In JTBC’s Cooking: The Birth Of A Culinary King’ broadcast on September 23, actress Yoon Eun Hye won over Shinhwa’s Kim Dong Wan on a one-on-one cooking showdown.

Coffee Prince actress Yoon Eun-Hye, Shinwa member Kim Dong-Wan, trot singer Park Gun, and singer-songwriter Lee Sang Min who were hoping to win the title, were given 30 minutes to come up with a delicious meal based on the given theme. The competitors were given pre-mentoring by the show’s resident chefs and judges: Yoon Eun-Hye from Chef Song Hoon, Park Gun from Chef Hwang Jin-Seon, and Kim Dong-wan from Chef Jeong Ho-young.

“I was worried that if I learned to cook from someone, I wouldn’t be able to cook at the moment and I would feel that what I was doing was just a mess’, Lee Sangmin explained as he was asked why he refused to be mentored by the chefs.

In the first round, Kim Dong Hwan and Park Gun went head to head in making a seafood-themed meal. Kim Dong-wan prepared tuna spicy rolls and a tuna tataki salad. While Park impressed the judges when he inserted a sheath at both ends of the fish. He gave a twist to the savory taste of the roe by wrapping it with chicken skin, a secret method he learned from Chef Hwang Jin-seon.

Meanwhile, Kim Dong-wan showed off his knife skills from the way he cut the cucumbers. He also grated the radishes at a very fast speed. “  I thought I was fighting a real Japanese chef” Park commented.

Although both cooks were given high scores for cooking and neatness in the first round, Kim Dong-Wan won for exquisite plating, texture, and taste.

With the same theme, Lee Sang Min whipped up Myeonglan Shell Pasta while Yoon Eun-hye prepared course dishes with octopus, red rice prawn cream risotto, and green liquor.

Despite an abrupt interruption of the water supply during the recording, Yoon Eun-hye managed to continue the preparation using bottled water. On the other hand, Lee Sang-min surprised the chefs with the efficiency of the mushroom cuts using potato knives.

Yoon Eun-hye won the round for serving a dish that tasted like the ones served in a restaurant.

For the final head-to-head battle, Kim Dong-Wan and Yoon Eun-hye had to serve dishes with the theme “After Chuseok”. Yoon Eunhye prepared the second-course dish with japchae salad, galbi soup, fried songpyeon, and sorbet, while Kim Dong-wan planned a roll of pork belly using leftover vegetables.

Yoon Eun Hye who fried the leftover traditional rice cakes with bold gestures without caring too much about the hot oil, finished all four dishes within 30 minutes. “Time is tight, but the thought of being able to cook a course meal within the time limit is crazy”. Kim uttered in surprise seeing Yoon Eun Hye’s dishes.

The chef judges praised Kim Dong-Wan’s perfectly cooked pork belly dish but he was pointed out for not having an ample amount of fermented ingredient. Conversely, the chefs were all praise for Yoon Eun-hye’s dish for it being Korean but could be served in high-class foreign restaurants. 

The actress was declared the winner of the cooking show with her opponent unquestioningly admittinghis defeat saying the fried Songpyeon was beyond perfection.

Yoon Eun-Hye, who became famous in the 2007 series Coffee Prince, was also admired for her cooking skills when she joined KBS’ Star’ Top Recipe Fun-Staurant last year.