General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Heo's Diner (허식당)

Heo's Diner (허식당; also romanized as Heoshikdang and also known as Heo's Restaurant) is a 2025 South Korean time-slip fantasy romantic comedy television series in which Heo Gyun, a Joseon-era scholar and food writer, is transported 400 years into the future and ends up running a restaurant in modern Seoul.¹ It was written by Sung So-hyun, co-directed by Oh Hwan-min and Kim Kyeong-eun, and stars Xiumin, Chu So-jung, Lee Sae-on, and Lee Soo-min.¹

Key fact	Detail
Format	10 episodes of about 50 minutes, released March 24 to April 22, 2025, Mondays and Tuesdays at 17:00²
Platforms	Netflix (Korea) and Wavve, with broadcast on MBN Plus¹^•³
Source material	Web novel Heoshikdang by Jeon Sun-Young, published via Kakao²
Main cast	Xiumin as Heo Gyun; Chu So-jung (Exy of WJSN) as Bong Eun-sil; Lee Sae-on and Lee Soo-min each in dual Joseon/modern roles⁴
Production	Co-planned by Why Not Media, Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures, and Corpus Japan; produced by The Great Show⁵
Audience ratings	IMDb 6.4/10; Rakuten Viki 8.8/10 from about 7,700 user ratings⁶^•⁷

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The story begins in the Joseon Dynasty, where Heo Gyun is recognized as a genius with exceptional writing skill and aesthetic sense, and is described as the first food columnist of the era.² A progressive thinker who dreamed of a society without the status system, he was a problematic figure in his time, and his ideas led to his exile.⁸ In the drama's opening, he petitions the king to lift the social stigma against illegitimate sons, which earns the resentment of the nobleman Lee Yi-cheom, who plays a key role in having him exiled.⁹

When assassins come for Heo Gyun, he flees and is transported 400 years through time, arriving in present-day Seoul.² Starving, he is found in front of a small restaurant by Bong Eun-sil, the strong-willed daughter of the family that runs it; because of her mother's situation, the two begin running the restaurant together.²^•⁴ Believing that 21st-century Seoul, with no class discrimination, is the authentic "Yuldo-guk" of his dreams, Heo Gyun begins his chaotic adaptation to modern life.¹⁰ After an accident, he becomes the restaurant's chef and tries to discover his would-be killer.⁸

The antagonist thread runs through the modern era as well: Lee Yi-cheom's modern counterpart is Lee Hyuk, a star chef who runs a high-end restaurant across the street from Eun-sil's diner and grows furious when he learns of her partnership with Heo Gyun.⁹^•¹¹ In the finale, Heo Gyun reveals all of Lee Hyuk's misdeeds and accepts his fate of returning to Joseon.¹⁰

Cast and characters

Xiumin (Kim Min-seok of EXO) plays Heo Gyun, described in promotional material as a self-proclaimed genius with brilliant writing skill and outstanding aesthetic sense.⁵ The role marked his first attempt at a historical (sageuk) drama.³

Chu So-jung, known as Exy of WJSN, plays Bong Eun-sil, who is strong-willed and outspoken and cannot tolerate injustice; she first meets Heo Gyun when he appears at the restaurant dressed like a homeless man.⁴

Two supporting actors carry dual roles across the two eras. In a dual role, Lee Sae-on portrays Lee Yi-cheom, an unscrupulous man determined to get whatever he desires, as well as Lee Hyuk, who at a young age became the youngest person to hold the Korean Master Chef title. Taking on the double role of Lee Soo-min is Mae-chang, a strikingly beautiful woman who has the flair of a first-rate entertainer, along with Jung Mi-sol, once a child actor who later rose to fame in Korean commercials.⁴ The supporting cast includes Kim Hee-jung as Eun-sil's mother, Oh Ji-ho as an assassin and Detective Kang, Woo Hyun as No-ong, and Choi Won-myeong as King Gwanghae.¹

Production and release

The series is based on the web novel Heoshikdang by Jeon Sun-Young, published via Kakao.² The novel was also adapted as a webtoon, serialized simultaneously on KakaoPage, Naver Series, Lezhin, and Bomtoon, where it recorded average ratings of 9.7 or higher.¹²

Why Not Media announced the production with the four leads in January 2024, and the drama was co-planned by Why Not Media, Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures, and Corpus Japan, with The Great Show producing.¹³^•⁵ The premiere date of March 24, 2025 was announced on February 18 of that year, with new episodes released Mondays and Tuesdays at 5 p.m. KST on Netflix, followed later by Wavve.⁴^•⁵ The cable channel MBN Plus also broadcast the series, premiering it on March 24 at 9 p.m.³ The final episode aired on April 22, 2025.¹⁰

Reception

Audience scores differed by platform. IMDb users gave the series 6.4 out of 10, while Rakuten Viki users rated it 8.8 out of 10 from about 7,700 ratings.⁶^•⁷ AsianWiki's user rating stood at 87/100 from 116 votes.²

Critical responses were mixed. A Review Geek recap of the premiere found the setup for the time travel weak and the antagonist's motivations underdeveloped, while crediting Xiumin and Exy's performances with keeping the leads engaging.⁹ A later season review praised the inventive premise and the male lead but criticized the writing of the female lead and a rushed ending, recommending it to fans of time-slip and food-themed stories.¹⁴ After the conclusion, the four lead actors shared closing remarks thanking viewers.¹⁵

Namesake restaurant

A separate, unrelated business called 허식당 (Heo Sikdang) operates in Yeouido, Seoul, serving gamja-tang (pork bone and potato soup) and jeongol hot pot, with dinner courses of 40,000 to 60,000 won per person; it has no connection to the drama.¹⁶

References

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 › Korean contemporary drama › Fantasy, supernatural, and science fiction series › Premiered 2023 to 2027

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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