# Delicious Romance (爱很美味)
**Delicious Romance** (爱很美味) is a 2021 Chinese urban romantic comedy-drama web series about three women in their thirties navigating work, love, and friendship in a large city during the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by Chen Zhengdao (陈正道) and Xu Zhaoren (许肇任), it stars Li Chun (李纯), Zhang Hanyun (张含韵), and Wang Ju (王菊) as three close friends with very different lives, and it premiered on November 26, 2021, streaming exclusively on [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video).[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) Although it launched with little promotion and no headline-grabbing stars, word of mouth turned it into one of the year's surprise hits, with a Douban rating that peaked at 8.6 and later settled around 8.1.[2](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0415/362378.shtml)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 爱很美味 (Ai Hen Meiwei) |
| Format | 20-episode web series, about 35 minutes per episode[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/delicious-romance) |
| Premiere | November 26, 2021, Tencent Video (mainland China)[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) |
| Directors / writers | Chen Zhengdao and Xu Zhaoren; written by Shen Yang and Yi Shuaijie[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) |
| Lead cast | Li Chun as Liu Jing, Zhang Hanyun as Fang Xin, Wang Ju as Xia Meng[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) |
| Reception | Douban rating peaked at 8.6, later stable at about 8.1[2](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0415/362378.shtml) |
| Award | Golden Xuan Award for Best Overseas-Distributed Drama, 2nd Aotong International TV Festival, July 8, 2022[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) |
| Film sequel | Released April 15, 2023; over 10 million yuan at the box office in 3 days; Douban 7.8[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and characters
The series follows three women who have been friends since school and now live and work in a big Chinese city. Each carries a label the show sets up and then complicates. [Liu Jing](https://www.edgepedia.org/liu-jing) (Li Chun) is a perfectionist food blogger who is picky about love; Fang Xin (Zhang Hanyun) is a beautiful but divorced livestream host troubled by romantic uncertainty; Xia Meng (Wang Ju) is a capable executive whose success strains her relationship with her boyfriend.[5](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/1nhhc3cjm28a44c-Delicious%20Romance) Through startup struggles, workplace pressure, and romantic setbacks, the three gradually arrive at new understandings of life, career, and love.[5](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/1nhhc3cjm28a44c-Delicious%20Romance)
The supporting cast includes Liu Dongqin, Zhou Chengao, Ren Bin, Zhang Fan, and Yang Boxiao.[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) On international platforms the show is listed under its English title with genres of comedy, drama, romance, and romantic comedy.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/delicious-romance)
## Production background
The project had a long gestation. Screenwriter Shen Yang said she wanted to make a Chinese version of *Sex and the City*, a light ensemble comedy about women's lives, but the project sat shelved for three years and was initially rejected by director Chen Zhengdao; he revived it during a gap in his schedule when he decided it could be made to fit the team's values and standards.[6](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/164178047714598.html) In his own account, Chen said that being stuck at home during the pandemic while rewatching *Modern Family* and *Friends* made him feel that in such times audiences especially needed warmth and joy to ease anxiety.[6](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/164178047714598.html)
**Casting without stars.** The series was produced by Penguin Pictures and Xiamen Anbo Youyou Film & TV Culture Co. and carried no top-tier traffic stars, a choice the producers described as deliberate: they prioritized how well each actor fit and loved the role over marketability.[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm) • [7](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-12-24/2057038.html) Wang Ju, who came to public attention through the talent show *Produce 101*, was the first of the three leads the director settled on; the producers said they saw in her a strong, healthy image of contemporary beauty and wanted to broaden viewers' assumptions about what a leading woman looks like.[7](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-12-24/2057038.html) It was her first leading role in a television series.[8](https://sjb.qlwb.com.cn/qlwb/PDF/20230617/A11.pdf)
## Themes and style
The show's central device, in the words of its chief producer Yang Yining, is "sticking labels on and then tearing them off": characters are introduced through familiar stereotypes, such as the pretty woman whose success is attributed to her looks, and the show then dismantles those assumptions.[7](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-12-24/2057038.html) Critics noted that unlike many glossy "female ensemble" dramas, it keeps its protagonists at ordinary scale: the three women commute, get laid off, face hiring discrimination over marriage and childbearing plans, and are cheated on, while their friendship stays constant through it all.[7](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-12-24/2057038.html) • [9](https://epaper.qlwb.com.cn/mobile/qlwb/PDF/20230418/A07.pdf)
**Tone and technique.** The series uses a light-comedy voiceover, sitcom-style transitions, and frank dialogue about love and sex, and reviewers described its surface as deliberately unglamorous, with unfiltered close-ups and a plain title that some viewers initially found off-putting.[10](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15786431) It also engages directly with its moment: where most urban dramas of the period avoided the pandemic, *Delicious Romance* opens by grounding its story in the present, with the pandemic shaping the characters' work and relationships, including a plotline in which Fang Xin's husband's affair is exposed through pandemic contact-tracing disclosures.[11](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/13/img/111213.pdf) • [9](https://epaper.qlwb.com.cn/mobile/qlwb/PDF/20230418/A07.pdf) Food runs through the series as more than decoration; meals carry emotional weight and serve as the medium through which the characters connect.[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV)
## Reception
The series premiered quietly in late 2021 and built its audience through word of mouth. Its Douban score opened at 8.6, rose to 8.4, and later stabilized around 8.1, and commentators called it a dark-horse hit of the year's final weeks.[10](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15786431) • [2](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0415/362378.shtml) Reviewers praised its naturalistic dialogue and its refusal to give its heroines a frictionless path, describing it as a drama about "how to keep going in an imperfect life" rather than how to become a better self.[11](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/13/img/111213.pdf) On July 8, 2022, it won the Golden Xuan Award for Best Overseas-Distributed Drama at the second Aotong International TV Festival.[1](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm)
The series also reached international audiences: it streams with English and other subtitles on Rakuten Viki and is listed on Netflix, which summarizes it as three women, a food blogger, a divorced host, and a businesswoman, supporting each other through the pandemic.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/delicious-romance) • [12](https://www.netflix.com/sg-zh/title/81573817)
## The 2023 film sequel
Riding the series' reputation, a feature film continuation, also titled *Delicious Romance*, opened in Chinese theaters on April 15, 2023, with the same directors, writers, and three lead actresses.[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV) The directors framed it as a transitional story that would buy time to develop a second season of the series.[2](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0415/362378.shtml) The film picks up the three storylines directly after the series: Liu Jing's dream restaurant is struggling, the pregnant Fang Xin must weigh career against marriage, and Xia Meng faces new workplace challenges and gender bias.[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV) Compressed from 20 episodes into 121 minutes, it earned over 10 million yuan in its first three days and held a Douban score of 7.8, below the series but still a case of a television-to-film adaptation retaining much of its goodwill.[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV)
Critical response was mixed. Supporters credited the film with preserving the series' conversational rhythm, its grounded sense of city life, and its honest treatment of the pandemic era, including masks, close contacts, and quarantine.[13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22666405) Detractors found that it played like an extended episode rather than a self-contained film, that viewers unfamiliar with the series faced a high entry barrier, and that some character arcs, notably Fang Xin's, felt regressed to serve the plot.[13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22666405) • [14](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752714) • [8](https://sjb.qlwb.com.cn/qlwb/PDF/20230617/A11.pdf) Chen Zhengdao has said he wants to keep telling the three women's story, whether in films or series.[4](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV)
## References
1. [爱很美味, Sogou Baike](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v200064181.htm)
2. [26万人追的《爱很美味》，如何转战大银幕, 1905电影网 via 电影界 (2023)](https://www.dianyingjie.com.cn/2023/0415/362378.shtml)
3. [Delicious Romance (2021), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/delicious-romance)
4. [《爱很美味》"跨媒介"如何原汁原味？｜文艺评论, 封面新闻 via 凤凰网 (2023)](https://i.ifeng.com/c/8P5SSeuIrSV)
5. [爱很美味 第1集, WeTV](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/1nhhc3cjm28a44c-Delicious%20Romance)
6. [《爱很美味》的女性群像：不似预期的"标签错置", 新京报 (2022)](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/164178047714598.html)
7. [《爱很美味》，把女性标签贴上去再撕下来, 每日经济新闻 (2021)](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-12-24/2057038.html)
8. [齐鲁晚报 (2023-06-17), A11版](https://sjb.qlwb.com.cn/qlwb/PDF/20230617/A11.pdf)
9. [齐鲁晚报 (2023-04-18), A07版](https://epaper.qlwb.com.cn/mobile/qlwb/PDF/20230418/A07.pdf)
10. [成年人看的爱情戏，尺度就是这么大, 澎湃新闻 (2021)](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15786431)
11. [大众日报 (2021-12-13), A09版](https://ep.shxwcb.com/2021/12/13/img/111213.pdf)
12. [爱很美味, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/sg-zh/title/81573817)
13. [影版《爱很美味》：期待已久的姐妹聚会，但聊得不够尽兴, 澎湃新闻 (2023)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22666405)
14. [《爱很美味》，在电影院"加更"了, 澎湃新闻 (2023)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752714)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Cr to In*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license