Dating in the Kitchen

Chemistry on point!!!

This is my first time writing a review before completing a series (currently waiting for ENG subs on the last 2 episodes)......just could not resist!
It’s been a long while since I’ve found a drama good enough to rearrange my top 10 and this will defitnily be there.

Have to admit our FL was great in her other dramas but this one just gone and took the cake for me!
She seem so much more beautiful and grown up here with just about everything on point with her acting..Amazing enough that I’ve now put her on my top actress List.
Our ML just oozed sex appeal and a far cry from your normal boss leads that sometimes hurt or manipulate to be with FL.
I like a little a bit of obsession & jelousy from my male leads and he just acted out one that was in control, manly, sexy with so much chemistry with FL without being cruel at all.
Their relationship seems so Matured
(yes.....was getting a bit withdrawn on dramas with so much love yet only settles for pecks)
& Real not to mention hilarious & fun at most parts with no cliché or over dramatic plots!
Of course all that is also mainly due to amazing writings, haven’t finish the drama yet but honestly can’t fault anything there...maybe a little less on the friend’s romance but can’t really blame the lack of interest towards them when I’m too impatient for the next scene from our leads!

Lastly i know 2 other dramas where I felt like the music contributed big time to achieving most of the feels in romance for me and this one is the same.
Big thumbs up

Highly recommended for the Romance Lovers :)

Read More

My Daily Dose of Comedic Relief — The Haggle Queen ♚

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" - This phrase fits this drama so well and is the total embodiment of the story.

First and Foremost, WOW! Never expected this drama to be this good. I've got prejudice over this one for a long long time since I hated age gap between men and women but damn!! this drama proved me wrong and made me so engrossed and love it even beyond my imagination.

I feel like the writer and director knew what would people's opinion be over this kind of drama that's why they decided to throw us such a stoic, smug yet wacky ML and tada! it worked like magic. I mean as a viewer who had a negative opinion towards the drama even before I started watching it; Their decision to make him that way is like the biggest slap I could ever get for pre-prejudging it even before watching a piece of it and I totally deserve it.

Another thing is my beef over FLs supposed Bestfriends. I mean, they both look quite manipulative and user friendly during their introduction yet they made them so reliable and dependable as the show progresses and that's another slap on me again. SO!! There I conclude that this drama was created to bitch slap me everytime they see fit. HAHAHA~!!

Also, one last thing is the never ending hate the FL received from the MLs Mother, her Co-Workers, the Female Antagonists and so on. They all falter against such talented woman and I love it but I hated how they all used underhanded tricks to attack and set her up. Those moments truly infuriates me.

Anyways, this drama is brilliant and I never felt satisfied over a contemporary drama for such a long time (Well I've been watching costume drama for more than a year now... so... Hahaha~!!)

Story - 10, No doubts! This drama slap me over and over again to prove me wrong and I never reflected so much over a drama for such a long time. This drama satisfies and even went beyond my prejudice and expectations. It may not be perfect but it managed to pull through its main and sub plots exceptionally well.

Acting/Cast - 10, Stellar acting execution from a set of great actors/actresses. Got no complaints at all and I gotta commend how good they're as a whole. 1 actor who stood out the best for me is Lu Zheng. Like, Hell~!! His acting is on a different caliber. Probably the best among the stars of this drama. Would love to see more of him with his other acting projects.

Music - 10, Enjoyable and Fun Music. They accompanied the drama the best! They made the scenes extra colorful and fun to watch. The musis used for this drama complemented the drama as a whole.

Rewatch Value - 10, It took me quite awhile to finish it due to personal endeavors but supposedly I was to finish it within 4 days even in the middle of my packed schedule. Sadly it overlapped with my little summer get away and that explained how it got dragged for so long. Nonetheless, this drama is simply good and people need to watch it. I'm forcing everybody to. Hahaha~

Overall - 10, Everything combined, this drama is probably my best watch (Modern dramas only) so far this 2022 and there might be great one's I have yet to discover but this production cemented its prints within me. Definitely a good, sweet and fun drama to watch. A story for all ages.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

Read More

This is a truly believable age-gap love story.

I firmly believe that whether one likes or dislikes an age gap in a relationship is subjective and depends on one's age, life experience, and physical attraction. In the specific case of this drama, Zhao Lusi's youthful and vivacious character with a high-pitched voice is paired with a mature and older male character, creating an alluring contrast. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama but understand that individual preferences may vary.

I absolutely adore characters that are absolute geniuses in their respective fields. It's a pure delight to watch them in action. And there's nothing quite like a drama that features a genius chef and a brilliant businessman defying all odds, including social class and age difference, to fall deeply in love with each other. It's a perfect story that leaves me absolutely spellbound.

I absolutely maintain that a better-looking or more attractive male lead would have been a grave mistake in casting, and would have detracted from the authenticity of the story. It's a well-known fact that businessmen generally don't achieve success at a young age, and how many of them are really model-worthy? I can't think of a single one. So, in my opinion, the casting was spot-on.

Although ML was not conventionally attractive, it does not mean that he was unattractive. He just did not fit the typical male actor look that we usually see paired with Rosy Zhao. I must say, I found it incredibly refreshing and completely believable.

I want to give a special mention to the uncle character who was portrayed as a straight guy (thanks to the Chinese censorship who forbid lgbt+ charactes in dramas) but had all the mannerisms of a gay man. He was absolutely hilarious.

Overall, it was an excellent drama that I'll definitely watch again with pleasure.

Read More

Age Gap Fantastic For once

I haven't seen an age gap film from any place done any better than Dating in the Kitchen. It was complete perfection. I think it is up there with Pretty Woman Julia Roberts / Richard Gere & Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn/ Humphrey Bogart or later with Julia Ormond/Harrison Ford. The actor Lin Yu Shen well, he was perfection as the older man. Especially his reaction to being called Senior or Fuzzy Lu, he was just so good at controlled outrage. The beginning scene with him and Zhao Lu Si where she has messed with his car is just wonderful. She stands on tip toe for him to write his # on her forehead is just so captivating. His reaction to that well, you think he is a goner from the start. The supporting cast are all great, they back up the film wonderfully. I have re-watched this over and over. I will never get tired of it.

Read More

Such a cute drama! Absolutely worth it!

Well it's indeed a good watch.
I am still new to Cdrama and 24 episodes sometimes feel like drag but this one was perfect.
The first half of the story I enjoyed a lot.
I loved the charecter development of the Leads and the supporting characters. The makers truely paid attention to the story of the supporting roles.
Now come to the leads -
Zhou Lusi (Gu Shengnan) -
Omg she is such a cutie and ofcourse a talented actor. I felt that she is the perfect Gu Shengnan. The quirky, ambitious chef with a soft heart and a cute smile, she just outdid the role.
Lu Jin-
He is perfect too. He is a businessman and he was expected to behave the way he did. He fell for her and cherished her deeply. The love from his side was so mature that none of the external things could actually move him away from her..

Also the Food prep scenes were paid actors which kept me hooked to this drama.

Well I gave it an 8 allover because I was somewhat fast forwarding in the second half. Shengnan falling for Lu Jin's brother's tricks bored me.

It's indeed a CEO romance but it's not super cringe, instead the makers showed that the same genre can be represented with different approach.
Go for it, you won't regret for sure.

Read More

Finally A GREAT Chinese Drama

Usually Im watching CDrama as a hobby when Im bored with Korean Drama.
Well, a long episodes and cliche ending story
Not mention for a mere Kissess scene
Slapstick comedy
Absurd scene
And others that I often find in CDrama.

But THIS.
IS A GEM.

I love the Female Lead. Cute yet though and very lovable.
Pairing with the Male Lead that Cool, manly and very understanding.
Love their chemistry for entire the drama, real emotion when up and down facing their problem together and keep their love soo genuine and honest to trust each other very deeply that everyone beside them couldnt have a chance to crushed their relationship, even his though yet dear mother.
Love Zhao Lusi that always can bring a lot of satisfying act when she mad, cry, angry and clueless comedy that needed in this drama.

And YESS , for a great story, kissess scene (too Bad, the hot kissess that they share together in gym were being cut 🤦‍♀️), and for GREAT YET WARM ending that VERY SATISFYING..even just a short proposal scene but it shows that the story WAS GREAT.

Thankyou ...now Im ready to watch another CDrama. Hopefully always good as DITC.

Read More

Modern day fairy tale

Ok so firstly I'd say that if you're watching it on WeTV, don't go by the drama's information, it's totally misleading. The FL doesn't suffer from a broken love and technically she is not exactly unemployed.
The story is well paced, well written with no visible plotholes. There are no super evil characters and most of them are pretty likeable. There's also the steamy romance between our main leads.
Then there's Zhao Lusi's charming acting and the ML's mature acting. Despite their age gap they were a great couple. None of the characters were unreasonable or toxic. Misunderstandings were cleared up pretty quick. The main couple didn't have any unnecessary issues and none of them was over possessive or controlling. The FL was childish and kind of immature, but understanding and kind. The ML was mature and wise and very considerate. But my favorite character has to be FL's uncle lol he was so fun. Her best friend was also so funny.
One plot twist that I didn't really expect was the ML's brother.
Overall this was one great watch. I really liked it. Would recommend watching it.

Read More

Wow, wow, wow

The first ever modern C drama that I'm rating 10 stars and it is all thanks to the juggernaut that is Lin Yu Shen who must be one of the top 2 charismatic actors I've ever watched.

I'd initially dropped Dating in the Kitchen a few months back but immediately came back to it after watching LYS's mesmerizing performance in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber and somehow everything just clicked this second time around. The depth of emotions from LYS and Zhao Lusi was palpable and it has to be the first time a male lead has ever cried of heartbreak convincingly. My heart ached and rejoiced with our ML as he navigated dating a much younger woman who was from a completely different level in every way. Their joy, love, laughter, and tears pulled us along as they grew to trust each other even when others repeatedly tried to break them up. I'm so happy that I watched this.

Read More

I was excited to start this drama because I really love both of the lead actors and felt like they would have interesting chemistry onscreen. In that sense I was completely correct. This is one of those rare dramas where the age gap really works. The dynamic is certainly stern, commanding older male lead and bold, bubbly younger female lead, but I feel like they do a great job of showing how that can be a really joyful and beautiful dynamic. In reality, I'm not so sure if this would really work, but in the magical world of dramas I think it's very successful. Rosy Zhao has this infectious energy and earnestness that's very charming, and Lin Yu Shen brings a moody, intense, and weightier presence to the screen. Together I think they make a great pair.

But while their scenes together are some of the loveliest and most intense romantic scenes I've seen in a drama in a while, I feel like the rest of the drama is a lot weaker and really drags down our leads. There are certainly bright moments. I like the focus on social class, I like the sort of fish-out-of-water aspect of each of the leads stepping into each other's worlds, but I think that there are too many repetitive aspects of the rest of the plot. There is a lot of scheming family members, misunderstandings, and even fights between the leads that are really hard to watch as a viewer. I was really invested in this couple and the plot brutalizes their characters in a way that wasn't very enjoyable to see onscreen episode after episode. It's not that I don't like a dark or tragic or serious plot, but I think this one was just too melodramatic and clunky for the drama.

Overall, great leads with exceptional chemistry, but an uninteresting and sometimes painful plot that gets more repetitive and draggy the longer the drama goes on. A nasty brother bent on revenge and using the unsuspecting female lead in his schemes is very 2005, and I wasn't interested in it in the least.

Read More

Classic

Well......... Where do I start? First of all, I did really want to watch this but after a period of wait, I kinda lost that interest in watching. And fast forward to a few weeks, I decided to watch the first couple of episodes of it and it was hilarious. I laugh so much in the first 10 episodes. This is one of the classic Poor women who meets a rich man and the love triangle and the mother that is unwilling to accept the FL. ( but later she does and when I mean later it literally the last episodes ). In this drama, you will find a lot of comedy and romance at the same time. Even though their age gap is quite big but doesn't let that fool you, you are missing out a lot they have a lot of chemistry today. At first, I was kinda shocked by the age but everything played out really well. There is kinda a love triangle but overall it didn't bother me much but there won't be anything evil plotting for the other leads but ML's mother was something. ( not going too much detail cuz don't want to spoil it,, ). And just to add there is kinda a tiny bit of a revenge plot that was against the ML but it won't begin later on. ( kinda weak revenge tbh ) Overall, a very funny and romantic Chinese drama to enjoy without worry about the plot too much.

Read More

Rom Com with a Touch of Drama

I liked Lu Jin throughout the series from beginning to end. He never wavered in his love, he was composed even the way he handled the conflicts. I think I liked Lu Jin more too because of Li Yu Shen's portrayal of him. The little gestures and expressions made it all work with his character.

I found Gu Sheng Nan for the most part too immature. Don't know if she's too nice , naive or just plain not have some common sense. I felt that she took Lu Jin's love for her for granted. Maybe Lu Jin just was too mature for her.

Whenever the two of them would have some sort of misunderstanding - I think it really is when Sheng Nan is in her not so intelligent state of mind - he would usually be the one to say he is at fault. So I actually liked the part wherein he finally got mad and did not talk to her. But he still did it in such a dignified way.

Other mentionable characters:

Uncle Gao = as the series went I liked his character more and more. He put sense into Gu Sheng Nan.

Lu Zheng = he was the evil character not by choice cause he was really likeable when he first showed up. I'm glad it all worked out for him and did not remain evil.

All in all it was a good drama.

Read More