2 new Korean cooking reality shows to watch after 'Culinary Class Wars'

A scene from "Street Restaurant Fighter" / Captured from Diggle Classic YouTube channel

Korea has long had a large culinary reality show scene, beginning with “MasterChef Korea,” followed by the “Korean Food War” series, before reaching a new peak with “Culinary Class Wars,” which drew attention from overseas.

But once the wrap party ended, producers were left with a question: What now?

They soon found an answer, and it was not to send chefs back into the kitchen to battle one another all over again. Instead, a new crop of culinary variety shows began using cooking in formats rarely seen before.

Now, chefs are thrown into survival tournaments that test whether they can turn their food into a viable business, or sent back to the lowest rung of the kitchen hierarchy to relive the early days of their careers.

Managing kitchens not enough

“Street Restaurant Fighter,” which premiered on tvN on June 21, brings together some of the best-known chefs from different culinary specialties to determine who can run a food business most successfully.

The lineup is stacked with prominent names, from Chinese cuisine master Lee Yeon-bok and Edward Kwon, a former head chef at Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, to Kim Mi-ryung, widely known as “Auntie Omakase” from “Culinary Class Wars.”

Unlike in previous cooking shows, however, those illustrious names and reputations are kept completely hidden. The judging criteria is also different. Chefs are not evaluated on the refinement or complexity of their food, but on whether they can persuade customers to open their wallets.

They are tested on how well they understand what ordinary diners want, analyze the local market and devise effective marketing strategies. The chefs are competing not simply over who makes the best food, but over who can turn that food into a viable business, just as they would in real life.

A scene from "Street Restaurant Fighter" / Courtesy of tvN

From the very first mission, the show is packed with twists and surprises rarely seen in conventional cooking survival programs.

One contestant appeared to reach the sales target with ease after devising a high-priced sharing menu limited to just 20 orders. But when orders flooded the kitchen, the chef began to falter and was eventually forced to cancel them and issue refunds. The miscalculation cost him his place in the competition.

Another contestant, meanwhile, saw his payment machine break down, creating a long line in front of his stand. The setback unexpectedly drew even more customers, who joined the queue to find out what food had attracted so much attention.

The chefs were also challenged to respond to a sudden change in customers, when evening settled in and family-oriented customers started coming in groups.

"The show is about bringing real-life struggle of running a business and how the contestants skillfully maneuver around with their expertise," a member of the production crew said. "The audience will be able to witness the interesting nature of running a business."

Suspiciously skilled rookie

Also airing on the same channel and ranking first in its time slot for six consecutive weeks is “Undercover Chef,” built around the premise of working undercover in a professional kitchen.

Celebrity chefs Sam Kim, Kwon Seong-jun and Jung Ji-sun conceal their identities as they join local restaurant kitchens in Parma and Naples in Italy, and Chengdu in China. Starting at the very bottom of the kitchen hierarchy, they have just five days to prove themselves and earn the honor of having one of their dishes placed on the main menu.

What follows is a turbulent stretch of days spent adapting to unfamiliar ingredients, cooking tools, kitchen cultures and languages. Even these seasoned chefs are left scrambling, making mistakes and sweating to clean up the mess.

Sam Kim is visibly shaken when an entire batch of fresh pasta he painstakingly made is thrown away. Kwon is left perplexed when the first dish he sends out is returned with a customer complaint. Watching these veteran chefs stumble through situations that make them look like nervous beginners again leaves viewers cringing on their behalf, while also feeling sympathy for them.

Sam Kim competes with his kitchen supervisor to make fresh pasta on tvN’s “Undercover Chef.” Courtesy of tvN

But the show is not all about sending chefs back to the humbling early days of their careers. The mission itself, contradictory in requiring them to remain in disguise while also earning recognition within a matter of days, creates moments that leave viewers in suspense.

Jung, who enters the kitchen posing as a former boxer, tries her best to look like a cooking novice by deliberately slowing down her knife work. But she cannot quite stop herself from choosing the right plate for each dish or resist scrubbing messy spots around the kitchen.

Likewise, at the sight of a bubbling pot of risotto, Kwon instinctively falls back on his signature mantecatura technique — and such moments do not go unnoticed by the chefs around him. Viewers are left wondering what will happen next whenever the Korean chefs in disguise let their mastery slip through.

Pop culture critic Ha Jae-geun said such formats have emerged because chefs who gained public exposure through earlier hit culinary shows have now become celebrities in their own right, accumulating both popularity and authority.

“There is a cathartic reversal in watching that authority collapse or be stripped away,” Ha said. “At least part of the public is curious, and perhaps somewhat skeptical, about whether these chefs are truly as skilled as their reputations suggest. These programs have arrived at the right moment, and that is helping them draw viewers.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.