A Taste of Love
A 2000 TVBI Production
| Cast of Characters: | |
| Lawrence Ng Kai Wah | Flora Chan Wai Shan |
| Lam Fung | Miriam Yeung Chin Wah |
| Ma Dak Chung | Joyce Tang Li Ming |
Number of Episodes: 25
Theme Song by Miriam Yeung
Rating: Good
Summary:
From the title you could tell this is another cooking series production. This series is about two great cooks played by Lawrence Ng Kai Wah as Ma Yau and Ma Dak Chung as Lung Chi Sung. They are both colleagues and rivals. Lung Chi Sung has mastered his cooking skills to perfection and Ma Yau's strong point is his imagination and creativity with receipes. Due to his past relationship with his girlfriend played by Tang Li Ming, Ma Yau has developed a serious unfriendly attitude at the start. Qiu Fa Chi or Joyce, Flora Chan Wai Shan's character, tries to recruit Ma Yau to be the head chef for her restaurant Bak Lee Sin. After a few tries, Ma Yau finally accepts Joyce's offer because Ma Yau owes Joyce's father a favor from long ago. Bak Lee Sin was orginally owned by Joyce's father who passed away and left 51 percent ownership to her and the other 49 percent to his son Gong Seung Yau nicknamed Shrimp Head, played by a new star Lam Fung. Because Joyce's father kept his affair with Joyce's mother a secret, Shrimp Head and his family and friends don't know that Joyce is related to them. Instead, Joyce had lied to them that Shrimp Head's father had owed her money and now she owns 51 percent of Bak Lee Sin. The main conflict in the series occurs between the controversial relationship between Lung Chi Sung, Ma Yau, and So May or Sue. Sue was Ma Yau's girlfriend from long ago. They were going to get married when they broke up over a mistaken conflict. When Sue, now Lung Chi Sung's girlfriend, learns that the reason why she broke up with Ma Yau was because of just a little misunderstanding, she breaks up with Lung Chi Sung and wants to get back together with Ma Yau. Lung Chi Sung who was good natured changed his way after this incident. But Sue also runs into problems because Ma Yau had already fallen in love with Joyce. On the more pleasant side, Shrimp Head also starts a relationship with Miriam Yeung as Candy, a content girl who's goal in life is to come out with her own personal music album. Shrimp Head who started off taking everything unseriously, later became a great chef after studying under Ma Yau and his master.
An interesting note, the names of the characters in this series are mostly based on food. This series provides viewers with some in depth cooking and comedy. The ending, a happy one, wasn't too bad. One of the only things that I found disturbing was when Ma Yau worked at Bak Lee Sin. He didn't seem to have helped the restaurant make a big fortune. There wasn't lines of people waiting at the restaurant to try his cooking. But instead, there were lines of people waiting for him when he sold soup on the streets. Like a lot of series about food, some things are hard to believe. Miriam Yeung and Lam Fung for me, seemed to have stole the show away from the other main characters. Especially the constant playing of Miriam's theme song. To me, this was a pretty good series. People who enjoyed series such as Food of Love would find this good. At first by hearing the cast members, I expected this show to be pretty boring. But it ended up surprising me. I thought everyone played pretty good at their individual roles, even Lawrence Ng who I don't normally give very good comments about. The biggest comment I would like to make is regarding the well done parts by Ma Dak Chung and Lam Fung. Ma Dak Chung has good acting skills, style, and looks. I think TVB should give him a chance to star as a main character. Now Lam Fung. For me, I think Lam Fung will be a superstar for TVB in the future. I had seen him in a very tiny role in Incurable Traits as a soldier. He has youth and great potential. He always reminded me of Louis Koo Tin Lok and that's not just because of his tan. With the great declining in abled main characters in TVB and not many rising actors, I believe Lam Fung will eventually be a well known name. In his next production he will be in for a challenge, as he gets a chance to participate in a production with Louis Koo in A Step Into The Past.
Overall Production
7 and 1/2 Dragonballs