This show put food back in its place of honour. This is not about Michelin Stars or Insta Moments. It is about the cooking and sharing of a tasty meal with friends and family. Thus, reinforcing the bond that bind us together. That is something that the ML lost when he suffered a life changing tragedy. He became an island where food is just fuel for the body, work is his life. It only changed when he accidentally discovered the cooking talent of the FL. She is the opposite to the ML. She is totally family orientated. She just wants a no fuss 9 to 5 job even though she is capable of much more.

In essence, the central plotline is about as cliché as you can get. Cold, tough, low EQ ML meets warm, smart and lovable FL. The rest is history if you want the TL;DR version but the show is much more than that.

In a relatively short (by c-drama standard) 16 episodes, the show covered a lot of grounds but most importantly, it did not indulge in time wasting tropes excessively. It focused on relationship dynamics and how they impact our protagonists. As you’d expect, it was not a smooth ride. We have unrequited love, love triangles, tragedies and work pressures to deal with.

I certainly appreciate how the Show deals with many issues. A lot of the time, straight talking works. It is refreshing to find people behaving rationally and can accept no-means-no. This is in contrast to other similar dramas where romantic entanglement drags on and amps up the angsts to everyone’s detriment.

The show also knows how to do romance. There are definitely swoon worthy moments. The OTP has great chemistry, and they are a perfect match once they get past the usual push-pull shenanigans. The 2OTP had sparks flying early on but then did a few laps around the garden paths before finding their way forward.

Obviously, it can’t be all sunshine and unicorns. The writer engineered a 3/4 show breakup of our OTP. I can see it coming and it was devastating to watch. I understand why it needs to happen, but it is also where the Show’s narrative start to unravel a bit. While the trigger for the breakup is largely an issue of work life balance, it was brought to a head by the collapse of the FL’s mother. This crisis made the FL realise she is trying to do too much, and all her plates are in the air. She needs to step back and sort out her priorities. That is all well and good, but the show had her walking off a metaphysical cliff and took the ML with her! Even so, there were opportunities to reconcile and patch things up quickly, but the Show separated them for over a year without any contact. This seemed illogical and arbitrary as both shared common friends and they live in the same city, none of their circumstances changed.

Most of this occurred in the last three, four episodes. There are closures on several fronts, but the main plot seemed to be stuck in a quagmire. Seasons came and went, and our OTP just marked time. Both leads change and grow for the better, but the separation doesn’t need to be this long. I hate to say it, but the Show did drag during those parts.

When they finally reconnect, it was awkward. There was a kind of reset as the ML tried to bring the FL back into his life, but their relationship remained ambiguous until the very end. The Show even introduced a mystery woman that sowed confusion, but that subplot went nowhere. Why include that?

The last episode was a bit disappointing. The reconciliation of the ML’s family was a nice touch but it felt overwrought and out of place, it should have happened earlier. We were looking forward to the OTP reconciling and giving us more of that sweet chemistry but we were left hanging until the bitter end. Why waste precious time on inconsequential things like cooking eggplants a dozen ways(?!). We want hugs and kisses, not a culinary guide to eggplants!

This ambiguity of the OTP's relationship went on for too long and ended up hurting the show. If this is the writer’s way of teasing us then it backfired. The Show did end on a high note (surprise!), but it could have been better and more rewarding.

In terms of acting, the ML had done many shows but mostly in support or in SML type of role, so this was a step up and his acting was solid. The FL was wonderful, and one to watch in the future. The support cast earned their pay even if some of them were one dimensional.

Even with the dip in the tail, this Show was a pleasant surprise for me. I went in expecting a bit of cliché romance and some food porn but the show was much better. It was more about family, relationship and the symbolic role of meals and the building and nurturing of the bonds. There is a certain earnestness and warmth to the show that was refreshing.

However, the Show did drop the ball here and there. There are narrative issues, pacing is not consistent, and some subplots were hit-and-miss. It is still a good show but some form of review/rewrite towards the end would have delivered a better show.
OST was nice and soothing. Rewatch value is good.

P.S. there is a bonus epilogue on YouTube (no Eng sub to date). It is cute and sweet. The video starts after a 1 year time skip. It contained a few minutes of new footages, and the rest are curated recaps.