Pasta

Korean Title: Pa-su-ta
English Title: Pasta
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 20
Broadcast Period: January 2010 to March 2010

Main Cast
Gong Hyo Jin as Seo Yoo Kyung
Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Hyun Wook
Lee Ha Nui as Oh Sae Young
Alex as Kim San

Extended Cast
Lee Hyung Chul as Geun Suk Ho
Jo Sang Ki as Jung Ho Nam
Baek Bong Ki as Min Seung Jae
Heo Tae Hee as Han Sang Sik
Kim Tae Ho as Sun Woo Duk
No Min Woo as Philip
Hyun Woo as Lee Ji Hoon
Ha Jae Sook as Lee Hoo Joo
Son Sung Yoon as Park Chan Hee
Jung Da Hye as Park Mi Hee
Byun Jung Soo as Kim Kang

Synopsis - WARNING! Major spoilers!
The story of Pasta follows Seo Yoo Kyung, the kitchen "maknae" (lit. youngest, meaning lowest rank), who aspires to be a chef herself one day. She works at La Sfera restaurant, where she dreams of being able to finally hold a frying pan herself.

Suddenly, big change happens at La Sfera when new chef Choi Hyun Wook shows up. He is loud, harsh, and unrelenting, firing all of the female cooks including Yoo Kyung. His reason being that he does not allow women in his kitchen due to the betrayal of his first love Oh Sae Young, who had been his partner in the past. Hyun Wook also brings in three chefs whom he personally trained while he was in Italy, causing some problems between the Italian-trained chefs and the Korean-train chefs. The Korean-trained chefs, including the Sous-Chef, do not like Hyun Wook at all.

Through perseverance and determination, Yoo Kyung eventually gets her job back at La Sfera. Her friends were jealous and angry, thus moving out of the apartment and leaving Yoo Kyung with not enough money to pay the rent. However, miraculously, the popular chef Oh Sae Young moves into the apartment complex, saying that they are now roommates. Apparently, the landlord of the complex had arranged for this to happen so Yoo Kyung would have a place to stay.

It is revealed that Kim San is the one behind all of this. In love with Yoo Kyung for the past three years, he secretly protects her and leaves her photos of cactuses on her locker at work. She finds consolation in these photos and develops a three-year friendship with someone she does not know. It is Hyun Wook who first finds out that San is "Mr. Cactus." San eventually tells Yoo Kyung everything and that he has loved her for three years, but she does not take his feelings seriously. However, she is grateful to him and treats him like a friend nonetheless.

Sae Young is the first love of Hyun Wook. They were very much in love when they were in Italy, but Sae Young betrayed him to win a cooking competition (one which caused her to rise to fame). Hyun Wook wanted to make ginseng pasta, and wanted to use wine to take away the bitterness of the ginger. The night before the competition, Sae Young boils his bottle of wine, making it into vinegar and sabotages his dish. Years later, Sae Young joins the staff at La Sfera as Chef, second-in-command. This causes many problems for the cooks, for their constant bickering often puts the cooks in a complicated situation.

Sae Young says that she wants Hyun Wook to acknowledge her as a chef, but she soon realizes that the wine was not the answer for Hyun Wook's attempted ginseng pasta. Even without sabotaging him, she would have won the competition. Sae Young realizes that the one she sabotaged wasn't Hyun Wook, but herself. Her reputation is shattered and so is her confidence and self-respect.

Slowly, Yoo Kyung begins to develop feelings for the hot-headed Hyun Wook, whom she only refers to as "Chef" throughout the series. At first, Hyun Wook is cold to her feelings but eventually falls for her as well. They keep their relationship a secret, since if anyone at La Sfera were to find out, Hyun Wook would have to forfeit his job. Although Hyun Wook uses his own methods to push the Korean-trained chefs to improve their cooking skills, they misunderstand this as punishment and their hatred for him grows deeper. Yoo Kyung asks him to be nicer to them, but he does not listen.

But as fate would have it, Yoo Kyung's relationship with Hyun Wook is revealed. As he promised, Chef leaves La Sfera. However, the kitchen comes to realize that they need

Eventually, the Sous-Chef enters a cooking contest where the winners would be sent to Italy to study. He plans on taking the Korean-trained chefs with him. Together they practice every night using the restaurant's kitchen and they are eventually found out. However, it does not matter since the team does not have a representing chef. Without one, they cannot compete in the competition. Yoo Kyung asks Hyun Wook to do it for them, and he agrees.

Even before the competition, one of the cooks, Ho Nam, has some problems with his wrist. The others constantly tell him to go the hospital, but he does not listen to their advice. During the competition, the pain acts up again and he drops his pan of pasta and injures himself. Yoo Kyung must step in as she is the replacement chef. Luckily, they still win the competition and they all receive trips to Italy.

Hyun Wook is proud of Yoo Kyung and as a chef, he wants her to go to Italy so she can exceed as a chef herself. However, as a man and as her boyfriend, he wants her to stay by his side. Ultimately, Yoo Kyung decides not to go to Italy, but not for Hyun Wook. Her father, whom she has never really had a good relationship with since her mother died, is getting old and she is afraid that something might happen to him when she leaves. She decides to stay for her father's sake.

The Verdict
I heard about this drama I think it was mid-2009, when they announced that Alex was joining the cast. I was thrilled because I am an avid fan of Alex and was excited to see him acting. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did, considering that it was his first major role. The only other actor I was familiar with was Lee Sun Gyun, who played the wonderful Choi Han Sung in hit-2007 drama, Coffee Prince.

The drama was quite interesting, although I normally wouldn't have considered watching one like this. For me, I usually watch idol dramas, but I found that I really liked Pasta. Although the storyline was a bit draggy, I found Yoo Kyung's relationship with Chef was quite unique. Throughout the series, she never calls him anything but "Chef" which sometimes annoyed me because she would say it every two seconds on some occasions.

I also quite enjoyed Oh Sae Young's character. Although she backstabbed Hyun Wook, I found that I liked her. She was selfish, but she was trying to make up for it in the end. She wanted to be acknowledged as a chef by the one she betrayed, because she knew that deep down, what she had done would forever prevent her from being a true chef. And although she had thoughts of reconciling her relationship with Hyun Wook, when she found out that he was in love with Yoo Kyung, she wasn't conniving nor was she mean or jealous. Instead, she was always, always kind to Yoo Kyung.

Oh, and random thought: when the Italian-trained chefs had to take off their shirts as punishment... Hm. Let's just say it was a pleasant surprise~ haha!

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this drama for people who are looking for a mushy romance or an idol drama (although there are idols who were cast). However, if you're looking for a mature romantic comedy, then Pasta is definitely a must-watch. Overall, I give this drama a rating of three and a half stars out of five.