
From Left: Gong Hyo Jin as Seo Yoo Kyung, Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Hyun Wook, Lee Ha Nui as Oh Sae Young and Alex as Kim San
I love pasta. I can eat it every day in its many forms. Just like Bubba in Forest Gump, I can go on and on about all the things you can make with pasta. Mac and cheese, spaghetti, baked ziti, ramen, lo mien, and kugel to name just a few. So when I found a drama named Pasta, I knew I had to watch instantly.
Pasta is about the day to day events of a fine Italian restaurant called La Sfera. It centers around kitchen assistant Seo Yoo Kyung who dreams of being a first class pasta chef and Choi Hyun Wook the talented yet cocky new head chef. Yoo Kyung has been an assistant for 3 years and finally got promoted. Happy days are upon her she can hold the coveted frying pan! Choi Hyun Wook is an Italian trained chef who has the kitchen in an uproar with his changes. He also has a slightly sexist view that women do not belong in a restaurant kitchen especially his. Oh and by slightly I mean a completely stupid view.
To round off the main cast is Oh Sae Young and Kim San. Oh Sae Young is the top female Italian chef in Korea. She is a television personality with a successful cook book. For some reason, she kind of reminds me of Giada de Laurentiis in that respect. Sae Young is also the ex-girlfriend of Hyun Wook. They studied together in Italy but had a little bit of a falling out. It was just a tiny little incident where she kind of sort of sabotaged his final exam. She is ready to reunite to win back his respect in the kitchen and also of course his heart. Eventually she becomes roommates with Seo Yoo Kyung. Kim San is the secret owner of La Sfera. He has a manager that runs the restaurant for him but eventually Kim San steps into the role himself. Also he has a crush on Seo Yoo Kyung and has been helping her out behind the scenes for the last three years. Kim San and Oh Sae Young are best friends and at one time dated.
Choi Hyun Wook does not mess around on day one. His first order of business……fire all the females which make up the entire pasta line. Actually it was first tear down all the chefs egos during the dinner rush then kick all four of the ladies to the curb. Poor Seo Yoo Kyung got fired on her first day as an official cook. But lets be fair, Lee Hee Joo, Park Chan Hee, and Park Mi Hee kind of deserved to get fired. Maybe not Park Chan Hee but definitely the other two.
First, Lee Hee Joo got so frustrated with two customers sending back their lobsters multiple times that she completely LOST IT. She goes to the fridge and grabs two live lobsters. Then Hee Joo proceeds to go storming through the restaurant, lobsters in hand, to confront the customers. Lets get real she shoved it in their face and yelled you cook it yourselves. Trust me it was funny but in the real world that could get you dismissed. Second, Park Mi Hee and Jung Ho Nam, another cook at the restaurant, were caught in the walk in fridge getting all hot and heavy. Restaurants kind of find that unsanitary and in general work places usually don’t like when their employees get in on while they are getting paid to work. It’s a silly little quirk I know. Park Chan Hee got fired for defending her sister, Mi Hee, and Seo Yoo Kyung got fired for an grease accident that wasn’t entirely her fault.
That leaves an obvious void for the lunch rush the next day. Geum Suk Ho, Jung Ho Nam, Min Seung Jae, and Han Sang Sik, the remaining four chefs, think this is a way to teach the head chef a lesson and he will be begging for the dismissed females back. Little do they know that Hyun Wook has something already up his sleeve. He brings in Philip, Sun Woo Duk, and Lee Ji Hoon. They are three loyal young chefs trained in Italy while promoting the new male kitchen assistant, Jung Eun Soo, for the time being to Seo Yoo Kyung’s position. Those four now make up the new pasta line. Though Yoo Kyung refuses to accept she has been fired. She shows up the next day for work and gets her old job of kitchen assistant back. But don’t worry through a in house cooking competition Seo Yoo Kyung gets her spot back on the pasta line.
There are many changes that the restaurant, as well as the employees, goes through. Head chef Hyun Wook wants to change things about the menu and way things are done. He has high expectations that everything will be perfect every time. Also the three Italian trained cooks are very loyal to Hyun Wook. The Korean trained cooks resent this and sous chef Geum Suk Ho becomes their unofficial leader. The Korean trained cooks try to find a way out by signing up for a cooking contest where the prize is a chance to study in Italy for three years. They secretly train under the leadership of the sous chef hoping no one will find out.
Also Sae Young, the head chef’s ex, gets put on as part of the kitchen staff and made the head of the pasta line. The Italian trained cooks, who make up the pasta line, know about her history with the head chef. They rebel against her ideas and try to force her to quit to show loyalty to Hyun Wook. Obviously Hyun Wook does not like that fact that there is two head chefs in the kitchen. The kitchen becomes completely divided with Seo Yoo Kyung in the middle. In the midst of all this, Yoo Kyung and Hyun Wook attempt to quietly start a relationship with each other even though he said there are no relationships in his kitchen.
The manager, Seol Joon Suk, gets caught up in something shady and gets fired. It forces Kim San to finally reveal he is the owner of La Sfera and take charge of the restaurant. He has the task of making the restaurant profitably again. The old manager eventually begs for his job backs and gets reinstated as the lowest man on the wait staff team. Unfortunately Seol Joon Suk can not appreciate the second chance and keeps up with his conviving ways. The fired female chefs attempt to break out on their own with their own little pasta restaurant.
I have mixed feelings about Pasta. I liked it but I did not LOVE it. Most of the elements of the story were enjoyable but certain parts of the story left me annoyed in which I will go in more details on my next post. I even felt that way about the main romantic relationship….liked but yet annoying at the same time. I thought most of the acting was good as well as watching the inner workings of an Italian restaurant was interesting. Plus it had Mr. Deep Awesome Voice. Oh how I heart you Lee Sun Gyun. It really is worth a watch just certain plot points just got tiring. If I was giving this restaurant drama a score on Yelp it would be 3 1/2 stars.
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Tags: italian restaurant, korean drama, pasta