Credit: Netflix.
For the first time, a streaming show has taken the top spot in Gallup Korea’s regular poll of South Koreans’ favorite TV shows. Culinary Class Wars 흑백요리사, a Netflix show, features 100 renowned South Korean chefs battling in a series of Squid Game-like challenges for a competition that’s delicious, rather than deadly.
The hit show is breathing new life into South Korea’s moribund fine dining scene, which has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea’s leading mobile apps, Naver and Kakao, now list 116 restaurants run by the chefs who appeared on the show. Several of the restaurants have since reported that reservations are now fully booked through the end of this year.