REVIEW: ‘Tastefully Yours’ Episodes 3-4

If there’s anything that Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4 proves, it’s that sometimes even the most predictable of storylines can still resonate. With the help of the quartet of cast members, Tastefully Yours continues its sleeper-hit trajectory with how fun and silly the characters are allowed to be. That’s why it makes it all the easier that, despite the shorter episodic count, we can fully invest in the developing dynamic between Han Beom-woo (Kang Ha-neul) and Mo Yeon-joo (Go Min-si).

Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4 deal heavily with opposing characters battling it over bruised egos. In Episode 3, the battle is between Beom-woo, Yeon-joo, and Jin Myeong-sook (Kim Shin-rok) versus the wild blowhard Shin Chun-seung (Yoo Su-bin). A slow burn level of escalation ensues as the group battles it out against Chun-seung over Myeong-sook’s decision. It’s petty and dumb, like watching children pick fights in a schoolyard.

Despite this, it results in some of the most hilarious bouts of physical comedy between actors Kang Ha-neul and Yoo Su-bin. Yoo Su-bin, in particular, is physical comedy gold. The way his face contorts and collapses is straight out of the comedy handbook, and you can’t help but laugh even when his character, Chun-seung, reaches new lows. The only exception is when the worst happens – Yeon-joo’s restaurant gets lit on fire, causing massive damage.

Naturally, the team assumes it is Chun-seung. He’s been escalating with each retaliation from the team, and his character is notably petty and underhanded enough that it’s not outside the realm of possibility. But as he’s pleading for forgiveness, his face crumpling up like paper, it’s hard not to feel sorry for him. And, for the remainder of Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4, Chun-seung proves himself to be an earnest worker with a kind heart.

Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4 feature career highs and lows for Yeon-joo.

This culminates in his volunteering to help race against time to submit the restaurant application for the food festival, and how hard he works in Episode 4 to ensure the food truck’s success. If there ever was a reward for the fastest redemption award, it could easily be applied to Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4 in this case. But while he gets a redemption arc, Beom-woo’s enemies are not as lucky.

With Beom-woo out of the way and egos threatened, Beom-woo’s brother, Han Sun-woo (Bae Na-ra), and celebrity chef Jang Young-hye (Hong Hwa-yeon) both venture to Jeonju to see what he’s up to. In the case of Young-hye, she’s hoping for some form of validation after she failed to impress Hansang’s matriarch and legendary food connoisseur, Han Yeo-ui (Oh Min-ae), with her cooking. Unfortunately, Beom-woo is unwilling to give it, crushing her ego further with Yeon-joo as a witness.

Knowing that Beom-woo and Yeon-joo will compete in the local food festival for the top prize, Young-hye insists on being a lead chef for Hansang’s food truck. She is driven by competition to win. With Beom-woo antagonizing his brother further by upping the prize for the food festival’s contest, the stakes are higher than ever between these rival groups. And, for a time, it almost looks like Yeon-joo may come out on top.

Aside from triggering cravings for gimbap something fierce, the beautifully shot images of food and customer-focused filler moments foster a feeling of success. While both teams have hiccups, with either slower foot traffic or orders taking too long, it becomes clear who should win this competition. Alas, our little group of troopers just can’t get a win, at least not completely. Yeo-ui takes it, but there is an aura of bittersweetness to the win. After tasting Yeon-joo’s food, she can’t deny that she may not be the best cook of the two.

Love is growing, but so too are the enemies.

Fortunately, Yeon-joo and the team can recoup the costs from their food truck sales and successfully pay for the fire damages. However, through little flashback vignettes to the day the restaurant was burned, an unknown figure is shown starting it. Based on the backside, it’s unclear who the arsonist is, but it could be anyone, including Beom-woo’s brother.

Despite the slowly growing list of enemies forming and plot-related focal points, the romance continues to churn throughout Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4. It’s subtle, and it’s clear that this is evolving into a ‘he fell for her first‘ kind of scenario, but the moments between Beom-woo and Yeon-joo have been natural and awkward. Yes, the plot is moving quickly, but the romance doesn’t feel rushed.

By the time Episode 4 reaches its end, the confession between the two doesn’t come too soon. It feels just right. With the timing of the food festival’s conclusion and this hurdle out of the way for the two of them, now is the time. Any later in this short episode order would have been awkward. With the band-aid being ripped off now, it gives way to introducing the obstacles that will challenge the relationship per the genre standard.

Tastefully Yours Episodes 3-4 further solidify that this will not be a groundbreaking romantic addition to the genre. It almost hits a checklist of items off its romantic tropes list, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s like comfort food, and with the cast chemistry being this strong, it helps mask what is a tried-and-true genre formula. With Yeon-joo’s quieter, intense energy and Beom-woo’s bombastic energy, this is a couple I keep wanting to tune into.

Tastefully Yours Episodes 1-4 are now streaming exclusively on Netflix, with new episodes releasing every Monday and Tuesday.

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