A Taste of Love
(2001)
Cast: Lawrence Ng, Flora Chan, Miriam Yeung, Raymond Lam
Rating: ****
Brief Summary:
Joyce(Flora)is a kindergarten school teacher but her life is about to change when her father died and left her 51% shares of his "One-Hundred Miles" restaurant. Besides her mother, her father also had another wife and one son, Har Tou (Raymond Lam). Joyce knows about her stepmother and stepbrother, but they never know that Joyce exists. Joyce decides to go to Lamma Island and see how "One-Hundred Miles" restaurant is doing. But when she gets there it turns out that Har Tou and his uncle is about to sell their restaurant because their restaurant is doing bad. Joyce didn't tell them that she's Har Tou's sister at first. But since she got 51%, she can take charge and do everything to help their business. She was told by Bin Sok, an old employee who works for "One-Hundred Miles" for a long time, that she should ask Ma You(Lawrence) for help. Ma You is a very talented chef and he respects her father because her father used to help him when he was a kid. Ma You is a bad-tempered kind of person, he thinks that Joyce was annoying at first. But after Joyce told him about her father, he agrees to help her.
Joyce/Ma You
At first he thought that she was annoying and as a bad-tempered man he seemed very cold towards other people. He used to date Sue(Joyce Tang) but because he misunderstood her (he thought that she had an affair behind his back), he left her without telling her why. After he moved to work at "one-hundred miles" restaurant, he was getting closer to Joyce and they began to have feelings for each other. But before they became a real couple, Sue came back. After Sue knew that he misunderstood her, she was very upset and tried to see Ma You again. Ma You had no feelings for her anymore, but since Sue had some kind of health problem, he agreed to go out with her again. But after a while, Sue knew that their relationship really didn't work and that Ma You was obviously in love with Joyce, so she decided to break up with him. Unfortunately, she was hit by a car that night and ended up in a coma, causing Ma You unable to get together with Joyce. At the same time, "one-hundered miles" restaurant was shut down, Joyce decided to leave for China. A few years later, she came back as a food critic and finally got together with Ma You.
Gordon/Sue
Gordon(Joe Ma) was a friend of Ma You but also a rival. They had the same teacher and Ma You had the talent but Gordon was hard-working. Gordon was also a very good chef. He worked in a big hotel and he was very famous. He liked Sue from the beginning. At first she didn't want to be with him because she can't forget Ma You. But after a lot of sweet things he did for her, she decided to date him. They were a happy couple until Sue found out that Ma You left her because he misunderstood her. She desperately wanted to get back with Ma You and she decided to ask Gordon for a break. Gordon was hurt and jealous, so he turned to be a vengeful guy. He did a lot of bad stuff to "one-hundered miles" restaurant and Ma You and especially when Sue was in a coma. (Thinking that she was in a coma because of Ma You.) When Sue woke up and told him that she was the one who asked Ma You for a break, he felt a bit guilty but didn't apologize to Ma You or did something to help "one-hundred miles" restaurant's situation. It was until a few years later that their teacher called him and Ma You and knock them to their senses then they made up. Gordon became nice again and remained friends with Sue.
Har Tou/Candy
Har Tou(Raymond Lam) had a talent in cooking but he never really cared about it and he really hated it when people compared him to his father. So he was just playing around all day. On the other hand, Candy (Miriam Yeung) was a spoiled rich girl. Her father wanted her to help his business but she wanted to be a singer. She ran away from home and became a waitress at "One-hundred miles" restaurant. She didn't get along well with Har Tou at first and always got into fights. But after a while she began to like him. Har Tou also had a childhoood friend, Siu Yee who liked him. One day Har Tou overheard Candy and Siu Yee were talking that they both like him and he was shocked. But then Candy's father got a stroke, so she decided to go back to her father. Har Tou suddenly realized that he liked Candy. And they finally went out.
My favorite scenes:
- When Har Tou didn't know that Joyce was his sister and he started to like her. There was one scene where he told all the workers in "one-hundred-miles" restaurant to do things like what Joyce said. And he kept saying " Joyce said…" in the beginning of every sentences. It was funny and Raymond is really cute.
- Still when Har Tou didn't know Joyce was his sister and he like her. Joyce, Ma You and Har Tou went out together to the market or something. Ma You found a pearl in the oyster and Joyce found one too when she picked one. The seller told that it was fate and stuff like that. Har Tou, after hearing what the seller said, he immediately pick one oyster, hoping that there would be some "fate" between him and Joyce. But there was nothing inside. It was very funny. The way Ma You looked at Har Tou when he saw Har Tou tried to impress Joyce was funny, too.
- When Har Tou's mother found out that Joyce was her husband's daugher.
- During the period that Har Tou's mother was mad at Joyce and told her not to come to "one-hundred miles" restaurant. Ma You sometimes showed that he missed her because she used to replace his cigarettes with candies. When he ate those candies and he smiled, thinking of Joyce. I think that was sweet.
- The beginning period that Sue and Gordon was dating. I think they were cute together.
- When Har Tou found out that Siu Yee and Candy liked him.
- On the bus when Har Tou tried to tell Candy that he liked her.
- When Gordon won Ma You in the competition and he looked at Sue's face. She wasn't happy for him but she was sad that Ma You lost.
- When Gordon turned bad and Candy didn't talk to him. I like this scene because Gordon and Candy used to be very good friends. But when he turned bad he really disappointed her. This scene shows that no matters how successful he was, he couldn't be truly happy if people whom he actually cared were not there and happy for him. Even though he won Ma You and shut down "one-hundred miles" restaurant, it wasn't really worth his friendship with Candy.
Review:
I can't really find one reason why anyone wouldn't like this show. Well, maybe if you started to get sick of TVB cooking theme kind of series, then maybe you'll find it's just average. But frankly, I don't think one can say that A Taste of Love is a bad or boring series because it's very very enjoyable. I really like this series. It's very refreshing and light-hearted. The acting and the chemistry between the cast were great. We don't get to see Flora in a non-professional role so often. Lawrence was always casted as an educated man , but not in here where he looked different and that was kind of refreshing. As for Raymond I think this is his first major role in a series and he was so effective as Har Tou. Miriam's acting wasn't that good but she was fine. Definitely a Must-See if you like comedy.
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