Cupid's Kitchen (2022)

Cupid's Skippable Kitchen

**Spoilers are at the bottom**

This is a Food drama with a pinch of comedy and a very little sprinkle of romance. If you are looking for food then this is the right drama for you. If you’re looking for romance then look elsewhere. This just isn’t it.

For The Good, For the Bad…

For the Good:
1. Colorful Cutscenes - They only did a few of these non-food-related colorful cutscenes but they were absolutely beautiful. I was really hoping to see more of them but we only got 2 of these and nothing more.
2. High-Quality Food Cutscenes - There are a lot of these and although I enjoyed them, they didn’t feel as satisfying as the ones in Dating In The Kitchen. They felt sort of lacking even though they were high-quality and beautifully shot.
3. The Leads - Both are really good actors. I really enjoyed watching them. If not for them I’m not sure I would have watched all 40 episodes.
4. The OST is very nice and different from most other modern c-dramas.

For The Bad:
1. Slow-paced - It's very slow-paced and the side stories make it even slower. Other than the first 5 and the last 5 episodes, I found this drama pretty boring.
2. Huge Lack of Heart-Flutters - Where’s the intimacy? I’m not even talking about kisses. Just moments that make you feel like the leads are falling in love. I certainly felt that they cared for each other but there seemed to be a huge lack of romance.
3. Boring side-stories - Honestly, I wound up skipping through most of the side stories because they were just so boring, and other than the character knowing the leads, their stories really didn’t affect them or the plot in any real way.
5. Evil/Bad Character overload - Honestly who isn’t a bad character other than the leads and a few others. However, none of them were as bad as the 2FL who clearly needs mental help. The method she used to try to stay with the ML is one of the most psychotic I’ve ever seen. She’s a basket case and the worst part is that she’s surrounded by enablers. (More on her in the spoilers below)
6. The 2FL’s Dubbing - Everyone else in the drama is fine but for some reason, her dubbing is not only obvious but it doesn’t match her mouth movement at all. For all the beautiful production they have in this drama, they very obviously dropped the ball on her dubbing.



***Spoilers Below***




I really disliked the way the ML took out his frustrations on the FL. I know he is going through something pretty rough but why did he need to yell at her the way he did and more than once. I know he’s devastated over losing his sense of taste but that’s not the FL’s fault.

In fact, it’s the 2FL’s fault and for some reason instead of thoroughly investigating her, even when she’s suspiciously asking him if he could forgive the person who poisoned him, he completely overlooks her. The ML even fires his longtime live-in cleaning lady, someone who was like family to him, but he keeps the creepy 2FL around. Furthermore, when he does find out it was her, he completely lets her off the hook!! Like what?!!!

Another thing that really annoyed me was the ML’s doctor friend who not only hides the fact that the 2FL poisoned the ML into losing his tastebuds and at risk of losing the rest of his senses, but he also enabled her and helped her hide it from being exposed. He deserves to lose his license to practice medicine and go to jail along with the 2FL. I have no sympathy for him no matter how much he likes the 2FL.

It annoys me that no one got in any sort of real trouble for their bad behavior. Everything is sunshine and rainbows at the end.

The cutest thing in this romance drama is probably the husky puppy in the last episode…

Would Not Recommend
Would Not Re-Watch

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Who ordered the potstickers? Here's your tortellini and a side order of fairy dust!

Food, glorious food! This could have been so much better if they just stuck to that theme but alas, the writer took us down the garden path, deep dive a dank rabbit hole, before magically transported us to the Fairy meadow where the unicorns are frolicking like they were on drugs.

Any reader who has watched the original Karate Kid (and similar movie/show) would recognise the central plot. In this case, instead of martial arts, we have culinary arts. A Michelin star chef needs to find and train a new apprentice, but that person must have a supernatural sense of taste. Of course, this was not done through the kindness of his heart but because he is losing his own ability to taste food, so he needed that someone to taste for him when he creates new dishes. All this is hushed up so people were confused when he decided to mentor a girl (FL) who accidentally entered a top tier cooking competition but can’t cook at all. To compound his woes, he is quite a prickly character and very temperamental. In essence, a stereotypical master craftsman/creative type. All the classic clichés were deployed included the equivalent of the old wax-on-wax-off training trick to bring the hapless FL to some semblance of proficiency. However, this is a rom-com so the tale as old as time was given its due and the master/apprentice relationship took on a much more personal spin.

Speaking of food and cooking, this show has so much food porn. From street food to eateries serving local delicacies and all the way up to Michelin star restaurant. The food was a highlight, and those dishes were shot with skill and a singular focus. I do wonder whether the production team hired a food stylist and specialist photographer. This ended up being the saving grace of the show and I gave it extra marks.

You may well say there is nothing wrong with that storyline, sounds quite interesting and delicious. That is indeed the case, if they stick to it. However, into that pot were added several antagonists as well as dramatic change in tones. I mean descent into madness type of change. Most of this came from left field so what started as a light and breezy rom-com got darker and darker until you thought you were watching a different genre.

The OTP is an odd couple but when all the romantic ducklings are lined up, they can be quite sweet and engaging. You can't deny there is chemistry between them. Towards the end, there are truly swoon worthy moments. It would be tempting fate if this was the only game in town. We are confronted with the typical Chinese rom-com problème du jour, what I'd like to term Too Many Cooks Syndrome. On top of the OTP, there are 5 other CP’s! (Is that a record?) Most of the pairings are contrived and does little for the show other than padding out the runtime and force a change of scenery. This is particularly jarring when the show got darker and more intense. We’d suddenly flip to a CP and watch them do the mating dance or deal with some trivial matter.

All these extraneous stuffs would just be fluff if the show didn’t do a 180 on itself at the 7/8 mark. Every antagonist was reformed. Every problem (except the one concerning the ML) is swept aside. It made a mockery of all the angst and misdeeds that was dished out over the last 30 odd episodes. Some were explained away as historical misunderstanding, but more was left unanswered and frankly, baffling. This was quite strange as the bulk of the show was rooted in reality (cooking is about as real as it can get). When the ML was challenged by reporters as to how he can still be a master chef when he can’t even taste his own food, the writer finessed a clever and logical solution. It only served to highlight the inconsistency later on.

Around that 7/8 mark, we also have an attack of the unicorns as well. We are talking a herd of them. The last few episodes were all about tying every loose end up with pink bows. Happy endings were served to everyone, whether they deserved it or not. This was topped by a Deus Ex Machina solution straight out of a wuxia/xianxia drama. It is as if the writer has abandoned reality, just went all in and damn the consequences. The piece de resistance was the ending. It needs a health warning for diabetics. It was sugar overload. I won’t spoil it, just one hint, Bollywood.

Acting is generally solid but some were exaggerated stereotypes, especially concerning foreigners. Younger actors have room to improve but they show a lot of commitment even when it was an unrewarding role.

OST and production values were good. It would have scored better if the writer stays focused and kept its message clear. Make it sweet and bubbly or dark and crazy but what we ended up is a rollercoaster ride that looped back on itself and make us feel cheated and confused. Individual scenes can be well executed and acted but the whole is, regrettably, less than the sum of the parts.

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If you like torturing yourself, have at it.

I think I set myself up for failure with this drama. I waited patiently to binge this show and was met with a twinge... of disappointment. Perhaps I over hyped it up in my head? Don't get me wrong it was certainly cute, but it wasn't lacking in its ability to give me a headache with the absolutely ridiculous way some things were written. I mean......c'mon there is only so much evil a girl can take.

So what were the issues for me?

1. Strong start full of intrigue that ended up feeling up like a major 'catfish' in the end. I think this drama was not paced well, a lot of the important moments happened very early on in the drama and left the middle and end feeling lack luster.

2. The male lead. Visuals? All there. Romance? Not really babes. I liked how he was not afraid to be emotional during really trying times, but I felt like he didn't add to his relationship to the FL (she was soooo cute btw). It was like the drama would create a cute moment b/t the ML and FL and then it was over and BLAH. It was not lasting and honestly I was more invested in his medical issues that his portrayal of his love for the FL. Sad tbh because they looked stellar together.

3. The romance. I usually pride myself in being able to read between the lines and follow subtle cues that indicate the building of a budding romance, but if I am being frank there were something cute going on in the beginning that simmered out in the middle episodes and then felt like it was dumped onto the ending. I could not distinguish where the leads started catching feelings and where they definitely fell in love, especially the ML. I am sad to say that the romance felt like an after thought overshadowed by unnecessary IMO villains in the show and other added issues.

4. Tons of villains and no justice! Like actually I was aghast at this part of the drama. Elise (ML's ex gf and bff apparently) was detestable, committed crimes, lacked common sense, was dubbed terribly and just WOW! Elise was the most horrible drama villainess I have encountered in a long time and never gets her karma, which was all the more frustrating. The doctor who helped Elise because he had a crush on her was equally as despicable, I am dumbfounded by how he escaped it all unscathed. The third villain, the FL's own cousin was also aggravating to watch, so mean and hateful for really no reason because she gave the go ahead on the the situation that made her angry in the end. She at the very least had some karma come her way. Then there was 'little cheater' Victor, who truthfully should have been disqualified the first round for what he did, it made me want to slap him through the screen. UGH! Boris(ML's old friend turned enemy and the cousin's mentor) was also annoying but he had a successful turn around by the end of the drama, so I am more forgiving of his character. But jeez, all of these damn villains and they took up like 80% of the screen time with all of their schemes, hardly was there any time for the ML and FL. The amount of skipping I was doing to watch the best parts was ungodly, I almost gave up half way through. It was all too much, it made me question whether or not the leads would even have a semblance of happiness in the end.

5. WHY DID NOBODY SAY ANYTHING!!! The amount of times the villains did something to the main leads and nobody would say anything about it. No disqualifications from the cooking competition, reporting illegal activity to the police, speaking up to defend themselves, or even direct scolding. It made my blood boil. So many opportunities to put an end to the madness and make those in the wrong pay for their distasteful actions and nothing. Believe me I was seething through the majority of this drama.


Redeeming Qualities:

1. The FL, played by Song Zu Er was so enjoyable to watch. She was cute, funny, and had a toughness to her. I first saw her in
"To Fly With You," a drama about ice sports and set on a college campus; I was a fan immediately. TFWY has become a fav C-drama for me and I highly recommend it over this one. Her acting here was good but the story line was just a whole mess unfortunately. I look forward to her future projects.

2. The background music was lovely. Several songs were added to my playlist. I highly recommend looking up the OST or Shazaming as you watch.

3. The food p*rn was top notch, it was delicious to watch. Made me mad hungry every episode.

4. The cute parts with the main leads were so sweet and almost made all the frustrating parts disappear from my mind. Their pairing was so visually pleasant. ( I recommend just looking up clips of the fluffy parts and sparring yourselves the agony of the drama tbh.)


If you like torturing yourself through makjang type dramas and crave lots of villain screen time this is the drama for you! I think this drama would have been amazing if the writing was better, there was too many characters to hate and the unpleasant moments outweighed the cuteness and romance that was supposed to be between the leads. In theory its a riveting drama, but laid out in front of me, I was left feeling like I wasted lots of time. I wish that it measured up to expectations more given how much time I invested in it. I am a generous rater so I won't say it was deplorable or give it less than a "6" bc it did make my heart flutter every once in a while and was still watchable....for the most part (skip the middle eps honestly). I will never rewatch this, it stressed me out far too much but I will look out for more works by the ML and FL.


*I author this with respect to all participating actors, actresses, directs, screen writers, etc., these are simply my opinions nothing more and nothing less*

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a culinary drama that will not remain unforgettable

First I watched this drama for Ethan, who I really like, and he did a great job, as usual.

I enjoy food dramas, but there are so many scenes on food (including a regular chorus on street food that makes you wonder what it's doing in the drama) that we have a bellypain!

Regarding the story, the plot of the chef who loses his sense of taste is a classic in culinary dramas.
It's well done and the first episodes are catchy.

But we get lost very quickly in a multitude of additional characters, parallel stories, useless scenes, which leads to a very slow and quickly boring narration.

The CL's relationship develops slowly, very slowly, first from chef to apprentice, then lovers. But OTPs are too rare. The romance isn't enough seen on the screen. The focus is really on cooking and competitions.
The "villain" character is quite coherent, but I don't really understand her "accomplices" (doctor/lover and brother). How can they let her sink into her obsession like this?

The OSTs are good (even if the occasional singers obviously sing other lyrics :).
But I admit that I don't understand (and don't like) the "Bolywood" final at all.

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Cupid's Kitchen

Cupid's Kitchen

The story: of a young girl who is making her way as a chef and the chef who is her mentor. Great plot lots of intrigue. Gets you engaged in the story. Lots of character growth for all the characters involved which I really liked. Over all a very good story. Who knows you might even get some cooking tips thrown in.

What I liked:
*The cooking gave insight into the world of connoisseurs and foodies.
*The leads were wonderful together as student and teacher growing together.
*The story was complex and at times left you shaking your head saying how can this be? Really gets the audience engaged.
*Character growth was amazing. Gave the innocence power and the hardened self reflection.
*The filming was great. Enjoyed the food presentation and cooking.
*Happy ending

What I didn't like about it:
*The big glaring one is the dubbing of Elise, Jiang Qian Fan's ex girlfriend.
*Victors singing over dubbing again was terrible.
*Some of the characters could have just faded away instead of continuing their story. Example the Song Yi Ran scenario.
Li Yan plot could have had less but I see why they kept it as a balance for Elise.
*Not a lot of romance.

Conclusion:
All in all I really enjoying this series. I love how they overcame diversity. Never give up. Peace♥

Love and Peace ♥

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Slow burn

My review of Cupid's Kitchen,

Cupid's Kitchen has a good story and some good characters. but it is a very slow-burn romance the real romantic antics don't really come till the end. I wanted more love It felt rushed even though it was 40 episodes long. The male lead is very immature and cannot take well to criticism. The Female lead is your typical loveable idiot, I love this archetype so I love her. The end is very infuriating the villain of the show doesn't get a true consequence deportation and a letter of pardon? like she could have killed him and no one really thought to punish her.

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Persistence is step to succeed.

It's a novel adapted into drama..not
100% copy but the essence of cooking and the attitude of the leads was preserved..
IT IS NOT A FLUFFY ROMANCE..
Not cringey one too
DON'T COMPARE WITH OTHER DRAMAS THAT HAS COOKING

We have a handsome male lead who can cook and is a person who is perfect in balancing ingredients to bring out happiness to those who eat..he has something happening to him which is dangerous to his career and to his child the restaurant..so he is in search of an person who can fill his deficiency and lo!
He finds the FL who has something special , who is far more than a precious blessing to him who can full fill his deficiency also is persistence in her goal...
So he chooses her as an apprentice by default and enter a cooking competition..so that he can keep her by his side...
The cooking scene where eye catching and sumptuous to watch, even the advice being given for free on the technic , method and ingredients was useful.
Then the evil people with evil intentions who destroy everything that they cannot possess..
There were many live stories each having their own difference..

What I liked is
Cooking
Cooking and
Dishes and plating
The relationship between the two brothers..
The mentor and apprentice dynamics..
The support and belief in each other between the leads.. was awesome.
the FL was so strong support to the ML in times of Distress, and how the ML completely assimilated her into his life and was encouraging her even his personality changed in viewing others...
There were three other love stories building up
But none of them were fluffy but growing up and changing the bad attitude,

What I hated ...or
100 % audience did not like ....or
were disappointed In was...
the evil doers being left unpunished or were left Scot free..
Which is the reason why the drama rating went down after airing of the last episode.
I HATED that...
And i believe 99.98% of audience were disappointed in that type of each.

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the cooking competition

i seldom watch Chinese /Taiwanese movie but what caught me is the plot on the cooking competition from main lead to supporting role. I am not a connoisseur of food what it made me recall the some dramas watched on fine dining , the professionalism in culinary kitchen.

What i admired here was the drama can sustain professionals English subtitle team, a consideration for us who appreciates your culture as well and can't understand the language. There are some Chinese/Taiwanese drama i watch I was disappointed for past 50 episode they can't sustain Eng sub update for remaining episodes.

In the hectic work of main lead here i can see he took medically check up had he got a second opinion at least . I was overwhelmed I happened to binge watch this drama for some reason prompted me to watch past projects of main lead.

To the support or the production staff you are awesome. I hope you continue to inspire and give future roles/project on main leads.

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Sigh

By defiantly dropping the series at episode 39 (of 40), I reclaimed some of the brain cells that were lost while watching the preceding episodes. With each episode, it became alarming to watch a script written about really terrible people not being held accountable for their misdeeds. The messaging is wrong and unjustifiable even in a fictional setting. A society with moral fiber woven with amoral, greedy, selfish, and dangerous people will someday implode on itself; however, time and time again I see this messaging being sent subliminally by most modern C dramas and it scares me.

Elise, Victor, Mrs. Quentin, Xiao Yu, Boris, Dr. Xie, and many more were horrible people yet not one of them got their comeuppance and for this I blame, Meng Yao, the screenwriter who, at 25, doesn't seem to have the requisite life lessons needed to fully flesh out such a morally gray story. As a matter of fact, I wonder if the screenwriter herself isn't a terrible person who wrote this as a wish-fulfilling prophecy.

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Cupid's kitchen? NO, rather "Forget this kitchen"

I don't even know where to start. First of all the ratings: for me it's 2 stars only, one for Wang Zhuo Cheng (Victor), the second one is for the food.
I can't even tell how excited I was about this drama and how disappointed I became! Seriously, one of the (if not THE) worst dramas I've ever watched.
The amount of negative comments I gave on youtube for each episode is uncountable. I can hardly find any positive about it. Let's see how it went for me .....
Plot: the concept is good. I Like the master chef losing his taste and an average girl "comes' to the rescue with her excellent sense of taste.
The romantic part, lovey-dovey couple concept was a total no-no for me. I didn't buy it. First of all Ke Song is way too young for Oliver. Second of all, Oliver's character made it hard for me to believe he has genuine feelings for her.
Ke Song: naive little girl, always forgiving her cousin even though she is nasty to her so many times. Her character development is good, though. Growing up to the task of participating in a competition and finally accepting and following the ridiculous training regime. She became the rock for Oliver, what he doesn't deserve at all.
Oliver: arrogant, narcissitic chef who thinks the world revolves around him. Putting Ke Song through many hardships then confessing love is hard to digest for me. I found him disgusting from the beginning and couldn't like him even after knowing about his past, what he went through. He behaved in such disgusting ways with Ke Song that I couldn't like him at all. Taking away her phone? forbidding shower after9? let's her sleep on a couch in a room with no doors while he has a cosy room? not allowing her to eat just because she isn't dressed properly for breakfast and is late a few minutes? kicks her out? etc.... what is this if not a rude, disgusting treatment of another human person???
Elise: this woman was getting on my nerves every single minute. maybe because the actress is brilliant, as they say: the more you hate a villain proves the actor is great.. what blew my mind and made me almost throw my computer out of the window was when Oliver forgives her at the end because "no harm was done" wait what????????????????????????? So it is "no harm" that SPOILER: he lost his sense of taste completely, then got blind and almost killed himself????? what the heck??????????????? she felt guilty? oh boy she should have, really. turned herself in? could have done it way sooner. She made another man got arrested just because of her stupid scheme? she dragged a doctor into the story, too? (well it was not hard since he was into her like crazy) AND all this because she couldn't get over the fact that they broke up and she just wanted Oliver back and make him dependent on her? Selfish loser she is!
the cousin: I understand she became this rigid, selfish, overcompetitive girl because of Boris, he brought the worst out of her. She showed her true side as soon as it turned out Ke Song got into the competition and her beloved master chef chose Kesong over her. So, basicaly Boris didn't need to do much work with her, she was disgusting from the beginning. I also don't understand this Blu guy sticking to her like glue. After all the things she had done to her cousin and even confessed to them he was still with her. Her crying scene at the and was not necessary. Absolutely not convincing.
Victor: Wang Zhuo Cheng, actually I started the whole drama just because of him. I liked him the most. I just couldn't understand the romantic side story for him, it was totally unnecessary. His character development was also good, SPOILER: the shared 1st place was really nice from him.
Let's move on to the music: I like the songs in this drama, they fit the story well, but the singer's voice sounds to me as if she has just woken up, or totally bored with the songs.
After all these negative comments about htis drama let me tell you guys what REALLY pissed me off: the music and the singing in the episodes!!!!!!
They clearly put a lot of effort into creating artistic scenes with the foods and yes, they're magical, true art! BUT if they had the time and money for this, how come they did not care the slightest about how the singing is portrayed in the episodes? what do I mean by that? Let's see, the woman singing in the bar: clearly she IS NOT singing, and when she does, her lip movements and the song is not in sync. There is even a few seconds part where her lips are not moving but the song is on. what????????????
Victor: I got to know that there is a dubbing law in China, but why? still don't know. I guess because of the accents and all and here comes the case of Victor. It was hard but got used to it after a while that Wang Zhuo Cheng's voice is dubbed. Seriously, this guy has the sweetest, most warming, relaxing, deep, soothing voice I've heard and they dubbed it. His original voice could have fit better with his character. But when he sang in the bar, now that was the part when I screamed with anger! Zhuo Cheng is a musical singer (I guess he has a contract which does not allow him singing in dramas or what, that's why they dubbed him singing too) so why not allow him sing? Instead, they used a voice which does not suit him at all. Also, when Victor is singing, the song is not in sync with his lips moving. These kind of mistakes make the dramas6films less enjoyable to say the least.
I could go on commenting on this drama but it's enough I guess.
So to sum up, the best thing about this drama is the cooking and the fact that I could learn a thing or two about foods, cooking methods, ingredients etc... those parts I liked the most.
Will I rewatch it? Well, maybe only the episodes with the competiton. Those were really great.
For me this drama was disappointing.

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Watch only if you like those mean, abusive MLs

I guess I'm sort of spoiled right now. I just finished watching some pretty great series featuring mature characters/relationsips and realistic situations: New Life Begins Again, Hi Venus, and Chef Hua. and I have no patience for OTT caricatures: Elise, the shrew who can't get over the ML and insists on being mean to the FL, Victor, the ridiculously arrogant genius who has no self awareness and doesn't seem to value anyone else or their dignity. Then there's the FL's friend: the playboy Peter Pan, and the laughable villain, Boris. If there was just one of these characters, I'd guess I wouldn't be such a picky poo, but all of them are present and it makes it hard for me to enjoy any scene without them! I'm basically only here for the FL. I've enjoyed everything I've watched of hers so far: Legally Romance, and To Fly With You. I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately, the plot and lack of justice for some of these characters made me give a low rating.

I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that if you're a viewer who likes to feel a sense of justice throughout the series, especially at the end, just skip this series. I'm all for forgiveness, but forgiveness doesn't mean that you just roll over and take it. It also doesn't mean that you reconcile with the the person who wronged you either, no matter if they're related to you by blood.

The fabulous acting by the leads wasn't enough to save this one. If the verbal abuse and physical intimidation the ML heaped on the FL for more than half of the series aren't enough to turn you off, the preponderance of evil characters might do it. At one point I thought to myself that there were hardly any scenes that didn't make me mad because the evil people were everywhere. And the terrible subbing for Elise and all the bar singers (lol) might be the last straw.

With all of that, however, there were some pretty great aspects of this show. The acting by the leads was fantstic, specially by the ML. You wanted to hate him, but at the same time you felt his anguish, despair, and pain given the physical trial he was enduring. I was also touched by the end when many of the characters had become better versions of themselves. Overall, however, if I had known the plot of this series, I would have stayed far, far away.

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