Wok of Love

Since I enjoy cooking, especially Chinese cooking, I was tempted to watch this and gave it a go. It tells the story of an ambitious young chef who has built up the reputation of a posh hotel's kitchen to an award winning standard and has gained a Michelin Star in the process. All is not well, however and he is ousted from his prestigious job by the unscrupulous management. He vows to take revenge and starts a small Chinese restaurant directly opposite the hotel with the aim of drawing their customers away. He is helped in this by a gangster and his henchmen, who at the beginning were annoying and unlikeable. Stick with it though - they improve. The cast are great and work well together, but the star of the show is Jung Ryeo-Won who is an absolute delight to watch as the love interest for the young chef. She is seriously cute and has a terrific flair for comedy too. Watch out too for Jang Hyuk as the gangster boss who is much deeper than he at first appears. Lee Jun-Ho plays the young chef and there is great chemistry between him and Jung Ryeo-Won. It is fascinating to watch a busy Chinese kitchen at work and to watch some of the dishes prepared. Well worth a watch in my opinion.

Enjoyable even though the script doesn't have depth and sometimes doesn't make much sense. However just watch and be entertained and don't think too much. Then you will enjoy it as the cute lead actor and actress will make you smile and laugh and even teary eyed with their antics.

Story: An uptight young cook displaced from his hotel job by the conspiring CEO, sets a new restaurant. A cheerful young girl whose family is suddenly penniless, works at his restaurant along with her family. The restaurant's good hearted owner who was a gangster in the past, flirts her and later helps the duo.

Some animal cutting/boiling scenes for the kitchen which may be disturbing to some.

Lovely Chinese-kind-of flute music throughout.

Genre: food, divorce, love triangle, revenge, contest/game, sneaky romance, love without breakup, happy ending, remarriage.

Watch for the girl...so beautiful and a delight to watch. The guy is good at the start and fell short of being handsome towards the end. The second guy is good and his mannerisms are memorable.

Some silly ideas towards the end episodes like a contest deciding the owner of the hotel, silly hand fights, family's opposition without much conviction, but tolerable. The lead couple's clean open conveying of love for each other, that remained pure and unhindered till the end was exactly the type that pleases me, so a big thumbs up from me. The girl's maturity in dealing with harsh behaviour at work and family friction- rare to see in kdrama.

It had my interest right from the start and i finished it nonstop and I will definitely watch it again. A 7+/-1 from me.

I really like the chemistry between the lead characters. If you want romance I can fully recommend it. They built it up nicely and it feels very credible.

However, there are obvious misses and lazy screenwriting and it is really a shame. Some characters just disappear like they were never in the show and the last episodes are a bit too cringe to watch. The mother is just insanely annoying and I can't understand how no one can say anything.

But the story is fun to start with and only in Korea you can make it work between a chef, a rich business daughter and a gangster.

So, most of all, I really liked the couple and their acting, the show got me inspired and I enjoyed the bromance so that's why it got an 8.

I love the two male leads, most of the cast. The romance was lukewarm until the end when it was playful, but still not very believable. Jang Hyuk is already an established, great actor, but he wasn't used well. JunHo is even better in Rain or Shine and Confession; has a terrific future because he's super gifted. Enjoyed much of the series but found the writing erratic especially in the final episodes. Really tired of intrusive mother figures, and this one is a dolt. Good series, but not great.