Bon Appetit, Your Majesty

This is the first historical drama I’ve ever watched, and for the most part, I think it was genuinely excellent - enjoyable, engaging, and easy to get invested in. Almost until the very end, the story was handled really well, so there was never a sense of boredom or the feeling that the drama was dragging. The only exception was the culinary battle arc against the Ming delegation, which could be considered somewhat stretched out. Personally, I enjoyed it, but it definitely slowed down the pacing. It could have been shortened to two episodes, which would have left more time for a stronger ending. Unfortunately, the final twenty minutes were quite disappointing, but I’ll get to that later. Another huge strength was the visual aspect of the drama - the costumes, scenery, and overall atmosphere were beautiful. The food also looked absolutely delicious, although I do think that, over time, watching everyone jump around in delight every time they ate her dishes became slightly repetitive and unnecessary.

Now I need to express my love for the actor who played King Yi Heon - Lee Chae Min. This is the first drama I’ve watched featuring him, and I’m completely captivated by his performance. In my opinion, both his character and his acting were the greatest strengths of this drama.

Moving on to the main couple - Yeon Ji Yeong & King Yi Heon. They were complete opposites, and the fact that they came from entirely different time periods made that contrast even stronger. Their dynamic was wonderful to watch. I loved seeing how she gradually helped him become a better person and show more humanity, and how much influence she had on him. I also loved the way he fought for her. Their chemistry was very good as well, although I do think there was still room for improvement.

It was also fascinating to watch whether she would succeed in changing history and whether that was even possible in the first place. As the story progressed, we were given increasingly strong hints that she had already lived alongside him during the Joseon era, which strongly suggested that she was reliving their story. And this is where one of my biggest issues appears. I felt that the drama never properly explained who she had been in her previous life. We know she was a cook, but how did she end up in that position? Even more importantly, I wanted to know what their original story had looked like. And why was her absent from recorded history? I also struggle to understand why, if she was trying to change the future, she never told him who was going to betray him. She knew exactly who it was.

Speaking of negatives, my second biggest issue was the ending itself - pretty much all of it. Have I seen worse endings? Absolutely. Was this a good ending? Not really. First of all, she suddenly wakes up in the hospital, and we’re never told how much time has passed. Then lookalikes of her chef friends suddenly appear in the restaurant, which honestly makes little to no sense. Later, we see a lookalike of Im Song Jae, and at the same time the male lead shows up. Their reunion left a lot to be desired. He seemed completely cold toward her - I genuinely thought he didn’t remember her - despite the fact that we had just seen how devastated he was by her disappearance. Even stranger, he treats Im Song Jae’s lookalike even more coldly and shows no interest in him whatsoever, even though it’s the counterpart of the secretary whose loss he mourned so deeply in the forest. And things don’t get any better afterward. The drama turns the question of how he arrived in the present into some kind of mystery. Personally, I see that as a slap in the face to viewers. I can’t shake the feeling that the writers wanted a happy ending in the present day but simply couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for how he got there, so they hid it behind vague mystery instead. Even if we assume he traveled through time using a page from the Mangunrok, what guarantee do we have that he won’t suddenly disappear back into the past? There should have been at least one full episode showing his return to the palace, his attempts to get back to the female lead, his arrival in the present, his struggle to adapt to modern life, and a much better-written reunion between them.

While we’re on the subject of her chef friends, I think they were treated terribly in the end. They played important roles throughout the story, yet by the finale we know absolutely nothing about what happened to them afterward. They never even found out what became of Yeon Ji Yeong and King Yi Heon, both of them simply vanished. I especially feel bad for Seo Gil Geum, whom I absolutely adored. I really wanted to know how her story ended, including the hinted romance with Gong Gil, but instead we got nothing.

On the positive side, the drama featured plenty of political schemes and manipulation, which were genuinely interesting to watch. Among the villains, the acting performance of Kang Mok Ju deserves special praise, and I also appreciated the fact that justice finally caught up with the antagonists in the end. The most satisfying moment was undoubtedly her death at Gong Gil’s hands. There’s also one thing I keep wondering about. At one point, I got the impression that the drama was hinting that Kang Mok Ju had been drugging or poisoning King Yi Heon in some way, which might have been the cause of his attacks. However, the story never returned to that idea.

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A Decent Watch

I watched the first episode of this drama when it first came out on Netflix and decided to pause and watch my Chinese dramas. It’s only a limited series, so it only had 12 episodes which you can binge watch within a day. I didn’t go back to watch it because I got sidetracked with other Chinese dramas that I was waiting for. The FL actress Lim Yoon-a, who plays Yeon Ji-yeong, a French trained chef who gets transported to the Joseon era by an old cook book. She meets the tyrant King, Lee Heon, played by Lee Chae-min. He fell for her because of her delicious food. I honestly enjoyed everything about this drama. Lee Chae-min did a great job portraying his role. I first watched him in the drama, Hierarchy. I haven’t seen much of his acting skills there, but with this one? I’m looking forward for more future dramas. He reminds me of Moon Sang-min. I think they’re the same age. He has a bright future ahead of him. I loved the part when she was brought to the jesters dancing around. He took off his mask and his face looked a little unhinged asking her if she liked the play that he arranged for her. I enjoyed watching the FL cook all those delicious mouth watering dishes. The supporting characters were all great.The ending… Oh. My. GAWD. I cried!! At first I wasn’t sure what would happen because I did come across someone saying they hated the ending but I got out of there real fast. I refused to read a spoiler. My heart was breaking while she got stabbed and she got sucked back into the book to return to her era. Poor King was left devastated. Imagine losing your loved one?? Like how would you be able to find her if she originally belongs to the future?? Anyway, I still had high hopes. There wasn’t much time left and I was growing anxious. When I heard his voice and he mentioned the word “sword” I was squealing like crazy and I was in tears when they kissed! He wasn’t reincarnated. HE IS THE KING FROM THE JOSEON ERA!! I loved the short epilogue where he was cooking for her as he promised before when they meet again. After finishing it, I regretted not watching it sooner. I love it so much! I cried a lot in the end. It’s just sad because the ending felt a little rushed. I hate it when they do this to dramas. It’s like the writers are in a hurry to wrap it up. Oh well. As long as they saw each other again in the modern era, I’ll take it.

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Good but a little dragged out

Overall, the plot and the characters were really good. I liked the drama quite a bit, but the last few episode dragged on a little too much. There is an upper limit, to how many times I need the leads to get a full flashback of all the times they have looked romantically into each others eyes. Especially when we are at climax of the plot. Let the plot unfold. This was however, a minor issue, thst only started in the last episodes. Overall the show was enjoyable, just a little too long IMO.

The acting was great and the casting was amazing. Every character felt fully compatible with the actor behind.

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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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