Available on Netflix
Aired: May 20th, 2025
📺 Tastefully Yours
🌸🌸🌸☆☆ (3/5 Cherry Blossoms)– A decent filler drama, but not one I’d recommend to K-drama newbies.
📺 K-Drama Review: Tastefully Yours
Tastefully Yours is a light, food-centered rom-com about two chefs from very different worlds: Mo Yeon-joo (Go Min-si), a stubborn and fiercely independent local chef from Jeonju, and Han Beom-woo (Kang Ha-neul), a spoiled third-generation chaebol chef who’s more used to luxury cars than wild mushrooms. When his fine-dining restaurant is up for a prestigious Diamant 3-star review, Beom-woo panics upon realizing his “signature” dish is actually being made by Yeon-joo at her small restaurant, Jungjae.
Desperate to save face, he heads to the countryside to confront her—only to get more than he bargained for: a crash course in integrity, a hike he didn’t sign up for, and feelings he can’t ignore.
👍 What I Liked
- Yoo Su-bin’s comic relief: He plays Shin Chun-seung, a lazy potential heir of his father’s restaurant who’d rather drink than work. His attempts at English, the petty fights, and his reaction to Yeon-joo “stealing” his staff had me laughing.
- Fiesty female lead: Mo Yeon-joo doesn’t back down easily. Her sass kept the drama from being totally predictable.
- The food: So many scenes made me crave gimbap and seop sanjeok —even though I’ve never tried it!
👎 What Didn’t Work for Me
- Low tension: With the romance moving so fast, there wasn’t much buildup or chemistry to root for. Things felt rushed.
- Generic setup: Another spoiled rich guy gets humbled by small-town life and falls in love? Been there, seen that.
- Flat family drama: The controlling mother trope (Chairman Han) and sibling rivalry felt like K-drama 101.
- Unbelievable career choices: Yeon-joo giving up her top-tier chef position to take the fall for her ex? Why??
🌍 Cultural Tidbits
- Seop Sanjeok: A traditional holiday dish, often eaten during Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) or Seollal (Lunar New Year). It’s usually skewered meat and vegetables, and here, it’s given a luxury twist with truffle and tofu.
- Chaebol dynamics: Beom-woo and his brother are both trying to impress their mother by earning a 3-star rating. Classic chaebol pressure for parental approval.
- Gukbap culture: Shin Chun-seung’s family runs a gukbap (rice soup) restaurant—super common, comforting food in Korea, especially known for being cheap, hearty, and hangover-friendly.
🤷♀️ Why It’s Flopping
Despite strong leads and some genuinely funny moments, the drama hasn’t taken off. The pacing is uneven, the romantic tension is weak, and the plot feels recycled. It doesn’t bring anything new to the genre—no big emotional payoff, no real surprise. Viewership seems lukewarm in Korea and abroad.
🍱 Final Thoughts
“Tastefully Yours” is a watchable, light drama with good food visuals and some funny characters, but it doesn’t have the spark or originality to make it memorable.
It’s a good filler between heavier dramas, but I wouldn’t recommend it as an intro to K-dramas. If you’re craving food drama with a romantic twist and don’t mind predictable plots, it might still satisfy.
🍱 Watch This If You Like:
Food-themed K-dramas
Enemies-to-lovers (light version)
Rural vs. city life culture clashes
Comedy-driven side characters
