregnant needs to talk it out with her estranged husband and chooses a toney restaurant.

Head In The Clouds
Not rated
Head In The Clouds2021Drama

Laiila’s journey that looking for an answer to the questions that plagued her mind. In the middle of her journey, Ale comes to help Laiila to define what happiness truly is.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.