The Culinary Nation Wars turn into full-blown chaos this week. For starters: a pressure cooker quest, an explosion of rice puffs, a dramatic road trip, a near-assassination, and a cooking contest where chili powder starts more trouble than a royal scandal. In short: the show serves food porn with a side of political backstabbing. Delicious and dangerous — my favorite combo.
TL;DR Pointers
- Pressure-Cooker Road Trip: The heroes go on a road trip to find a legendary craftsman to build a pressure cooker for the final round of the cooking competition, facing a few challenges along the way.
- Betrayal and Honor: Prince Jesan hires assassins to sabotage the heroes, but a rival cook, Bailong, surprisingly thwarts the plan, revealing an honorable side.
- Stolen Chili Powder: The first round of the cooking contest is plagued by the theft of chili powder, leading to a tense confrontation and a tie.
- Sabotage Averted: A cook is pressured to sabotage the Joseon team’s Peking duck in the second round, but his conscience prevails, and the dish is saved by another team member.
- Cliffhanger Ending: The episode concludes on a suspenseful note, leaving the winner of the second round a mystery.
The pressure-cooker road trip (yes, really)
First, the big deal: the final soup round needs samgyetang, which requires a pressure cooker. Problem: Joseon has no such thing. Solution: find Jang Chun-saeng, a cranky craftsman and nephew of the legendary inventor Jang Yeong–shil. Ji-young leads the charge. Heon wants to come, but state business keeps him in the palace. So Seong-jae tags along instead — which, predictably, makes Heon jealous. Classic.
They reach Chun-saeng, survive a rice-puff blast, and slowly win him over. He’s skeptical because his uncle was cast aside by the powers that be. Ji-young bribes the guy emotionally: a hometown taste, plus a promise that Jang Yeong–shil won’t be forgotten. Chun-saeng caves and agrees to build the cooker. Victory — but not without a wrist injury, a slipped lid, and the promise that the lid will reach the palace before round three. Fingers crossed.
Assassins, secrets, and surprising honor
Meanwhile, palace gossip explodes. Heon’s absence looks suspicious. Prince Jesan seizes the moment and hires assassins to take out Ji-young and wreck the contest. Enter Bailong, the Ming cook who, shockingly, has a code of honor. He intercepts the plan and quietly alerts Heon’s allies. That’s right — the mustache-twirling antagonist shows scruples. Unexpected, but welcome.
Ji-young and crew fight off the ambush. Chun-saeng defends the group with clever traps and iron balls. Seong-jae brings reinforcements. Ji-young injures her wrist in the escape. Chaos audited. Drama approved.
Round one: where chili powder becomes a crime scene
Competition time. The task: invent a never-seen-before meat dish. Team Joseon plans a spicy braised short rib. But their gochu (chili powder) vanishes. Forced on the spot, Ji-young switches to a rice-wine beef bourguignon. The judges are impressed. Yu Kun, unsurprisingly, gripes this is just galbijim in disguise.
Across the aisle, Ming’s Ya Feixiu dazzles with Kung Pao chicken seasoned in layu — essentially chili oil. Ji-young recognizes their missing gochu in Ming’s dish. Confrontation follows. Bailong is embarrassed by Ya Feixiu’s theft and offers to concede. Ya Feixiu defends herself: she claims she got the chilis legitimately from the superintendent — a transaction involving Prince Jesan and a swap for Sichuan pepper. Jesan insists he tossed the unfamiliar gochu for the royal health. Fishy.
Heon calls for the first round to be annulled. After yelling, drama, and stubborn pride, both sides agree to call it a tie. Heon suggests that if the next two rounds tie as well, Ming takes the win. That’s a raw deal for Joseon, but fair enough — if you like cliffhangers and drama.
Round two: the duck, the cut, and sliced pride
Round two is a cuisine swap: Joseon must recreate Chinese specialties. Ji-young chooses Peking duck. Slicing the duck properly is make-or-break. She delegates the blade work to Maeng, their senior cook. But Mok-ju, lurking in the shadows, pressures Maeng to sabotage the dish — threats against his family included. In a gross dramatization of cowardly scheming, Maeng purposely slices his hand. Except he doesn’t. His conscience wins. He’d already taught Gil-geum the basics. Gil-geum steps in, does a great job, and Ji-young finishes the dish.
Bailong’s Ming entry is beautiful: golden lotus leaf wraps with a touch of Joseon temple-soup nostalgia. His backstory is sweet: he wandered into Joseon broken, learned from temple cooks, and fell in love with the cuisine. It’s touching. But Ji-young’s duck rolls hit everyone right in the soul — including Yu Kun, who switches from smug judge to emotional food-baby in one bite. The judges are stunned. The winner? We stop here and wait for next week. Shock. Anger. Cliffhanger.
Visuals, pacing, and the food scenes
Let’s be honest: this episode knows what it is. It gives you long, lingering shots of steaming soup, glistening duck skin, and close-ups that make you question life choices (should I have eaten before watching? yes). The cooking sequences are the show’s heart. They’re cinematic, detailed, and genuinely mouthwatering. The political scenes pump tension into the plot, though sometimes they feel like filler competing with the kitchen drama.
My take (plain and blunt)
I loved the food sequences. They’re the reason I keep coming back. Ji-young is a strong, clever lead who owns every scene she’s in. Heon’s jealousy subplot is annoying but adds human stakes. Bailong being honorable? Delightful twist. Prince Jesan is finally showing his claws — about time. Mok-ju, though… she’s being wasted. Sending henchmen and ordering petty sabotage is one thing, but the show could do so much more with her. Give her motive depth. Give us political chess, not cheap bullying.
The Ming arc is feeling stretched. I’m all for cultural exchange and rival cooks, but the show sometimes treats Ming as a side quest that distracts from the central Joseon stakes. If they tighten up the Ming storyline, the drama can focus on the core: Ji-young vs. the system.
Also: the writers love cliffhangers. Fine. But balance cliffhangers with satisfying beats. Don’t leave us starving after a stellar duck scene.
Extra observations & small spoilers to chew on
- Ji-young’s injury is dramatic but believable. It raises stakes for the final round.
- The pressure-cooker subplot adds a fun historical twist. It’s gear vs. tradition, and Ji-young straddles both worlds.
- Bailong’s loyalty flips the trope of cartoon-villain foreigners on its head. Good writing choice.
- Prince Jesan’s moves are escalating fast. Expect him to be more than a sandbox villain soon.
- Maeng’s conscience saved the day. That quiet patriotism is a welcome dose of integrity.
Final verdict — Bon Appetit Your Majesty: Episodes 7–8
This pair of episodes delivers big food drama, a good dose of palace scheming, and some surprisingly touching character beats. The visuals and cooking scenes are top-tier. The political subplot is juicy but occasionally uneven. Overall: still a must-watch for food-drama fans — with a few pacing fixes needed.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)
Reason: Gorgeous food cinematography, strong lead, and solid twists. Minus one star for uneven subplot handling and a couple of contrived moments.
