REVIEW: “Selena + Chef” Episodes 4-6

In HBO Max Original Selena+Chef episodes 4-6 our nascent celebrity chef Selena Gomez now receives the tutelage of famed Korean-American chef and food truck connoisseur Roy Choi, partner restauranters Jon & Vinny, and Nancy Silverton. From making Korean barbeque short rib breakfast tacos, Hawaiin malasadas (fried donuts), to an “Italian Party Buffet, it’s another delicious affair.

At this point, the show seems to have finally hit its stride, balancing humor, personality, learning, and the delicious cinematography of the food. The camerawork has markedly improved from the first three episodes, showing so many more angles of the food being made, allowing the viewers to have a more immersive experience. All the dishes and their ingredients in these episodes are colorful and vibrant, delighting our visual senses and whetting our appetites.

Selena seems to be getting increasingly confident utilizing the various ingredients she’s given and is improving her cooking skills overall. The slicing technique is very important as she finds out! Thankfully she improves on that and more, increasingly showing that she’s adept at the craft, Again, even when she messes up, she bounces back with the help of her chef mentors and friends.

The food that is made continues to look fantastic. In particular, the Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine in the third episode looks absolutely delicious, and the blending of different cooking techniques is fascinating to watch. The salsa verde and Salsa Roja and the meats and marinades being made alongside each other highlight the contrast of the cooking techniques and how well they complement each other in the completed dish. It’s a fantastic display of fusion cuisine.

The dishes Selena makes are increasingly complex. It seems as though that in each episode the recipes utilize more ingredients, spices, and cooking techniques than in the previous episodes. In effect, the whole series feels like a cooking module with Selena and the audience learning various cooking techniques. It overall works to great effect, with instructions given both verbally and on the screen. You can learn to cook amazing dishes here as you would any other cooking show.

Roy might be the best mentor so far. He is calm and direct with his celebrity student while dealing with the socially awkward situation of teaching someone cooking via video call. It’s an overall relaxing and engaging watch with him, as it was with Candice Kumai in the third episode. Jon & Vinny are good teachers as well, though less captivating. Nancy is also one of the best chef mentors, as she is a delightful and vibrant teacher who brings a lot of excitement to the table.

It’s so great that the show and Selena use their platform to highlight this important work being done by the celebrity chefs who come on and encourages viewers to help out those in need as well. Charities highlighted in this episode include Alma Backyard Farms, which is helping both formerly incarcerated people and food-insecure communities, the NAACP, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which helps children with cancer.

In a slight surprise (that was likely planned) Selena’s friend and music superstar Taylor Swift makes an appearance to marvel at her cooking prowess! It’s a bit tacked on, but then again, this is a show about mega-celebrity learning to cook so, should I really complain about this? In all, like the rest of this quirky concept of a show, it’s all in good fun!

Selena+Chef episodes 4-6 continue the momentum of Selena’s cooking journey in a really delightful way. With new recipes and cooking techniques each episode, this show that’s technically set in one location continues to be an engaging watch. It will likely encourage you to try new and daring recipes and cooking techniques as well.

You can watch Selena+Chef on HBO Max, with new episodes dropping every Thursday.

Swara Salih

Swara is a data scientist and a co-host of Into the Spider-Cast and The Middle Geeks. He loves talking about politics, animals, nature, and all things Star Trek, DC, Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra, and Steven Universe.