The Legend of Kitchen Soldier (2026) 취사병 전설이 되다
Directed by Jo Nam-hyung, starring Park Ji-hoon as Kang Seong-jae, Lee Hong-nae as Yoon Dong-hyeon, Yoon Kyung-ho as Park Jae-young, Han Dong-hee as Cho Ye-rin, and Lee Sang-yi as Hwang Seok-ho.
Watched 14 - 19 July 2026 — 12 episodes (KISSKH)
Why did I choose this drama? — It has high ratings and good reviews online and I've never seen the lead actor Park Ji-hoon before. I'm not eager to watch the much acclaimed Weak Hero Class yet, so this is a good way to get acquainted with Park Ji-hoon.
What's it about? — Kang Seong-jae enlists in the army to escape reality and ends up at Ganglim Base in the kitchen as the new cook. One day, a mysterious virtual game screen appears in front of him, which invites him on a quest to level up his cooking skills and to challenge him to become an ace cook. As Seong-jae makes new friends, he also discovers military corruption within his battalion.
Overall thoughts — Extremely feel-good comedy with likeable characters and an original fantasy element. There are a lot of funny moments alternated with heartwarming scenes. But occasionally, it's also very very silly, with over-the-top humour, mainly after a character has tasted Kang Seong-jae's food and experiences a dream-like fantasy. The culinary scenes! Wouldn't you love to have such an amazing kitchen aid, who gives you recipes, checks your skills and lets you level up, gives you instructions and advice how to make a dish taste better, detects what a dish is lacking, or points out when the meat is perfectly grilled. And turns you into an excellent chef! This show made me very hungry!
Male lead — Park Ji-hoon as Kang Seong-jae gives a convincing performance, and I really liked him. He's also cute and must have the saddest eyes in K-dramaland! He enters the army after his beloved father died (loved the flashback scenes with his dad which made me emotional) and is labelled as depressed. He gets a smiley pin attached to his uniform so his mental state is visible. I love how everyone from his unit is concerned for his well-being. Through his developing cooking skills, his confidence grows, and he feels himself supported and loved by his new-found family. I like how in the end he lost the aid of the virtual game screen and had to rely on his own cooking skills.
2nd Male lead — Lee Hong-nae plays Yoon Dong-hyeon, the army cook who's infamous for his terrible cooking. He's a bit annoyed with the arrival of the new cook, and also reluctant to help him, but eventually they work well together, and I love how there was no mean competition between him and Kang Seong-jae. While counting down the days till his discharge, Dong-hyeon wanted to go on a leave badly. It was funny that, once he finally did go on a leave, he was quickly bored because nobody had time for him, so he went back earlier to the base. By the way, the actor reminded me of Ahn Bo-hyun (Yumi's Cells, Flex X Cop).
Bromance / romance — The show has no romance, except maybe for the inclusion of Seong-jae's hometown sweetheart who barely has screen time. But the bromance between Kang Seong-jae and Yoon Dong-hyeon is great and heartwarming, as is the overall camaraderie with the other soldiers. I got pretty emotional with Dong-hyeon finally getting his discharge and leaving the army and saying goodbye to his army buddies.
Supporting characters — I like the actor Lee Sang-yi, and he is a good fit for the role of the overconfident and conceited Company Commander Hwang Seok-ho, using English words all the time. A tiny romance with the Outpost Commander Cho Ye-rin would have been nice, but there was nothing of the sort. I like how Seok-ho constantly worried about Ye-rin, and his character is getting more likeable despite being in full support of the corrupt Battalion Commander. Probably Seok-ho already suspected there was something wrong but he kept sucking up to the Commander, blinded by a possible promotion. I loved Yoon Kyung-ho as Park Jae-young, also in the scene where he sets out on a food hunt in the woods. (Amazing what herbs, mushrooms and edible greens he managed to find!) I also loved the soldiers Tak Mun-ik (with the glasses) and the initially unlikeable Kim Gwan-cheol, whose backstory with his grandma made him more likeable and who became part of the cooking team.
Final episode — The food competition took up a great deal of the last episode while the corruption hadn't been exposed completely and the death of Kang Seong-jae's dad hadn't been resolved. And I was waiting for the Company Commander Hwang Seok-ho to show some backbone and expose the Battalion Commander, which he eventually did. I read several synopses online mention how Seong-jae unravels hidden secrets of the base, "even those tied to his father's death". But I don't think it was ever mentioned in the show that his father's death was tied with the corruption case. Also, nothing was resolved with Seong-jae's dad in the final episode. The corruption case that was ultimately solved was around the character of Deputy Battalion Commander Im Seung-bin who was framed and then died while trying to expose the corruption in the military food supply chain. So maybe the writers initially meant the father to be involved somehow but then never developed that storyline. I have to say that it felt awfully rushed how they wrapped up the corruption case. There should have been a better balance between the food plot and the corruption plot. The actual ending with Kang Seong-jae and his reporter girlfriend was sweet, and Kang Seong-jae looked so adorable.
A favourite scene — Love the scene in episode 6 where Company Commander Hwang Seok-ho eats the fried rice ball, and the explosion of flavours makes him see a K-pop boys band of soldiers, dancing and singing a nice upbeat song about flavour, with Hwang Seok-ho dancing along. Great fun!
Recommended? — YES! I loved this and will miss the characters. I wouldn't mind a second season.