Bon Appetit, Your Majesty

Great start, rushed ending

A fantasy drama that blends comedy, history, romance and most importantly, food into a 12 episodes joint.

The story centers around chef Ji Yeong, who is thrown into the past by some unusual circumstances, and is seeking to make her way back to the modern world from the Joseon Era she stucked upon.

The first half of the drama progresses steadily, with a ton of delicious food thrown in the front of viewers. The camera follows Ji-young through the process, focusing on the ingredient selection and the process of cooking as much as the final dish. The production was quite vibrant. Both the ML and FL had a great chemistry.

The political aspect had a lesser establishment in the first half, while it's focus shifted heavily towards the ending episodes, leaving us with many plot points unexplained. As with most of the drama, the palace politics come with a fairly simple narrative that splits characters into those who support the ML and those who don't. That's it, the political narrative.

The FL Im Yoon-a plays her with fantastic range, with an adequately hammy performance for the comic scenes and a heartfelt portrayal during the more emotional ones. While the ML doesn’t have the same range as Yoon-a, Chae-min offers an entertaining transformation from a tyrant to a soft-hearted king.

Overall, Bon Appetit is a lighthearted show to enjoy, even though the finale might pull down the overall satisfaction, due to rushed ending and unexplained plot points.

My Rating : 7.5/10

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Where food, love and loyalty rule the royal kitchen.

First off, the actor who played Jesan, absolutely incredible performance. I have to commend him because I hated his guts from the start (in the best way possible). His acting was so convincing and added real depth to the story.

The male lead was a great addition as well. The way he showcased his emotions and expressed different layers of feeling so subtly through his eyes was just incredible. I also loved how the drama centered around food, with layers of betrayal and treason woven into the plot. The storytelling was captivating with every episode, you get dragged deeper into the world of the palace.

The ending had a nice emotional touch, though it did feel a bit rushed if you look closely. But honestly, for those few moments, it didn’t even matter.

The side characters were also very entertaining, the jester, the chief royal secretary, the royal kitchen crew, and the fourth royal consort all gave the show a good balance of humor and seriousness.

I liked how it began with a time travel premise, a lost and confused female lead and a mean, heartless king. Over time, as they spent time together, you could really see the king’s transformation from cold and cruel to reasonable and caring, even when everyone was against him.

I really admire how this K-drama blended its plot and comedic moments with such rich food storytelling. The directors did an excellent job showcasing a variety of dishes from different cultures and highlighting unique cooking styles and equipment. I especially loved the episode where they explained the engineering behind the pressure cooker and how it speeds up cooking, that was such a nice touch!

Throughout the series, they showed characters bonding over food, using it as a bridge for connection and memory. I loved how it portrayed the idea that a single taste of a dish can bring back deep emotions or remind you of a loved one. There were beautiful moments featuring dishes influenced by French, Korean, and Italian cuisine, and even discussions about herbs and their role in health, all of which made the culinary aspect even more meaningful.

Overall, it’s a shorter drama compared to the usual 16 episodes, but it’s packed with emotion, comedy, and solid storytelling. The acting was spectacular, the soundtrack amazing, and once the story settled into the Joseon era, it flowed so well that you almost forget it started as a time-travel story, until that twist returns later on.

A great drama for a relaxing watch, heartfelt, funny, and engaging from start to finish. Definitely worth checking out!

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GREAT MODERN/TRADI KDRAMA !

On my list from the start because I really like Lee Chae Min in everything he does, and Yoona, I like her more and more; her acting is improving, and the emotions are there. Not being a big fan of cooking dramas, even though I've seen a ton of them, I was thrilled to launch a story that blends modernity in 2025 with the old times through time travel.

The first episodes won me over! Whether it was Lee Chae Min, with her undeniable charisma as King Joseon, or Yoona, radiant, on point in her emotions and performances, not to mention the dose of humor that made the whole thing sparkle with kindness. Kang Hanna's acting didn't really touch me; the writing for her character was relatively cold, so she left me neither hot nor cold.

The dishes were visually exquisite, and the arrangement of each dish was mouthwatering! It was beautiful, colorful, and appetizing. Although the culinary complexity was too much for my taste, to the detriment of the romance, I still loved seeing the King stuff himself, haha.

Exactly, let's talk about the romance!

I found it sublime. There was good chemistry between the two, but in a "sweet" and "caring" way, like two people who have been together for a very long time. Like a habit. However, I didn't feel any passionate or sensual chemistry, which was 200% due to the age difference, for sure. However, that didn't stop me from loving them immensely together and also laughing at the old-couple snark they would make at each other.

Overall, I loved BON APPÉTIT YOUR MAJESTY because it's a story that exudes positive vibes. Despite the corruption and internal conflicts, I didn't feel the war politics were very present. It's still a rom-com, so nothing to give you a headache. I thank the entire cast for their nuanced and remarkable performances. I loved the music and can't wait to get the soundtrack album.

I would add a small criticism at the end for the unanswered questions regarding Monsieur's arrival. Indeed, in 2025, there are things that can't be magical without administrative oversight! In short, let's let magic exist anyway!

I obviously recommend BON APPÉTIT YOUR MAJESTY! This year's favorite for me.

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Episode 3 was amazing!

Episode 3 was amazing! It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt this much excitement while watching a series, and waited so eagerly for the next episode 😍🥺😍🥺😍🥺😍

As for Choi Min’s acting, I really have to say I’m impressed. At first, when I heard Park Sung Hoon had stepped down from the role due to the controversies, I was disappointed. But now, I’m actually glad it happened, because it gave Choi Min the chance to shine.

His proud expressions, that crooked smile, the tone of his voice, the aura he carries, even the way he goes ‘oohooooh’—it honestly feels like he was made for this role. Even though he’s 11 years younger than Yoona, his performance is so strong that the age gap doesn’t show at all.

Who would’ve thought that the cute little bartender with a short role in Alchemy of Souls would end up here, playing such a capable king? 🥺😍😂

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Loopholes, We've Got Your Loopholes of All Sizes Here!

Nothing was explained or made sense: why was a modern woman outrageously, belligerently fearless in an isolated area when a man repeatedly tried to kill her (with arrows, sword, and knife!); if she was from the future and had foreknowledge, why didn't she make better choices or give out warnings; why would cooks well-known for their knife skills choose wooden spoons as weapons to save their lives; and why was the king's mother killed? The ending is equally nonsensical, and the writers even admitted in a sideways fashion that they couldn't come up with a viable explanation. As for loose ends, the whole drama garment was frayed! If you don't need logic or explanations, this is the drama for you.

Even so, I enjoyed myself. The leads and supporting cast were fun. I enjoy food dramas, and I could happily watch the ML eat in slow motion for an entire drama. Which is, basically, the main reason to watch this show. I've added an entire star for the ML's acting skills in relishing each bite.

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Clanker's first Strike

BAYM…. is kind of a mess. Inconsistent characters, pacing and plot coherency abound.
Do not watch this show if you are actually interested in watching a solid historical costume drama with great political intrigue, do watch if you're a foodie who wants to turn off their brain for a moment of pleasure.

I will start by saying that the cast here is pretty commendable. Lots of veteran actors playing new roles that I've never seen from them. This is Yoona at her best (when she's not with GG) her acting is consistent and sincere, I really enjoyed every time she was on screen. Her costars range from amazing to acceptable, but I'm okay with that.

The food was amazing to see and the direction for the cooking scenes were fluid and actually made a lot of sense. It's almost like choreography for dances or fights.

I start having issues with the plot, I get that the show is only 12 episode, but I still feel that the pacing should have been a little more consistent. Now that everything has been completed, I have a hero I don't understand too well nor can be invested in because his development was way too inconsistent. The villain's motivations are unclear and very hard to understand logically. I got why everyone was doing what they were doing on a surface level… but thats all. If you stop and think about any main faction's motivation you will realize that everything is shallow and just a little dumb.

All of that is forgivable, my issue is the amount of ai in this drama. When ai started becoming more accessible it never occured to me that it would eventually make its way to dramas. There are multiple scenes and dreamy sequences where ai is used to highlight the characters reaction to food. Multiple instances in multiple episodes… I can only imagine how many liters of water were wasted to render that dumb pea scene. All of these could have been replaced with using stock photos and video and a dash of clever editing… I'm so disappointed to see that clanker made content has infiltrated a medium I have deep affection for.

Going forward I will be dropping dramas that have ai, If I can see it, it will be dropped.

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Sloppy ending and a weird way to reimagine a horrific period in Korean history

...Idk I really wanted to love this the way everyone else did, but I walked away a bit underwhelmed.

Let me start with the positives, because there are quite a few. Yoona was genuinely great, I just love watching her on screen and love that she is getting proper roles and is being taken seriously as an actor. She just has that effortless charm that makes everything more enjoyable. And I called a hit fo Lee Chae-min ever since Crash Course in Romance, so I’m very pleased to see him getting more recognition. He was really solid here too. I thought he did a great job shouldering a very solid lead, especially on such short notice due to him esentially replacing the original actor who was supposed to play the role.

I also really loved how they gave the editing a cooking show touch with recipes you could actually recreate. I thought the cooking itself was the main attraction.

The comedy at the beginning was so good. Like actually funny, not just "ig i should laugh" funny. Which is why it’s even more disappointing that they slowly let that element fade as the show went on. By the time the political conflict took center stage, I was already kind of checked out, it just wasn’t that compelling nor well written.

The leads had good chemistry, I’ll give them that. But the romance itself felt… undercooked. Like all the ingredients were there, but no one left it on the stove long enough. And then the ending?? SUCH a cop-out. It really felt like they backed themselves into a corner and just went “eh, good enough” instead of properly explaining things.

(MAJOR SPOILER) The whole situation with him being in Yoona's world fully as himself while everyone else is some version of reincarnated or altered selves?? Yeah… that needed way more thought and explanation. Did he also travel with the page? But the page was destroyed so how did that work? (END SPOILER)

Now another part that I absolutely hated was the casual reference to SA??? Why did the showrunners think to "reimagine" a true hated figure in actual Korean history?? Why are we redeeming and romanticizing someone who was terribly cruel to women? I think they could have just invented a fake character and gave him a similar backstory(and not as laced with SA!!??) for the initial misunderstandings to happen and it would have served the same purpose.

Also, small but persistent annoyance I had was how they kept marketing this as “Western food meets Joseon cuisine,” but let’s be real, it was just French food. French techniques, French presentation, French everything. Which is fine! Just… call it what it is. The “Western” umbrella felt a bit misleading when there was barely any range beyond that.

All that being said… I still had a good time after forcing myself to overlook the actual historical figure. At the end of the day, it’s pretty people on my screen and I can rarely say no to that.

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My thoughts on this series!

Honestly i didn't expect to finish the series at all because i came for the food. But after i watch one episode i was instantly hooked into the series! I was watching as it was airing so i had some doubts on how its going to end. The pacing was okay, it has a slight rush but it was still okay for me.

SPOILER!

Towards the end i slowly started to lose interest because i expected a bigger plot on how the grand prince will execute the treason so when he just send someone to read the drafts to everyone during the male lead's grandmother birthday the plot became underwhelming. Though I do understand that perhaps they didn't have time because most of the time went towards the expressions of how the food taste heavenly.

There are no filler episodes but the expressions when they eat the food is too long. The zooming in on the lips and them imagining the flavors is a bit too long. Overall, its a good watch if you're bored.

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