Korean drama "Hot and Sweet": part one of three recaps

 Air Dates: October 20 to November 1, 2016 on Naver-TV

Eight episodes for a total running time of 128 minutes

Main Cast:

Choi Min-Hwan as Min-Joon

Seo Yuna as Joon Young

That main cast is it as this show has the smallest one in history though there were a high school couple who popped up here and there played by Lee Kang-Jae and Lee Bit-Na.

 Was looking for a short drama as the previous ones I've viewed have been decent enough, usually am not a fan of romantic shows but when they're shorter they've been okay as there's less time for filler. The episodes ran from 9+ minutes to 23, eight in all for a total of 128 minutes or a very long movie. So what I've done is to break the recaps down into segments of about forty minutes of air time so there may be some overlapping of episodes. Have already viewed the entire mini series, just kind of so-so as it started out very well though the last two episodes could have been a bit better, they were a bit yawn inducing when they shouldn't have been. But did get to see Yuna who I've been curious about, if all worked out well then the post above this is her first intro one. Actually will hold off on her true intro post for a while but it will be upcoming.
 PS: These recaps should be a bit briefish but all will have a mega amount of screenshots.

 But most of the series revolves around Min-Joon, he's played by Choi who in real life is more of a musician than an actor. Min-Joon is a 27 year old failed chef who gets by these days running a small food truck named 'Kitchen on the Road'. The drama's setting wasn't revealed but it takes place at a seaside town and Min-Joon has set up his truck permanently by the sea. He truly lives hand to mouth as he sleeps in either a tent or his truck and has to clean himself in a nearby washroom.
 As mentioned this show has a very small cast with just two main characters. But we do see on occasion a pair of high school students, their names were never said and they're in the above middle screenshot. The pair seems to be Min-Joon's main customers as business is rather slow at his truck even though the food he prepares is rather good. One day those two students stop by Min-Joon's truck and asked him who was painting the back of the truck? Min-Joon looked at them dumbfounded and said he had no clue, so the trio stroll to the truck's back to investigate.
 The other main character is Joon-Young and you can see her creation in the above screenshot. What had been a blank truck side was now one with an impressive looking picture of a burger which it seems is Min-Joon's specialty or at least one of them. But he didn't take too kindly at first towards Joon-Young's painting and seething asked why she did it. No words were spoken by her but seemed this was the moment when Min-Joon did a head over heels for her, Joon-Young was a cutie but not a love at first site type. Unable to think of a response Joon-Young quickly fled down the beach which became her semi trademark as she can do a hundred yard dash in about four seconds.

 And it seemed four seconds was how long it took Joon-Young to return to the scene of her 'crime', by now the two students had departed. Think Min-Joon was glad to see her back but wouldn't admit it, 'what can I do for her now?' he inquired. 'Your spiciest burger' was Joon-Young's response which as mentioned seems to be his specialty, you can see it above and do admit it looks yummy. Actually there are many delicious dishes that Min-Joon prepares in the show and often have screenshots of them. As time goes on we'll learn why such a great cook is stuck working at a food truck.
 However that yummy creation brought out the worst in Joon-Young as she began to sob, was it the onions or something else? That we don't know yet but to make the meal complete for her would be some ice cold Soju which Min-Yoon doesn't carry. But that's something Joon-Young is never without as she pulls one out of her bag, she does drink quite a  bit of it during the show but never a huge amount and wouldn't say she's an alcoholic. It's unbelievable how often I've talked about Soju in recaps but I've never tried it once, my corner taverns don't seem to keep it in stock.
 During her eating of the burger is where the show's title came from as Joon-Young referred to it as the best 'Hot and Sweet' burger she's ever had. But when it came time for the bill to be paid
Joon-Young realized that she had lost her wallet or at least that's what she told Min-Joon. He was kind of upset at her but let it go as he figured she was some sort of freeloader, Joon -Young insisted she wasn't but soon dashed off in her trademark 100 yard gallop. But she did return though not with money as she claimed her wallet had been stolen, in it was all of her money, cards and etc. But to repay the great chef Min-Joon for his hospitality Joon-Young has offered to work the debt off and she adds perhaps there may be a regular position for her?

 Will make this the last segment, three should be plenty for these recaps. Min-Joon took her up on the offer of working at his food truck, bit late in the day though so the pair hop on to the truck's roof for a bout of drinking. It was a short bout for Min-Joon who after two beers soon fell asleep as Joon-Young continued on alone, she has a high tolerance for alcohol. Next morning Min-Joon woke up in the cab of his truck, quite hungover too though he barely had two beers. The drinking didn't affect her in the least as Joon-Young had already set up the tables and was prepping the food but we come to see she isn't much help at all in cooking.
 The weather is always nice and seemed Min-Joon picked a solid location at the beach for his food truck, so the question is why doesn't he have more customers? There's also a few towering apartment buildings nearby so that's soon to be Joon-Young's mission for Min-Joon, to get him a steady crowd of eaters but doesn't really get into it full force until the next show. But she did end off the show by walking around the neighborhood with some of Min-Joon's creations, this was after the pair had visited a local market stocking up in things, where'd they get the dough?
 Guess my main drawback in this series is how little was explained. Some things do starting in the next recap such as the pair's backgrounds and how they both ended up at the bottom of the barrel though both seem to be talented in their fields, Min-Joon cooking and art for Joon-Young. The majority of the final few minutes mainly consisted of Min-Joon impressing Joon-Young endlessly with his creations and all of the dishes looked so scrumptious. But that raised one more question to leave off with, where did he get the money to buy so many hard to find items with his meager income or is there something we don't know about?

 As you can probably tell this is one simple show, this recap had about a third of the 128 minute series. Was a bit of an enjoyable beginning and the next few shows were decent too, this may have turned out better had it been 150+ minutes. Though not much happens during the mini shows that didn't stop me from taking too many screenshots which always help in following the story a bit better, recap two is the next post.