Midnight Foodstore Episodes 25- 26 review

[Episodes 25- 26] Jiang soy sauce

Featured food: Soy sauce on plain rice 

I'm back! It's been awhile since I last wrote on the Chinese re-make of Midnight Diner. We're past the halfway point of this series and if you are wondering why my review is different from the online episodes... It's because I'm following the sequence aired by my local cable TV. I do believe this is the correct order as you will see in later episodes certain conversations refer to the stories aired previously. 

Okay, back to the story! This story is about a special soy sauce made by an old man named Uncle Jiang. The diner boss only uses the soy sauce made by him and it is very delicious! It starts off with the diner boss cooking several dishes with the soy sauce as one of the ingredients. 

He offers free taste testing of the soy sauce and the regular diners are eventually hooked to its taste! They wait patiently for the diner boss to open for business as well. Hahah!!

Unfortunately one day Uncle Jiang was admitted to the hospital (or old folks home? I'm not sure) for some lung infection. He eventually fell into a coma and all is at lost because there was no one to make that special soy sauce anymore. The diner boss was down to the last jar and all the regulars started to limit each other to one serving each... Oh dear.. :( 

A young man showed up at the diner not long after that and everyone recognised him.... He is Joseph Wonder, a famous fashion designer. The diner boss didn't recognise him but he realised that he is Uncle Jiang's only son named Jiang Da Shan. 

The diner boss told Ah Shan about Uncle Jiang's condition and served him a simple dish, plain white rice with the special soy sauce. Ah Shan ate it and the memories with his father came rushing back. He visited the soy factory the very next day where he grew up... 

Ah Shan had always dreamt about fashion, even from an early age he would mess about with the soy bottles creating designs. This irked Uncle Jiang very much as he intended Ah Shan to take over the soy business. But Ah Shan continued his passion secretly at night while his father was sleeping. He would cut out pictures of models from the newspaper and paste it in a scrapbook. He even made his first clothing, a yellow sweater for his father... 

One night, Uncle Jiang was so furious when he discovered the cut out newspapers and he burnt all of Ah Shan's scrapbooks. Ah Shan was so angry he ran away from home and never came back...until now. 

Ah Shan returned to see his father and wanted to leave but he felt remorse and somewhat guilty, so he decided to stay on to take care of him. He had a sudden inspiration for a design collection and his girlfriend also arrived just in time to give him the moral support he needed. 

Don't worry! It's a happy ending... ;D Ah Shan's design collection was ready and he decided to use the soy factory as the fashion show venue. I really love this part, the regulars at the diners were actually the models! Hahah!! Ah Long looks so cool but I'm not digging the clothes though... :P Even Uncle Xiao is in on the action! 

Ah Shan's fashion show was a success and now the world knows of his roots in the soy factory. Uncle Jiang awakes from his coma and is back making soy sauce again. Hurrah! The ending scene shows Ah Shan cycling on his childhood bicycle and chatting with the diner boss. He has decided to stay (and possibly?) made the soy factory as his home base... He will continue to design clothing and also help out his father. Aww! 

It's strange to see this story featuring a food ingredient rather than a dish like the rest of the stories. However, it is quite nice as well... There were other dishes featured here such as the simple fried rice and pig trotters. 

Strongest Deliveryman drama review

Drama name: Strongest Deliveryman
Country: South Korea
Year: Aug- Sept 2017

Sorry it's been awhile... Have not been in the mood to review anything... :( Although I seem to have so many reviews which I want to write about... (-_-") 

I heard of this drama through the Disqus forum, someone posted the list of upcoming dramas and this one caught my attention because it was about delivery of jajangmyeon! (Black bean noodles) ;D 

So, what's this drama about?

Choi Kang Soo is a young man who works as a food deliveryman. He is someone who loves to help out a friend in trouble and is very dependable. However, he would work in a place for two months only. This is because he is looking for his mother, who took all his father's money and left both of them behind. Kang Soo wanted to find her in order to tell her how his father died of cancer so miserably while missing her. With two months of each area in Seoul, he would be able to cover each search area very thoroughly. 

One day Kang Soo arrives in this new area and gets himself a deliveryman job with this small jajangmyeon restaurant named Lively Noodles. It was not as smooth sailing as his new senior colleague is a spunky female named Lee Dan Ah. She makes things difficult for him at first because she does not like him as they had an earlier encounter prior to that. (Haha! The usual enemy become lovers thing..) 

The rest of the story talks about Kang Soo helping out many people, facing up to a giant restaurant conglomerate that threatens to close down many small restaurants in that area, his relationship with Dan Ah, finding his mother and finally starting a food delivery apps company. 

Overall thoughts

It is a light hearted rom-com, nothing heavy or stressful, I enjoyed watching it. :) The plot is very predictable and there isn't any complicated triangle love relationships or the like. I thought I would be hungry while watching this drama, but just like Pasta, I didn't get any hunger pangs because most of the time the delicious food would be wrapped in cling wrap! Hahah!! Yes, it's a food delivery service so the dishes are sealed quickly to keep warm for the customers... Aigoo...

Best parts of the drama?

Go Kyung Pyo's permed hair! Hahah!! XD Yeah, I know that a lot of comments were complaining about his hair and when it will be changed but I actually liked it! The hairstyle is like a revival of the 90s hair with a slight twist and it suits Kang Soo's character very well. Don't worry, if you can't stand his permed hair he does have a makeover mid-way as with the usual K-drama stories... ;D And can I say he actually looks like Heath Ledger??!! :DD

The delivery gang... From enemies to best friends... The chemistry between the members are really great and makes it enjoyable to watch... 

The second lead couple... Jin Gyu and Ji Yoon! They are absolutely adorable together... I didn't care about the main lead couple at all... ;P

Jin Gyu's racing car... and the illegal street race! ;D Well, at least some fast paced action scene in this whole drama! 

There was a pretty interesting cafe featured in the later episodes of the drama... I quite like the design of the interior... 

Notable scenes

When Kang Soo called for help from all the food deliverymen in Seoul... Wow, it was so cool! Like some biker gang... Hahah! I think after this drama, people will have more respect for the profession (Well, of course it's a decent job and shouldn't be looked down upon) and it's a good morale boost for all deliverymen in South Korea.

Showdown between Kang Soo's Strongest Deliveryman company and CEO Jung in the streets..

Promotion day for the local restaurants... Those drag queen cheerleaders! XD Omooo hahah! 

I still felt that the romance between the first leads were rather unconvincing...It happened like just out of nowhere suddenly Kang Soo had feelings for Dan Ah... (-_-") But the writer and director did try to put in more scenes after that to solidify their romance...

Special mention

The Lively Noodles's lady boss! I found her so sexy... hahaha... the cougar lady... ;D Her romance between the chef is pretty cute too...

Conclusion

As I have mentioned earlier, the plot is predictable and you can guess it will have a happy ending. Hurrah! ;D Kang Soo's band of merry men managed to bring down the rich conglomerate and the restaurants in the area were saved from closure. He finally met his mother who is actually the mother of a good friend, Hyun Soo, which he was trying to help all this while. :O

To be honest, I was rather disappointed that it turned out to be that lady... From the first few episodes, the story seemed to lead us on to think that CEO Jung might be his long lost mother... Because it kinda made sense for someone so shrewd to run away with all the money and start her own empire... but it wasn't taken in that direction.

There were quite a number of questions left unanswered and the last episode was a rush to wrap up everything. I was left wondering did Dan Ah make up with her family again? What was the halmoeni's reaction to find out that she has another grandson which is Kang Soo? Did CEO Jung just take everything by silence? Did she accept Jin Gyu so easily, the one who was behind the bringing down of  her business? (Well, not that she was not at fault... but still...)

This drama was not without flaws, but it did redeem itself with some fresh take on certain plot lines... Such as the second leads having their own dreams and aspiration... The feature on working class people, the deliverymen's lives and small restaurant owners trying to earn a decent living. I think this is the heart warming charm of this drama...

With that said, I'll leave you with Kang Soo's permed hair and strong views on life! ;DD