Dine with Love (2022)

Uninteresting and Cliche

So Firstly you got the typical cold, arrogant, bossy CEO and a warm and kind female lead who can cook well. And of course a cheating boyfriend and an ex girlfriend who come outta nowhere. Despite that, first few episodes were really nice, I realized there were more to the female lead than that like for instance she wasn't a door mat and is actually not dumb. And the male lead warmed up to her pretty fast, shocking I know. It was light hearted and fun, got me hooked. Romance develop then fall then back again.
After few episodes, things started getting messy and confusing, the female lead suddenly wanted to celebrate his birthday despite not knowing him well enough I guess she caught feelings, then he got mad at her because he hated his birthday, if that doesn't scream CLICHE, I don't know what will. The plot is all over the place. I liked it in the very first few episodes, it seem quite normal yet slowly developing. Then out of nowhere they became stuck and awkward. Add in an uncle and best friend, it became a chaotic mix , like they are being forced together when they actually needed time apart to think things through. An ex gf came in, and it became even more confusing like it didn't already have a confusing male lead. Not to mention the other director guy who likes her, his personality now is different from his aloof aura before and honestly I found his character to have more depth and found him interesting than the male lead for obvious reasons.
Sure, the male lead had a troublesome childhood, doesn't like birthdays, but the fl went on to celebrate his birthday even though they didn't properly know each other and it blew up in her face, typical cliché. There was a lot of things happening but at the same time none at all, it was weird and uninteresting. Still I pushed through, and they got together, then whole office knowing she is his gf, thinking she got her position because of that, blah blah, I stopped right there knowing very well it is not going to get much better.
Honestly, I liked the bestfriend and uncle duo much better, and even other leads too actually had that fire. Every character had that individuality at first, then it seem like it was managed in such a way that it fit the main leads interest and plot more, like they didn't have a life outside. Loved the moms tho.

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Slightly tropey but strong female lead!

Review based on available 11/16 eps. Plan to update when series is complete

STORY: Cold and bossy representative of a cooking show is caught not knowing how to cook. He ends up agreeing to take lessons from a female employee who is very skilled in cooking and does not believe in working overtime.

EXECUTION: Casting for this show is great. First time seeing the FL and I think she fits the role perfectly. Chemistry between the leads is there and works well when the characters are with each other. The music is nicely written, the track fits nicely with what is on screen.

OVERALL: Each episode is ~1.5 hrs long, but I still haven't gotten bored during an episode :) I really appreciate that the FMLs in this show are smart and independent enough to make decisions. The pacing for the second couple is wonderful haha (you'll know by the second ep). Personally not a big fan of the third side couple and find their plot a bit annoying.

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Family is Important

Dine is Love is not a drama where's man and woman fell in love, and then a third party came, and they reconciled. This is more than that.

Dine in Love tells about Yu Hao and Su Kelan, how both individual with two different goals, and two different paces of life, got together and decided to pass all the differences.

Although I didn't like Yu Hao's personality during several first episodes, I still watched the next episodes, just because how they presented the food beautifully. And in the end, I fell in love about how this story tells, about Su Kelan who loves her mother more than everything and Yu Hao who loves his carreer. I love how Su Kelan thought that family is everything, because once you lost them, you can't get them back. You can find a new job if you lost them, find a new car if you broke them. But if you lost your loved ones, you'll never had them back.

This story tells about how both of them renconciled their differences. About Yu Hao whom slowly repaired himself, gave Su Kelan what she wanted the most, not what he wanted the most.

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Warm and engaging

This show is such a delight to watch. The makers have taken you to the kitchen of a Chinese household. I love the cooking scenes of the Main leads and how they show the connection between food items and the emotion connected to it. The main lead is so good. The ML(Gao Hanyu) looks really handsome . In one particular party scene, he is wearing black suit and looks breathtakingly handsome in that. The chemistry of main lead warmed my heart and their kissing scenes are so passionate. Often the second lead is not particularly that good but in this show the second lead is really awesome. I liked how they too have got enough screen time and not treated particularly as the second lead. Overall, it has been a great watch and I might consider it watching it again after some time.

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Amante e incuriosita dalla cucina asiatica come sono, ho trovato questo drama per la maggiore confortevole. Tutti i messaggi legati alla cucina, al cucinare e al mangiare insieme, il passare il tempo con le persone che amiamo senza dimenticarci di loro: questo mi è molto vicino ed è una cosa che condivido appieno. Poi i protagonisti funzionavano così bene insieme! Cioè, io ero perdutamente innamorata di questa opera che non riuscivo a smettere di vederla. La rovina si è presentata negli ultimi episodi: a parer mio la storia prende una storia "giustamente" drammatica ma ragazzi quanto è lenta! Inoltre le altre due coppie che a tratti oke, per la maggior non funzionavano davvero e non posso nascondere che qualcosa ho skippato. Poi l'introduzione di un terzo in famiglia poteva essere un buon spunto di nuova narrazione ma francamente se avessero scelto di comprare un comodino avrebbe avuto la stessa funzione: inutile, passato tutto in secondo piano.
Mi tocca ammettere che sarei in grado di rivederlo semplicemente per gustarmi quei primi 9/10 ep che mi hanno letteralmente rubato il cuore perchè sì che poi succede quel che succede ma FL e ML sono meravigliosi insieme.

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