(Episode 23)
Are you the one who abandoned me?
Are you my mother?
No.
No, I'm not.
How can you call someone who abandoned their kid a mother?
I'm not your mother.
I...
never had a mother,
so I'm not sure what to do.
No. I'm not your mother.
No.
I'm not your mother.
Here.
Why are you crying?
You didn't do anything right.
I'm crying because I didn't do anything right.
I'm crying because all I did was wrong.
I'm sorry you found out.
Don't ever come here again.
I'm...
used to not having a mother.
And it's more comfortable that way.
Let's go.
I...
don't remember anything.
I know I was abandoned in a Chinese restaurant...
while eating jajangmyeon...
and sweet and sour pork.
Because I heard it from the police.
I don't remember your face...
or the fact that I had...
a mother.
Since then, whenever I have jajangmyeon,
I never have sweet and sour pork with it. No,
I can't eat them together.
- Chil Seong. - Don't talk.
Just listen to me.
You know what?
I couldn't even become a cavalry.
I couldn't join the army because I was an orphan.
I also couldn't go to college because I was a gangster. But...
I have my guys that are like family.
I also have a nice car.
The Chinese restaurant is mine.
So is this building.
I'm successful. I'm living a good life.
(Light and Shadow Loans)
I came here...
to look you in the face...
and tell you this.
I want to tell you that...
I have no hatred nor regrets like you.
Like you,
there is nothing I want from you.
Can I ask you something?
Yes.
Why did you abandon me at a Chinese restaurant?
I...
loved Chinese food the most.
Goodness.
You were...
You were selfish until the very end.
You went to your favorite restaurant to abandon your child.
You finished your favorite jajangmyeon...
and abandoned your kid.
The owner of the restaurant...
looked like a good guy.
So I thought, if I left you there,
at least you wouldn't starve.
Then you should've at least paid.
If you were leaving your kid behind, you should've at least paid!
You made your kid a thief...
and got him sent to the police and get ridiculed!
Don't worry.
I...
didn't linger around to make you feel uncomfortable.
It was two dollars.
Two dollars.
Only two freaking dollars!
You didn't want to spend two dollars...
when you abandoned your kid.
You should've spent...
that two freaking dollars when you abandoned your child.
Eat jajangmyeon. Eat sweet and sour pork.
Eat everything you want.
I'll buy.
(1,000 dollars)
Good work.
- Geok Jeong. - Sae Woo.
This is a dream, isn't it?
A nice dream.
It's a dream, a good dream.
Seol Ja.
- Yes? - Thank you.
Yes, chef.
I love you. Thanks for staying.
- Maeng Dal. Thank you. - Sure.
- Okay. - Thank you.
Yes. Everyone. Dishwasher.
Now you're a server, not a dishwasher.
Jeong Hae, thank you so much.
Yes, chef.
I love you.
Dong Sik and Gang Ho. Good work. I love you.
I love you.
Chi Su and I Man. Thank you so much.
Thanks so much.
Let's serve the customers well and make 100 hotel customers...
to our customers no matter what.
Do you understand?
- Yes, chef! - Yes, chef!
if you're thinking about going to Hungry Wok,
we'll make you an irresistible offer.
- Pardon? - If they're charging you...
18 dollars per person,
we'll let you have...
our 70-dollar course meal...
for 18 dollars.
You'll get to enjoy a 70-dollar meal for 18 dollars.
We'll provide you with a better venue, atmosphere,
and service, ma'am.
It's so dark.
Darn it.
(Hungry Wok)
Are you coming up with a menu already, chef?
Aren't you tired?
Go home.
It already looks good.
You don't know what I'm making though.
There will be about 100 surgeons and nurses.
What will they like?
- Bring the cold rice. - Yes, chef.
Put it in.
Are you making fried rice?
I'm thinking.
How about jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork?
They always had the meeting at the hotel every month,
so they probably didn't have jajangmyeon.
Jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork?
Jajangmyeon is the most common food,
but if it's really good, you want to have it...
all the time.
Here.
Make sure it gets seasoned well.
Salt.
- Pepper too. - Pepper.
Wok, ladle, wok, ladle, wok, ladle...
Get rid of all the moisture.
Put it on a plate.
Okay, chef.
It's nice to see you eat so well these days.
Since I have a chef beside me, there's so much good food to eat.
Here.
Should I make fried rice into sushi...
and place red crab on top?
One more.
It's good.
Go after you finish.
I'll clean this up.
Are you going to sleep here again?
I'm staying with Chil Seong upstairs.
Do you live there?
Yes.
Did you move in with him?
I'm thinking about it.
What do you like about Chil Seong to choose him over me?
It's incomparable.
You said you like us equally.
You said you like him just as much as you like him.
If you like us equally, that means you compared us.
He's Chil Seong, and you're you.
Should I make jajangmyeon?
People crave noodles when it's a good day.
This is Hungry Wok.
I called Finishing Touch to cancel our reservation,
and Master Wang offered to cook our usual menu...
for 18 dollars.
I'm sorry for going back and forth.
I'll have to cancel with you and go to the hotel instead.
- I'm sorry. - Wait, hold on. Ma'am?
Then you must already know what kind of food you'll get...
with the 70-dollar course.
I'll give you a preview of what we'll serve...
for 18 dollars.
Please give me a chance.
You can have a tasting session first.
It won't be too late to cancel later.
I'm begging you.
Hungry Wok says they'll prepare a tasting...
to show me what they'll serve.
I couldn't say no when they went so far.
Would it be all right...
for me to go and taste their food before making...
Then, we will introduce you to a new menu too.
Tell us what you'd like to eat.
Actually, even though it's common,
I want to eat the most delicious jajangmyeon...
and sweet and sour pork.
We don't normally make jajangmyeon.
Jajangmyeon?
Hungry Wok is making it for me.
Jajangmyeon?
We'll also make it for you.
Master Wang.
Yes.
You said you would never make street food like jajangmyeon.
Finishing Touch offered to make me...
jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork too.
The reason why we haven't made jajangmyeon all these years...
is because we wanted to give neighborhood restaurants a chance.
Starting now, we'll beat every hole in the wall...
with our jajangmyeon.
Poong, that jerk.
I was going to let him make a living with jajangmyeon,
but he wants to fight.
Poong.
You said you would never make jajangmyeon.
I guess you feel threatened.
Do you think you'll lose everything if they come to us?
Hey, watch what you say.
Are you a gangster?
Well, you're a thief.
Are you going to steal our customers?
The customers have feet. I never stole anyone.
She came to me on her own feet.
I'll show you...
the essence of jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork.
Tell me how you want to go about this showdown.
Right here, right now.
Fine. Let's do it right here, right now.
I asked our VIP to come.
Go and get chunjang right now.
Where are you, boss? I have something urgent to report.
Where are you?
[VIU Ver] SBS E23 Wok of Love "Finishing Touch Versus Hungry Wok" -♥ Ruo Xi ♥-
What's so urgent?
You could tell me at the office.
You asked me to look into the hotel's bankroller, right?
Giant Hotel's funds are all cut off right now.
They had full banquet bookings,
but they're calling around to cancel them.
Why?
They haven't paid 500 grand for their renovations,
so the contractors have been protesting in their banquet hall.
They're having a hard time getting the money.
Where were the funds blocked?
Ultra Construction went bankrupt recently, right?
It turns out to be Mr. Yong's company.
You're saying, he decided to work with Crooked...
to clean up after the illegal investment and bankruptcy?
Yes, but...
I think they found something that will get them money.
Could it be us?
Boss.
Crooked's men are stealing our customers.
They're trying to block our funds...
so that I won't be able to pay my mortgage.
They're trying to take away my building.
Those jerks.
Boss, should we make their hotel go bankrupt?
No, no.
I won't do that.
Then what?
We'll take over that hotel.
Those crooks are trying to steal my seven-story building.
Fine. I'll take that 21-story hotel and make it mine.
For the first course,
we'll start with sweet and sour pork.
Hungry Wok uses pork tenderloin.
It'll be chewy just like a rice cake.
Finishing Touch uses pork sirloin.
It's a wine-colored sirloin sweet and sour pork.
The key to sweet and sour pork is the crispiness.
I'll make cuts in the meat to create the crispiness.
The sweet and sour pork is crispy...
because of the batter.
I'll mix egg whites and water to make it fluffy like cream.
The batter on the tenderloin will become very crispy.
If you use water, it'll be just an ordinary sweet and sour pork.
I won't use water. Instead, I'll use starch...
so that the sirloin's thin cuts...
will come alive as it fries.
If you use starch, the meat will droop and get soggy.
You must let the water evaporate before frying it again...
so that your meat is crunchy.
Since there's just starch on the sirloin,
I only need to deep fry it once.
If the taste of the sauce gets to your tongue first,
you might not get to feel the taste of the meat.
The chef will determine the optimal amount of sauce...
in the wok.
Hard vegetables which can overpower the crispiness of the meat...
will not be used.
If you add the sauce now,
your meat will get soggy in less than a minute.
Get some sauce on your spoon just before eating,
and put your meat on top to make sure it remains crispy.
Good to go!
- Good to go! - Good to go!
When we mix the meat and the sauce before serving,
the egg white batter...
absorbs the sauce slowly.
It doesn't get soggy.
It only gets chewier.
Good to go.
This is the crunchiest...
and most delicious sweet and sour pork I've ever had.
I thought it'd taste a bit bland since there aren't any vegetables.
But the crunchy texture remains in my mouth.
It's savory, sweet, and new.
It's a unique and special kind of sweet and sour pork.
You both focused on keeping the crunchy texture.
But although Hungry Wok's sweet and sour pork...
is crunchy at first and later becomes...
very chewy.
The more I chew on it, the juicier the meat becomes.
And the juice of the meat tastes very sweet.
I thought it'd taste soggy because you added the sauce beforehand.
But instead, the batter sucked in the sauce just the right amount.
So the meat tastes really chewy.
It's the chewiest sweet and sour pork...
I've ever tasted.
Which one do you think tastes better?
One's very crunchy,
and one's very chewy.
We'll now move onto jajangmyeon.
(Dan Sae Woo)
The jajangmyeon at Finishing Touch...
will be salmon steak gan jajangmyeon.
will be yuni jajangmyeon with eight-colored noodles.
I'll be making noodles with salmon.
You're going to make noodles with salmon?
I think it'll be fishy.
There's a reason why people don't add fish to jajangmyeon.
The most important ingredient in making jajangmyeon are onions.
And salmon goes best with onions.
Onions get rid of the fishy taste of salmon,
and it helps with digestion. Just focus on making your dish.
People normally eat jajangmyeon on a happy day.
So it should please the eyes as well.
Is your only strength for this dish making it look colorful?
They look like fish cakes.
A bowl of jajangmyeon should always keep its essence.
Nowadays, people use cooking oil.
But jajangmyeon was originally cooked with pig oil.
This savory scent is enough to make your mouth water...
even if you're 10m away.
These pork rind flakes will complete the savory taste...
of my jajangmyeon.
If you add soft tofu to the jajangmyeon sauce,
it will get rid of the salmon's fishy taste,
and it will also allow the sauce to taste a lot softer.
Tofu?
A bowl of jajangmyeon should always keep its essence.
I'll maximize the sweet taste of jajangmyeon...
by adding a lot of onions and cabbage.
Then I'll add a little bit of starch mixed in water...
so that the sauce will stick to the noodles...
and never want to be separated from them again.
Doctors can't leave the hospital since they're always doing surgery.
So they're forced to take vitamin D and calcium supplements.
Therefore, I made a healthy dish for all the doctors and nurses...
who work at the hospital.
Good to go.
- Good to go! - Good to go!
It's greasy, sweet, salty, and savory.
This is the definition of what a true jajangmyeon should taste like.
Good to go.
Try the salmon fillet with the noodles.
It's exactly what you'd expect at a hotel.
It's very soft and light.
It tastes luxurious.
I'm so surprised...
at how the meat and vegetables stick so well...
to the noodles.
I thought it'd taste too greasy since you used pig oil,
but it doesn't smell bad at all.
It's interestingly very aromatic.
Have you made up your mind?
You both made me very delicious dishes,
and it made me very happy.
First of all,
it was very hard to choose...
which one of your sweet and sour pork tasted better.
They were both the best.
Then what about the jajangmyeon?
Finishing Touch's jajangmyeon...
focused on making a healthy meal for us doctors.
It made me feel very grateful.
But Hungry Wok's jajangmyeon...
had the exact same savory smell of what I used to smell...
every time I passed by the Chinese restaurant as a kid.
I could understand why you kept saying...
that a bowl of jajangmyeon should always keep its essence.
I'd like to eat your jajangmyeon with the members...
of our association.
Thank you.
I'll see you at Hungry Wok next week.
Master Wang.
I'd like to have a word.
I can't accept this.
I didn't steal your customer.
She's the one...
who chose my dish.
I never imagined...
that I'd be competing against you here in this kitchen.
This is only the beginning...
for me.
Is it that good?
(Episode 24 will air shortly.)