If you really think about it, aren’t all good friendships based on food?

Throwin’ it back to 2005 with your favorite TVB stars!

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Characters:

• Kevin Cheng as Chan Ka Lok (“Gai Jai”)
• Charmaine Sheh as Chow Man Hei (“Mandy”)
• Raymond Lam as Yao Hok Lei (“Ngor Siu/Daniel”)
• Tavia Yeung as Chow Zhi Yan (“Ling Mong aka Lemon”)
• Ben Yeo (Singapore) as Terry
• Michelle Chia (Singapore) as Yuko

Details:

• Hong Kong & Singapore (Cantonese)
• 30 episodes
• Original run: Aug 1 – Sept 9, 2005
• Also known as: Food for Life

Quick Rundown:

Yummy Yummy, a foodie competition game show that spans across Singapore and Hong Kong has contestants from all walks of life go from being strangers to best friends. After forging a bond through their shared experiences on Yummy Yummy, this group of friends must return back home to their regular lives that’s filled with real life problems. But the one thing that’s different is that they now have one another to rely on in times of need. They go through the many highs and lows that life brings, but always together as friends.

Anna’s Take

Even though Yummy Yummy came out almost 10 years ago, I only just recently watched it. Honestly, I have no idea why I didn’t watch it when it aired because it is exactly my cup of tea. I adore the cast, or most of them at least (sorry Tavia), and I do enjoy a good, happy friendship drama. When I was telling Estelle about it, all I could say was that it’s about friendship and then started laughing. There’s just something so inherently cheesy about using that as a plot that I can’t help but chuckle a bit when talking about it. I wish I could tell you that this drama defies expectations and it’s deep and philosophical…but it’s definitely not that. Still, is there anything wrong with being a fluffy feelgood drama? Nope; absolutely not, and that’s why I love Yummy Yummy. It’s a show that I can put on when I have nothing else to watch, but it still has enough substance that it doesn’t feel like a waste of time.

I actually wish the drama was more about the game show, and less about the life after the competition. Instead of just being a silly show, it chose to go the “dramedy” route, and tried to incorporate more serious plotlines with the comic relief moments. But I guess that just meant that we got more Kevin & Raymond bromance moments, so that’s totally cool too. Speaking of Kev and Ray, why haven’t they been in any other dramas together?! I really enjoyed their bromance in Yummy Yummy, and thought they both played characters that really suited them. Raymond has been typecasted into those handsome, cool characters (He is the Chok King, after all…), so it was fun to see a baby-faced Ray in his earlier carefree roles. The same applies to Kevin because I definitely like seeing him more as these normal dude characters than the straight-laced gentlemanly ones. Oh who are we kidding, Kevin Cheng can do no wrong.

Charmaine and Tavia’s characters’ relationship and acting were both fine in this, but I don’t think any of these characters were strong enough for the actors to really demonstrate their acting skills. Regardless, it was really great to see all these top TVB stars in a drama together before they all got super famous and popular. I think most people are probably watching Yummy Yummy for the cast, which is totally understandable because that’s mainly why I started watching too. Also, if you’re a Charvin fan, there are plenty of shippable moments here! Not so much if you’re a Raymaine shipper. Was that a spoiler? Oops.

I don’t really have much to say about the Singaporean actors, Ben Yeo and Michelle Chia, because I found both of their characters to be kind of annoying and unnecessary, particularly Michelle. For a Hong Kong-Singapore joint production, I thought the Singapore portions of Yummy Yummy were severely underused. Besides a few episodes that took place in the country, there was barely any other mentions of it. Singapore could have definitely been incorporated more into the drama, but instead it just felt like another TVB drama with a couple of new actors.

Yummy Yummy isn’t going to go down in history as a drama classic, especially since no one even really talks about it nowadays. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a completely enjoyable show that is full of heartwarming friendships that feature a group of friends that everyone would be happy to have. Yummy Yummy is an unpretentious, and let’s be honest, straight-up cheesy drama that can bring a smile to your face when you see how much these friends care about each other. Now, if only these TVB stars were actually all BFFLs in real life!

This & That:

• Kevin & Raymond sang the Yummy Yummy theme song, “With Friends/Yu Peng You Gong,” and Kevin sang the ending theme, “Triangle/Sam Gok Leung Min.”
• Raymond & Charmaine recently starred together in the TVB undercover cop drama, Line Walker, as Bao Seed and Ding Jie, respectively.
• Kevin, Charmaine, and Tavia all starred in the 2009 TVB palace drama, Beyond the Realm of Conscience.
  • Tavia won the “My Favorite Female Character” and “Best Performance of the Year” awards at the 42nd TVB Anniversary Awards for her portrayal of main villain, Concubine Yiu Kam Ling.
• Kevin & Tavia are co-starring in the 2015 TVB thriller, Eye in the Sky.
• After portraying a couple in the 2008 TVB police drama, Forensic Heroes II, there were rumors that Kevin and Charmaine were dating. Although the relationship was never actually confirmed, it was later reported that Charvin broke up a few years after. BUT there have been recent rumors that a Charvin reconciliation may be in the works!