Bon Appetit, Your Majesty

Expressive acting, hilarious

I’m a 30-year follower of East Asian films and dramas.
Chinese works, especially historical dramas, are often full-budget and intense with complex storylines and a large cast. Billions of views is not unreachable for China’s best works. One complaint is that more and more, capable actors have become zombie green screens for CGI.
Japanese films often explore spiritual conundrums, but the weekly serials tend to be insular and mundane. I’m avoiding the word “boring”. Japan’s public TV - NHK - is absurdly expensive and international audiences miss out on well-made non-fiction and dramatic content.
In contrast, Korean dramas are highly accessible. Facial expression, body movement and human-centered stories are the reason Netflix and other platforms have picked so many up.
“Bon Appetite…” is hilariously modern with a sarcastic nod to the historical genre. Super fun. Maybe I’ll expand my culinary repertoire.

Read More

it’s cute but the ending was so rushed

The entire thing was not top tier or anything but I genuinely enjoyed it. I especially liked the way they portrayed the story, in the end the king was maybe bad, but even if he wasn’t he still would have been known as bad because that’s what the winner (prince jesan) decided. In the end, the ones who win are the ones who tell the story how they want. So I found that nice honesty.
Acting was good, both FL and ML played their roles really well for me.
The cooking aspect was enjoyable, I don’t know about other Kdrama watchers but maybe anime influenced me in this aspect so it felt like a slice of life cooking kdrama which made me unwind if anything.
However the ending… Ending it with “how he came to find me is not important cause now we’re together”..is very annoying. I don’t what happened with the production to want to wrap it up like that or maybe that’s how it was meant to be, but 1 more episode could have explained a few things, like what happened to his people who took over the palace? , like how he came to future? , and when he met her in the restaurant he was already well dressed in a normal outfit so how did that happen? , how did even find her?
So yea I enjoyed a whole 11 episodes of this, but the last part was so rushed it frustrated me.

Read More

Ignore the Low Ratings: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty Is Worth Watching

I noticed Bon Appétit, Your Majesty received surprisingly low ratings, which genuinely puzzled me because I found it quite enjoyable.
First, the leads are undeniably good-looking, and more importantly, they have real chemistry. The female lead, in particular, stood out to me. She embodies a strong woman; someone thrown into circumstances she wasn’t raised for, yet she survives, adapts, and builds something out of nothing. She is confident in her abilities and truly believes her skills are enough to save her. As someone who appreciates strong female characters, this was one of the things I loved most about the show.
The male lead’s character is often criticized for being a tyrant, but when you consider the historical context, his behavior makes sense. Therapy didn’t exist in the past, and he was constantly under threat, with people actively plotting to overthrow and kill him. While his actions were extreme, it isn’t shocking when you remember how royalty historically found entertainment in power, punishment, and even death. From that perspective, his character feels realistic rather than exaggerated.
What elevated the romance for me was the implication that the leads had met before ,that she was the subject of the book from the very beginning. That detail adds an extra emotional layer and depth to their relationship, making the story more meaningful than a simple chance encounter.
While the eating scenes can feel a bit cringey at times, they also add charm. The cooking segments are enjoyable too, though I’d recommend skipping through them if food isn’t your area of interest.
Overall, this drama is a work of art in my books. My advice is to watch it without letting the reviews influence you. Go in without judgment and experience it for yourself... you might be pleasantly surprised.

Read More

Lol, what's wrong with the reviews here?

The top reviewers are acting like the drama is absolutely awful, when it was perfectly solid. Or is that directed at Yoon Ah? I'm not a fan of hers, but I keep noticing how biased MDL users are towards her.

Anyone who loves food, sageuk series, and romance will enjoy this. The food scenes were especially great—I'd love to see the making-of! The story, acting and pacing were good. The characters were neither black and white unlike it is often the case in Korean romcoms and I appreciated it. The king was a ruthless crazy tyrann and did many unmorally things but then again this was during Josein-times- deep dark mid age. I was particularly impressed by the actor playing ML—super young, usually only in supporting roles, but he delivered a good performance here for such challenging role (many action scenes, romantic scenes, scenes in which he had to be crazy and having anger issues...). Acting could still be polished for more versatile facial expressions but he is young and has much potential for improvement. Yoon Ah played her role as a very experienced, excellent and self confident cook who knows the though life in gastronomy and especially high cuisine well. She is not that strong at acting since the played characters are often similar but this role she nailed it.

Things that bothered me:
1. Too many CGI or AI effects. The action scenes, in particular, felt more like Western series to me. But that's often the problem with dramas on Netflix...
2. FL never looked 27; she was definitely over 30 with that mature behaviour and appearance. That makes sense for a Michelin-starred chef with so much expertise. I wish they had just made it clear that she was older than the king. The age difference was more than obvious.
3. I didn't buy that she loved him, but I did believe he loved her. The chemistry was okayish. Both suited their respective role but I don't think together in a romantic relationship. Maybe more romantic scenes would have helped.

Overall, recommended, especially if you enjoy good food. I give it 8/10 stars.

Read More

kinda reheated

I watched this with my dad since he really wanted to watch it, at first I was a little nervous it might be kinda inappropriate to watch with my dad because some kdramas get r rated for a little, but luckily there wasn't any. SO, if you're into that stuff, you probably won't like this show, but it was my cup of tea.
The cast was good, but idk how i feel about the ML, i think she did a pretty good job tho so idk. The male lead was great at being a petty king and the side characters were just as good.
My problem starts with this show lowkey being reheated nachos of Mr. Queen. It's not the exact same, but it had to have been somesort of inspiration. Or maybe the idea is so basic that they overlap? Both were good shows but they are so similar it's impossible to not think of the other a little. In the end they both end up in the modern world in some way.
I liked how in the end they reunited in the 21th century. Better than her having to be trapped in such ancient times for a boss lady chef.
I had a huge problem with his weird personalliy and lowkey anger issues. He was very cynical in his thinking, even if we can argue that maybe that is how he was raised, it's still gross how he thinks so little of a human life. Even treating the ml so terribly before he ends up falling for her... I also don't like how he cheats on his wife with the ML. I understand they dont love eachother but wth? Are we serious? Not even the slightest attempt to make him seem guilty of adultery. And the ML seems too okay with it as well.
I think a 9/10 is good enough and maybe even a little too generous.

Read More

“no me puedo llamar el mejor cocinero porque nunca superé la comida de mi abuela” ?

Con los primeros capítulos pensé que sería un drama con 95% escenas de cocina y un 5% de romance. Sin embargo, en verdad me sorprendió mucho el arco de los personajes que los llevó a enamorarse, es primera vez que lo sentí correcto y natural, no me faltó ni me saltó nada. Muchas veces me pasa que la razón por lo que los personajes se enamoran es muy “puesta”, igual me terminan encantando, pero no hay algo que yo me encante en ese camino, a diferencia de esta que me hicieron sentir ese cambio de perspectiva, un ligero enemy to lovers.

Por otra parte quiero destacar mucho la interpretación de Lee Chae-min, sinceramente no es un actor que conocía, pero me sorprendió mucho sobretodo los últimos capítulos, la desesperación, traición y dolor en verdad se vieron reflejados.

Igual sostengo que es más un drama de cocina jajajaja pero el romance estaba y estaba chef kiss 😮‍💨

Por lo general, y explicando mi ranking, no soy una persona muy picky, si el romance hace que chille me tiene, un promedio siempre pongo 8,5 cuando me entretuvo, pero con una vez verlo estoy bien.

Read More

Good Beginnings, Bad Endings

The hype got me to watch the series. The pro of this series is that its a short watch, with only 12 episodes. The con is its ending. Don't get me wrong, it's not an unresolved ending. True to typical kdramas, everything is neatly tied up in a bow and spoonfed to the audience. But my biggest glitch with the ending is its execution.
I could see the writers' fatigue towards the end of the drama. They'd used all their brains in setting the story up, but when it came to a logical resolution, they just lost steam.
This is another one of those typical Kdramas that are extremely trope-y but also addictive because we know what we'll be served. So the joke situations are the same, the hand grabs are endless, and consent is sketchy, to say the least.
What I particularly liked about this series was its attention to detail when it comes to food. And it is very commendable that the makers consulted proper chefs to show very standard Michelin star recipes. The exaggerated visuals while tasting their food is again, not new (Food Wars has done it, Haunted Palace has done it), but they are stupidly funny. If only they could put this much attention to detail to write a better ending to the story, it would've made so much sense. To use a food analogy, the series felt like the writers spent a LOT of time and effort whipping egg whites to make a meringue, only to misuse it towards the end and bake a flat cake out of it. The ending felt as unsatisfactory as a flat cake coming out of the oven.

In terms of acting, Lee Chaemin was quite convincing as the tyrant turned softie sweetheart. Im Yoona also did a good job in her comic parts. But when she was explaining the dishes, it felt like I was watching King The Land again. The other actors also did a good job, but given that its a CJ Ent and Studio Dragon production, I don't expect bad acting at all.

I do wish, however, that they stop the body showing fan service. I get it, we all thirst to see glimpses of the male actors' well built bodies, but being shirtless at random episodes is just meaningless.
The music was quite meh, nothing stood out. The food production and the food photography was top notch though: that was easily the best part of the series. Which is why, even if it didn't have a very dense plot, I wasn't bothered much: the food was enough to make up for it.

This is the 2nd kdrama I've watched recently that features isekai elements (First Night with the Duke is another). And both of them failed the teleportation element so horribly, my opinion of the dramas reduced substantially. Overall, its a fun watch, starts off very strong but becomes tepid at the end.

Read More

Great cooking drama (in depth plot? not that great)

For context, I binged this show.

Its honestly not even bad. I don't know why there's so many haters. I enjoyed watching it. There were moments where I fast-forwarded a lot but I enjoy cooking-themed shows so this was right up my alley. As opposed to other viewers, I wasn't as interested in the subplots about the queen dowager / the treason / etc. and was more into the cooking competitions and friendships within the kitchen. So with that noted, I suppose I'm not into the show because of the plot LOL hence the 7.5 for the story.

If I'm actually thinking about the plot as a whole... there were definitely a lot of plot holes. Since there's so many characters that have decently-sized roles, I suppose it was hard to incorporate all of their backstories and how each of them came to be- mainly the people who were on the prince Jaesan's side. And Consort Kang... she highkey pmo. Her role was really big in the drama but there was no proper backstory for her??? We know she used to be a courtesan(?) and the prince brought her in (I'm not 100% tho so don't quote me on that) but like why is she so vengeful towards the king? Despite liking him too? Like the royal family never did anything bad towards her (from my understanding) so why did she never waver and continue to stay with the prince when she doesn't even like him that much. Honestly, there's a lot to unpack so I'll just stop this here lol.

One of my favourite characters from the show was definitely the jester Gong il. He was super fun and was for sure one of the characters that was well written. His backstory was shown in depth but there was a good amount of vagueness that keep the viewers entertained- especially since he wasn't a main character. I enjoyed watching all of his scenes. His character was well written and the acting was portrayed perfectly. I will be awaiting more of Lee Joo Ahn's work!

As for the main leads' acting, I thought Yoona did really well. I've always enjoyed her acting and this drama is no different. She's great. And Lee Chae Min was good too. I was pleasantly surprised by his acting (since I've only watched dramas where he was a side character). He depicted different emotions perfectly and the food tasting scenes were hilarious. I enjoyed watching his acting.

The chemistry between the main leads tho... I personally didn't see any problem with it. I thought it was good enough. And the romance theme wasn't badly written either. It was alright and I actually liked how the drama wasn't heavily reliant on the romance aspect and kept the lovey-dovey-ness to a minimal. I thought it was a nice touch and that the chemistry was more prevalent this way.

Overall a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I don't regret watching it.

p.s. I'm glad they didn't make this show like Scarlet Heart Ryeo... or else I would've rated it lower LOL. I'm happy they didn't traumatize us with a sad/open ending.

Read More