The best part of the show for me was Chris Wu who was awesome and such a treat to watch. His character Huo Ting En was smart, mature, thoughtful,a great mentor and respected the heroine's opinions and decisions. Also the female lead was intelligent and spunky and not annoying like most of the female leads in Taiwanese dramas.The chemistry between the leads was crackling and the bromance between Huo Ting En and Peng Xiao Bin was really fun. The second leads are also not irritating and there are no out and out villans in the drama. Not a bad show in any way but would have become a favorite had it ended a couple of episodes early.
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I actually like the drama. Ivy Shao and Chris Wu chemistry are not too bad. But I still prefer Ivy Shao and Marcus Chang in Back To 1989 (to you guys who never watch this, please, watch it NOW). The beginning started off nicely, and how I love love LOVE Xiao Bin so much. He was like the LIGHT of this drama. He's funny, cute, and the fact he's so loyal, LOVED HIM!
For Chris Wu fans, I think despite the draggy story, you can watch this for his passionate kiss (damn that kiss tho), his sincere smile, his funny and cute act. And the fact Ivy Shao is so pretty and charming as usual.
I also love the fact that the villain in this drama is not very annoying. All of their acts turned out is for someone's sake or someone's good make it all of their actions are very reasonable.
Overall, to me, they should've just stayed at their cooking theme instead of moving into rich people stuff that to me is soooo cliche. Do I still recommend you to watch it? Yes. Despite the draggy story and cliches, if you love Chris Wu or Ivy Shao, you'll definitely give this a try. This drama also gave me lots of butterflies, and some tears too, and the fact it's so funny and so entertaining. So, if you need a light funny and cute drama then maybe this is yours.
Will I rewatch this? Maybe I'll watch the first part. I surely very love the first part of the story where the couple first met and how they interact with each other, lovable!
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Starting of with the female lead.I don't think she couldn't get better.She was stubborn yet she knew when to be accepting of other people's views and learnt from them.She had this naive innocent side ( all male leads love their silly girls rit ) but she was mature at the same time.She was headstrong and not shy of skinship.I especially liked the part where she said no to the male lead because she was concerned about the second lead but the same line drew the line when the second lead said he liked her. Girls who know what they think and want are favourites for me. I really appreciate her character in this compared to her in 'Back to 1989' where she was barely tolerable.
Moving on to the male lead, I like to appreciate the fact that although he was shown to proud and confident, he didn't cross over to the line of arrogance. Yes he did push the female lead here to better heights but he knew when he should stop and understand her emotions. Their chemistry was wonderful, natural, silly and mature at the same time. I just couldnt't get enough of it.
The second leads though coulda sorta done better. The male second was just sappy. He had oppurtunities yet rather then using them he just to act lovesick and lament from the sidelines. Very annoying. And well y'all shold know theres not gonna be much second lead syndrome here. The female second lead here was so different from others. She knew she wanted the male lead yet she wasn't excessively pushy and didn't bitch too much. Her straightforwardness though, though really didn't add up much to the perception of a bitchy female lead which is sometimes (do not deny ... hehehe) satisfying.
Another major major major thing I appreciated here was the ending. See all taiwanese dramas will compulsarily have this period in the dramas where there are uncalled for misunderstanding and for a short period of time they remain estranged. This drama did not excessively drag that part, showed us a twist in an innovative way during that time and got us a good happy cliche ending. Satisfaction guaranteed!(Trust me you're gonna end up staying for the food visuals )
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(Rating: 10/10)
This is not my first time watching a Chinese Series so I am quite familiar of the actors and actresses in this series. I don't know them by name but I am quite sure I saw some of them somewhere ????. The chemistry between the two main characters was undeniably perfect, cute and charming. All characters gave justice on their roles. I believe you would agree with me if I would say that having the right person play a specific role makes the whole production good. Good not the best because that is just one recipe for a wonderful film or series.
Acting Skills:
(Rating: 9/10)
As a whole the performance was great. Given the fact that the series is a romantic comedy series, mistakes and errors are forgivable. There were scenes where characters were laughing as if they are not taping which makes the scene super genuine. I am referring to one of the scene where the Hou Family were having their "family meeting"? Hehehe sorry for the term though.
Cinematography/Editing/Music:
(Rating: 7/10)
I gave that rating because of some errors/mistakes/lapses or whatever. There are some scenes were editing was not properly done. Like for example, there was a scene where flashbacks were being played alternately with the present. Flashbacks were being shown in a black and white scale and there was an instance were the present scene was shown in a black and white scale as well ????. The music ???? ,the background music to be specific was being cut without notice when a different mood arises, you would understand what I am saying if you are quite observant of the background music because I am quite like that. You can also differentiate if one specific scene used computer ???? effects. BUT those mistakes were very much forgivable. WHY? Firstly because again this series is a romantic comedy kind of series. Secondly because this series was composed of 22 episodes with almost 1 hour viewing time per episode. That's roughly one day ? and one night ???? of viewing if you watched it continuously so think about the number of days consumed in filming, editing and polishing this series. Get it?
Storyline/Plot:
(Rating: 15/10)
Sorry for the rating it's just that I super loved how the story went and ended. The plot, the twist and the conflict. The story is quite predictable because obviously this is not the first series that I've watched. But its just so perfect for me.
Lessons:
1. How to VALUE RELATIONSHIPS specially FAMILY. Family in blood or not.
2. How simple MISUNDERSTANDINGS can be a boulder which will become heavier and heavier as the time goes by.
3. How important LOVE is. Whether it's one sided love, brotherly love, opposite sex kind of love, a love of a parent to her child. All sort of love.
As a whole I will give a 9.8/10 rating for this series. It's not perfect but perfection is not what I am looking for but entertainment and this series gave it to me. I was entertained, super duper entertained. You must watch it.
A Very / Perfect / Match
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My biggest complaint is that they never give the main couple enough time together either before the strife happens.
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This review may contain spoilers
Spare us the schadenfreude
Let me be clear in the outset, if I were to give this show a score based on when I think the show should logically end then it would have scored a 9-9.5 but the tail end really disappointed me and I can only give it a borderline 8.I was really enjoying this show from the start because the acting of the ML was superb. He made the younger, cooler actors look like they OD'ed on Botox. The FL was pretty good too, cute but feisty. Their chemistry was great and felt organic. The ensemble cast was above average with the bromance between the ML and his BFF a real highlight. The night market crew were real characters.
I also liked the fact that there are no psycho plot twists and the "villains" were not really evil but more meddling and driven by petty greed. Pretty harmless by dramaland standard and they even generated the occasional laughs.
Refreshingly, the 2FL was actually quite sensible and pragmatic. She lost to the FL and just moved on and even cheered the FL on. I do pity the 2ML, he was just a sad puppy for most of the show and he knew that he didn't stand a chance against the ML but he just kept needling away regardless. I know he acted his heart out but his love sick scenes were wearing thin.
As a rom-com with a cliché storyline, it was actually going nicely and there was no mid show drag so typical of t-dramas. If anything, the middle episodes were actually the highlight of the show (ones I would re-watch). I can see why some reviews wanted the show to stop at episode 17 as the story sort of peaked then. However, I think the next couple of episodes were ok. The 2OTP love story was kind of cute and it was worth the screen time. Sure, the plot about saving the night market was standard trope but it wasn't a waste of time.
Oh, before I go on to detail the big negative for me, I want to highlight the odd way time was handled by the show. The initial promise of the show was based on the FL achieving something in 7 days to win a bet. No issue with that, however, by episode 7 or 8, I was getting weird temporal vibes. Let me explain, the structure of the show meant that we were watching events happening on consecutive days but what we saw felt temporally disconnected. A case in point, quite early on, the OTP went to a swanky party, got drunk and shared a bed (no hanky-panky, thank you). They just showed up to work the next day. More major events happened. A day or two later, they ended up camping overnight in the middle of a work week, does that happen in real life? What we saw felt like it should logically spanned weeks. But the show kept telling us it was only 7 consecutive days. My brain hurts if I stop and think about it.
So .... what got me really annoyed was when the ML played the Noble Idiot card just after they saved the night market. It was so unnecessary. The OTP was riding high and totally in love. Good place to end the show on a high, right? No such luck! We ended up with 2 episodes (over 1 year in show time) of the OTP walking around in misery and longing for each other after the breakup. While the acting was fine, the plot was just convoluted and unrealistic. The FL more or less morphed into a female version of the ML and assumed his mannerism and roles. The ML became a love sick stalker, nice. I would be ok with the breakup if they get back together quickly so that we can get more happy couple time in the last episode but it just dragged on and on.
If they really must keep going after ep 20, the simple fix would be for the OTP to have a nice heart-to-heart talk at the beginning of episode 21, resolve all their misunderstandings (and it was just a misunderstanding). They then formed a partnership and conquer the corporate as well as culinary world. Job done, high five all round!
Instead we got the longest, most pointless detour to an ultimate happy ending in the literal dying minute of the show. Please, writers, stop Noble Idiocy now. Yes, a bit of emotional rollercoaster is mandated but the quota was full by episode 20. Why tack on a poorly scripted extension? Maybe the writers like a bit of schadenfreude. Just spare us.
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Got Boring Quick
I thought the concept of this Taiwanese drama very interesting and cute but it failed to keep me interested throughout the rest of the drama. It began really well and I loved the main couple but as the episodes dragged on It became more of something I would have on in the background rather investing all my time in it.The story was decent, although unrealistic at points and at times confusing. It also felt very prolonged as if the story was not long enough for the episodes it was given. I enjoyed the concept of a night market business giving influence on a prestigious restaurant and for the first several episodes I really enjoyed it!
The acting in this drama was great! I enjoyed the spunk and attitude that Ivy Shao gave to this drama and Chris Wu really gelled well with Ivy Shao.
The music was so-so but an average rating given as I do not watch dramas for their music.
I would recommend this to anyone not wanting to invest too much thought or time into a drama and would have it in the background as it is just too long to keep you invested in it for too long.
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This review may contain spoilers
I truly enjoyed this drama. It's sorta like a hallmark movie just longer. It was hilarious and the romance kept me on edge. I loved the acting of the main leads especially the ML's facial expressions, hand movements and body language. Oh I loved how the leads would whisper to each other with their lips closed. Hilarious! The romance is just swoon worthy.This drama can be categorized under fluff because truly there were no bad guys. Although I thought the Xiao Bin was bit over the top I grew to like his funny behavior and he kept the bubbliness going I guess. Plus he makes one amazing friend.
I don't know much about cooking but I really felt like what they were talking about was believable and not just any nonsense to keep the plot going. Overall everything in the plot seemed okay although there were some cliche stuff but which drama doesn't have them. But wait, whats with shooting stars in dramas. I mean I am 25 and I have never seen a shooting star in my life but in dramas you just see meteor showers left right and center.
What I hated about the drama was the FL trying to make the ML jealous to figure out if he loves her when he clearly expressed several times that he did. What! I can understand the FL does not immediately have to fall for the ML just because he confessed but it was like the writers didn't know how to slow down the romance and they gave stupid reasons. But thankfully t was just for 2-3 episodes.
Aww the grandson, grandma moments were just too cute. Made me miss for mine. And what an amazing grandma. She is the epitome of with age comes wisdom.
I like how mature the ML acts knowing the 3rd person is actively pursing his love until he acts all stupid in the final two episodes.. For once the ML is acting his age. I mean I do adore when he acts all silly too. I like the way he talks too. And speaking about the last two episodes, these were the only ones I didn't enjoy. I thought this type of breaking up during the last episodes cliche existed only in k-dramas.
The music editing is really bad, it was so choppy but the music was nice. I also liked how each episode ended with a cliffhanger or suspense. I noticed in c-dramas episodes end erratically but here they were well planned.
Overall I'm definitely gonna re-watch this drama especially for em smooches. Great watch to just chill and binge or take a break from something else.
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Chris Wu make it worth watching…
First time I watch a serie with Chris Wu… he was most of the story.. awesome.Finally I see some nice, Mature ML… with a bit of funny but quite charming and more importantly.. he makes sense in his attitude and behaviour…. Most of the time.
Mixed feelings about FL…. A lot of good reviews but I felt she had no charisma and almost no expressions. Besides.. the way she acted with the best friend Wei… well.. you dont need to be super experienced to see that something is going on there…. Also… she kept playing it dumb with ML… telling him to drive the 2FL around and to do other things… come on! As nice as you can be… that made her look clueless… not smart enough.
Kudos for best friend Xiaobin…. The funny heart of the show.. I loved him!
Indeed… the last episodes were a bit blah… and the ending came out of the blue… a bit rushed.
Overall, the series were ok…
Do I recommend it? Yes if you have nothing else to watch
Would I see it again? Only that damned kiss outside the karaoke… wow! Best kiss Ever!
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Good watch but a hurried ending
I was sceptical about this series. I like series which have a food based story like the WOK of Love. I learnt a few dishes from that but this one though had a lot of food names only spoke curry.I really liked the Chris he was quite expressive in his acting being goofy at times unlike the serious stone faced actors in other similar rich guy poor girl series. His friend played by Lawrence was a step up, though it seemed really stupid.
Ivy was super cute and fiesty this is again something different from the Kdrama in similar stories. Her dressing seemed too goofy at times not at all matching her.
Suan was beautiful. However the character of Ben Wu could have gone a better way it looked too dragged out to be in love with someone who is in love with someone else.
As the others mentioned the ending seemed to be too rushed off. It was going fine even till episode 20 or may be even 21 but then they started closing off stories abruptly. First Ruxi, the Peng, then Ben Wu's character. And finally the main couple.
It would have been ok if it was pulled to a couple of more episodes showing Ben Wu's character help the 2 leads get together. The story on the second lead. Showing Ivy search for Chris or atleast visit his family. It was just too rushed in the final 2 episodes. Unlike how the story was going at a decent pace till then.
However it was a good series till the ending. Though the ending was rushed liked the way they ended it the final scene on the bridge not how they came till there. It could have been brought to that scene a little better a little slow paced.
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Actors - Chris & Ivy had chemistry yet the entire time was wasted on weak story-line devaluing their acting. Cast of SL wins most annoying human. Cast acting was mediocre.
Music - on point not anything memorable
RW - NO! NO! even a blistering hot as hades or snows of epic keeping me in will NOT entice me to do this again.
Overall - Easy 16eps show made into 22eps. All the while pissing off the viewers with weakest ending and gaping story holes.. Notice they have a special... DANG just put a fork in it... Chris W deserved better.
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