Food Dramas

Pasta (Korean)

I am obsessed with this drama. This drama is very funny and I love the details. I especially love the male lead. The male lead's voice is nice and deep. The female lead is very cute and sweet but I find her a little dumb. But most of all, this drama has a ton of good food and weird Italian. This drama is about a girl who wants to be a chef, so she worked hard for 3 years as the kitchen assistant. Right when she can becomes the pasta assistant, their main chef is replaced. Due to a past experience with a woman, the new main chef kicks all the women out of the kitchen. Our female lead refuses to give up and tries to stay in the restaurant. There are lots of nice pasta dishes and cooking scenes.

Feast of the Gods (Korean)

This drama is about 2 girls switched at birth. One grew up having to cook for a grandpa, while another grew up as the candidate for the heir to Arirang, a traditional, royal cuisine restaurant. The poor girl is a great cook and falls for a rich guy, but he and the rich girl are dating. Another guy is a chef who enters Arirang and pretends to be an amateur cook but is actually a star chef. He and the poor girl have a messy relationship. Both girls are great cooks, with the poor girl being better. They strive to become the next heir of Arirang when they finally learn of their true identities.
In this drama, there is a lot of cool knife work. They also show lots of pastes in pots. This drama shows more traditional Korean foods so this might be a breath of fresh air for people watching other food dramas like Pasta.

Panda and the Hedgehog (Korean)




I watched it for Donghae of Super Junior, but the drama is so dry so I dropped it. There are a lot of nice desserts like cakes, cookies, cupcakes, macaroons, etc. This drama is about Donghae's character opening a pastry shop with the girl on the right, whose name sounds like panda.

Let's Eat 1 & 2 (Korean)



I have never watched the entire thing, only clips on YouTube. Thank you so much to those YouTubers who cut out all the food parts. This show has the best food, from things like soy sauce marinated crabs to stews. The drama is about the daily life and romance of a single woman and a murder case occurs in her neighborhood. She meets a group of food lovers and their frequently go to eat good food. Expect yourself to question whether you are watching a drama or a mukbang or the food network.

Love You or Myself (Taiwanese)



This is a great food drama. Here you will see French cuisine. This shows talks about a girl who wants to make money to help her mother escape the abuse of her father. She also has lots of feelings for the restaurant because her mom used to work for the boss of the restaurant so she played with the boss' younger son at the restaurant. The younger son became a great chef but only works as an intern at all the most famous restaurant in France, never competing in competitions or becoming more than an intern. He ends up going to his dad's restaurant to be an intern but only for one month. He hides his identity but gets on the girl's bad side. He remembers her from their childhood but she doesn't remember him. Then the drama goes on as the girl finds out his true identity, improves as a chef, and finds the person she loves.

Sweet Relationships (Taiwanese)




The girl on the left and the guy on the right are the main leads. The girl was rich until her father died and she became poor. She can't cook, but has a perfect palate. Our male lead is a genius chef with a bad temper. One day, the female lead had a sip of Vic's soup and realizes that it is the same as the one she drank right before her father died. She became determined to work at the restaurant as the chef despite having no cooking skills.

The Patisserie with No Name (Taiwanese)




This drama, as it suggests, is about pastries. Our female lead is a patisserie from France who returns to Taiwan to open her own shop called The Dessert Shop With No Name after having her heart broken. Though a small shop, her shop is definitely unique. Depending on the ingredients and her mood, she will randomly make three kinds of pastries to sell for the day. One day, a bright guy comes into this sad shop. This guy insists on staying in the shop to help the shop gain more customers and help the patisserie become happier.

Love Recipe (Taiwanese)



This drama talks about a restaurant that lost the secret recipe to their signature dish. After the main chef became disabled, the recipe was lost. Her daughter, the next heir, can't cook and hates the restaurant. She has no dreams of taking over the family business. Her dream is to marry a rich man, but her future mother-in-law wants her to have a career of her own. In order to marry her fiance, she embarks on a mission to transform her restaurant to prove to her future mother-in-law that she has a career of her own. When her restaurant is in danger because of new competition across the street, she hires a talented chef.

Bambino! (Japanese)




This drama is also centered around pasta. The male lead thinks he is the best chef due to the compliments he receives. His teacher knows that he will be nothing at a real restaurant in Tokyo. He sends him to his friend's restaurant in Tokyo to see what real professionals are like. He is cocky at first but soon learns that he has a long way to go. In order to stay at the restaurant after his internship, he works as a waiter. The rest of the drama shows how he strives to become a great chef.

Heartbroken Chocolatier/Shitsuren Chocolatier (Japanese)




Another drama with Matsumoto Jun (he stars in Bambino). Any KPOP fans out there? If you are a VIP, then you might recognize the girl on the far right. She's the Gdragon's friend, Mizuhara Kiko, but there are always scandals about them dating. Enough about the cast, let's talk about the plot. This drama talks about, you guessed it, chocolate! In this drama, the female lead, the girl on the middle guy's right side, loves chocolate, especially from a certain shop in France. The male lead "dates" her for a while but on Christmas when he gave her homemade chocolate, she tells him they never actually dated because they have never had sex?! He plans to win her favor by working at her favorite chocolate shop. He returns to Japan and opens up his new shop right when she gets married. The rest of the story talks about him not giving up on her and slowly a love web forms.

Fondant Garden (Taiwanese)



This drama is about a girl called Mi En who constantly helps her friend make cakes so her friend can lie to her parents about being a great patisserie. One such time, Mi En tries to cover for her friend in a competition in South Korea where she meets two brothers. One is the mature older brother while the other is the playful younger brother. The four of them then have a messy love square.
This drama is about cakes and desserts but I don't think it's focus is the on the cake. I think it needs to show more cake making scenes. The younger brother is a member of the boy band SS501, Park Jung Min. The theme song is really cute.

Bonus:
Yumerio Patisserie (anime)




 This is one of my favorite animes. The female lead is a girl with a perfect palate and tries to become a patisserie with the help of 3 handsome guys and little sweets spirits. This anime has everything from cakes to donuts to salads.