Boasting outstanding, pristine, glowing, fascinating production values, as well as amazing acting, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025) is visually stunning in every scene, and it soon gained very high ratings for Korean cable station tvN, as well as being the number one rated Korean drama on Netflix for several weeks after its premiere.

Starring gorgeous Im Yoona (Love Rain, Prime Minister And I, Big Mouth, King The Land, Because This Is My First Time) who is always delightful perfection on screen, and handsome young upcoming actor Lee Chae Min (Crash Course In Romance, See You In My 19th Life, Crushology 101) who was an amazing, brave casting choice for this difficult role of a tyrant King who possibly could be tamed by true love from a time-traveling woman chef from the future. The two actors had exquisite chemistry together! The drama was based on a webtoon by Park Kuk Jae, and the director was the renowned Jang Tae Yoo, who directed masterpieces My Love From Another Star and The Painter Of The Wind. A television drama production can't go wrong when this director is at the helm!  

The King in the drama is very loosely based on a real life King of Old Joseon, a young, cruel royal named Yeonsangun, who had ruled from 1494 to 1506, after which he had been exiled and had died a few months later, with his younger brother replacing him on the throne (later his younger brother was executed, what a family!).

King Yeonsangun's mother had been executed when he was just a lad (for having concubines killed! she was no little innocent herself in real life, compared to how she was portrayed in the drama), and he had taken his revenge on those in his kingdom who had deprived him of her presence. This King also had scores of concubines in real life and would dispose of them if they fell out of favor. Therefore many were afraid of this belligerent King, and many noblemen in the kingdom had wanted him removed from the throne.

For this drama the King's name is changed to Yi Heon, obviously to distance him to a large extent from the real life violent King Yeonsangun. (I had to do independent research to discover the real story of his life). The overall question of the drama then becomes: can the time traveling woman chef from the future change his hardened Joseon era heart for the better, so that he doesn't experience a tragic premature end after all? For twelve episodes we wait to see if that is what will happen! The journey is an especially addictive one, watching how they become closer and closer, against all odds! All the cast are wonderful, with many familiar faces making appearances.

The Story:

Professional Korean female chef Yeon Ji Young (Im Yoona) travels to Paris, France to enter a prestigious cooking contest. She is the only woman chef among the contestants but it's pretty obvious from the taste testers' / judges' reactions to her meals that her food is much more delicious than the male chefs' entries. Whoever wins the contest will receive a lucrative financial prize plus the ability to be hired as a master chef in a top rated Michelin restaurant after the contest is concluded. Ji Young is therefore thrilled when she wins the contest and a bright future in her career choice seems guaranteed. 

Before she boards an airplane to return to Korea she receives a message from her Dad (Kwon Hyuk Poong) who tells her that his historian friend has gifted her with an old Joseon cookbook from around 1500AD and that she should go pick it up in her mail before she leaves to come home. She does so. This cookbook is called a Mangunrok; it seems to be of royal heritage, and strangely it also seems to mysteriously have half a page missing. Ji Young is thrilled to obtain this book and loves the recipes written down inside it. She stuffs it in her traveling bag which she carries with her on the plane but a nearby passenger inadvertently spills some coffee on her bag, possibly damaging the ancient book! Ji Young rushes to the ladies' room and dries off the bag and the book but while she is doing so the pilot comes on the loudspeaker and announces that there is about to be a solar eclipse! Ji Young stares out the bathroom window but as the eclipse progresses she finds herself being thrown around the tiny bathroom and she starts to scream for help. No one in the plane hears her!

Then suddenly Ji Young finds herself on the ground in a wooded area at night and an animal net trap captures her body and bag and lifts them up high off a tree branch and she can't get down! (I laughed at this scene because it so reminded me of actress Ye Jin Son landing in a North Korean tree after a storm in Crash Landing On You!).

Ji Young screams for help but instead of real help suddenly an arrow is aimed directly at her. It misses her body but does knock the net down that held her high up on the tree. Suddenly she sees a strange young man approaching her but he isn't concerned about her well being at all. He thinks she's a ghost and he aims his bow and arrow at her again. She reaches inside her bag and pulls out a stun gun. They exchange angry words and then eventually an arrow is aimed at both of them from far away and they both fall off a cliff into water below. Ji Young drags him out of the water, tending to his wound, saving his life. Her bag ends up hanging from a tree with the priceless Mangunrok still inside it.

Eventually they both receive assistance from a country girl named Seo Gil Geum (Yoon Seo A, Soundtrack 1, Goodbye Earth). Ji Young puts on some of her clothes and ditches her modern clothes. Gil Geum loves to cook just like Ji Young does so they make up a rice dish, and feed themselves and the slowly reviving King. Ji Young had put a small package of modern spice (like MSG) in her pocket on the plane, and so into the rice mixture it goes. When the King tastes it he is overcome with pleasure. He has a memory of his late mother feeding him tasty food when he was a child and he misses those days. Ji Young begins to remind him of his mother, who had been put to death by the former King, his Dad.

Eventually the King is rescued by his men and brought back to the palace. Ji Young and Gil Geum are placed in a jail cell together, but the King can't forget the food they made for him so he eventually has them released. He even names Ji Young the new main palace chef and tells her to make a different meal for him every day ... or it could mean her death if she does not make each meal differently! Nice!

Every day she creates a new meal for the King, drawing on her vast knowledge of many countries' cuisine. When a Chinese Ming delegation arrive at the palace Ji Young's Chinese food is made even better than the visiting Chinese cooks'. Some of the elaborate dishes she creates for the King are Spinach Soup, Butter Bibimbap, German Schnitzel, Macaroons, Beef Bourguignon, Eggplant pie, Pajeon, and various French Haute Cuisine dishes. (I kept thinking they should release a cookbook detailing all the dishes shown in the drama!).

Is The Way To A Man's Heart Really Through His Stomach! ;)

As Ji Young and the King grow ever closer, and his personality seems to mellow, there are others in the palace who aren't thrilled about their relationship, including the jealous concubine Kang Mok Ju (Kang Han Na) and the cunning Uncle of the King, Prince Jesan (Choi Gwi Hwa, Suits) who would prefer the King's younger brother Prince Jin Myeong (Kim Kang Yoon) be made King so he could control him. All the cooks in the palace love Ji Young, especially her first female friend Gil Geum and the royal jester she has a crush on, Gong Gil (Lee Joo Ahn, Youth Of May). As it becomes more and more obvious Uncle Jesan is forming a real rebellion against the King his enduring supporters and friends plan to fight back. How many will survive, and how many will die?

Supporting Cast: Kang Han Na, Lee Joo Ahn, Choi Gwi Hwa

Will the King be able to thwart the rebellion and protect the Palace Chef from harm? Will Ji Young be able to find her special magic royal cookbook again, the Mangunrok, and use it to return to 2025 so she can live out the life she had planned to live all along, running her own restaurant in modern Korea? Would the King ever be able to join with her again if they are separated by over 500 years? Or will he have to live the rest of his life in exile and sadness while his younger brother takes the throne guided and controlled by the dastardly Prince Jesan? What will happen to all the palace cooks Ji Young had grown close to while they made incredible meals for the King?

Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is simply a fun and hypnotic time travel / historical drama to watch! It's a worthwhile drama for all age groups to enjoy. I wouldn't miss it for the world! 

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