This is my first modern dram - I usually only watch historical/wuxia/costume type dramas. I waited for this drama to come out solely because of Ethan Juan (who was amazing in Legend of Fuyao). He did not disappoint in this series. Swoon worthy with sex appeal and great acting skills. That in combination w/ the FL (this is the first time I've seen her in any show) who is simply adorable. Her ability to come across as an innocent naïve hopeless romantic was spot on. She didn't do the over-the-top annoying cutesiness. Her genuine kindness and pure heart was balanced out w/ some reactive outbursts to injustice, rather than portraying her as a total Mary Sue type. She balanced out the character w/ some flaws.

Pros:
- ML and FL carried the show w/ their great acting and sizzling chemistry; you just yearn for their scenes together whether it was mentor/apprentice; platonic friendship or romance
- the cinematography, visual and audio of the food preparation was amazing; from high end restaurant scenes to mom and pop restaurants to street vendors; it left me salivating
- support characters - some of them were endearing (Uncle Lin, Kesong's parents, Nina and Da Mai), but most seemed like filler characters to add sub plots

Cons:
- the worst and most obvious was Elise's (and other foreign actors/characters) dubbing, it was painful and awkward, like watching old Bruce Lee movies where the mouth movements don't match the dubbing/scenes
- the antagonists never get their justified karma; its like the last 3 episodes the writers/producers got lazy and rushed it to tie everything up in a nice little bow and everyone lives happily ever after
- unnecessary sprinkling of broken English lines into the scenes - like why was that even necessary? The characters would be speaking Chinese...but then 1 or 2 lines for emphasis was done in English? Very awkward

Overall: I really enjoyed the series, but likely won't re-watch it.