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WE TELL EVERYONE that eating a different dish for every meal would be heaven. In reality, familiar food, the comforting kind, will always trump any fancy, five-star meal. This truth holds true for our diet of romantic comedies too. We like for our main characters to be at constant loggerheads; they must not like each other in the beginning, there must be a lot of back and forth – witty repartee, and they must play off each other and keep it going until their connection is undeniable. So, why should the K-dramas be any different? And if there’s enough differences in the delicious details – we’ll be satisfied with every morsel.
Here’s our round-up of the latest K-dramas – from this year and the last – that bring together perfect ingredients of romance and food to tide you over the onslaught of the monsoons. Bountiful bowls of banchan for everyone!
Tastefully Yours (2025)
Two sons of a high-profile restaurant conglomerate compete for their exacting mother’s affection and to be the successor to the seat of power. The first to get three Diamant stars for their respective restaurant wins. There’s a love interest to keep the plot simmering, but the breakout star of this series is all the decadent, beautiful food – you might reach to grab it from your screens.
The Potato Lab (2025)
The humility of the potato betrays its star quality: it’s delicious in every form. In the words of the late Irish chanteuse, “nothing compares to you”. This rom-com set in a tuber research facility doesn’t quite pack all the punches. But when the main characters, the central dish, don’t stand up to the task, the comic side characters provide the much-needed relief.
Heo’s Diner (2025)
A culinary writer with the memory of an elephant from the Joseon Era lands up in contemporary Korea, and much hilarity ensues. For fans of the time-slip genre of K-dramas, this period drama with its decadent scenes will hit the spot. At times, it tugs at the heartstrings, then it is laugh-out-loud funny, but also the holes in some of the show’s logic can be quite frustrating. Heo’s Diner stands out for its imaginative male lead but also disappoints for its barely fleshed-out female lead. It’s an uneven dish, but it does have some strong flavours.
Brewing Love (2024)
A former special forces operative turned saleswoman at a beverages company falls in love with a brewmaster with the gift for reading people’s emotions. Financial struggles plague the beverages company, and it must reinvent itself otherwise face permanent closure. The saleswoman is tasked with coming up with a solution. She tracks down the sweet, sensitive brewmaster and persuades him to join her company with her doggedness and sweet-talking. The process of brewing stands as an interesting metaphor for the fermenting romance between the two leads. And over the episodes, their romance fizzes and reaches its full potential. And yes, the company is saved too. Phew!
Check-in Hanyang (2024)
Four interns compete for a permanent job at a hotel. There are alliances, back-stabbing and pranks. The quintessential dynamics of a workplace drama. Women are going undercover as men; it’s barely Shakespearean in its romantic tone. And it’s all happening in a period drama. At sixteen episodes, there are moments of lull, but the little plates being delivered on pretty trays will keep you floating through even the dull moments.
