Is it a crime mystery, slice of life, healing drama, melo or a romance? Take your pick 'cause they are all in there. But far from being a degustation of delicious, beautifully crafted dishes, it’s a dog’s breakfast.

It is ludicrously ambitious to think that all these themes can be squished into 12 episodes and then served up elegantly. In fact it’s a half-baked crumpet with raw veggies and Korean BBQ belly pork. Which is a real shame because there was some great main-course potential there in amongst all the side dishes.

If I was going to choose where to put the emphasis, I’d say that by far the strongest part of it was the slice of life. If they’d settled for that and thrown in some more detailed romance and much better character development, the actors and director would have delivered an OK drama. As it was the crime mystery dominated the second half, dragged in characters that were totally peripheral, set up non-credible police investigations and generally smeared ketchup over everything.

There were some nice performances in amongst the hash. I particularly liked the secondary couple and think that Shin Eun Soo as Kim Bom was the standout. However, Yim Si Wan as An Dae Beom was the sort of bland that could challenge a béchamel sauce.

There was some nice writing in there with some good ideas and it didn’t always take the easy path, but the temptation to go for big dramatic showpieces really trashed the credibility ratings for me. It didn’t need foie gras and caviar, country pâté served with crusty bread would have been so much more satisfying.

What my rating means: 6+ Some aspects of it were OK but it had serious flaws. It will pass the time but you can find something better.