It’s fair to say that Nora Ephron – the writer of the 1989 classic comedy (and possibly the best date film of all time) When Harry Met Sally – has been off the boil of late with her material. Since then, her only two noticeable hits that’s she’s both directed and written have been Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and the luke-warm You’ve Got Mail (1998). Her last project was the highly forgettable Bewitched in 2005. Thankfully with her latest, she appears to have got all the right ingredients again.

Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is a lost soul. She’s looking for something in life, but not quite sure what it is. Her love for cooking ends up being the ideal food for thought; she decides that she will write a blog about cooking all the recipes in the classic ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ by Julia Child (Meryl Streep). However, considering that it contains 524 recipes, and she gives herself only a year to complete them all, she has quite a lot on her culinary plate.

Thrown into the mix is Julia Child’s very own story. It’s 1949 and Julia finds herself in Paris with her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci), a diplomat. Parallels with Julie’s life are soon made apparent, as Julia finds herself at a loss in the French capital. She decides that as her main passion is food that she’ll enrol in the prestigious cooking school known as Cordon Bleu.

Did someone say 'Oscar'? Bless you darlings!

Despite not being the most technically gifted of chef’s, Julia’s passion for cooking leads her to translate classic French recipes for Americans.

And so the true stories of two similar women in completely different times are intertwined and served up together.

It’s surprising how well received films are with food as a theme – Babette’s Feast, Chocolat, Fried Green Tomatoes and Tampopo to name but a few. Julie & Julia can now be added to that list.

The two different-yet-similar stories being told at the same time works remarkably well. Adams puts in yet another personable performance as the likeable Powell. She has a talent for bringing to life very ordinary characters, and giving them that little extra something. The pressure must have been off her too as she never has to share a scene with the formidable acting behemoth Streep.

No-one can deny Streep’s obvious talent, but it’s been a while since she’s been seen to have so much fun playing a character on the big screen. Her Child’s is often a curious mix of one half Lloyd Grossman to one half David Walliams as a cross-dressing character from Little Britain. Having seen the extras on the Blu-ray however, featuring clips of the real Childs, it’s not only very accurate (as you’d expect) but it’s also done with great fondness.

The obvious problem with the film is that Streep is such a joy to watch, as relevant as it might be to have Powell’s story included, you just want to watch Streep as Child more.

Cutting back and forth between them also causes a few pacing problems. Although Streep’s story is by far the more watchable, it does tend to drag a little in places. Still when she’s on such (Oscar-winning?) form, it’s not that great a burden.

A mention should also go out to Tucci, who although doesn’t have that much to do, he does it with his usual air of effortlessness.

It may not be quite the filling, 3-course experience you might hope for, but Julie & Julia still serves up a memorable dish.