Main Staff: Lee Seo-Jin, Jung Yu-Mi, Park Seo-Joon, Choi Woo-Shik, Kim Tae-Hyung (V of BTS)

Summary

Seo-Jin’s (Jinny’s) Kitchen is the latest reality/variety show directed by legendary producer-director, Na Young-Seok, and is a spin-off of the existing show “Youn’s Kitchen”. Seo-Jin’s Kitchen builds off the pretense of Youn’s Kitchen, however the show focuses on sharing Korean street-food with the people of Bacalar, Mexico. Starring an all-star cast of Lee Seo-Jin, Jung Yu-Mi, Park Seo-Joon, Choi Woo-Shik, and BTS’s V, the series will follow the team as they navigate through preparing and serving their customers. 

Given the limited number of Korean restaurants in Bacalar, the team focuses on creating and adapting their menu items to share Korean culture and cuisine with those unfamiliar with it. The initial menu originally consists of kimbap, ramen, tteokbokki, and Korean-style corn dogs! However, after the initial few days of opening the restaurant, the cast decided to make minor alterations like creating a spicier dipping sauce and including more meat dishes to better suit their customers’ requests! As word-of-mouth continues to grow, Seo-Jin’s kitchen and staff become increasingly busy as they attempt to keep up with their line of growing customers!

Thoughts

Seo-Jin’s Kitchen is definitely a cute and refreshing reality/variety show. Not only does it show a more “human” side of some of the most famous individuals in the Korean entertainment industry, but it’s also wholesome to watch these superstars share the Korean culture while in an unfamiliar place. The show also showcases some members’ impressive cooking skills! Yu-Mi quickly becomes an expert kimbap roller and Seo-Joon’s cooking skills truly shine. Although everyone on the show knows a few basic Spanish phrases and most can converse in English, the cast of Seo-Jin’s Kitchen does a great job at navigating the language barrier and successfully creating a welcoming and encouraging environment for their customers. 

Despite being well-regarded in Korea, many customers did not recognize the staff as they prepared and served the customers’ dishes. However, their beauty is definitely acknowledged as the customers assumed that their great-looks correlated to them being famous in Korea. Additionally, it was heart-warming to see these all-stars fully commit to ensuring that their restaurant succeeds. Rather than complaining about waking up early, the grueling preparations, and washing mountains of dishes, each member of the team pulled together to help make the restaurant profitable. The chemistry between the members’ continues to grow as they spend more time together and steer stressful situations with one another. The first three episodes have just been released, but I would highly recommend watching the show and seeing a different side of some of the biggest Korean stars.