Cupid's Kitchen

Foodie Lovers Will Enjoy

I really enjoyed this series and the chemistry between the female and male lead and how their relationship grew. I did like most of the characters and how everyone came together in the end. The only negative for me is the ending. If you are going to have me watch 40 episodes it better have a fabulous ending and the last 5 minutes were so disconnected to the series I didn't understand why they would end like that. I loved how the staff came together and that we see the FL in the kitchen but I wanted to see more at the end with the restaurant getting their star. I do feel at times in the middle they dragged it out and they could have shortened it but overall I liked the male lead and his hard exterior and how he softened and grew over time. The only flaw for me was the end and the dancing. It took away from the story.

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I hate to like this drama

Really about a 8.7. But couldn't in good faith give it a 9. A drama full of food porn with a scant side of romance. But not truly dramatic romance- emotional slow burn enemies to friends to romance. The first 20 episodes flew by, really great development of all characters. You could see the arcs building then it bloomed into a 15 different direction mess. After that, my finger stayed on the fast forward button. And was saved in the end. Sorta. I loved our leads. Thank you for all our Ethan fan service. I cried over tanghulu and can never unsee Boris doing the can-can. I hate to like this drama, but I did.

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Good series with some flaws

This is my first modern dram - I usually only watch historical/wuxia/costume type dramas. I waited for this drama to come out solely because of Ethan Juan (who was amazing in Legend of Fuyao). He did not disappoint in this series. Swoon worthy with sex appeal and great acting skills. That in combination w/ the FL (this is the first time I've seen her in any show) who is simply adorable. Her ability to come across as an innocent naïve hopeless romantic was spot on. She didn't do the over-the-top annoying cutesiness. Her genuine kindness and pure heart was balanced out w/ some reactive outbursts to injustice, rather than portraying her as a total Mary Sue type. She balanced out the character w/ some flaws.

Pros:
- ML and FL carried the show w/ their great acting and sizzling chemistry; you just yearn for their scenes together whether it was mentor/apprentice; platonic friendship or romance
- the cinematography, visual and audio of the food preparation was amazing; from high end restaurant scenes to mom and pop restaurants to street vendors; it left me salivating
- support characters - some of them were endearing (Uncle Lin, Kesong's parents, Nina and Da Mai), but most seemed like filler characters to add sub plots

Cons:
- the worst and most obvious was Elise's (and other foreign actors/characters) dubbing, it was painful and awkward, like watching old Bruce Lee movies where the mouth movements don't match the dubbing/scenes
- the antagonists never get their justified karma; its like the last 3 episodes the writers/producers got lazy and rushed it to tie everything up in a nice little bow and everyone lives happily ever after
- unnecessary sprinkling of broken English lines into the scenes - like why was that even necessary? The characters would be speaking Chinese...but then 1 or 2 lines for emphasis was done in English? Very awkward

Overall: I really enjoyed the series, but likely won't re-watch it.

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Standalone vs Adaptation

I just finished watching Cupids Kitchen and it can only be considered to be loosely associated with the novel "Heartbeat at the Tip of the Tongue".

First to Review as a Standalone Drama:

Overall if you did not read the book and watched the drama on its own, I think it is a solid drama. The male lead and the female lead have good chemistry during their arguments and playful moments. I actually wish that there was more focus on them as an official couple. While they are close and have byplay throughout, they are not an official couple till the last quarter of the drama. What stands out about the drama is that it has a more mature tone and feel than a typical rom-com and more a slice of life type. A lot of the characters are in their thirties, and it shows in the personalities and decision making of the characters. I would say that there is more focus on character growth than on actual romance. One of the main topics is what it means to be successful and winning vs happiness. It is based around a cooking competition, so this is to be expected. I would say instead of a romance that this drama follows the ebb and flow of relationships. The willingness to let go of past relationships and the courage to accept new ones. Like the cooking competition this drama has all the flavors from sweet- bitter. The side stories and characters ranged from interesting too completely unnecessary, there was more quantity of second storylines compared to quality. I surprisingly like the character of Chu Ting , you think she would be boring and irrelevant, but her poise and calmness mixed with backbone made her admirable, but the awarded for best female character will go towards the leading lady, because of her humor and whit.

Second Review as an Adaptation

The drama could barely be called an adaptation. The only similarities to the novel is the female lead, her childhood crush and the cooking competition. They threw in a few other tidbits here and there, but 90% of the drama is completely unrelated to the book.
1. Jiang Qianfan- The ML is the complete opposite to the Jiang Qianfan in the novel. He has a hot temper and is super competitive instead of cold and just wanting to pass on the love of cooking. For the majority of the drama, he had lost his sense of taste instead of being blind, he does go blind for a bit at the end, but that is like a last-minute throw in just to create some intensity at the end. He iloveable on his own, but he is NOT the novels JQF at all.
2. The storyline felt more like "what would JQF &LKS have been like if" than an adaptation.
3. Elise/Iris is an ex-girlfriend-business partner from hell that just won't go away and is as mush if not more involved in the story and part of JQFs life than Ke Song.
4. Victor and Mom Quentin are actually similar to the book. I kind of enjoyed Victors little side romance. Mrs. Quentin's was ok just a bit boring.
5. Ke Song- She is very well played and very similar to the book character. I found her fun and adorable.
6. Cousin- the cousin is a competitor in the competition and like in the book a pain in the butt. She plays a much larger role and they did a good job I think in making her into one of the "villains".
7. Song Ran- the high school crush is also very different from the book. He doesn't have feelings for KeSong initially and there is no hidden plan to be with her from the start. He does develop feelings, but quickly gets over it. All his motivation are different from the novel, his character is really not very relevant in the drama except as a catalyst and a side story.
8. I think the biggest disappointment for the people who loved the novel is that you don't get to see JQFs pursuit of LKS. In the drama they basically just come together naturally. You don't get to see him actively trying to get LKS to fall in love with him and the passion of it. As someone who read the novel, I enjoyed JQFs dedication to KS and his wanting to push her to achieve, then his passionate dedication to pursuing her. While the slow growth friendship in the drama is nice it just doesn't compare to the novel. Also, there was a less time of them as an official couple in the drama than in the novel.

Overall- If you haven't read the book it is a solid drama and very enjoyable. If you have read the book just completely forget it and enjoy the drama as "what if Ke Song met JQF before he was blind" alternative universe.

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Pleasing viewing experience and well executed

This surprised me a bit in how gripping I found the story. I ended up binging it! It has been in my watchlist for a while, after seeing one clip, and I happened to come across it again on YouTube, propelling me into starting it on Viki.

Brief synopsis from my POV:
The female protagonist Lin Ke Song is living a very normal life, interning at a hotel after finishing her education in hotel management, and hanging out with her best friend Song Yi Ran who she also has a secret crush on. What is not normal in her life is her extremely well-developed sense of taste.
She runs into some problems at work, leading to her being let go. At a loss of what to do, she accepts when the guy who caused her to loose her job, Jiang Qian Fan, hires her as a "food tour guide" for three days. He turns out to be an internationally successful Michelin chef, in search of an apprentice who can help cover up the fact that he is loosing his sense of taste.
After some obstacles, Lin Ke Song ends up as his apprentice in Shanghai, also participating in a highly renowned cooking competition, where she competes against her talented cousin, sparking rivalry between them.
In addition to this, it seems like there might be more to it when it comes to Jiang Qian Fan's loss of taste.

This drama has a rich character gallery, and we follow quite a few side-stories. They are all well written though, and weaved nicely together.
The characters are also splendidly written and portrayed. They all have multiple layers to them, and they develop and change as the series progresses.

As for the cast, I found most of the acting strong, the actors delivering convincing portrayals of their characters. There were some scenes where the acting seemed a bit weaker, especially some of Elise's scenes, but I am not sure if that was dubbing-related (if dubbed?). The scenes where Victor sings where also annoyingly badly dubbed (if you can call that dubbing at all).

I did enjoy the performances by the two main leads, and will probably seek out some more of their work.

At times there were some lengthy sequences with "food and atmosphere shots" that I skipped through. In my experience several C-dramas that have many episodes to tend to use a bit too much flashbacks, and although there was some, it was kept at an acceptable level and length.

To sum up:
Well written, good production and strong cast. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack. Was bit disappointed that what I believe is the theme song (Me and myself) is not available for me on Spotify .

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A little food porn in an XXXcelent way! A entertaining drama with more holes than a cheese...

Several things to talk about in 40 episodes length, but it is a nice drama.
STORY – a serious hardworking chef (Jiang Qian Fan ) is searching for a person who can replace his lack of taste that is vanishing.
Boy meets girl (Lin Ke Song), a young girl who is warm, cheerful and gives colour to the black and white life and starts do endure a hard training. Lot of plots, a competition, backstabbing, etc. We can watch wonderful cuisine, great ingredients, and the richness of Chinese gastronomy.
The story is almost too fictional I think where we have an ex-girlfriend that almost killed her lover, Michelin chefs cooking in a small family restaurant, a chef needing help and hiding it from the person that can help him, etc.
However, it is an amuse trip to gastronomy, but a little too long.
Find interesting:
+ The gastronomy part, the cooking, the ingredients and the stories, etc. The presentation of the food and the way that was film was amazing;
+ The relation between Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song was nice, the comic parts, the ruthless in the training (that feeling of old martial arts movies between master and apprentice!) and even the romance growing.
+ The romantic parts between Mrs. Quentin and Huang Shi;
+ The story had many layers that did not make sense sometimes but gave complex and cliff hangers…

Did not liked:
- Song Yi Ran story;
- Elise stupid decision to make Qian Fan sticks with her, the blackmailing of Li Yan, the role of the doctor towards his patient, etc;
- There is no sense in the romantic relation between Victor (the Adonis narcissistic singer) and K (the bike mechanic)…
- Victor singing moments (is he a famous singer? Was that a kind of k-pop moment?);
- Lin Xiao actions and the way she redeemed herself;
- The extra-terrestrial capacity of tasteless blind man Chef;
- The fact that a woman with a genius taste capacity, in one month, can outperform top Chefs with hours and hours of training.
ACTING – good for most of the characters. Did not understand Elise synchronism between speech and sound.
MUSIC – I find it very good!
REWATCH – too long for me and without a particular astonishing moment to watch again.

OVERALL – resilience, bravery and never giving up as the core of Qian Fan. Many people gave up things in this drama, but he maintain the focus. First for his ambition and after because of love.

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Flavor With a Twist

I wasn’t expecting this story to evolve as it did. And I really didn’t expect the age difference between the ML and FL to be very believable. Both were outstanding in the way that they developed their character growth and easy to follow and accept how their relationship began to advance. So, as the story progressed, it drew me in. And the cold, staunch ML began to thaw and tear down the wall he built around himself while the young, temperamental FL matured with time. They became very suited for one another and believable as they began to complement each other’s personalities. True love accepts the good and the bad, the better and the worse, in each other and works through the difficulties. This was evident in the main storyline. Speaking of which, there were a lot of side stories, and couples, that didn’t make or break the drama; there could have been less complications, less conflicts, and less time developing so many different couple scenarios throughout. Now, as to the “culinary” side of the story, for me it was a nice twist from the normal rom/dram; it was fascinating, entertaining, and somewhat educational. All in all, this story could have been a few episodes shorter and would have achieved the same outcome. I also feel the last episode was a bit rushed and jam-packed, as usual. I wish the powers behind the scenes would not rush the last episode but spread the ending storylines throughout the last few instead. Not everyone has to live happily ever after, or come to their end in the last episode. That being said, I did enjoy the way this ended, not a perfect world, but one that was acceptable and believable. I would actually consider watching part, if not all, of this drama again.

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Decent drama with happy endings for all, but marred by music & 3 bad actors

reviewers said: " If you’re looking for romance then look elsewhere."
BUT, I was watching the Korean drama : "Potato Lab" & was ready to bail, so decided to try this & while it WAS better than the Potato lab, [& much more watchable] it didn't completely win me over.
First off:
this is a SLOW burn romance that is so slight you might miss it if you blink for the first 3/4 of the drama, & yet there are romantic undercurrents as well as a happy ending for most all the mains & thier BFFs.

I can't emphasize enough that the Music that's sung in English [& there is ALOT of it] is overused and TERRIBLE !
Plus they show people lip-syncing & their mouths are out of sync with the words! [it's laughably obvious that the voice is not the person you see on the screen !]
The actress who plays the Female villain Elise supposedly speaks many languages but her mouth is almost always out of sync with the words! [I don't even think it's the same language].
The character Blu put on weight as the series progressed & his acting was a C+ at best.
Villain Boris also failed to impress.
Basically the acting of all 3 of them really detracted from the quality of the drama.

This also got reduced points for tired tropes like :
1) Noble sacrifice [that's actually NOT noble but just an indication of inability to trust.]
2) Obsessive , selfish[won't take No for an answer ] love that says :" I will hurt you (physically) if it means that it will make you stay near me & then I will risk your life because I think more of myself than I do you.
3) I will make major life decisions for you/us & am stupid enough to think it's noble & you will thank me later.
4) Ridiculously resolved serious issues-[just go with it, it's a miracle !]

It must be mentioned that after the happy ending, there is a montage of cast & crew members lip-syncing s to a song as they [literally everyone] dances nonsensically around . {happy to be done much ?!]

not horrible, but too much irritating stuff to rate it higher or make it a rewatch.
one last comment: seeing the male lead's jaw go unattractively slack as he tries to emote being stunned, distraught or overwhelmed got old really fast as it was repeated ad nauseum.

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What was that?

I think it might be time to take a break from the chinese dramas. I am such a fan of Ethan Ruan and for the life of me cannot figure out why he would sign on for such a hot mess as this show. I gave it 4 stars, 2 for the food aspect which was relatively well done and two for Ethan. Nothing else in this show was memorable or worth my time. I got to episode 20 and dropped it. The female lead in this show is awful. She looks and acts like a spoiled 15 year old with her whining, temper tantrums and just all around ridiculous behavior. There is no way that a highly succesful, intelligent , older male would give her a second look. It was way to Svengalish for my taste and while older man/younger woman is as old as time these two did not fit. Not in any way, shape or form. I also had a problem with the lessons we are supposed to take away from this show. What were they? Lie, lie some more, physically harm someone, lie again and then never face consequences of your actions? The whole thing was just gross and ridiculous. This was labled a romance and where was the romance? I would recommend not wasting your time on this hot mess!

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?

This shows cupid kitchen is absolute shit. Not a single character in this show is worth sitting through 40 episodes of the show. First, in the storyline with Elise Quentin, she poisons the male lead so that he would lose his taste because she was so in love with him. And then there was the guy who helped her hide the fact that she was poisoning the male lead and he did this because he was in love with her. Even though Elise told him that she was in love with the male lead. Second, the main lead was both so annoying. The male lead was annoying because he was always bashing the female lead. I get it I love to see a grumpy male lead in dramas more than anyone, but this man would just do this constantly degrade, and just say rudest things to the female lead. And the worst part is that he would act nice one day and then the next day he would go batshit crazy and go off on the female lead. And don't get me started on the female lead after all this would happen after he made her cry again for the millionth time she would end up forgiving him after he said a few nice was if any. This show has no reason to be 40 episodes of just pure garbage. I wanted to like this show it had to do with cooking and I love cooking but this show is just a disgrace. No amount of my favorite actors could fix this show it was just a bad show. The person who created this show needs to seek because this show was shit. I don't even remember what episode I left off on but the fact I started this and wasted minutes out of my day to watch this is sad

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Annoying side casts yet again ;(

I read somewhere that this drama was underrated, and that it was really good. So starting it off, it had promise.

But as most Cdramas of late, it just went sour. I started skipping and FF a lot...
1) Annoying side casts - Elise, Victor, Boris, Xianyu.. childish, overly dramatic and their characters were just poorly written.
2) Plot- I understand that the ML was betrayed and was slowly being poisoned. If he was smart, he would have quickly changed doctor and gotten a 2nd opinion. His mistake was putting too much trust in his ex-gf / also business partner. I read many reviews that the ending was just terrible.
3) Makes no sense- any person found cheating in a competition would be reported & disqualified immediately. Any crime committed also would be punished, but apparently not in this drama. How does the writer expect the audience to watch this??!!
4) Romance- too slow burn for me. I didn’t mind the age gap at all, and the chemistry between both leads was quite convincing. It just took too long for them to kiss (let’s be honest here ;) ) I dropped this at episode 21, but I JUST HAD TO SEE some spark between them. So I skipped to Epi 35&36 where there was a somewhat confession and kisses. Haha
5) Too many episodes - yep. 40... could have just done with 24.

Ethan Juan was a real eye candy though ;) Hope he chooses better scripts in future.

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Don't Get Me Wrong, I loved It! But...

Don't get me wrong, I loved it! But... what the hell was that? The secret to enjoying this is to fast forward. Fast forward like you have never fast forward-ed before. There was a lot that was unnecessary to the heart of the story (so much so that I feel as if the drama would have been told far better in 20 episodes). And by skipping those scenes that try to humanize vain and useless characters, the story is tighter and far more enjoyable (hint: you'll know when to skip when you see them).
Without those scenes, there is much to enjoy; especially with the male and female main leads, and even with Chu Ting and Yi Ran.

My main problem with this: VERY SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

My main problem with this isn't even the useless scenes that I had to skip (in order to protect my waning sanity). My problem is with the kumbaya-ness of the entire thing. The villains aren't punished. Like not even in the slightest. The petty ones are rationalized and then they get redemption arcs which probably would have been fine if the redemptions weren't being handed out left, right and centre. And then the actual criminals (the miraculous duo) are given slaps on the wrists and their premeditated crimes are pardoned, while the poor guy who was roped into the entire thing because he needed money (who's only actual crime was breaking and entering to get the poison out of ML's house) is never addressed. He was on the run for a crime he didn't commit and then arrested for the crime he didn't commit. Where is Li Yan's redemption and happy ending??

And let's not even go into how ridiculous the characters' motives are, or just how extreme they (looking at the male lead here) behave in so many circumstances. But once again, if we pretend the scenes we've skipped and the ridiculous motivations don't exist, there is so much fluff to enjoy. (We are also going to pretend that the last few minutes of the final episode does not exist. If you ask me, the drama ended at everyone walking into his comeback banquet with a voice over of ML and FL saying their I love yous.)

In the end, I'm satisfied (in fluffy chemistry we trust!) yet angry because I feel like I've been led by the nose to a beautiful mirage in the desert and now all I have to show for it is a mouth full of sand.

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