Sweet Trap 2024 / A charming, though cliché, comedy kitchen drama that celebrates traditional Chinese cuisine

With over-the-top soundtracks, and an enemies to lovers plot, Sweet Trap seemed like it would be cliché. It totally is, but it’s unabashedly so, learning into these moments like a comforting, well-worn coat, that actually supports its main goal as a celebration of traditional Chinese cooking. The stakes are familiar, but the melodrama is slightly justified, as the series quickly and easily establishes reasonable motivations for the initial enemies, with Jiang Jie out to be number one and Li Nai out to restore her mentor’s honor. Sweet Trap might have all the cliché trappings in Chinese dramas, but it does this in such a charming way that comes from pure appreciation, not utter disdain.