Tastefully Yours has got to be one of the most fun K-dramas of 2025 so far. To be fair, I haven’t had a chance to see many of the fun ones, maybe because they’ve been quite rare, or maybe because there are just too many thrillers and dramas. Kang Ha-Neul is such an excellent actor; it’s just hard not to enjoy anything he’s in, but it’s especially crazy that he’s just as good at being dead serious as he is at playing an absolute doofus. Also, I can not get over how stunning Go Min-Si looks in this drama. She literally looks like one of those lovely rice cakes we see Yeon-Joo’s mother make for her in this episode. Anyway, in episode 8, we were hit with the big conflict of the show. It was finally revealed to Yeon-Joo that Beom-Woo never had positive intentions for the restaurant. His brother showed up and told Yeon-Joo that Beom-Woo was going to shut the restaurant down after stealing her recipes. Of course, by now it’s too late for Beom-Woo to tell her that, even if that was his initial intention, he has now changed so drastically after working with her and falling in love with her that he’d never do something so atrocious again. With only one episode left, will Yeon-Joo return to Jungjae? Or will it actually die like Hansang wants? Let’s find out in episode 9.
Spoiler Alert
Why Does Beom-Woo Return To Jungjae?
Tastefully Yours episode 9 begins with Beom-Woo leaving the restaurant after his brother essentially ruined everything for him. Sun-Woo believes he’s doing the right thing by teaching Beom-Woo a lesson because he said he doesn’t need Hansang Group anymore. But the truth is, Sun-Woo clearly needs Beom-Woo as competition to really function. The chairwoman is obviously the real culprit, but Sun-Woo will need some more time to realize that he’s been wronged too, even though his restaurant is now getting shut down because Motto received the three stars from Diamant. Chairwoman Han even gets asked if a documentary can be made about Motto, but obviously, they can’t reveal their big secret, that they steal all their recipes from actually good restaurants.
Meanwhile, back at Jungjae, Yeon-Joo is entirely lost after the big reveal. Choon-Seung and Myung-Sook also don’t know what’s happened, so they just think that the duo has had a small fight, and Beom-Woo will return in no time. But Myung-Sook does suspect that things are different this time. Yeon-Joo forgets to put some sauce on a dish and then doesn’t debone a fish properly for a little child, which could’ve turned out really bad, but fortunately, Myung-Sook is able to catch the mistakes before something big happens. After the lunch shift, she suggests shutting the restaurant down for the day because she feels like something bad’s going to happen. Finally, Yeon-Joo tells the duo that Beom-Woo was just a scammer who was there to steal recipes and shut the restaurant down. This leaves them devastated. On the other hand, Beom-Woo goes to Motto to quit for good. It looks like Young-Hye still hasn’t realized that he was sincere about Jungjae and believes he’s coming back to Motto. He tells her and his assistant that they didn’t make any mistakes, that everything was his fault, because that’s what he taught them: stealing.
At the same time, Sun-Woo is told by his mother that he has to take over Motto now, and his own restaurant will be shut down because he lost. I hope this is the last straw for him. Yeon-Joo goes back to the monastery in the middle of all this to cool down and forget about everything that’s gone down with Beom-Woo. Clearly, she really liked him and doesn’t know what to do anymore. She feels like she was the only one who was sincere with her feelings. When a kid wants to eat cake and refuses to have any vegetables, all of Yeon-Joo’s “family” looks to her to make the kid a cake. Yeon-Joo tells her mom (the head priestess) that she doesn’t know how she can make a cake without an oven or eggs, but her mom tells her that she’s always been creative, so she’ll come up with something. Together, they make a beautiful strawberry cake for the little girl out of whatever they have on hand. She loves it, and Yeon-Joo is satisfied. Later, her mom tells her that she’s changed in that she now thinks about the person eating the food rather than her own feelings about food. She tells her that recognizing this change might help her figure out the answer to her troubles with Beom-Woo. I guess what she’s saying is that she should think through his point of view and give him another chance.
Finally, the recipients of the Diamant are announced globally, and everyone’s shocked to hear that Jungjae’s received three stars too, making Motto and Jungjae the only two restaurants in Korea to have the coveted distinction. Also, Jungjae received the stars because they accepted the French family for that one meal, where they were to meet their in-laws. It does feel a little bit biased, but hey, the other team cheated by stealing Yeon-Joo’s recipe, so fair enough. Hearing that Jungjae also has the stars, the chairwoman decides to set up a competition between the two restaurants and broadcast it as a show.
Will Yeon-Joo Come Back To Jungjae?
Beom-Woo’s summoned by his mother, and that’s when he learns about the three stars. At this point, Yeon-Joo doesn’t even know that her restaurant has been awarded the accolade. Beom-Woo tells his mother that they will not participate and that she should stop doing what she’s doing, but she tells him that she’s going to destroy Jungjae if they don’t participate and make it disappear forever. Moreover, she claims she’ll make sure that Yeon-Joo never sets foot in a kitchen again. Beom-Woo goes to beg Choon-Seung and Myung-Sook to help him keep Jungjae’s doors open. At first, they refuse to listen to him, but he goes to the restaurant and sits drinking by himself until the next morning, when the duo come to his aid. While they’re still mad at him, everyone deserves a second chance, especially when they’ve changed so much for the better. Meanwhile, Yeon-Joo gets a vision of her younger self almost talking to her directly. Her younger self tells her that she should go back to the restaurant and stop running away. Later, Yeon-Joo’s mom tells her that Beom-Woo visited but didn’t have the courage to talk to her. She tells her that he sounded pretty sincere, so she should go hear him out.
At the end of Tastefully Yours episode 9, the competition is about to begin, and the cameras are set up in Jungjae, but Yeon-Joo is nowhere to be seen. Beom-Woo thanks the duo and the two other “hyungs” of his who have come to help. They prepare for this massive competition just so that Jungjae can make it through the crisis, but will it survive without Yeon-Joo? No, not really. Sure, Myung-Sook can do the cooking and has experience, but she’s no Yeon-Joo. That doesn’t matter though, the restaurant belongs to the whole gang now, and they will do their best to keep it running, even if it means competing without their head chef.
Of course, Yeon-Joo will come back knowing that her family is waiting for her. If no one else, she’s still got to prove to herself how important Jungjae is to her. The final episode is going to be exciting, and I guess Sun-Woo will finally come to his senses. Yeon-Joo and the chairwoman will come face to face, but will she be able to win her over? I wonder if the kimchi she made for Beom-Woo that made him tear up will make a comeback. That would be interesting for this competition.
