Moon Chae Won and Jo Jung Suk

For some reason, the only person who comes to mind for the ML is Junho (I keep thinking of Wok Of Love aka Greasy Melo), and as for the FL.. hmm? Someone who can pull off an authoritative yet quirky aura... Jeon Yeo-Been? Shin Hye-sun? Kim Hye-yoon?

Or if we switch the roles and make our hero the quirky cutie then, Kim Min-Jae and the prim and proper, stickler of rules FL, Jeon So-Nee.

When I just read the headline, I had a different premise in mind. But I will follow along with the bold instructions.

SONG KANG-HO is the executive chef who is a brutal dictator in his kitchen. However, hotel CEO KIM BYUNG-CHUL is a blood sucking tyrant who only cares about his reputation measured in hotel profits. KIM goes as far as to inspect the food service garbage bins to calculate the amount of "waste" that means loss profits to him. SONG is going crazy about KIM's antics but he is indebted to KIM by paying off his restaurant chain bankruptcy during the pandemic by signing him to a slave labor long term hotel contract.

Due to a crash in the wedding banquet business, KIM demands that every department cost cut. Instead of Jeju black pork, KIM demands SONG to use domestic or cheaper imported meat. SONG is upset but he sees his kitchen is just barely in the red to argue. SONG has to revamp his gourmet menu into a Michelin light upscale casual menu.

SONG brings the bad news in a terse meeting with his staff. Change is nothing new for them because SONG bounces new items in and out of the menu. But his head chef, JO YEO JEONG, is upset. She lived in the hard scrabble poor neighborhood in the shadow of the hotel. She worked at every level: greasy spoon, dirty chicken, fake noodle shop, fast food, failing cafe bakery to casual then fine dining when she went abroad to Osaka, Hong Kong, Hawaii then Singapore. Four years ago, she returned to Korea and demanded a job at the hotel kitchen. SONG could not let a talent go - - - and gave her own special weekly VIP reservation only menu called "To Die For," which brought in the critics and chaebol crowd. But in the last 6 months, the economy stress canceled her program. Now, to compromise on the basic menu quality for the sake of greedy CEO is too much for JO.

A network pilot for an Iron Chef style cooking show asks JO to cook. She does not want to spill her secrets, but the publicity could get her an executive chef position at a rival hotel. However, at the show she meets another aggravating man, street food cart vendor LEE SO-JIN, who bombastically grills his other competitors for their "boring" culinary choices. LEE

For the leads...Shin Hye-sun and Kim Jung-hyun.

For the meet and greet guy, the one who first interacts with the customers - Today's Webtoon's Jin-young.
For the additional chefs in the house - we have chef-in-training Jung Yoo-min who still has a penchant for burning food.
Kim Se-jung and Choi Kang-hee...Shin Hye-sun's sidekicks from her former workplace who help her with the R&D for her recipes and new dishes.
Then we have Kim Jung-hyun chefs Cha Chung-hwa and Kim In-kwon.

When I just read the headline, I had a different premise in mind. But I will follow along with the bold instructions.

SONG KANG-HO is the executive chef who is a brutal dictator in his kitchen. However, hotel CEO KIM BYUNG-CHUL is a blood sucking tyrant who only cares about his reputation measured in hotel profits. KIM goes as far as to inspect the food service garbage bins to calculate the amount of "waste" that means loss profits to him. SONG is going crazy about KIM's antics but he is indebted to KIM by paying off his restaurant chain bankruptcy during the pandemic by signing him to a slave labor long term hotel contract.

Due to a crash in the wedding banquet business, KIM demands that every department cost cut. Instead of Jeju black pork, KIM demands SONG to use domestic or cheaper imported meat. SONG is upset but he sees his kitchen is just barely in the red to argue. SONG has to revamp his gourmet menu into a Michelin light upscale casual menu.

SONG brings the bad news in a terse meeting with his staff. Change is nothing new for them because SONG bounces new items in and out of the menu. But his head chef, JO YEO JEONG, is upset. She lived in the hard scrabble poor neighborhood in the shadow of the hotel. She worked at every level: greasy spoon, dirty chicken, fake noodle shop, fast food, failing cafe bakery to casual then fine dining when she went abroad to Osaka, Hong Kong, Hawaii then Singapore. Four years ago, she returned to Korea and demanded a job at the hotel kitchen. SONG could not let a talent go - - - and gave her own special weekly VIP reservation only menu called "To Die For," which brought in the critics and chaebol crowd. But in the last 6 months, the economy stress canceled her program. Now, to compromise on the basic menu quality for the sake of greedy CEO is too much for JO.

A network pilot for an Iron Chef style cooking show asks JO to cook. She does not want to spill her secrets, but the publicity could get her an executive chef position at a rival hotel. However, at the show she meets another aggravating man, street food cart vendor LEE SO-JIN, who bombastically grills his other competitors for their "boring" culinary choices. LEE is such a hit, the producer brokers a business deal with his rich cousin, OH NA RA, who wants to get into the “high end” restaurant business. But LEE is not high end but “low brow.” He is out of his element, but his street smarts tells him he needs a silent partner to help him fake his way through opening a high profile place in the heart of Gangnam. JO has no interest in elevating peasant food into culinary art, LEE tricks her with the logic that her style of food prep is dying off like her intended client base so she needs to get into youth culture smash-up trends. JO agrees for a trial period to “steal” LEE’s provocative recipes to open her own restaurant, but she finds LEE worse to deal with than SONG.

After much trial and error, LEE and JO open “Street Sensation,...

As soon as I saw the title, I thought KIM SEUL GI would be perfect as the streetfood vendor! But I read the FL's supposed to be the chef. Can I keep the roles reversed please?

For the chef, I wanted to have someone who is known to have talent in the kitchen, so I initially thought LEE JAE WOOK. But out of pity for the poor man's back, I think D.O. would be a great fit! His deadpan delivery would be a hilarious contrast to KSG's expressive comedy! They'd be so cute together ❤️

The first ones that came to mind are Junho and Jung Ryeo Won.

Another pairing I would love is Seo Kang Joon and Esom.

Or Lee Je Hoon and Pyo Ye Jin.

Woo Do Hwan and Ryu Hwa Young.

Ji Chang Wook and Won Jin Ah (And they can erase Melty from their records for good).

I will go with IU and Park Seo Joon 🥩🍣 🔪🍢🌯

Han Hyo Joo and Kim Bum.
I don't want a love line. I just want an awesome partnership The Bear style.

After tasting chontaduro ice cream, I came to the conclusion that ANYTHING can taste good if it's in ice cream. So yeah, bibimbap-flavored ice cream is the new mint choco.

Anyway, Han Hyo Joo (Kim-ssi) and Kim Bum (Mat-ssi) decide to become partners for a new restaurant. Kim-ssi says she knows a few talented chefs MD recruits some of the staff from her previous job. The weren't happy with how things were being handled in the restaurant after her departure, so they happily took the new job.
And Mat-ssi says he has a ride-or-die friend that can help them.

So they hire the rest of the staff:

—Lee Sung Kyung (Mat-ssi's bestie. Great cook, bad temper. Always gets fired. Hopes this time is different).
—Son Seok Gu (Investor. Years ago used to be Kim-ssi's sous chef. He became super famous and opened his own restaurant. He rich).
—Kim Tae Ri (insane pastry chef that has won 1628394736 competitions. She weird but lovely).
—Kim Hee Sun (award-winning retired cook makes a comeback. She heard about the restaurant from Kim and loved Mat's crazy recipes).
—Choi Woo Sik (the rookie. For now he's a dishwasher but he'll become one of the biggest chefs in the kitchen and will be in charge of the second branch. Ambitious boy).

Ah. I need ju ji-hoon/Joppa playing one of the leads. I can’t think of a female chef.
May be Jeon Yeobin?

One more. Lee Min Ki and Han Ji Min. Because, we needs them in a rom com 🥰

I could see Lee Yo-won and Yoon Sang-Hyun bringing versions of their Ms. Temper roles to this.

Jung Ryeo-Won & Jung Kyung-Ho for the main leads. Can we have Park Yeon-Sun write this kdrama! Please hire young actors & actresses to play the staff in this quirky resto ;)

"(bibimbap-flavored ice cream, anyone?)" @bammsie

I think this is the first time since this Cast Away games started that I can see my bias Yoon Shi Yoon as the main lead.
I think he could be charming as the street food vendor, which I imagine as someone good hearted, funny, intelligent but humble.

For the FL my first thought was Lee Se-young (The Best Hit reunion not intended, but...). I think she could portray the stiff, serious and hard-working top chef quite well.
But for some reason I could totally see Ahn Eun-jin (My Dearest) in that role too. So any of them would be my FL.

Other cast:

I think we could meet the family too, so we have Ko Sung-hee (My Holo Love) as ML's sister. They live together and she has a daughter: the wonderful Yu-na I'm watching in The Kidnapping Day.
Eventually, ML's sister will fall in love with one of the restaurant cooks, Shin Jae-ha. So we'll have two couples :)

Kwak Dong Yeon and anyone really. I would like to see him back in kdramaland.

I think it’s Seo Ji-hye in the chef role for me. I love her as a cold and regimented character. And since we’re dreaming, I’d probably put Park Seo-joon into the ML/street vendor spot (though he would probably not accept the role in real life). I think he’d be a great chaotic creative to her cool-headed training.

Reading the prompt my first choice would have been Junho with Uee.

But I really really want Lee Bo-young so perhaps we can pair her with Park Seo-joon.

Or since we can cast whomever we want then I want Ji Sung, Lee Bo-young AND Park Seo-joon.

dang, you guys are so creative! I think I am pretty good with plots and such, since I love to write, but I can never think of anything in these Cast Away prompts!
I'll just sit here with my 3D glasses and large buttery popcorn and enjoy the ideas!

Kwang Soo. no one else but Kwang Soo.
and for chef, Lee Hani
and actually the recipes come from a talking dog (who smokes cigarettes), who worked in Blue House in his past life and uses foul language a lot creating problems on a banquet when he swears under the table.

I'm thinking Go Gyo-pil (Ko Kyo-pil? Is it K or G?) as the street vendor - for 2 reasons. Firstly, f*ck the impossible skinny and slender silhouette. If you are a creating matcha tteokbokki for breakfast, there's going to be a million calories per serving, so nope, you are not skinny. You work hard, so you may be burning a lot of calories, but essentially, you do try your food as you experiment... Kyu-pil-sshi's friendly shape fits the bill.
Secondly, can the man land a ML role rather than being the fat bloke at the back? Give him ML with a fun script.
Thirdly (bonus reason, comes as free as part of the package; you're most welcome), this was already his career of choice in Heartbeat. Let's make it a success now!

Seo Yea-ji as the talented, penniless chef who's got nerves of steel (which you need in a kitchen), a hefty temper (again, this is kitchen world, most do know how to shout in here), but who's worked so hard to earned her stars and recognition that she's lost her creative and playful side.
Why? There's something about her voice that feels realistic if you picture a chef who shouts in the kitchen. She carries that tired energy that evokes the right feelings to me.
She's often in the middle of darker plots (it feels to me like if there is a character's backstory with a violent death, it lands on her doormat) and this could be a fun change.
I can just picture her screaming in the face of a rather unfazed Guy-pil trying his bibimbap ice cream with gochugaru sprinkles and I love the idea of it.