This is the flavour nobody orders but everyone eventually tastes. It is the realization that the "high" of their relationship comes with a crushing low.
Mia looks at Valeria and feels a pang of resentment mixed with love. The "Bitter" phase is characterized by the harsh truths they usually ignore.
Mia finally speaks, her voice lacking the tremor Valeria is used to hearing. "I'm tired of tasting the same mistake every morning, Valeria. It leaves a bitter taste."
Critics of Part 1 noted that while beautiful, it felt clinical—too focused on technical perfection. Part 2 throws that out the window. The camera shakes. Mia burns her tongue testing the bone broth. A dog barks off-screen. These "flaws" make it feel like you’re in the kitchen with them.
Moreover, the pacing is masterful. Director Lena Oshima lets each tasting breathe. In the "Full" version, there are silences of up to 30 seconds where we just watch Valeria chew, think, and process. It’s uncomfortable. It’s real. It’s art.
Mia had set up four stations on her kitchen counter. mia and valeria 4 flavours part 2 full
Station 1: Mushrooms (roasted, then slow-cooked in soy butter) Station 2: Parmesan crisps (just cheese baked until it cries) Station 3: Tomato paste + anchovy paste on toast (I know. I’m sorry.) Station 4: Miso soup with seaweed
“We’re not tasting them separately,” Mia announced. “We’re layering them.”
Famous last words.
We started with the mushrooms. Beautiful. Earthy. Like a forest floor after rain, but in a good way. Mia closed her eyes and whispered, “That’s the one.”
Then she added the Parmesan crisp on top. This is the flavour nobody orders but everyone
Then a dab of miso.
Then – and I cannot stress enough how unnecessary this was – the anchovy toast.
“Mia,” I said carefully. “That’s four umamis at once.” “GO BIG OR GO HOME,” she shouted, and took a bite.
For five seconds, she was silent. Then her face went through seven stages of grief in slow motion.
“It’s… so much,” she whispered. “I can taste the ocean. And the forest. And a barn. A clean barn, but still. A barn.” Mia finally speaks, her voice lacking the tremor
She drank a glass of milk straight from the carton. I pretended not to see.
The final five minutes of the "Full" version reveal a fifth flavor not listed in any title. Mia presents a glass of warm milk with a drop of vanilla and a pinch of sea salt. "This is the taste of being comforted as a child," she whispers. Valeria breaks down crying. It is unscripted, intimate, and the reason fans demanded the "Full" cut.
The setting is quiet, a stark contrast to the chaos of the previous night. The air in the room is heavy, smelling faintly of stale wine and expensive perfume. Mia is awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, while Valeria remains asleep, her arm outstretched as if searching for warmth that is no longer there.
This is not a scene of romance; it is a scene of reckoning. The "spicy" conflict of Part 1 has cooled, leaving behind the reality of their actions.
While Part 1 covered basic salt, Part 2 opens with a blackened ceramic bowl containing smoked sea salt and edible ash. Mia describes it as "the taste of a campfire after rain." Valeria’s reaction is visceral—tears, not from pain, but from memory. This segment has gone viral for its raw emotional honesty.
The concept of "flavours" was never just about taste—it was about the residue they left behind. In Part 1, the dynamic between Mia and Valeria was established through distinct phases: the sweetness of the beginning, the sourness of conflict, and the lingering spice of unresolved tension.
Part 2 picks up in the aftermath. It explores the final flavour—Bitter—and the complex redemption that follows.