Other than Go Min Si, the biggest reason I started watching this show was its food theme. I love anything that has to do with food. What ended up intriguing me was the chemistry among those 4 – each one has a distinctive personality (sometimes over the top) but I am curious on how the writers will weave them together as a team (presumably). When Yoo turned out to be all talk and no action (when he was trying to repair the restaurant), Kang actually consoled him and gave him encouragement and assistance – I did not expect that at all. The bickering among the two couples also amused me at times. Oddly enough I am not that invested in the romance among them – rather I am more interested in how and if they complement each other. Also, I feel like there is a backstory to why Go came to this town all by herself in the first place (sneak preview at the end hinted at an ex). Last but not least, will the 2 lady chefs end up being enemies (like Heo’s Diner) or respectful competitors?
What keeps nagging me is I cannot help but think that down the road Go will find out Kang’s hidden agenda and get blind-sided by it. However, given Kang is a pseudo-celebrity, and Hansang is a big corporation, all she needs to do is go online and she will find out anything and everything that has happened recently. Then she can deduce why Kang is here in the first place, and what his ulterior motives are. I look forward to seeing how all this plays out.
Have a blessed week ahead, fellow beanies!

If Kang Hanuel is having fun with his character, I am having even more fun watching him bring it to life, lol! I'm really enjoying this drama so far and honestly, I can't complain at its pace. Fingers crossed that it keeps being this good.

every episode is better than the last. I was laughing out loud and smiling throughout... it's the small details that get me, like Beom-woo desperately trying to keep his pants on when gukbap kid pulls, so he doesn't flash everyone 😭😭 or the sheer disgust and horror that Chef Kang has at the idea she's Beom-woo's exgf 🤣🤣

Yeon-joo is so pretty, can't blame him for falling... but a kiss and a confession by ep. 4? wow, these 10 ep dramas are something else. because of the time constraints, next week we might get their dating era or "ex comes back" chaos

I am having fun with the show. It’s right amount of ‘extra’ with heart. Loving the found family. Choon-seung made his way to my heart! Loved that he found a Hyung. I can’t wait for our team to eventually come out winning the life game.
The kiss felt rushed even for a 10 episode drama.
Did the chef aspirant stop watching Lovely joggers??? lol.

Kang Na Heul’s face and his expressions are 🥰🥰😍😍😍

Thanks for the recap @unit--I'm enjoying this one as well. I do have to say I didn't find the tit for tat and macho shouting between Beom-woo Choon-seung very amusing, and I thought that went on too long. I'm glad that conflict has been resolved, although neither man knows how to tile a wall. Don't they have tile spacers in Korea? Their grout lines must be all over the place!

As a once frequent watcher of the Food channel, I really enjoyed the food festival food truck competition, and I found it amusing that it was kind of reprise of the discussion we had on Dramabeans last week--French duck confit vs. Korean gimbap. I hope they continue that theme when it gets down to restaurant competition.

As far as the romance, now that there is a grudging confession and a kiss--(though pretty passionless on Yeon-joo's side--she obviously isn't sure yet) I'll be anxious to see some further development. I hope the return of the ex doesn't lead to more shouting and macho posturing, but rather more interesting food production!

With only ten episodes I was wondering if we’d get some major movement this week and we definitely did! I kinda expected a kiss in episode 5 instead of 4, but I’m not mad about it! It was nice to see a Beom-u realizing his feelings (his face as he put the pieces together!) and telling Yeon-ju about it literally within a few minutes. I’m sure there won’t be a relationship yet, but now everyone is thinking about it! I wonder if Yeon-ju will find out about Beom-u before they get romantically involved or after? And there is no way we get a culinary school cohort photo with Yoo Yeon-seok in it unless he’s going to show up in a minute, right?

I suspected Chef Jang was being propped up by good recipes and it looks like we got some confirmation. I’m sure she’s competent, but it doesn’t seem like she’s inspired, and since she’s already splashed her face everywhere she has a lot to lose. That neobiani seemed like it had waaay too much going on, and I like the contrast between that dish and the gimbap that was pared down to just exceptional basics. It makes sense that they would give Chef Jang the contest victory - she has too much to prove to be written out of the story yet!

The leads’ visit to the jang ajusshi has me wanting to learn how to make them myself…

Random notes:

1. Ep 4 really picks up - with the entire story beat on the food truck contest a delightful highlight for me (in stark contrast to the silly food contest in Potato Lab)

I actually watched that whole sequence twice cos it's not only food-centred, the fluid dynamics of festival crowds ground realities and how they made agile adaptations of their menu / ingredients / marketing strategies in response to both the market demand and their competition is what I really signed up for.

and OMG I was actually salivating over the gimbap (esp when they drizzle Mala sauce over!!) and made a mental note to self that maybe I should have gimbap the next day. I wish they would have a drama series microsite that publishes the actual recipes used in the show.
What sauce did she cook to pour over her homely carrots?

Tastefully Yours: sorry, not sorry. It's always the food for me, not the romance LOL

2. The Kiss: I was a bit startled that they sealed the deal end of Ep 4. Wow, that escalated fast. Would have preferred it end of Ep 6, or start of 7 to make it more hard-earned and well-deserved.

I did not buy it. Right now, I will un(officially) clock it down to "under the influence of alcohol".

3. Love the addition of Choon-seung into this chaotic energy! The underdog quartet & motley crew's chemistry is what's driving the story and keeping viewers like me watching. I couldn't care less for arson side-plot or elder brother's underhanded biz sabotage.

On that note, can I say that anyone who still thinks BW is a chaebol can lay your doubts to rest, our boy is so unapologetically working class he can pass off as a fish-monger! I love their bootstrapping mindset and energy! It's so much more fun to watch than to trod through the tired trope of chaebol "fish out of water" turning his nose up at the countryside.

4. My new fav nickname: "Gimbap's mommy"

5. Can't wait for YYS' cameo to stir up more troubled waters (and simmering passions)!

I love me some gimbap and Yeon Joo's gimbap looked delicious! The colors were nice and bright.

The food truck plot was good - scenes of the different foods and people having a happy time. Different marketing methods. I liked seeing how Beom Woo and Yeon Joo voiced their own strategies and were able to combine their ideas well. I was really hoping they would win first place especially with the food truck festival being a minor plot in the overall story. D;

The quartet has had some nice bonding moments after a rough start. It was cute that Beom Woo and Choon Seung got along quick to get their food truck entry submitted on time. The VTS? BTS? TVS. LOL. The motorcycle ride was scary funny, heh.

Nice to see Choon Seung passionately showing something he made too. His enthusiasm and efforts to work hard makes his character more palatable for sure.

Beom Woo was a bit too loud at times so I hope he tones it down. I still love his fun facial expressions and side comments. His winky face at the camera and his dancing when they closed early. Sooo extra. XD

The kiss happened fast. Beom Woo and Yeon Joo have shown growing attraction to each other, but he fell faster. They are not total enemies so it works. She may be hiding her feelings better than he is.

One thing that took me out was the layered placement of Jung Jae's orders. The papers were all over the board lol. ^^"

Overall, I’m enjoying this show (especially KHN sassy acting) but I have to say I’m not feeling the chemistry between the leads yet. Like, why does he like her? Why does she like him? Why did they even kiss? There was no meaningful foreplay between the two (except that brief yank away from leaking bust stop roof.)

The chemistry I DO feel is a hilariously passionate and incessant quarrels between Beom-woo and Young-hye. At one point, when they argued at the food truck, I was fanning myself — whew these two reeeeeaaaally go from zero to a hundred, and in love too?!

In fact, despite hints here and there about Yeon-joo’s complicated past, it’s really Young-hye I’m most curious about. Her constant self-hyping-up masks deep insecurity (I suspect). Her pride hurts deeply when Chairwoman insults her food, and I bet she values Beom-woo’s opinion too, despite her repeated denials to the contrary. I loved her dare-the-world attitude and wish that chemistry could have blossom under the passionate guidance of Beom-woo, but, alas, she’s not a main character.

Finally, I’m super curious about Beom-woo. How could a man “double majoring in architecture” became a very capable restaurant manager with zero sensitivity to the art of culinary and its creators, chefs. There’s some fascinating backstory I hope they explore more in detail.

And please, drama god, add some passion and energy into this OTP, or I might just fall asleep.

This drama is quite fun! I like the main characters.

I wasn't not sure to see YYS on her picture. I wonder what is her past, she's not a “country bumpkin"!

It's sad that Young-hye doesn't trust herself. The 2 brothers did her wrong but she needs to rethink herself as a chef too.

Can I please see a K-version of The Bear?!
Like, they have enough dramatic cop shows and med shows to offset the lighter ones like Resident Playbook, why can we not have a gritty chef show?
I'd love to see one about a character like Chef Edward Lee... Have a proper rivalry between chefs of two restaurants and styles, Culinary Class War, but make it fiction. This show already has all the same elements, but why they've just made the female chefs basically pawns, or waiting to be rescued... Le Sigh.
Or a story with a younger guy like Ahn Bo Hyun? He would fit in my fantasy food drama of "guy from across the tracks but rose to Michelin chef, comes back to rescue dad's failing restaurant, meets hometown girl who's a great cook as well, sparks fly, wok catches fire, etc etc". You could reverse the sexes and roles, and it would be even better. Moody lighting, lots of great food shots, hot as heck chemistry, simple story... Very fanfic- coded I know LoL, but I'd rather that, than whatever this is.
Tastefully Yours is both too bland and over-garnished at the same time. They've got some good food going, at least, but somewhere, it lacks heart.

For the leads who have no money, they do get around . . . a lot. A bonding not bonding bus trip, soju drinking parties, etc. Episode 3 brings loser Cheon-Seoung into the Jungjae “family” after he admits to torching the restaurant as an escalation between him and Beom-Woo. It is hard to have two dumb male characters on the top cast list. It seems the arsonist is probably Cheon-Seoung’s dad. The solution is another side-adventure: a food truck contest. However, they have no money and no food truck. Chef Jang gets torched by Hansang Mom (who we learn is a culinary superstar) as her food is “trash.” She goes to find Beom-Woo so she can regain her cooking magic (I guess his berating behavior adds flavor.) The street meeting where Beom-Woo compounds his lies by saying stylish Chef Jang is an obsessive ex-girlfriend was cringe but it did show us that Yeon-Joo already knows everything.

But in Episode 4 we learn Chef Jang is in the village to “compete” in a local foodie festival. Her modern truck is serving haute cuisine to the masses while Jungjae, short on cash and ingredients, goes with “gourmet” carrot gimbap but Beom-Soo changes course to add expensive meat to the menu. It is hard enough to cook well to start, but to pivot to a new dish on the fly is something else. But they sell out early, sigh, then realize day two needs something better. Around them, everyone is trying to hard so they dial it back. It would have failed but for Cheon-Seoung and Myung-Sook’s crowd story that Beom-Woo and Yeon-Joo are “newlyweds” who cannot afford formula for their unborn child. Pity purchases are still purchases. In the end, Chef Jang wins while Jungjae disappoints in second place. Choon-Seoung, who has suddenly become helpful, thinks it was rigged; Beom Woo confronts his smug brother who smirks but does not admit. He thinks he won, but Chef Jang tries their food and knows she really lost. Quietly upset, Yeon-Joo becoms the ddakji queen by taking all the kids squares, then runs away holding Beom-Woo’s hand. At the restaurant, Beom-Woo confesses and without asking for an answer puts a dead fish kiss on Yeon-Joo. That was too fast for even a short series. I assume the opening of the next episode will be Yeon-Joo either slapping him or giving him a judo toss. Also the math does not add up if 5 million won was barely enough to repair the restaurant, 4 million won after paying extra for prime meat ingredients has to put the crew back to square one: no money to rebuild. I also learned in screen grab that Yeon-joo graduated from CIA in 2014. There is an 11 year backstory to tell before we get into an ill-fated romance.

There is a lot that I love about this drama. Mostly I like the old-school vibe that I get from watching it. "Make k-dramas great again" is the first thing that came into my mind when I saw the first episodes. Just like how the traditional food recipes have withstand through the ages defying different changing times and trends, the recipe for kdramas that made it so popular should also. And speaking about traditional recipes, in the first episode we get a glimpse of how the ML's mother made it rich (or super rich) by distributing homemade kimchi adding corn flour to it instead of the staple glutinous rice flour. I tried to find more about how Koreans think of it but my algorithm is not helping me. We see her in that promotional video acting almost like th ML now. She also tells him to "find it", and by "it" meant to find a way to succeed without any help or money. I don't know what will be more important to her, getting the three stars from "that guide...or whatever from overseas" (I kind of liked that phrase way too much) or him succeeding like she did out of nothing.

I'm so enjoying it as well, @unit!
This is fun! 😊
And I think I'm actually more interested in Beomwoo's past (and abandoned dreams) than uri Hidden Chef's. The mentioning of architecture picked my interest and I really liked the bonding moment with Clumsy Choonseung when Beomwoo explained how to tile the wall, I could sense his past love there...

I am still not on board with this drama, partly because I know a little about the restaurant business. I have no idea how FL is making any money at all, only once were customers shown in her place. She has nerves of steel, is remarkably relaxed, disappears for hours to visit a supplier and ends up doing his work. What about her own place?
Her landlady is openly looking for a new tenant - alarm bells should ring. Now the place is fire damaged (what will the landlady think of that?), this is not undone with a few new tiles. Still, no sign of any urgency, instead, a romance is blossoming.

She is also a saint, forgiving the assumed arsonist almost on the spot after seeing his crocodile tears (poor boy, it is his father's fault that he is spoilt and lazy). I am sure she is aware of ML real goals, but she still keeps him around.

At least ML is not shouting so much anymore, he does say a few sentences in a normal voice. This is some improvement. Maybe I should not look for realism and just enjoy the romance.

I haven't watched ep 4 since I learned they kissed already, kinda made me lose interest. Should I watch it anyway? I don't like when romance is rushed.

I was really annoyed that La Lecel won the contest. In what universe can a big corp both sponsor and participate in the same contest?

But I guess it made more sense for the plot.

I like the story so far but a bit apprehensive about how that ending will turn out. Yeon Joo is amused by him but I do not think she likes him as yet. He, on the other hand, is a bit of a mess at the moment. I get he likes her but he has to shape up first. But together as business partners, they are great together. They compliment each others strengths. I do not for a moment think they are ready for romance. But I welcome the guest stint of the actor showing up next week!

That has to be one of the fasted confession and kiss in dramaland. Yoo Su Bin is great addition to the cast. I loved his roles in CLOY and Start Up. There was more food this week but I felt there was a conflict of interest due to a chef participating in the contest that was sponsored by the same company she is employed with. “ Gimbap’s mommy, three more rolls of gimbap” had me squealing !!!Glad that they did not get caught. And the preview??? Is that YYS?? IS he the cliched ex??? Can’t wait to watch the remaining episodes !!!!