From 'Itaewon Class' to 'CLOY,' this restaurant in Makati is serving Korean drama-themed menu

After watching Captain Ri sink into a piece of juicy Korean fried chicken in "Crash Landing on You" or Ko Moon Young take a big bite of hot jook in "It's Okay to Not Be Okay," it's finally your chance to satisfy your K-drama food cravings!

Korea Garden, a restaurant in Makati City established in 1974, announced the release of its very own Korean drama-themed menu.

It offers an "Itaewon Class," "Crash Landing on You," "Goblin," "It's Okay to Not Be Okay," and "Hotel de Luna" set meals tailored on each of the Korean drama's taste.

In an interview with manager Andrea Ang on Wednesday, she said that it was her grandmother who inspired her to create the special menu.

Andrea said that she herself wasn't a K-drama fan. Her lola, however, was a whole different story.

"My lola was quite the jetsetter, but that changed recently with the pandemic. Now she's glued to the TV, but in a really cute way," she said. "She fell in love, honestly, totally, completely, with Captain Ri because he reminded her so much of my lolo, who had passed when they were quite young."

"Now my lola watches all the K-dramas. She's seen CLOY 15 times... she's signed up for Instagram so she has daily updates on her favorite K-drama actors, and she even has pillows of her favorite K-drama boys," she added.

With the help of her friends and by watching the shows herself, Andrea said she made sure to "pinpoint characters whose plot points included food, and who had a distinct look" as the backbone of her special menu.

Andrea said that she also decided to put out the Korean drama-themed menu when the restaurant had to go online amid the pandemic.

"We had to pivot and make our food available online. It was a huge change for a very traditional, very old school restaurant, but there was no other way to survive. My focus was to keep the restaurant afloat to make sure we could still provide jobs for our team," she said.

When they put their restaurant online, Andrea said that a lot of new customers wanted to try their food but didn't know where to begin.

"Launching the K-drama sets was to kind of help bridge that understanding—an easy way for customers to already visualize what the food is," she said.

Now, K-drama has not only been infused in Korea Garden's menu, but also helped Andrea understand her grandmother and get closer to her departed grandfather.

"I think they make her nostalgic for love. And this introduced my lolo to me a bit more too. We never used to talk about him so much," she said. "But how she sees Captain Ri, who is disciplined and serious, but shows his love through acts of service and sacrifice, makes me feel like I know him somehow, finally."

Open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day, Korea Garden is available for delivery, takeout and pick-up.

—MGP, GMA News