Bon Appetit, Your Majesty

Dropped halfway through. I genuinely don’t understand the hype.

I really tried to understand why this drama is so popular, but eventually I just had to drop it halfway through.

The premise sounded interesting enough—a modern chef somehow ends up in the past and becomes the royal chef of a tyrant emperor. The cooking scenes are definitely the strongest part of the drama, and the food looks good enough to make you hungry. But unfortunately, pretty food alone couldn’t keep me watching.

My biggest problem is the story. The drama constantly feels like it’s trying too hard to be entertaining. There are plenty of comedic moments, but a lot of them didn’t land for me. The romance also feels rather forced, and I never really became invested in the relationship between the leads.

The female lead is energetic and capable, but after a while her character started to feel repetitive. Every problem somehow turns into another opportunity for her to show off her cooking skills, impress everyone, and magically solve the situation. The male lead isn’t much better. He’s supposed to be this terrifying tyrant, but the contrast between his “ruthless emperor” persona and the way he behaves around the FL didn’t really work for me.

And then there’s the pacing. Somehow the drama can feel both fast and slow at the same time. Things happen, but I didn’t feel like the story was actually moving anywhere meaningful.

Maybe I’m just not the target audience because I know this drama has a lot of fans, but I honestly couldn’t see what was so special about it. The production is pretty, the food looks amazing, and the leads are attractive, but none of that was enough to make me care about what happened next.

Dropped halfway. I genuinely don’t understand how this became such a huge hit. 😭

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Good start, no follow-up

Oh well, first off, I really like Lim Yoona, I think she was exceptinoally good in 'King the land'. One of her qualities for me is that she dares to play comedy roles, something most beautiful Korean actresses rather don't do as it often isn't elegant as a given. She does play comedy, and given a good storyline and director, I think she is doing it very well.

So, I started to watch 'Bon Appetit', and the first two episodes didn't disappoint, it was funny, the slaptstick wasn't too much, and the banter between the FL and the ML was interesting.
So, taken into account that this of course is a fantasy drama with time travel, I don't feel the need to look for historic accuracy in this and watched it for fun.

Sadly, from epidose 3 on, I realised that the actual very thin plot of this show after the good intro episodes is just 'there is a cooking competition in every episode'. There is modern dishes filmed in food porn style, and there is historic figures tasting the modern delicious stuff and having orgasmic experiences every single time. That .- is funny once, but if that is all that happens in every episode that's just not enough.

It's also a bit absurd that the writers created these unbelievable stories over and over again why the FL has to compete in cooking in every episode. I took it when she had to compete against the former royal cooks, ok. But now some Chinese royal is there and things are actually about trade dealings and all of a sudden it's a cooking competion again because the Chinese guest said he doesn't like Joseon food? So what? That doesn't have any gravity for the trade dealings, but they somehow managed to absurdly build a plot where the future of the Joseon empire lies upon the FL and her cooking. Nah, sorry, that's just nonsese and flat storytelling with no creativity and no real plot.

And, not knowing the ML at all, I have to say he is not good enough an actor to carry this historic role for my personal taste. His acting actually seems a bit forced and has no depth as I can hear he is acting and is not able to give the historic Korean lines naturally. Maybe I am biased though, as I had just rewatched 'the red sleeve' where the ML was absolutely convincing in his historic ruler role and even brought me to tears.
So sadly, I'm dropping this, I'd rather rewatch 'king the land' again, where Yoona could shine with her comedic talent placed in a good storytelling.

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Joseon Food Wars

I really loved it- the ML, the FL, the entire cast, the devilish villains and all that extravagant food... Really wish this adaptation could have been more like an anime spread across seasons coz I definitely wanted to see more of all of them😭 I usually do dig up on the source more often than not but this drama has really got me into the light novel(especially as I love stuff where you can see the skeleton of history lingering in the fantasy). The plot was very much a shoujo Nobunaga no Chef with a hint of shonen(Food Wars), all in Joseon style.

The ML was a standout! The side characters stole as much of the show- the bestest court lady Choi Mal-im, Geum-gil, inventor extraordinaire Jang Chun-saeng, the Ming chef Bai Long, Gong-gil(g.o.a.t) and the cute bodyguard Shin Soo-hyuk. How Gong-gil and Shin Soo-hyuk ended up with insane chemistry after just one episode was magic. And I really started to root for Gil-geum and chef Maeng to be endgame. Consort Kang was so beautiful and dangerous. And don't sideye me but ol' uncle Jesan was kindof sexy in a villain way- he reminds me of Scar and even Jafar.

The drama had it's flaws- mainly pacing and spacing out the stories. I did feel they took too long to only do one single contest with the Ming which while it had segments, slowed down the pace and this felt odd- could have easily been done across two episodes. And they could have added more- if not the other international contests from the LN, then at least more court or character development for the mains and side characters(especially secretary Im, inventor Jang, Gong-gil, guard Shin and the side chefs deserved more). Also more side quests or travels incognito. The ost 'Land of the Morning' is stuck in my head. I could picture it as the FL conducting the trio of the king, his guard and Gong-gil singing(to a very medieval european adventure tune). More outings with them... Really wish there was more than just these 12 episodes.

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This drama started with high expectations due to the many positive reviews, but unfortunately ...

Sometimes a drama doesn’t fail because it’s bad — it fails because the expectations become too high.
This was unfortunately one of those cases for me. After being flooded with overwhelmingly positive reviews, I went in expecting something truly exceptional. Instead, what I got was a drama that started well but gradually lost its impact.
The chemistry between the leads is good, and I genuinely enjoyed the cinematography — visually, this drama is beautiful. The framing, lighting, and atmosphere were well done and clearly had effort put into them. On a technical level, it deserves praise.
However, by the time the drama reached episode 5, the story began to feel repetitive. The narrative didn’t progress in a meaningful way, and scenes started to feel predictable rather than engaging. What initially felt charming slowly turned into something dull, making it harder to stay emotionally invested.
I didn’t hate this drama, and dropping it wasn’t an easy decision. But with so many other dramas out there that feel more exciting and fresh, I had to let this one go. Sometimes it’s better to move on than to force yourself to finish something that no longer holds your interest.
This drama might still work for viewers who enjoy slow-paced storytelling and visual aesthetics over plot development. Sadly, it just wasn’t for me.

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Entertaining series (thanks to Lee Chae Min) but not addictive

PLOT: A TT about a star chef during the Joseon era. She encounters, on the wrong foot, the king (ML), a gourmet, reputed to be cruel because he's seeking revenge for his mother's death. She becomes the royal chef thanks to her innovations. But life at court is difficult (his uncle's plot, clans, conspiracies, etc.).

+++ Lee Chae Min as ML (´♡‿♡) I'm not a big fan of Lim Yoon A, but for once, I enjoyed watching her.
+++ Well-written, coherent story.
+++ Beautiful cinematography and Korean OSTs (´♡‿♡)

### Beautiful food images, but too much cooking sequences! As if all life revolved around meals...

=> Entertaining series (especially thanks to Lee Chae Min) but not addictive.
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PLOT: TT d'1 chef étoilée à l'époque Joseon. Elle rencontre, sur un mauvais pied, le roi (ML), gourmet, réputé cruel car en vengeance de la mort de sa mère. Elle devient la cuisinière royale grâce à ses innovations. Mais la vie à la cour est difficile (complot de l'oncle, clans, conspirations, etc.).

+++ Lee Chae Min en ML (´♡‿♡) Je ne suis pas une grande fan de Lim Yoon A, mais pour une fois, je l'ai appréciée.
+++ Story bien écrite, cohérente.
+++ Belle cinématographie et OSTs coréens (´♡‿♡)

### Belles images de cuisine, mais trop, trop de séquences culinaires ! Comme si toute la vie tournait autour des repas ...

=> Série distrayante (surtt grâce à Lee Chae Min) mais pas addictive.

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So good that I was feeling hungry all the time!

Bon Appetit, everyone!!!!!!!

To have great dishes on every episode is torturing me! To have a good-looking king is also torturing me! I love their first meet in the jungle while Chef Jeon is looking miserable and confuseddd.

“To be yearned for, to be seen~”

That is the King’s trait. Always always yearning for his Royal Court Cook– Jeon Susu~

I am always loving the concept of Joseon kdrama. the cinematography, the slow-mo moments, the sound of arrows and swords flying, the so many scenes on top of hills and many more!

Please please give a try in watching this series as Lee Chae-min is soooo good with his acting especially when he is mad or cry. I feel like I have to pukpuk him.

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