Movies like Flavor of Happiness (2008)
The best movies like Flavor of Happiness (2008) are Midnight Diner (2014), Sweet Bean (2015) and Ramen Shop (2018). If Flavor of Happiness hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSweet Bean (2015)7.5/10 from 625 votes
- NewestBON APPÉTIT (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseMidnight Diner (2014)Also in Japanese
Midnight Diner (2014)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweet Bean (2015)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRamen Shop (2018)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Joy Luck Club (1993)
Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoiling Point (2021)
A head chef balances multiple personal and professional crises at a popular restaurant in London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHere (2024)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoal! (2005)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDinner Rush (2000)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarmonium (2016)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParadise (1991)
A 10-year-old boy spends a summer in the country with a childless couple and a precocious girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPoor Cow (1967)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Million Yen Girl (2008)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKitchen Stories (2003)
Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway for a study of Norwegian men, to optimize their use of their kitchen. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik (Joachim Calmeyer). By the rules of the research institute, Folke has to sit on an umpire's chair in Isak's kitchen and observe him from there, but never talk to him. Isak stops using his kitchen and observes Folke through a hole in the ceiling instead. However, the two lonely men slowly overcome the initial post-war Norwegian-Swede distrust and become friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKamome Diner (2006)
On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBON APPÉTIT (2026)
A family meal that drags on and on, it's time for dessert. Melanie watches helplessly as yet another sexist and fatphobic discussion unfolds. But is this the last straw?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Daawat-e-Ishq (2014)
A deliciously romantic coming together of Gulrez “Gullu” Qadir a Hyderabadi shoe-sales girl disillusioned with love because of her encounters with dowry-seeking men; and Tariq “Taru” Haidar a Lucknawi cook who can charm anybody with the aroma and flavours of his biryani and kebabs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Cold Wind To... Blow The House Down (2022)
With their relationship on the rocks, David and Emily move to Halifax to catch a break from the pandemic and their monotonous routine. Upon meeting Emily's best friend Delilah and her local friend Meg, the already shaky groundwork of their relationship starts to fracture.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Avocado (2019)
Raul finally gets the courage to ask his co-worker, Rosa out on a date. When the day arrives, Raul is confronted by ICE officers and arrested for being undocumented. Meanwhile Rosa is waiting for him at his favorite restaurant only to never have Raul arrive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Toscana (2022)
When a Danish chef travels to Tuscany to sell his father's business, he meets a local woman who inspires him to rethink his approach to life and love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSerial Cook (2018)
Meet Neslihan. A perfect cook, an expert on Turkish cuisine, strictly loyal to her husband, an impeccable house wife... and a serial killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharon (2021)
"Charon" follows a restaurant owner (Jason Shidiskis) and his wife (Liesl Cruz) going through their daily lives while expecting a child when the unexpected occurs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cold Lunch (2008)
Bird droppings on a work shirt lead to extreme unintended consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Flavor of Happiness and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Flavor of Happiness?
The closest matches to Flavor of Happiness are Midnight Diner (2014), Sweet Bean (2015) and Ramen Shop (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Flavor of Happiness?
Start with Midnight Diner (2014), the closest match to Flavor of Happiness.
What is the highest-rated movie like Flavor of Happiness?
Sweet Bean (2015), rated 7.5/10 by 625 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Flavor of Happiness?
BON APPÉTIT (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Flavor of Happiness?
Yes: Midnight Diner (2014), Sweet Bean (2015) and Ramen Shop (2018).
How are movies similar to Flavor of Happiness chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Flavor of Happiness, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.