General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Secret Ingredient (miniseries)

Secret Ingredient (also known as Bimil Salyo) is a 2024 romantic dramedy miniseries produced as a Viu Original in collaboration with Unilever Nutrition SEA and Indonesia, uniting actors from South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia in a food-centered love story set in a Jakarta restaurant.¹^•² It was Viu's first multi-market original to feature South Korean talent, and it ran for six episodes from April 30 to June 4, 2024.¹^•³

Key fact	Detail
Format	Six-episode romantic dramedy miniseries, about 35 minutes per episode, streaming on Viu³^•⁴
Run	Premiered April 30, 2024; finale "Dessert" aired June 4, 2024³
Lead cast	Sang Heon Lee as Hajoon ("Jack"), Julia Barretto as Maya, Nicholas Saputra as Chef Arif²
Key creatives	Creator Corinna Vistan; director Cho Young-kwang; writer Baek Dong-hoon²
Production	Viu with Unilever Nutrition SEA and Indonesia; Unilever brands including Royco, Bango, Knorr, Lady's Choice, Sariwangi, and Buavita appear in the series¹
Languages	English, Korean, Filipino (Tagalog), and Indonesian⁵
Reception	IMDb rating 6.3/10 from about 154 user ratings⁵
Awards	Silver Dolphin for Branded Content Videos and Black Dolphin for Best Cast/On-Camera Talent at the 2024 Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards²

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The story follows Hajoon, a Korean social elite who gives up his luxurious life in Seoul to reunite with Maya, his childhood sweetheart from his years in the Philippines, and win her love for who they can become rather than who they were.⁶ He takes a job as a kitchen trainee under the assumed name "Jack" at the Jakarta restaurant where Maya works, concealing that the establishment belongs to his family and that he can barely cook.²

Maya, played by Julia Barretto, is an aspiring Filipina chef working under the demanding Chef Arif, played by Nicholas Saputra, while carrying debt from her mother's medical bills in the Philippines.²^•⁷ The recipes prepared in the drama link back to the characters' pasts or serve as a medium for bonding them.²

The six episodes carry food-themed titles: "Hors D'Oeuvre," "Soup," "Appetizer," "The Main Course," "Cheese," and "Dessert."³ The plot moves through a cooking challenge set by Arif, a search for the rare fruit kepel, a side business selling food to hotel employees against company policy, and an international cooking competition that Maya enters with Hajoon and her friend Stella (Gabby Padilla).³

A multinational production

Viu, the pan-regional streaming service of PCCW operating in 16 markets, announced the series in January 2024 as its first multi-market Viu Original made with South Korean talent, following earlier multi-market originals such as The Bridge and Pretty Little Liars.¹ The concept originated with its financier, Unilever Nutrition SEA and Indonesia, which sought new ways to promote its food products to women across Southeast Asia, a market segment the company identified through its shared love of Korean dramas.⁸

Creative team. The series was created by Corinna Vistan, head of originals at Viu Philippines, who drew inspiration from the way Korean dramas showcase food.² The Korean side of the production included director Cho Young-kwang, who directed the k-drama Racket Boys, and writer Baek Dong-hoon, who wrote Le Grand Chef 2: Kimchi Battle.² For Sang Heon Lee, known from Netflix's XO, Kitty, the role was his debut as the lead in an Asian drama, and it was not the directorial debut of director Cho Young-kwang.⁸^•¹^•¹¹

Languages. The script used four languages: English, Korean, Tagalog, and Bahasa Indonesia.² Characters speak Tagalog, Indonesian, and Korean among themselves and switch to English when interacting across nationalities, a choice Vistan explained by noting that Southeast Asian audiences are accustomed to watching Korean dramas with subtitles.⁸

Preparation. To play a chef, Barretto took a three-day course at the Magsaysay Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, training under chef Mae Montalban in skills such as deboning and plating.²

Release and reception

The series began shooting in January 2024 and premiered on April 30, 2024, becoming available in 16 countries that day.¹^•⁹ All six episodes were released weekly on Tuesdays, with the finale on June 4, 2024.³ It later became available on HBO Max in many regions and free with ads on Viu.⁴

The 2024 Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards honored the series with two trophies: a Silver Dolphin in the Branded Content Videos category and a Black Dolphin for Best Cast/On-Camera Talent; according to Vistan, this marked Viu's first Cannes win.² On IMDb the miniseries holds a 6.3/10 rating from about 154 users, with the first episode rated highest at 8.5.⁵^•¹⁰

Significance

Vistan described the show as Viu's first larger regional show and framed it as a deliberate attempt to make a Southeast Asian story that would still feel like a k-drama, blending Korean storytelling conventions with Filipino and Indonesian settings, casts, and cuisines.² The series also integrated Unilever Nutrition products into its recipes, an approach to branded content that drew on the product placement conventions of Korean food dramas.²

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 › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles My to So

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

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