I’ve just watched the first season of Next Gen Chef on Netflix, and overall, I came away impressed, often amused, sometimes frustrated, but mostly satisfied. It’s not perfect, but it does well enough that it could become one of the more memorable cooking competition shows in recent years.
The show begins with a bang: 21 chefs, all under 30, bring their skills, confidence, and dreams to Hyde Park, to the CSI-like Culinary Institute of America. Instead of easing them in gently, Next Gen Chef throws them immediately into a team-based, seven-course challenge. Half are cut before they even move into dorms. It’s an admission test turned gladiator match, and it sets the tone: this is serious, high stakes, no comfort zone. I like that. There’s something thrilling about seeing how people react under genuine pressure.
The rest of the season delivers a mix of challenges. The chefs are asked to design family-style menus, work with parts of food usually discarded, build fast-casual food-stall / bakery concepts, and craft fine-dining tasting menus. The variety ensures the contestants show different facets of their culinary selves—creativity, adaptability, technique, presentation, and sometimes how well they can hustle. Guest judges range from Christina Tosi to Thomas Keller, which lends credibility but also heightens expectations. The presence of respected names means the feedback feels meaningful, not just TV show fluff.
Strong points: The production values are high. The kitchen looks formidable; tension is real without being absurd; editing does a good job balancing personalities, cooking, and critique. The show lets you see process—not just final plates—and often that’s where the magic and mess lie. Some contestants are surprised by what they pull off, especially in rounds like “use food parts that are usually thrown away” or building something scalable for campus stalls. Those challenges force innovation and force you to appreciate resourcefulness, not just glamour.
The hosts are well chosen: Olivia Culpo does her job with charm, though she’s not a chef herself; the judges Kelsey Barnard Clark and Carlton McCoy bring serious culinary and hospitality expertise. Their critiques are usually grounded and specific, not generic praise/bashing. That helps the show feel like it’s more than a spectacle; it’s about growth, risk, and real craft.
And yes, the promise of $500,000 and “generational star” is big, but the show mostly earns it. There’s suspense, some heartbreak, and triumphs here and there. The contestants are diverse in background and style, which keeps things interesting. You never quite know who will excel or flop in a particular round, especially when the constraints shift from pure fine dining to fast casual or recycling food. That unpredictability is one of the joys here.
On the flip side, there are several moments when Next Gen Chef teeters toward formula. Reality competition tropes are there: the edit that builds certain contestants up as underdogs, the foreshadowing of failure, and the occasional manufactured tension between kitchen personalities. They don’t ruin the show, but they dilute some of the authenticity. When a challenge involves teaching moments, we get those; when it devolves into interpersonal drama for drama’s sake, I wish the show sometimes held back.
Also, pacing has its issues. Some episodes feel overloaded, too many twists, too many tasks in one go, so the viewer doesn’t always get enough time to learn about a chef or their style before we move on. That makes it harder to root for individuals: sometimes we see a dazzling dish but not enough of what led to it. A little more breathing room for character arcs would help.
Another complaint: occasionally, the expectations seem uneven. A fine-dining tasting menu round may require resources or time that fast-casual or food-waste rounds don’t, which is inevitable, but sometimes it feels like the apples-to-oranges moments are too steep, favoring those with prior high-end experience. Because of that, lesser-known or more humble backgrounds get overshadowed, especially when judges comment from a fine-dining mindset. It’s minor, but noticeable. Still, what sets Next Gen Chef apart is its earnestness. The stakes are real, the craft is respected, and the show pushes its contestants in ways that feel meaningful. It’s not just about spectacle or outlandish flavour combos, though there are some of those. It remembers that cooking is a craft, a science, an art, and sometimes a kind of endurance test. The decisions about waste, scalability, and real-world viability of dishes add dimension beyond “who plated prettiest”.
I also appreciated that the CIA setting isn’t just cosmetic. It’s not just a pretty campus. The institution’s history, its standards, its faculty involvement—these all play into tension and credibility. The youthful contestants, feeling the weight of studying at a respected school, the pressure of being judged by legends they aren’t just show tropes; they reflect something about what it might really feel like for someone trying to break through in the culinary world.
In terms of entertainment, the show hits many of the right notes. You catch yourself cheering when someone nails a difficult technique under time crunch, cringing when a disaster unfolds, and marveling at clever solutions (especially around food-waste challenges). The variety of meals—from comfort food to haute cuisine—means you rarely get bored. Also, the judges often push beyond “this looks good / this doesn’t”, asking “why this choice?”, “How did you think about resource use?”, “What would scale?”, “Where is your voice as a chef?”. That elevates it.
In conclusion: Next Gen Chef is strong, ambitious, and often thrilling. It’s not flawless; some pacing problems, a little too much of the usual reality-show drama, but it leans heavily toward the good. If you like cooking competitions that test not only aesthetic and taste but also innovation, resourcefulness, and adaptability, this one’s worth your time. It’s a fresh entry in the genre, with heart, skill, and decent twists, and one hopes there will be more seasons and even tighter storytelling in the future.
Final Score- [8/10]
Reviewed by - Anjali Sharma
Follow @AnjaliS54769166 on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times