Ahn Hyo-seop's Chef Drama Final Table Starts Quietly After a 27.1% Hit

JTBC's new weekend drama Final Table, starring Ahn Hyo-seop as a genius chef, premiered on the 24th with a nationwide rating of 1.9%, according to Nielsen Korea. That is a modest start for an actor whose previous lead role, SBS's Dr. Romantic 2, ended at 27.1%.

The gap is less alarming than it looks. Dr. Romantic 2 aired on a terrestrial network, while JTBC is a cable-era broadcaster whose dramas typically open in low single digits, so the two figures measure different audiences more than a decline in Ahn's pull.

What happens in the first episode

Ahn plays Kang Han, a talented chef who has spent years abroad. He returns to Familia, the restaurant tied to his childhood memories, and is angered by how the food now tastes. That puts him in conflict with Choi Song-i (Hong Hwa-yeon), who has run the place alone since her father, owner-chef Choi Seung-hyo (Jang Hyun-sung), died.

The father's death has also damaged the image of Pyeongyeon Group, the country's largest restaurant company. To recover, it begins producing a cooking competition, The Table: K Chef 2026. That contest becomes the drama's central stage.

The team and the stakes

Kang Han and Song-i agree to enter the competition and win it, believing victory is the only way to save Familia. They are joined by Song-i's aunt Choi Doo-young (Kim Jae-hwa), a sous chef who has been cooking for only a year but is known for tidiness and hygiene, and Park Geon-woo (Lee Bong-jun). Park handles dessert and garde manger, the station that prepares and portions basic ingredients, and he holds a traditional liquor sommelier certification and once opened his own restaurant at 23.

The first-episode preview points to something darker behind the contest. Song-i tells a producer she knows why such competitions are held, and Pyeongyeon's chairman, Moon Hae-seon (Jang Young-nam), remarks that the drama's lead should be someone they cast. After Song-i says Pyeongyeon killed her father, an unexplained accident wrecks the kitchen. Kang Han then provokes his rival, top restaurant owner-chef Cha Woo-jin, telling him he will lose to him again, and accepts the offer to compete.

Behind the camera and the comparison

The series is written and directed by Kim Do-hoon, whose credits include The Moon Embracing the Sun and Royal Family. Before it aired, viewers were already comparing the premise to Netflix's hit cooking show Culinary Class Wars, which gave the drama early attention.

Ahn's profile has also grown abroad since Dr. Romantic 2. He voiced Jinu in Netflix's animated film KPop Demon Hunters, which introduced him to international viewers. Whether that wider fan base follows him to a domestic cable drama will be clearer once the second and third episodes report their numbers.

Final Table airs Saturdays and Sundays at 10:40 p.m. on JTBC.