The Cooks is about two inner-city Sydney restaurants and the staff that run them, mostly in their early twenties. Gabe (Toby Schmitz) is a ruthless head chef of the "Snatch & Grab" restaurant who has just returned from a stint working the kitchens of Europe. Running the competing restaurant (R & R) directly across the road is his ex-girlfriend Ruth (Kate Atkinson). Then there's Gabe's mate and chef Sachin (Nicholas Brown) who is seeing Carmelita (Emma Lung) who works as a waitress and a chef in the "R & R" restaurant. The environment created by working in a restaurant ensures that the characters explore the connection between sex, simmering relationships and the steamy kitchens they work in.