Tastefully Yours

Review

5/10 is my rating. “Tastefully Yours” begins with an irresistible foodie premise but sours into frustrating character arcs, inconsistent romance, and major narrative blind spots that undermine its culinary charm.

Spoilers

This drama had the potential to deliver a rich, emotionally satisfying story grounded in food, culture, and personal growth—but what it served instead was a shallow, frustrating series that consistently undercut its own best elements. The most glaring issue is the romantic dynamic between the leads. While the female lead, Mo Yeon-joo, is portrayed as a proud, guarded chef, her treatment of the male lead, Han Beom-woo, borders on cruel. She mocks him, flirts with her ex in front of him, and then disappears without a word—only to hang up on him when he tries to reach out. Which was not too surprising as she had cried when the ex came, a clear sign she still had feelings.

Instead of letting her go with dignity, Beom-woo follows her across countries, abandoning all sense of pride. This isn’t romantic—it’s embarrassing. He had established himself as confident and desirable in Seoul, and yet spends most of the series groveling for someone who offers him nothing but scraps. It brings to mind the old saying: “If you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you, they’re yours. If they don’t, they never were.” Yeon-joo never truly came back—not emotionally. And Beom-woo never stopped chasing a version of her that didn’t exist. The imbalance in their dynamic made the romance feel more painful than poignant.

The series also drops the ball on multiple subplots. Shin Chun-seung (Yoo Su-bin), the son of a respected gukbap chef, quietly leaves his family’s restaurant to work at Jungjae—but we never see any meaningful reaction from his father. There’s no pride, no disappointment, no exploration of generational tension. It’s a thread left completely dangling. Likewise, Beom-woo’s original rivalry with his brother—who deceived and betrayed him—is abandoned with barely a shrug. There’s no payoff, no revenge, no resolution. He simply accepts it and moves on, stripping the story of any narrative weight.

Another repeated frustration was the obsession with recipe theft. If stealing culinary ideas is such a common threat in this fictional world, you’d expect some professional-level protections. NDAs, secured documentation, legal contracts—anything. But instead, characters are reckless and paranoid in a way that feels implausible and lazy. It’s not tension—it’s sloppiness.

Even the emotional moments fall flat. The “meet the parents” dinner where a Korean father suddenly accepts his French in-laws just because the food was good is a perfect example. The show wants to convey that food bridges cultural gaps, but it skips all the necessary emotional groundwork. One good meal does not erase deeply held beliefs, and the instant resolution felt more convenient than heartfelt.

And then there’s the matter of the Sapporo arc. Yeon-joo disappears without saying goodbye to anyone, not even her closest colleagues, and Beom-woo’s reaction is to track her down and make a grand romantic gesture. But nothing about it feels earned. She treats him with indifference and rejection the entire time, and instead of growing from it, he just continues to follow her like a lovesick puppy. The emotional labor is entirely one-sided, and the show never gives us a reason to believe their love is mutual.

So many promising elements—like the hinted chemistry between Beom-woo and the former head chef from Seoul—are introduced and abandoned. These wasted opportunities pile up, making the drama feel incomplete and confused about what it wants to say.

In the end, Tastefully Yours looked beautiful but lacked substance. The food cinematography was lovely, and the atmosphere had moments of charm. But the emotional heart of the story was hollow. With stronger character development, clearer arcs, and a more balanced romantic dynamic, it could have been a standout. Instead, it’s a disappointing mess of undercooked ideas and overused tropes, served cold. I think having only 10 episodes played into this as well as it provided limited time to develop characters and relationships and finish subplots. A few minutes of each episode you could fast forward through as it replicated the ending if the last episode. So they even wasted more minutes rehashing the previous episode’s ending.

Synopsis

This is a 2025 South Korean romantic comedy centered in a restaurant culture. There are 10, 60 minute episodes.

Han Beom-woo (Kang Ha-neul), is the second son, a chaebol heir who has grown up competing with his older brother for their mother's, Han Yeo-ul (Oh Min-ae) approval. To outpace his brother and expand their ever-growing culinary empire, Beom-woo has used some questionable methods. His life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Mo Yeon-joo (Go Min-si), a spirited chef, when pursuing a particular dish she was making. Yeon-joo's stubbornness in sourcing the best ingredients, tailoring the menu to whatever she decides to cook (rather than marketability) and keeping things small have nearly bankrupted her. Beom-woo’s brother, Han Seon-woo (Bae Na-ra), and celebrity Chef Jang Young-hye (Hong Hwa-yeon) conspired to get Beom-woo displaced in the family business so Beom-woo shifts to developing Yeon-joo's business. At first the lively chef and spoiled chaebol repeatedly clash and argue but as they come to realize what the other has to offer the business, they start to function as a team. As they work collaboratively to safe the restaurant, they realize they have growing feelings for each other.

#TastefullyYours #HongHwaYeon #BaeNaRa #GoMinSit #KangHaNeul