熱烈的中華飯店 · Chinese Cuisine Served Star Leo Style
| Network | Fuji TV |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | 8 Jan 2003 – 12 Mar 2003 |
| Episodes | 10 Episodes |
| Viewership | — |
| Fan score | 6.3 from 6 reviews |
Bound for Japan from Hong Kong, the luxury liner "Star Leo" is about to be the stage for a huge gourmet event for VIPs. Seven top chefs are scheduled to serve the finest dishes from the four great schools of Chinese cuisine: Peking, Canton, Szechuan, and Shanghai. The woman who has put this event together is Tachibana, a gifted businesswoman who studied Business Management in Hong Kong and a candidate for a top management position.
The seven Japanese chefs from the well-known Chinese restaurant "Heiheiro" on the Star Leo don't like the way Tachibana organizes the event, so they refuse to board the ship. The only people she now has left to cook for the VIPs is a group of amateurs including a worthless chef by the name of Sakota, who came late to work, a wanna-be chef named Nanami, and the person in charge of buying all of the foodstuffs for the restaurant, Noguchi. Before Tachibana finds out the "real" chefs aren't coming on board, her attitude towards the three is terrible. In fact, she even tells them "the seven chefs will do the cooking, so these three should be enough to get us by with the rest of the work."
Unaware of what has taken place, the VIPs await their feast. "As long as there are customers to be served, a 'pro' always sends them home satisfied no matter what" says one of the servers to Tachibana. She then decides that the show will go on. While all this is happening, one of the ship navigators has come down to the kitchen to pick a fight. Also two annoying passengers have come to Heiheiro to have a taste of its fabulous fried rice...
Now with a completely different attitude towards Sakota and the others, Tachibana tries to talk them into helping her out and gives them an inspiring speech, "everyone's got potential. If you realize that potential, then your life will move in the right direction. So let's get to work!" She is so convincing that they decide to join her.
There are only a few hours left before the feast is to begin, so the "worthless" chefs, begin making preparations
Synopsis: Fuji TV
| 10 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 0 | |
| 8 | 2 | |
| 7 | 2 | |
| 1–6 | 2 |
Eyeyore · 2010
It's almost like magic.People who knew nothing about Haute Couture Chinese dining or basic cooking suddenly whipping up Peking Duck,handmade noodles and shark fins. This show is entertaining and delicious if we all put aside our logic and reasoning.
clcs85 · 2005
Ninomiya is the only actor that keeps me continue watching this drama. Not a very lousy drama but it really doesn't have the driving force to make me watch it! Haa~~~ Besides, the cantonese that is spoken in this drama is really terrible, cannot understand at all.
Yayoi · 2004
Initially, I thought this was a show about food, which it still is, except that the underlying theme is about one's own dreams. The story kicks off with Tachibana (Suzuki Kyoka) who, due to her own pride, drove away the chefs of well-known Chinese restaurant, Heiheiro, all because she wanted the seven top chefs in Hong Kong to cook for the feast she had organized and wanted the chefs of the restaurant to be their "helpers". Unfortunately, due to a breakdown of communication and misunderstanding, she also ousted the seven top chefs she invited from the ship.
With no choice left, she had to put together a group of "amateurs" including Heiheiro's dishwasher who was left behind, Sakota (Shiina Kippei) and wanna-be chef, Nanami (Ninomiya Kazunari). From here onwards, the story progress telling us how these "chefs" overcome the odds to make dishes that won the hearts of the VIP guests. Along the way, each characters' pasts are slowly revealed and how they overcome their obstacles (ranging from friendship to love to family and even themselves). Everyone of them has a dream and we can somehow see this slowly emerging through their short stint on the ship.
The story is funny, and sometimes, inspirational and encouraging. Everyone of the cast did quite well: Kippei was hilarious as a mostly misunderstood man; Kazunari was kawaii as the wannabe; Mikihisa came across as a brute at first but still lovable in his own ways and even the "much-hated-and-annoying" Shiro did very well as a grim and proper "waiter-cum-manager" only to reveal later that he has another kind and kawaii side to him. ^_~
My only gripe about this show is that some parts are so exaggerated that it makes me cringe, and the soundtrack is pretty much similar throughout the whole show. Also, not sure if it's just me, but the cantonese they used at the start and end each episode sounds really weird. But overall, it's a really nice, light-hearted drama. The ending was funny and cute too, and like Ryaltheyre mentioned, it's a bit of a cliff hanger. But my guess is, it's up to the viewer to decide whether the end of the short stint onboard the ship is simply the end, or was it the start of new beginning. :)
