Youn’s Kitchen, Season 2 Episode 7 (Part 2)

The party have tried all the food Youn’s Kitchen has to offer. But it’s not over yet for it’s universally acknowledged that there will always be a second round of food and drinks at a get-together.

The desserts have already gone out to the get-together party. The kitchen has done all orders.

It’s past lunch-time. A group of four approach and see the four seater outdoor tables set to an idea Seo-Joon brought up earlier. Youn’s kitchen gets its fourth customers of the day.

Youn’s Kitchen’s Sixth Day Is A Very Long Day…

The four local friends get food recommendation from the cool girl of the get-together party. She likes the chicken gangjeong best but she deems all Youn’s Kitchen’s food are great. The four friends decide to follow the party’s lead: one dish for all. They order one Japchae, one chicken gangjeong, one vegetarian bibimbab, one galbi, and drinks.

The order is passed on to the Hall and then the kitchen. Boss Youn takes care of the Japchae and Yu-Mi prepares the chicken gangjeong. Boss Youn gives Yu-Mi the Japchae pan when the chicken gangjeong is ready to cook. The Japchae and chicken gangjeong are served to the fourth customers at the same time.

One of the four friends is very critical of the food. The other is a regular patron of the rival restaurant nearby — it’s the one on which Seo-Jin spied earlier — of which main chef is suddenly seen walking past them. “He is very good!” one says.

In the Hall, Seo-Jin is flustered by the lack of knives and driven mad for they’ve got no more glasses. “I’m going crazy too,” Seo-Joon says while washing cutlery. “It’s Friday the 13th at Youn’s Kitchen,” a caption reads.

 

 

Outside, a woman approaches and enters the Hall. She greets the get-together party people — they must have known each other for long. Seo-Jin takes her outside to an extra table by the ‘Youn’s Kitchen’ sign. Then her company come, a man and a boy.

“Do you know where we are?” She asks the boy. She then tells him that even though it is a Korean restaurant, it is hers. She is Nuria, the owner of the place. She let Youn’s Kitchen programme production crews borrowed the place for one and a half month — she also taught them how to operate her espresso machine — and is now on vacation. She likes how the place has turned out. “I won’t change a thing,” she says.

Seo-Joon hands them the menu cards. “These are cheap,” Nuria says as she reads the menu. The boy wants hotteok, which they will order later, and chicken gangjeong. Seo-Jin takes their order for one Japchae, one chicken gangjeong, galbi, and drinks.

The Hall gives the extra table the number eight and passes the order to the kitchen. Boss Youn and Yu-Mi do another japchae-chicken gangjeong simultaneous cooking.

Seo-Jin serves drinks to the fifth customers, Nuria and company. Seo-Joon sets their table. The man asks for chopsticks as well.

The kitchen sends the chicken gangjeong and japchae at the same time. “The main dish, please,” Seo-Joon reminds Yu-Mi. He then serves the dishes to Nuria and company as Yu-Mi works on the order consolidation sheet. The kitchen does galbi next.

Nuria and company like the chicken gangjeong although she is shocked by the heat at first. “It’s very delicious,” the boy says, “a 10 out of 10.” They also share the Japchae and marvel at the vegetables in it. The boy gives Nuria the remaining chicken gangjeong, which she eats with bare hands. “We should order more of these,” she says.

In the kitchen, Yu-Mi is grilling red onions, preparing to cook Galbi. In the Hall, the get-together party make more order for “dragon car,” the bespectacled chef says. He means ‘dak-gangjeong’, the chicken gangjeong — at the other end, one of the man asks to order more of it. The chefs favour kimchijeon. They will have four kimchijeon and four chicken gangjeong.

While Seo-Jin is taking their order, the cool girl discusses him with the boss. “He is attractive,” she says. Boss agrees, especially on the dimples when he smiles.

But Seo-Jin isn’t smiling when he passes the order to Yu-Mi in the kitchen. “We haven’t got enough for these,” she says. She works on new order consolidation. She tells Boss Youn to make new kimchijeon batter and Seo-Joon to help with the chicken. She then directs Boss Youn to continue with Galbi. (“Jeong Yu-Mi, THE organising king,” a caption says from ‘Jeong Yu-Mi THE Jeong-Ri-Wang’).

Two Galbi are ready. Seo-Jin brings one to the four friends and Seo-Joon brings the other to Nuria and company. They like the galbi. “It’s soft,” the food critic friend says, “because the meat is good.”

At Nuria’s table, after sharing the galbi. The father asks the boy about his girlfriend. Apparently they broke up. “You don’t have one?” Dad asks. The boy shakes his head. “Are you planning to stay single?” Dad prods. The boy just laughs.

 

In the kitchen, Boss Youn and Yu-Mi will cook four portions of kimchijeon at once, five pieces on Yu-Mi’s pan and three on Boss Youn’s. Four kimchijeon are ready. Yu-Mi goes to Seo-Jin, who is washing dishes behind the counter, to tell him to serve them. “I’ll do the dishwashing,” she says.

The bespectacled chef sees Yu-Mi and says to his friend, “she is pretty.” And for her, he thinks he can abandon the restaurant and go to Korea. The boss doesn’t look happy and gives him a hard stare. “You are no longer young so you don’t understand it,” the chef says. And for that remarks, Boss says, “it’s eight, not four, boxes of shrimp you will work on.”

Seo-Jin serves the kimchijeon. The party practice ‘delicious’ in Korean. A young woman asks Seo-Jin for ‘hello’ in Korean. “It’s ‘anyeong’,” he says. They then get up for a toast for round two of meal. “For more moments like this,” one of them says.

 

 

Boss Youn and Yu-Mi prepare bibimbab. and Seo-Jin brings it to the fourth customers, the Garachico friends. He tells them how to enjoy it, “mix it together.”

The four friends share it until the bowl is empty. The food critic friend thinks it’s good. Another expresses liking the soy sauce. “It’s not too sweet,” he says.

 

In the kitchen, Boss Youn and Yu-Mi are getting ready for cooking chicken gangjeong. Boss Youn then hears Korean words from the Hall. She goes to the Hall.

The bearded chef says the food is really good. Boss Youn humbly says he is the real chef, not her. “You are a true chef,” he says, “you are better than me.” She asks if the food is too spicy. “We like spicy food,” he says. They use spicy ingredients in their food as well.

Boss Youn goes out to greet Nuria. “I’m the chef,” she says. The cool girl of the get-together party points at Youn’s Kitchen sign. “Yes, that’s me,” Boss Youn says. Another young woman tells Boss Youn, as requested by the boy’s Dad, that the boy likes the food a lot.

The get-together party are outside. The bespectacled chef tells Seo-Jin, who’s picking up dirty plates off the tables, to join them for a picture. Yu-Mi joins them as well. Once the photo group is done, they go back inside. The kitchen goes on cooking chicken gangjeong, which are then served and shared among the party.

 

At Nuria’s table, the boy is asking for dessert. Seo-Joon takes the order. “Just one hotteok?” He asks. They decide to have two. They then talk about the boy’s gloves. Nuria is getting him new ones. “I expect a lot of love from you for that,” she says. The boy gives her a hug.

The kitchen gets the Hotteok ready. Seo-Joon serves them to Nuria’s table. They all like it.

 

In the Hall, one of the party members asks for two Hotteok. Seo-Jin tells Yu-Mi about the new order. At the moment, they still have to meet outdoor table’s order for one bulgogi bibimbab and one kimchi fried rice, and the restaurant party’s two hotteok. “Tell them to stop eating. It’s unhealthy to eat too much,” Boss Youn says to Seo-Jin. Or, “play the national anthem,” she says. She recalls they used to go out when national anthem was played.

In the Hall, one of the third group asks Seo-Jin for another Hotteok, which makes the party order for three Hotteok. “Not two hotteok, make three!” He tells Yu-Mi about it. “Yes, we know,” Bos Youn says while Yu-Mi is grilling red onions.

 

The six customers, who have been occupying the outdoor table for some time, are a group of friends of the bar owner who came to Youn’s Kitchen a couple of days ago. While they are sitting here, they meet people they know by chance continually. One of them asks about the food. “It’s delicious,” a woman says. Some join them on their table.

It’s normal in Garachico to bump into friends and acquaintances as people go about their daily life, and share space and time with them.

In the kitchen, Boss Youn shares her observation on the locals. The locals don’t do things in rush like they do. “They talk when they meet, drink wine and enjoy the moment…” her words are cut as Yu-Mi gets into the kitchen and tells her they should make Hotteok quickly — and thus, perhaps, proves her point. “So they’ll leave?” Boss Youn asks. Yu-Mi lets out a chuckle.

They decide to make bigger Hotteok. “So they are full and then leave,” Boss Youn says. Yu-Mi agrees with the plan. With that strategy, they can say they run out of food, if the customers ask for more. Yu-Mi also runs out of Hotteok plates so she goes out to pick a dirty one and washes it in a hurry.

As Yu-Mi brings the cleaned plates towards the stove she stops for a moment and tilts her head. “I hear voices,” she says. She keeps hearing Seo-Jin calling ‘Yu-Mi-ya!’ or Seo-Joon calling ‘Noona!’. The owner of those voices are currently in the Hall doing their jobs silently. Once the hotteok are ready, Seo-Jin serves them silently as well.

The get-together party talk about happiness. Its definition varies for each one of them. For the bearded chef, it’s waking up in the morning without worry. It’s not about having a smooth living, like a linear line. “It’s impossible to have that kind of life working in restaurant kitchen,” he says. The main chef agrees with him. “It’s having people around me,” he says, “that’s happiness.”

A young woman shares her aspiration, “to remove my greed.” The main chef admits it’s a difficult task. Her definition of happiness isn’t about material gain. “It’s those around you,” she says. The young woman agrees that she couldn’t bare the loneliness without people around her. The main chef shares her having experienced such loneliness, which had prompted her to cherish people around her and the moments she spends with them.

 

 

Outside, Nuria’s group are leaving. In the Hall, the party and Youn’s Kitchen’s crews have another photo session before they leave. They express gratitude to each other. “I am glad you enjoyed our meal,” Boss Youn says. The restaurant owner gives her a thumb up.

As they leave the restaurant as Seo-Jin closes the Hall door. Youn’s Kitchen’s sixth day is over.

The Afterhour

“Boss, you’ve worked hard today,” Seo-Jin says to Boss Youn, who’s eating leftover vegetables. “We made €648 today,” Seo-Joon says. Yu-Mi cheers. “Let’s close tomorrow,” Boss Youn says. It’s three days worth of earnings.

Seo-Jin tells Boss Youn he will not repeat what happened today. He has made a mistake in thinking that he is managing a restaurant for real. He has overestimated himself and been overconfident.

“How much food have we sold today?” Boss Youn asks. For the group party, they served seven kimchijeon, seven chicken gangjeong, three japchae, three galbi, three bibimbab, three kimchi fried rice, and seven hotteok. Adding the other customers’ orders, they sold 60 dishes of food today.

Seo-Joon remarks the countless number of forks and knives they had to wash today. Seo-Jin applauds him as well, “he’s got experience in this so he did well.” Recalling the day’s happenings, Seo-Joon has given great ideas in improving their order processes and anticipating the unexpected.

All in all, they all have done well in meeting the day’s demand. Considering that they only have two fires and that they are not professionals, the bearded chef’s praise for the food rings true. “Amazing,” Boss Youn quotes him. Since they have had a good day, “let’s close on Sunday, pack on Monday, leave by Tuesday,” she plans to run away. Yu-Mi silently nods her head in agreement.

Seo-Jin, however, is worried about his oily face. He puts on oil-absorbing tissues and recounts the moment the restaurant party left. When one of the ladies bid goodbye by touching her cheek on his, he dreaded his oily cheek would be sticky. “What to do?” he had frantically thought but then the lady went for the other cheek.

Seo-Jin expresses regrets that they couldn’t tend fully to the other customers because they concentrated on the get-together party.

 

The sun is setting. Seo-Joon sits on the step of the Hall door, looking at passers-by and sighing. Yu-Mi notices a massage parlour in the neighbourhood, clearly desperate for a massage.

In the Hall, Boss Youn observes the plates and glasses left by the party. “They really ate a lot,” she comments. She goes outside and sees the ones on Nuria’s table, observing that they ate all. “I am grateful,” Boss Youn says. She sits on one of the chair, Seo-Joon sets another so she can rest her legs on it.

“You have really worked very hard today,” Seo-Joon says. Boss Youn just says that she hadn’t been the only one working hard today. They all had.

Yu-Mi has joined them outside. Boss Youn remarks that the weather is nice outside yet she couldn’t enjoy it for she had been in the kitchen all day. “I’m a grandma who’s lost in space,” she says. Seo-Jin goes out and hands money to Boss Youn. “Please, give it to the kids,” he says. She gives Seo-Joon and Yu-Mi the notes.

As they are admiring the neighbourhood ambience, Yu-Mi asks Seo-Jin where they’ll go for dinner. “A place that serves pasta, hamburger, those kind of food,” he says. They are going out for dinner.

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