Good Start for the Director. In the special - he mentions it is his first Y drama. It showed. Because of the director - some of the pacing - especially, in the beginning is glacial.

Let's get all the good stuff out of the way...Great casting. And, everyone behind the scenes did a wonderful job. After watching the special, I was saddened to see that the restaurant wasn't real. The detail was amazing. Having worked in kitchens most of my life, they didn't miss anything.

Storyline and direction suffered...I would have to say mainly because the writers left too much to the imagination. I honestly felt that there were whole scenes or, an entire episode that was shown to the regular viewers but, we didn't get to see them on Viki. To fix most questions/issues - this easily could have been a 16 episode series.

The chef contest stuff was a mess. Why would only a dozen people enter a contest that was that important? Why was it one dish and you are gone? This could have been solved with simple conversation and a flashback or, two. "Congratulations Aek for making it past the preliminary rounds. I always knew you could do it. Good luck in the Semifinal." Anything like that.

Totally agree with those longer than life staring at each other moments. That was the director's fault for not knowing how to end a scene or, transition to another. For those that don't know what I mean - watch the Director's commentary for the American movie - Sleepless in Seattle. She shows the scene and discusses how Tom Hanks gave her the perfect moment to end the scene - he helped her and the production.

Being American and relying on the subtitles - it appeared that the conversation in the first couple episodes was different than in the later ones. More formal that grew to relaxed? It doesn't appear that the honorifics would go away but, maybe the subtitle team relaxed?

Did Aue lose the contest on purpose for Aek? Or, did he decide to do his best and still lose? Why was Wiphob's victory so hollow? He got what he wanted and stands to move forward in the family business. When Aek decided to go for it - after getting his Mother's blessing, what did that have to do with someone renting out the whole restaurant? Aek would not have been able to do that - that would cost the business too much money. And, did Aue have an inkling this was to happen to just allow Aek to stand behind in the kitchen while food was being prepared - such an odd badly shot scene. Chef Mu's and Nuna's side story was incomplete and could have been left out.

My only squabbles in the kitchen was putting Aek on his own station starting first day and letting him have at it. True, the trust from Aui could have been that strong but, still - let him get used to the kitchen. How did he even know where anything was? Next was the lack of detail in food prep - did anyone ever wash their hands? LOL It looks like the couple that spoke in unison did all the prep work. Very cool for a kitchen to have the money to do that.

And, those knife cuts - eeeehh - how did they not cut their fingers? Another note that they did lean to in one scene - I have noticed that many Asian restaurants offer a shower for the staff. They understand that they can't put their own clothes back on after a hard day in a hot kitchen. Just lockers?

Loved the food delivery tie in - it actually helped keep the story focused. Fill those orders. How do they order? How much does the restaurant rely on that business? All that was covered. The Tea product placement was irritating. And, to open the show with a Tea commercial when the two main characters had just fought - did not make any sense. It should have been towards the end when everyone is happy and they are tying up all the story lines.