Bon Appetit Your Majesty- Episodes 1-2
Episode 1 Recap: “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty”
The first episode drops us right into the heart of the Joseon era and things kick off with serious tension. A woman named Yeon Ji-young is dragged before King Yi Heon, and the guards are all ready for her execution. But instead of ordering her death, the king shocks everyone by appointing her as the head chef of the royal kitchen. From Ji-young’s inner thoughts, we quickly learn she’s not exactly thrilled, she just wants to survive long enough to find her way back home.
And that’s when we rewind to see how on earth she ended up here.
Flashback to 2025: Ji-young is competing in a fancy French cooking competition. Everything’s going great until her stove breaks with only five minutes left. In a total boss move, she improvises a makeshift stove out of rice straw and somehow pulls off her dish just in time. The challenge is to cook a royal-style meal, and her entry, a venison steak inspired by King Yi Heon’s era, ends up winning the whole thing! Her victory earns her the title of head chef at a Michelin 3-star restaurant, and she’s absolutely over the moon.
Later, Ji-young calls her dad to share the good news. He tells her a professor friend from Paris is sending over an old Joseon-era book for her to deliver. She gets the mysterious package, hops on a flight home to Korea and that’s where things take a wild turn.
A fellow passenger accidentally spills coffee on the package, and when Ji-young rushes to clean it up, she notices it’s actually a centuries-old recipe book. She reads an emotional inscription wishing for a loved one’s return, and right as she does… a solar eclipse happens outside. The book starts glowing, and before she can react, she’s pulled into a glowing vortex. The next thing she knows, she’s hanging from a tree in the middle of a forest, in an actual animal trap.
Meanwhile, King Yi Heon is out hunting nearby, shooting deer while ignoring warnings about lurking rebels. Back at the palace, the Queen Dowager and the king’s consorts are losing it, the king’s out hunting during an eclipse instead of performing sacred rituals, which everyone knows is a big no-no.
Out in the forest, Ji-young’s panicking in her net when Yi Heon’s arrow accidentally frees her. He mistakes her for a ghost (not totally unreasonable, considering she just fell out of the sky), and things spiral fast. Before he can strike, a hidden rebel’s arrow hits the king, and both he and Ji-young tumble off a cliff into the river below.
When Ji-young wakes up on the shore, the king’s unconscious and bleeding. She patches him up, but when he comes to, he immediately attacks her again... typical. They scuffle, she knocks him out again, and this time she ties him up to make sure he doesn’t cause more trouble. She drags him along through the forest, still completely clueless that she’s now centuries away from home.
Back at the palace, we meet Kang Mok-ju, the king’s junior consort, who’s clearly got a complicated history. Everyone’s blaming her for the king’s erratic behavior. We even get a flashback to seven years earlier, when she was imprisoned for killing a nobleman her mother sold her to. Prince Jesan offered her freedom in exchange for loyalty, which hints there’s a whole political plot brewing behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Ji-young and Yi Heon keep bickering as they trek through the forest. They come across some abandoned huts, and Ji-young casually mentions how the infamous tyrant King Yeonhuigun once cleared out areas like this for hunting, not realizing she’s talking to that exact king.
They find a young girl hiding nearby, and Ji-young decides to make dinner for everyone using whatever she can find. With just a few local ingredients, plus some butter and gochujang she happens to still have in her pocket, she whips up bibimbap. It’s too spicy at first, but soon both Yi Heon and the girl are devouring it. The taste even triggers a childhood memory for the king, and for a brief, touching moment, we see his humanity.
Later, Ji-young and the girl (Gil-geum) go to look for Ji-young’s bag near the cliff. They stop by a stream where Gil-geum casually drops the bombshell, Ji-young is in the Joseon Dynasty. Before Ji-young can fully process that, the king’s men show up and spot her by the water.
And that’s where Episode 1 leaves us, a modern chef stuck in the Joseon era, a stubborn king who may or may not start warming up to her cooking, and the promise of chaos, humor, and unexpected chemistry ahead.
Episode 2 Recap: “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty”
Episode 2 picks up with Ji-young and Gil-geum sitting by the river, trying to catch a breather, but peace is short-lived. Chaehong guards spot them and haul them off to Governor Hong’s residence. That’s when Ji-young finally has to face the truth: she’s actually trapped in the past. Cue full-blown freak out.
The chaehong inspectors arrive and split the women into groups. Ji-young and Gil-geum end up in the “safe” group, the one not being taken to the king. But “safe” quickly turns into a huge problem: they’re ordered to cook a meal with almost no ingredients, and the kitchen staff has all run away.
Ji-young, being the clever chef she is, strikes a deal with the governor’s son, Hong Eon-uk. If she can impress the guests with her cooking, all the women get to go free. Eon-uk tells her the guests are Im Song-jae and his father, Im Seo-hong, notorious food critics who never seem satisfied. No pressure, right?
Ji-young decides to cook a steak, but the meat is tough. She improvises a sous vide-style solution to make it tender, showing off her skills and quick thinking. Meanwhile, Yi Heon finds her scrunchie by the river and realizes she’s been taken by the chaehong.
We also learn that Eon-uk had sent his daughter Mi-hyang away to protect her from the chaehong, but she gets captured anyway by Song-jae. The lords arrive and immediately start complaining, tiny portions of meat, not enough flavor, classic picky aristocrats. Ji-young pleads with them to at least taste the food, offering her life if it’s bad. They pretend to taste, but Song-jae lies and declares it tasteless. Ji-young is dragged away, facing punishment.
And then, out of nowhere, Yi Heon shows up and puts a stop to it. Ji-young finally realizes he was telling the truth about her talent all along and regrets underestimating him. Yi Heon tastes her food, especially a special powder she created to replicate MSG and clearly enjoys it. Ji-young gets a moment of relief: she’s found a true gourmet in the king.
Curious about her, Yi Heon grills Ji-young about where she’s from. She takes a bold step and tells him she’s from the future. Unsurprisingly, he thinks she’s lost her mind, but he still orders Song-jae to take Ji-young and Mi-hyang to the palace the next day. Ji-young suddenly recalls that the Mi-hyang incident is historically tied to the Gapshin Literati Purge, when Yi Heon executed officials connected to his mother’s death.
Yi Heon dismisses everyone else, but Governor Hong hangs back to lecture him about neglecting the state and getting wrapped up in women. Turns out, Yi Heon has a revenge plan, the governor was involved in his mother’s death. Yi Heon exiles him for blasphemy, showing his cunning and ruthlessness.
In chains, Ji-young finally convinces Gil-geum that she’s from the future, likely thanks to the old cookbook still dangling from her bag. Meanwhile, Yi Heon tells Song-jae to release all the women, revealing that the whole chaehong scheme was part of his plan to avenge his mother.
Ji-young and Gil-geum are freed, and Ji-young tries to retrieve her bag from the cliff, but Yi Heon, knowing they’ve run off, tosses it over. She promises she’ll do anything to get it back, which seems to spark his interest. Before she can get away, the two girls are brought to the palace in the Joseon version of handcuffs.
Elsewhere, Mok-ju and Prince Jesan are plotting to overthrow the king. Jesan suspects someone is acting too quickly and has them followed and he seems intrigued (and maybe a little jealous) that Yi Heon is bringing a woman into the palace.
At the palace, Mok-ju welcomes Yi Heon warmly. The king shows her Ji-young, calling her a gwinyeo and hinting that her cooking talent will serve his plans. Ji-young can’t help but remember Mok-ju’s cunning from before, the woman who twisted the king to her will and caused so much chaos.
The episode ends on a chilling note: Yi Heon tells Ji-young that someday, she’ll be begging him for death.
DramaZen's Opinion
Just finished the first two episodes of Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, and I am hooked!
The show has the perfect mix of historical intrigue, clever humor, and food magic. Ji-young’s sudden time-travel from a modern cooking competition to the Joseon era is chaotic, hilarious, and surprisingly heartwarming. Watching her adapt and use her cooking skills to survive, from a glowing cookbook to impressing picky lords... makes her such a fun, relatable heroine.
Yi Heon is just as fascinating, a king with a sharp mind, a hidden agenda, and apparently a refined palate that actually appreciates Ji-young’s creations. The tension between them is electric, and you can tell this dynamic is only going to get more interesting. Plus, the show doesn’t shy away from political intrigue, revenge plots, and the kind of historical stakes that keep you on your toes.
If you love a mix of history, humor, and mouthwatering food, these episodes are a delicious start to what promises to be a very entertaining ride.
