(Credit: Netflix)

Imagine waking up in a time where no one speaks the way you do, and no one eats the food you are used to. In fact, your jeans and sneakers have been replaced by various layers of royal silk. Well, that’s exactly the disorientation shown in the new Korean drama on Netflix: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty.

This Korean limited series, as soon as it was released, climbed to number two on Netflix’s global non-English TV chart. Social media is filled with its edits, and people are going gaga over this unique story.

The hook is instantly delicious: Yoon-ah plays a modern-day chef who is pretty happy with her job. Then one day, during a solar eclipse, she suddenly gets transported back to the Joseon era.

After being confused for a while, she realises the comforts of her own world are gone. Not just that, she is trapped in a confusing web of political traps, rigid traditions, and an entire royal court that doesn’t quite know what to make of her. Her survival, strangely enough, comes down to food. Cooking is her secret weapon and the only skill she can rely on when everything else feels alien.

And this is where the series really becomes addictive. Every meal Ji-yeong prepares isn’t just a plate of food; it’s a strategy. One dish diffuses tension, another wins over sceptical courtiers, and another strengthens her bond with the king. Watching her find her footing through flavours and ingredients gives the whole show an intimacy that most palace dramas skip.

Of course, at the centre of it all is her growing connection with the young king, played by Lee Chae-min. He is reserved and bound by duty and also burdened by the weight of his crown. Their dynamic is classic opposites-attract, but with the added twist of food and time itself standing in the way. There is something about watching them share quiet moments over food, which is a reminder that, at the end of the day, love is about care and nourishment.

As a viewer, it feels like you’re being taken away with her in the past. And always, in the background, we see the question lingering: can a love story survive when it’s stitched together across centuries?

All the gobblers will love the show because of the way it deals with food, but there is plenty of romance for the others, too. Most importantly, it doesn’t drown you in palace politics or endless melodrama. Instead, it blends fantasy, romance, and comedy into something closer to comfort food. It’s the kind of series you can sink into on a weekend and come out of feeling like you’ve been somewhere else entirely, just like Ji-yeong.

No wonder it’s climbing Netflix’s charts worldwide. Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, has shown that a series can be both whimsical and deeply affecting at the same time. And maybe that’s why people can’t stop watching.