KBS2's 'The manager's ears are donkey ears' drew attention as Jo Seo-hyung proved himself a next-generation Korean cuisine force by presenting perfect dishes that combined bold Korean flavors with delicate touches at a collaborative dinner show with chef Park Ga-ram.
The 344th episode of KBS2 variety show 'The manager's ears are donkey ears' (directed by Choi Seung-hee, hereafter 'The manager's ears are donkey ears'), which aired on the 15th (Sun), recorded a peak rating of 4.2% and continued its dominance as the No. 1 show in its time slot for 193 consecutive weeks. (Nielsen Korea)
Jo Seo-hyung was unusually nervous as he prepared a fine dining dinner show where detail is life. In contrast, Park Ga-ram, drawing on past experience trimming 50 lobsters over two hours at a seafood restaurant, continued cooking skillfully. Invited to the dinner show were chefs representing 'Culinary Class Wars'—'Michelin 1-star' Kim Hee-eun, 'Seoul mom' Woo Jeong-uk, 'Trendsetter' Kim Hoon, 'Three-star killer' Ahn Jin-ho, 'hidden genius' Kim Tae-seong, 'side-dish chef' Song Ha-seul-ram, 'gan-gwi' Hyun Sang-wook, 'young tak' Oh Joon-tak—raising the tension.
At the 10-course collaborative dinner show, Jo Seo-hyung presented seasonal seafood such as flower octopus, live squid, sea mustard, and candlestick whelk on a platter. Chef Kim Hee-eun was impressed by the perilla seed flavor in the kim sauce, and chef Woo Jeong-uk could not hide his excitement at tasting candlestick whelk for the first time. Other chefs praised it as the taste of "fireworks exploding" and "feeling like savoring all the flavors of the sea." Park Ga-ram recreated the lobster dish that had caused a stir on 'Culinary Class Wars.' Fellow chefs who tasted the dish served with his signature tuile said in unison, "It's worth surviving for," and chef Kim Hoon smiled, saying, "I feel like I've become Anh Sung-jae."
The dinner show concluded with Jo Seo-hyung's obang tteokguk. Chefs who tasted the 'obang tteokguk,' newly reinterpreted without rice cakes using napa cabbage, abalone, brisket, and shiitake mushrooms, drank from the bowls and even asked for broth refills, giving thumbs up to Jo Seo-hyung's touch. Amid a flood of praise from fellow chefs for the two cooks' dishes, Jo Seo-hyung suggested another collaboration, saying, "Next time let's do it in my kitchen. Cauldron cooking won't be easy," raising expectations.
Lee Soon-sil began a small-face treatment at a shop that does foot lymphatic massage ahead of her remade wedding shoot. Lee Soon-sil, who said she was concerned about facial asymmetry and protruding cheekbones, expressed her pain and made viewers laugh when the massage intensity increased, saying, "Did Director Jang bring me here to kill me?" After the massage, seeing her reduced-swelling face, Lee Soon-sil added humor by expressing satisfaction, saying, "Push my face more."
Meanwhile, David Lee, the 'meat gangster' who rules the kitchen with charisma, drew attention by transforming into a 'cute lover' in front of his beautiful American wife, Rosa. David Lee also revealed the story of how he wooed his wife with food after falling for her at first sight. When his wife asked, "Why did you keep sending services back then?" David Lee proudly showed his unchanged affection even in their 19th year of marriage, saying, "Because she's pretty. She's still pretty now." He then cracked up everyone by telling his wife, who is poor at Korean, that he would teach her Korean and saying, "If you tell people, 'My husband is Park Bo Gum,' they'll treat you well."
David Lee visited the restaurant of his disciple, CEO Park Jae-hyun, who runs a restaurant with annual sales of 5 billion won, and checked the restaurant's signature dishes, including the galbijjim he had consulted on for free. Tasting the food, David Lee offered teacherly advice with warmth, saying, "It's still delicious. It would be good to pay a little more attention to visual effects so the galbijjim shows peppers and carrots," creating a heartwarming moment.
To develop new menu items, David Lee went with his disciples to research the K-food market and gained ideas from fermented jeotgal samgyeopsal, black pork gukbap fused with French elements, and spicy marrow ribs. He said, "Korean food is truly amazing," and added, "I'll organize these emerging ideas and try to create good menu items." At the end of the broadcast, when Kim Sook said, "I have many questions for CEO Jae-hyun," David Lee preemptively shut down interest with, "Jae-hyun is busy," to comic effect.
After the episode aired, various online communities and SNS buzzed with enthusiastic reactions such as "Chef Jo Seo-hyung's precise knife cuts are amazing! I think he'll do well in fine dining," "It's warm that chef Jo Seo-hyung refills servings," "David Lee is a total doting husband! His food-service flirting is the best," and "David Lee chef, we look forward to your new menu."
Meanwhile, 'The manager's ears are donkey ears' airs every Sunday at 4:40 p.m. on KBS 2TV.
[Photo] 'The manager's ears are donkey ears'
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