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Two quite different halves
The headline says it: The first and the second half of the series have a big variance between them.The first half is cute, funny romance between a cold, clever, rich businessman (36 y.o) and vivid, somewhat silly, poor yet brilliant chef (21 y.o) which easily deserves at least 9/10 rating, if not higher. The focus is on the cooking aspect, the age and social gap between the main protagonists isn't really crucial, and everything is going in a smooth, fast pace (in fact sometimes too fast - I wouldn't mind having some subplots to get a bit more attention).
Then second half comes, and things change: focus shifts from cooking to business, social gap becomes more prominent, new (and often unnecessary) subplots and characters are introduced for the sake of conflict. Most importantly, and I'm not sure if it was the author's intention: the expected issues of age gap really start to show up. While ML is mature and acts maturely in the relationship, the FL is/does neither. In the end, it feels more like a father struggling to manage his teenage daughter, rather than a romance between two adults.
A pity. The first half was really promising, and if it was more expanded at the expense of the second half, it would make a great series overall. The way it is though, I cannot give it better rating than 7/10.
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Sweet and fluffly as candy floss
If you are looking for something light-hearted, funny to the point of hilarious at times, sweet and fluffy as candy floss, then you will love this. The first half is really hilarious to the point of almost slapstick, then it got more serious and at one point was quite frustrating, but no worries, as it will be "All's Well that Ends Well", perfect for those who love Happy Ending and a little surprise at the table-turning reveal in the meeting room.I love Zhao LuSi, and had been watching many of her dramas. The OST that she sang for this drama is very apt. I prefer the Chinese OST than the English ones. There were some grammatical mistakes in the English OST, as well as a slight mispronunciation which irritates me, especially as the song was repeated all the time.
The story itself is quite simple, the ML reminded me a bit of Richard Gere's role in "Pretty Woman". FL's trio best friend and her quaint apartment reminded me of "Friends". The cooking scenes were beautiful. The conversation in the final face-off with the future MIL reminded me of "Crazy Rich Asians" without a game of mahjong.
I wasn't interested in this drama initally until I saw both Zhao LuSi & Li YuShen in Happy Camp. YuShen seems like such a shy guy. The ML in this drama is supposedly only 36, Yushen is 40, but somehow his moustache, hair and all those expensive double-breasted suits made him looks like he was well over 50. Making the age difference in the drama more pronounced. LuSi can always easily looks like a school-girl.
I love the fashion designer uncle. He ended as the one supporting the relationship, even though he may not be so likable at the beginning. The Grandpa is also wise and imparts some important message to the ML.
I have rewatched the first few episodes almost as soon as I finished watching the series, they were the best part!
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If you are fan of Xaio Lusi, you will like this drama
I think this drama could be'you love it' or 'you hate it'. I am a big fan of Lusi, so I love any dramas she is in. So far none of them disappointed me. Because I like her, I simply bias to all dramas she made.One of the review made me laugh so hard when viewer wrote the ML was so unattractive and he looked like Hitler. I think it is because he had this thin mustache under his nose. I wished ML didn't have that mustache, because he didn't look good with it. He is generally a handsome man if he had better hairstyle and little more masculine. And I also didn't see much of the chemistry between Lusi and Shen Lin. And each episode was little weak to make me hook to this drama like unlike most of her other dramas do to me. That maybe the reason why I did only 8 out of 10. I am usually high score for Lusi's drama. I thought if ML was someone like Zhang Han, then this would have been pretty good. But I still like this drama because story was very easy to understand, no confusion, not trick, not too much mean spirits and etc. I love the cooking scene and I always love Luxi's smile and laugh. She is supposed to be 21 years old in this drama and Lusi is actually 22 years old, so it suited her to play this FL.
I always enjoy any drama she makes.
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"Head Over Heels"
This drama's trailers were successful to "bait" me as a new one to Chinese drama.I have to say, I am "head over heels" with this drama. There are some reasons into it. First, the main leads. They are attractive and charming at the same time. No wonder if the chemistry is there, although with such large age gap. Second, the comedy chop is not dissapointing. There are some points where I laughed. Third, a lot of the romance scenes gives me butterfly. Fourth, the story is nice enough. It is about love, life, and dream: but packed in a creative way. Fifth, the soundtracks are suitable enough to accompany those scenes.
Even though, it is a pity thing for me that the drama's editing is not good enough. There are few scenes edited awkwardly and there's a time when the duration difference is pretty big. Those "minutes" ought to fill up enough some story to tell. Regardless to that, it is positively recommended to watch for C-Drama viewers.
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I'm pissed with the ending
I hardly watch Chinese drama, i watched this knowing it wasnt going to be that great.It started ok, stupid goofiness' love story, but the last 14 was just soooooooooo boring i had to skip just to watch the protagonist scenes. Second lead story was annoying, second female lead was annoying af and she got away with it...
Even if the whole drama for me was bad, i didnt think must of it until the last episode. With no back story or anything, the GAY coded uncle got married to a woman? they could have just left him single. He was the entire series talking about how hot XYZ boy is just to end up straight? I KNOW china might to like gay ppl like most counties but this just pisses me off...
Another thing to keep in mind is that female lead was 20 and male lead was almost 40 when they recorded this series.
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Quick! Watch this! You'll love this!
I just came across this title when I was browsing for new releases to watch. I just got tired of watching serious drama which made me feel all so sad even more during this covid days. So I was looking for a light and uplifting funny show til I found this title.Watched it. Enjoyed it. Loved it. This is super nice and enjoyable to watch. I also can't get enough of the songs Your Smile, I Like You and Falling In Love OSTs. This is a real feel good of a show. Besides the 2 lead, I also love Uncle and how he gives very good and sound advise to all.
I wish to find another gem of a show like this soon. But meanwhile, let's re watch it again, shall we?
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Cute chef meets handsome ceo but thats it...
TO BE QUITE HONEST, I FEEL LIKE THE DRAMA HAS BEEN SPOILED FOR ME!! THROUGH THE YOUTUBE SNIPPETS OF THEIR CUTE CHEMISTRY. I absolutely adore those parts but the other half of the story was pretty much skip worthy/ not much excitement. This story is supposedly revolved around food but I find that not to be true in the latter half. The story progress kinda of weird. The focus is not longer her in the kitchen but about the male lead's company etc. To me this series seems too over hyped!! don't get me wrong I love the chemistry.Female lead is a chef at a four star restaurant ( although she doesn't start off as one) . Her food catches the taste buds on a male lead ceo. He was suppose to take over/ find someone to run the restaurant, but ends up falling for the chef that cooks the food) aka female lead)
Female lead . Super sweet, cute , adorable. Like how could you not liker her character? Male lead is super handsome, oozing with the suaveness of a hot older man, he's responsible and caring. To me the major highlight of this drama is the sweet relationship, their chemistry is impeccable! if that was the whole drama , oh boy i would give it like a 20 out of 10, but the story really left me disappointed.
1) they introduce a brother towards the last five episodes and he turns evil ?
2) the female lead is too naive and gullible
3) the focus them becomes on the male lead's company and the things he is dealing with.
hyped up but a let down :( thats why i only gave an 8
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The show failed to capitalise on a good beginning
Many reviews have already mentioned the big age gap between the FL and the ML. I don't have a problem with that as long as the older ML, being in a power position did not pressure or trick the younger FL into a relationship. So long as they fall in love organically (within the rules of dramaland) then it is what it is.I did like this drama, especially the beginning 10ish episodes. It was tropey with the boss/employee plot but it was done with a lot of energy and cuteness. There was also a lot of heart in the familial/friend relationships. I was wondering where the show would take us.
What I did find disappointing was that as the show progressed, it got more and more tropey and clichéd. The second half of the show just felt predictable and flat. Yes, lots happened, domineering mother, meddling 2FL, poor communications, sick grandfather, spunky half bro and more. Not that the tropes were not staple of such dramas but in this case, they felt computer generated. They served to generate a bit of angst or more likely, a bit of awkwardness but you never felt that the show was going to surprise you. I understand the show wanted to be angst lite but there were a lot of weak sub plots when a stronger focus on a couple of meatier plots would have been more impactful.
The plot became a bit rudderless once they became a couple. It just hopped from one event to the next until near the end. Promising storyline like the FL being a top chef hit a wall. A more engaging plot line would challenge the FL further as a chef and the ML supporting her through thick and thin. The awesome food porn also faded away by that stage.
The 2OTP was actually not bad, their romance was more grounded but still cute. OST was fine and pleasant. The support cast did a good job.
The tone got dark around episode 20/21 when they introduced a big revenge plot that was unnecessary to the storyline and if anything, showed most involved in a poor light. It just felt staged and cliché. After all the kerfuffle, the ML undid the whole thing and just handed back everything he won in the last episode. Yes, it paved the way for the happy ending but it also made the previous two episodes fairly pointless.
The ending was all rainbows and unicorns but a bit rushed. We are talking multiple pairings including pairs that came out of left field (the uncle's pairing?) and every wish was granted.
To be honest, the show was sustained by the OTP's awesome chemistry and their cute, sweet moments. Good amount of skinship without awkwardness was a bonus. If you are happy to watch the show for the romance alone then it would go down a treat but the rest of the fluff was a bit tedious for me.
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Am still waiting for the last parts of the drama, hope to see it very soon. Best so far!!!
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Binge worthy
*** Binge worthyI've been seeing this series in WeTV but I never clicked on it as I don't wanna watch a food topic series in the moment as I always get hungry and want to eat but I saw the high rating and some clip so I click the ep 1 and Oh My God it took me just a while to finish several episodes. Good thing I have VIP access in WeTV, I cant imagine the frustration if I dont have VIP access.
The story I may say is already a cliché. Rich guy poor girl or boss employee with a witchy mother of the ML.
However, what makes it different is the age gap and the acting of the FL and ML leads. They're chemistry is superb!
I already watched several series of Rosy Zhao so I'm already familiar with her acting so I dont have to search her to look for her other series, but since Im not so familiar with the ML I need to search him to see if there's another series of him that may interest me. Damn he's so good.
The ML's brother is so annoying, gosh! I hate his smile.
All the episodes, are so sweet and romantic except when the brother turned evil. But at the latter part of the series I want to hit Rosy Zhao at the back of her head so she can wake up and see the fakeness of the brother. She's so frustrating at the latter episode. Lin Yu Shen already told her not to get close with his brother but still she didn’t listen.
I'm in episode 24, I just can’t wait to finish the series to make a review.
I'm not yet finish with this series but I already know that I will be watching it again.
I recommended it to my sister last week, and I wanna watch the start again with her while waiting for the last 2 episodes. It only shows how good this series is.
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This is a pretty good drama
I have watched many dramas and i have to say this is definitely quite cliché in many ways but I really enjoyed watching it, although it is true the ML was acting really creepy at the fifth episode, I was okay with it. This is probable one of the best dramas i watched with huge age gaps as they can be a very sweet couple and there are many lovely moments, the cooking scenes were also really eye catching . I really dislike the secretary lady though, she is very annoying at times and she is really selfish sometimes, if you rather a drama that is really peaceful and really little drama maybe this wouldn't be for you but i think it is worth watching and definitely a pretty good drama .Was this review helpful to you?
Worth Watching If You are Bored To Death
I was doubting at first if I would watch this but eventually I did. I have no regrets as it kept me entertained. The first few episodes were interesting and funny but the story arch goes down as it proceeds. Nevertheless, it's still entertaining and I am not thinking of dropping it very soon unlike the other Chinese dramas I watched and dropped in the middle.The acting was spectacular. This is the first series I saw Rosy and the guy. I would say they caught my attention! I dont mind the age gap cause they f*cking look good together! seriously speaking I love their chemistry.
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