Two families are back at it to compete for the Disney cruise vacation in the latest episode of the Disney+ Original Series “Be Our Chef.” The third episode welcomes the Perez family, the fifth and final family in the competition, for the first time and the Merrill family, back after losing their first match in the competition.

“Hidden Warrior” takes its inspiration from “Mulan” and how she was able to find the hidden warrior inside of her. The families had to make a meal based with a hidden ingredient for the judge to find. The Perez family made a chicken fried rice inside a pepper. While the Merrill family makes the special breakfast Mulan eats every day in the movie.

Once again, the dishes look amazing. This series has given my wife and I some inspiration for future dishes. I hope we can take the time soon and make some of what we’ve seen on this series. It’s also really cool to see the actually chefs at Disney restaurants judge the creations. They don’t go easy just because there are children involved. They offer up genuine criticism and suggestions for improvement without being condescending. I’d rather see these chefs at celebrity chefs rather than some of the actual celebrity chefs out there.

I liked the advantage given during the side competition better this week. I’m not a big fan of the placing the other family in timeout for 3 minutes whilst cooking. Winning an additional 5 minutes to work on your creation appeals to me more. I prefer the advantage being a reward for the family that wins rather than a punishment for the family that loses.

I understand with a Disney show set at Walt Disney World, we’re going to get some interaction with Disney characters as part of the set up. And, I like them working in the character that’s movie helped inspire the episode, but as the series goes on, I’m hopeful that part gets reduced a little bit. The meeting with Mulan didn’t take that long, so it was less egregious than the Cinderella meeting in the premiere, but it was still a little too long. That’s something that can be handled in 1 minute of screen time, 30 seconds for each family.

All in all, this show is still a fun way to pass 30 minutes. I wouldn’t want it to be longer than it is, but I’m thoroughly enjoying spending 30 minutes watching this show with my family. The show could use some tweaks, but I’m sure with time it’ll work out the kinks. I’m still not overly excited when I hear Angela Kinsey host, but maybe she’ll improve with time. I’d also like to see them hold a more bracket style tournament rather than a round robin tournament in future seasons, but I’m having a lot of fun watching this and hope it gets a second season.

Ranking:

Episode: 4 stars out of 5

Series: 4 stars out of 5

What do you think of “Be Our Chef?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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