[ Episode 23 ]
You are the one who abandoned me?
Are you my mom?
No.
No, I'm not.
A mom doesn't abandon her child.
I'm not your mom.
I...
don't know what to do...
because I never had a mom.
No.
I'm not.
No, no.
I'm not your mom.
Why are you crying?
It's not like you did anything right.
I'm crying because I didn't do anything right.
I'm crying because I only did terrible things.
I'm sorry...
that you found out.
Don't ever come here again.
I'm...
used to not having a mom.
And it's comfortable for me.
You can go.
I...
don't remember anything.
While we were eating black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork together at a Chinese restaurant,
I was abandoned.
All I know is what I heard at the police station.
Your face...
and the fact that I had a mom is completely erased from my memory.
Whenever I eat black bean noodles since then,
I never eat with sweet and sour pork. No...
I can't eat them together.
- Hey, Chil Seong. - Don't speak.
Just listen to my story.
You know what?
I couldn't even be adopted.
I couldn't join the army because I was an orphan.
I was a gangster so...
I couldn't go to college either but
I have brothers who are my family.
I have a nice car.
This Chinese restaurant is mine and this building is mine, too.
I'm successful.
I lived a very good life.
Yup.
The reason I came here is
to look at you straight in the eyes
and wanted to tell you.
Just like you...
I wanted to say I don't have any regrets nor bitterness.
And just like you...
I don't expect anything from you.
Can I ask you something?
Okay.
Why did you abandoned me at the Chinese restaurant?
My favorite...
food is Chinese food.
Wow.
Till the end...
You were so selfish to the end.
You abandoned your child
at your favorite restaurant
and finished eating your favorite food
and left your child behind?
The owner of the restaurant
seemed like a nice man.
So, if I left you there...
I didn't think you'd go hungry.
Then, you should've paid before you go.
You should've paid before leaving your child behind!
You made your kid a thief.
I had to go to the police station and be treated like a bastard?
Don't worry.
I didn't...
come and stay near you
to be a burden.
It was only 2,000 won.
2,000 won.
Damn it! It was only 2,000 won!
Was it that big of a deal to spend 2,000 won when you were abandoning your child?
While abandoning your kid, spending 2,000 won was the least you could've done. 2,000 won!
Eat black bean noodles.
Eat sweet and sour pork, too.
Eat whatever you want to eat.
I'll buy you everything.
[ 1 million won ]
Thank you for your work.
- Oppa! - Sae Woo!
This is a dream, right? A dream.
A good dream.
Dream it is. This is a good dream.
- Hey, Seol Ja. - Huh?
- Thank you very much. - Yes, Chef.
Thank you for remaining with us.
- Hey, Maeng Dal, thank you. - Oh, okay.
Here, everyone!
Our dishwasher. A waitress now, not a dishwasher anymore.
Jung Hye, thank you so much.
Yes, Chef.
I love you.
Dong Sik and Gang Ho. Hey, good job. Love you guys.
Love you, guys!
Chi Soo and Yi Man hyung, thank you so much.
I really thank you.
Let's serve and do our job right,
so that 100 hotel customers
will become our regular customers.
- Is that understood? - Yes, Chef!
If you're changing the location to Hungry Wok,
then I'll give you an offer you can't turn down.
Excuse me?
If you reserved the Hungry Wok for 18,000 won per person,
then I'll offer you the same price for the 70,000 won
course meal that you got before.
You'll enjoy 70,000 won meal with only 18,000 won.
It's a prime location and great atmosphere for a large meeting.
We'll provide high-quality service.
It's so dark.
Damn it.
[ Light and Shadow, Hungry Wok ]
Oh, are you working on the menu already, Chef?
Aren't you tired?
Go home.
Wow, that looks delicious already.
What do you think I'll make?
Surgeons and nurses, a total of 100 people.
What do you think they'll like?
- Bring some cold rice. - Yes, Chef.
Put it in.
Are you making fried rice?
I'm thinking.
How about black bean noodles along with sweet and sour pork?
They always met at the hotel, so I'm sure they never had that.
- Black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork? - Yeah.
Black bean noodles are so common and ordinary, but
excellent black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork...
You always crave them.
Here.
Make sure it's well seasoned.
Salt.
Put some black pepper.
Black pepper.
Wok, ladle, wok, ladle, wok, ladle.
Make sure all the moisture evaporates.
Put it on the plate.
Okay, Chef.
You look good because you eat well.
There are so many tasty things because the chef is nearby.
Should I try making fried rice sushi
with crab meat on top?
One more.
So delicious.
Eat and leave.
I'll clean this up.
Are you planning to sleep here again?
I'm staying with Hyung upstairs.
Do you live there?
Yeah.
Did you move in?
I'm thinking of moving in.
Why do you like Hyung more than me?
Can't compare.
You said you like us equally.
You said you like Hyung as much as me.
If you say you like us equally, then that means you compared us.
Hyung is hyung and Sae Woo is Sae Woo.
Should I make black bean noodles, huh?
You crave noodles on a special day, right?
Yes, this is Hungry Wok.
I called Hwa Ryong Jum Jung to cancel the reservation.
But Chef Wang offered us the meal we've always enjoyed
at the price of 18,000 won.
I'm so sorry for changing mind back and forth.
But we'll cancel the reservation with you
and stick with our original plan at the hotel.
- I'm sorry. - Wait a minute, ma'am, please.
Since you know well the dishes you've always had at the hotel,
the course meal we'll serve you at the price of 18,000 won...
I'll preview it for you.
Give us a chance.
You can come and try first...
and it's not too late to cancel later, right?
I ask you.
Hungry Wok offered us a sample tasting in advance.
I couldn't decline their offer when he went to that extent.
Would it be possible to taste the samples in advance...
- and decide? - Then we'll...
also let you have a sample tasting.
Please tell us the dishes you'd want to taste.
Honestly, even though it's ordinary,
I'd like to taste the most delicious black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork.
We don't make black bean noodles here.
Hungry Wok says they would.
Black bean noodles.
We'll make it for you, too, ma'am.
- Chef! - Yes.
You said you'd never make common dishes like black bean noodles.
Hwa Ryong Jum Jung also offered to give us sample tasting of black bean noodles and sweet sour pork.
The reason why we didn't serve black bean noodles is
we were gracious to small Chinese restaurants around the neighborhoods.
From now on, we'll completely take over
even one bowl of black bean noodles.
Poong, that bastard.
I was going to let him make a living selling black bean noodles.
And he does this.
Hyungnim.
Seeing that you're making black bean noodles you said you'd never make.
You must feel quite threatened.
If you lose them, you feel like you'd lose them all, right?
Hey...
be careful what you say.
Are you...
a thug?
You're a thief.
How dare you take away group guest reservations this way?
Guests all have legs. I never took them away.
They used their legs to come to me.
I'll show you the essence of the black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork.
Tell me how you'd like to compete.
Right now, right here.
Yes, I agree. Right now, right here.
I requested the VIP to come.
Go and get black bean sauce now.
Hyungnim, where are you? I have something urgent to report.
Where are you?
What's so urgent?
You could've told me at the office.
You asked me to look into the hotel's source of funds.
The Giant Hotel's source of funds are completely tied up.
They accepted all the reservations for the banquet halls and now canceling them.
- Why? - They couldn't pay the remodeling fee of 500 million won.
The contractors have been protesting for days at the banquet hall.
They are barely surviving.
Where is the fund tied up?
You know the company that recently went belly up?
That belonged to CEO Yong.
So...
to take care of illegal investment and the bankruptcy
he's working with Bi Dak, right?
But...
I think they found a way to make money.
Can't be our...
Hyungnim.
Bi Dak is going to all of ours and taking them away.
He's trying to stop our cash flow and
when we can't pay off the loans...
He's trying to take over my building.
Bastards.
Hyungnim, should we destroy the hotel's business?
No, no.
- I won't do that. - What?
Then what?
We'll...
take over that hotel.
They tried to take over my seven story building.
Fine. I'll take over your...
21 story building.
According to the order of how the customers would be served, we'll start with sweet and sour pork.
Hungry Wok uses the pork tenderloin
to make the texture chewy like sweet sticky rice.
Hwa Ryong Jum Jung uses pork sirloin
to make burgundy sirloin sweet and sour pork.
The key to this dish is the crispiness.
Using a knife, we cut to bring out the crispiness.
The crispiness of sweet and sour pork is not from the meat but the batter.
Mix water and egg white like fresh cream,
the batter of tenderloin becomes very crispy.
If you use water, you can only make common sweet and sour pork.
You have to use dry powder, not water,
to bring out the grain of sirloin meat from frying.
If you use the dry powder, the meat becomes limp and damp.
Fry initially to evaporate all the moisture, then fry the second time to keep sweet and sour pork crispy.
Because the sirloin only has the powder
it's crispy enough with just frying it once.
If the palate tastes the sauce first,
you could lose the flavor of the meat.
The perfect amount of the sauce will be
added in the wok by a chef.
The hard texture vegetables
that could destroy the crispiness of the meat is not used at all.
If you add the sauce in advance like that,
the meal will become damp within a minute.
The sauce has to be scooped up right before serving
with the meat on top to keep it crispy.
Service!
Even if we mix the sauce in advance,
because the egg white expanded the batter,
it absorbs the sauce slowly.
As time passes by,
it becomes chewier, not damp.
Service.
This is by far the most crispy and delicious one I've ever tasted.
I thought it'd be bland because it didn't have any vegetables.
But the crispiness remains in your mouth and
it's buttery,
sweet, and refreshing.
This is a special sweet and sour pork that I've never tasted before.
Both of you focused on bringing out the crispiness
but the sweet and sour pork from the Hungry Wok was
crispy in the beginning, and then
the inside texture is chewy.
As I chew more, I taste the juicy meat
and it's very sweet.
I thought it'd be damp because you added the sauce in advance
but it wasn't. It absorbed the sauce slowly
so the meat is very chewy.
This is the chewiest sweet and sour pork
I've ever tasted.
Then, which one did you like better?
One is crispy.
And the other is chewy.
Next, we'll start black bean noodles.
[ Dan Sae Woo ]
Black bean noodles from Hwa Ryong Jum Jung
is salmon steak black bean noodles.
The Hungry Wok will make eight colored black bean noodles.
I'll make the noodles with the fish steak.
You'll use salmon to make the noodles?
I think it'll be fishy.
There's a reason why we don't add fish to the dish, right?
The most important ingredient is the onions in the noodles.
And salmon goes best with the onions.
The onions will take care of the fishiness
and helps with digestion.
So, worry about yours.
We eat black bean noodles on happy occasions, so they have to look appealing.
So, your key is the colorful noodles?
It looks like fish cake.
Black bean noodles should be what it should be.
We use vegetable oil these days, but
originally the black bean noodles are made with pork fat.
People salivate from a far distance even just smelling this.
This fat flakes will complete my black bean noodles' richness.
When you add soft tofu to the black bean sauce,
it will eliminate the fishiness from the salmon and make it softer.
Tofu?
Black bean noodles has to be like black bean noodles.
After using onions and cabbages to bring out the sweetness
add cornstarch to make the sauce and noodles inseparable.
As if they're saying, "We don't want to be separated."
This is for the doctors and nurses
who have to take vitamin D and calcium because
they can't leave the hospital due to surgeries.
This is healthy black bean noodles.
Service!
Oily, sweet, salty, and buttery.
This is the closest to the original black bean noodles.
Service.
Please eat salmon steak with the noodles.
This is soft and simple black bean noodles as you would expect from a hotel.
It's a high quality taste.
How can...
the meat and the vegetables stick to the noodles
and not separate?
I thought it'd be too oily because of pork fat,
but I don't smell any pork.
It's so amazingly rich.
Did you make up your mind?
Both of you...
made me happy making such delicious dishes.
For the sweet and sour pork, between Hwa Ryong Jum Jung and Hungry Wok...
I couldn't decide which is better.
Both...
were excellent.
And the black bean noodles?
Hwa Ryong Jum Jung's dish was
made for your regular customers with care for our health.
So I thank you for the noodles.
But the Hungry Wok's black bean noodles took me
back to my childhood when I used to smell the deliciousness
whenever I passed by a Chinese restaurant.
I got the taste of true black bean noodles
as it should.
I want to share your black bean noodles
with our 100 members.
Thank you so much, ma'am.
I'll see you next week at the Hungry Wok.
♫ It's in my veins, it rushes to heart. ♫
Chef Wang.
I need to talk to you.
♫ Let me be who I am. ♫
I can't acknowledge you.
♫ Who never walk away ♫
I didn't take away your customer,
but the customer chose my dishes.
I never imagined
anything like this would happen in this kitchen, Chef.
This is the beginning.
For me at least.
♫ by your side and always ♫
♫ I'll take your pain. ♫
♫ Let it out through your eyes. ♫
♫ Let it be whatever, I don't care what I'm going through in life ♫
♫ Here we are, all the way ♫
♫ carry on brand new life, all the way ♫
- No joke? - Wow.