The King of Home Cooking

Description

Broke college student Jiho is determined to win the grand cash prize on the TV show "The King of Home Cooking," where culinary mastery alone isn't enough to become popular with the audience voters. After a wild night of research, he concludes that faking a gay relationship with another contestant is the surest way to victory. The handsome and good-natured Woohyuk could be the perfect partner -- but the instant he hears Jiho's plan, Woohyuk turns into a complete jerk! The two somehow agree to team up, but will their rocky "ship" be enough to beat the other attention-hungry contestants?

Original Webtoon:
Kakaopage, Ridibooks, Naver Series, Lezhin, MrBlue

Official Translation:
English, Japanese, S.Chinese, French, German, Thai

Type

Manhwa

Related Series

The King of Home Dating (Sequel)

Associated Names

Meister der Hausmannskost

Single Chef (French)

มาสเตอร์เชฟเด็กหอ

宅家厨王

自炊料理王

자취요리왕

Groups Scanlating

N/A

Latest Release(s)

N/A

Status in Country of Origin

73 Chapters + Prologue + 8 Side Story (Complete)

S1: 40 Chapters (1-40)
S2: 33 Chapters (41-73)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.5 / 10.0 (56 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.07 / 10.0

14%

21%

20%

Last Updated

September 14th, 2025 9:02am PDT - 1 month ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Shounen Ai
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Writer's Block of Romance

Koi wa Inamono Biminamono

Placebo Memory

Recipe for Love

I Spy a Married Life

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

Gawee

Artist(s)

Gawee

Year

2019

Original Publisher

Kakao

Polarfox

Serialized In (magazine)

kakaopage (Kakao)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Tappytoon (2020)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #672

(-11)

Monthly Pos #1508

(-112)

3 Month Pos #3722

(-189)

6 Month Pos #5295

(-217)

Year Pos #7144

(+444)

List Stats

On 75 reading lists

On 78 wish lists

On 117 completed lists

On 6 unfinished lists

On 70 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Team Woohyuk!!

by jaeminuf
8 months ago

Rating: N/A

Let me start off by saying I love PD Lee Jonghan, who will reprise his role in the sequel King of Home Dating. He's irreverent and so, so, so charming, bloody-nose and all. Had they met outside of the show, I might have shipped him and Jiho. After all, Jiho needs someone to get him out of his head. But they did not, and there is always also the potential for a misuse of power. (And in real life, PD Lee, you should know better than to hit on a contestant on your show! Tsk, tsk!)

Either way, I am very much team Woohyuk. He and Jiho just jive better for me. They're both young men on the cusp of entering the larger society of adults and their dynamic reflects that. I do like Woohyuk whom I mistook as a tsundere based on many reviews, but he is anything but. He is really sweet, sweeter than Jiho is and deserves. I did not see manipulativeness in his character. Jiho's? Yes.

The artwork is good without screaming its excellence. The framing of the shots is at times cinematic.

One last note. as ohgu59 pointed out, the side characters' names were hilarious: Kim Michin (crazy Kim), Shin Gwishin (ghostly spirit), Charyung (filming for the camera guy), etc.

I found this a delightfully fun story that never made me cringe or become frustrated. Add good art to that, I'm game.

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In love

by Lili_1082
11 months ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Disgusted, I enjoyed this story immensely, but as usual, my favorite character was the second ML. I fell in love with the producer! Even though I devoured the story, without the producer I might not have finished it, or at least I would have liked it a lot less.

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Alright

by Nanaine
1 year ago

Rating: 6.5 / 10.0

The king of home cooking has a rather fresh plot with adorable side characters and strongly fleshed out main character and his two love candidates. Jiho was relatable thanks to affection for his cat and jealousy which he felt rather often. He wasn't depicted as someone perfect and I didn't mind it at all.
The beginning was rather rough and ending too in my opinion, since the misunderstandings could be a little stale to some people.

Among his two possible boyfriends I definitely liked more producer Lee, he was just more handsome and mature. Woohyuk was a little brat. However, I believe that Producer deserves someone better so I'm satisfied with the way things ended for everyone here. Especially since there's a sequel to this story, which I didn't read yet but looking at the description, i can say it's going to be great.

As for the side characters, my favourite was Gwanjong. I haven't any bad things to say about him. He was simply marvelous.

Art was fine. Emotions could be better depicted but I liked that body languages was sometimes more highlighted.

To sum it all up, it wasn't anything that memorable to me nor is it my favourite webtoon in the world, but I don't regret reading it and I think it's worth a try.

... Last updated 1 year ago

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very good

by Miachann
3 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Every character have their own conflict and uniqueness, i love it very much

... Last updated 3 years ago

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Hilarious and worth the read!

by mae23
4 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

So I agree that this story is one to take with a grain of salt. It's supposed to be a bit a absurd, but personally, I think it still manages that and intense amounts of humor (I haven't laughed this much at a manga for a while), while still creating an engaging romance. The characters aren't the most likeable, but that's partially what's so good! I think they're way more interesting and unique as characters. They do stuff that characters don't always do, and I love that. I think this one is actually pretty special! I would say it's worth the read

... Last updated 4 years ago

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One of the weirdest stories with the craziest characters lol

by ohgu59
4 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

It's hilarious and super entertaining. I think the comedy was lost in translation a little. I read the Korean version and the dialogue was so ridiculous that I knew to take this story with a grain of salt from the beginning. The characters are all over-exaggerated, and other than the main characters, they don't even have serious names. There's a character named Kim Michin (crazy Kim) for christ's sake.. Also, I loved how unpredictable it was. I just about speed read through it in two days to find out who Jiho chooses in the end. Although I am a little disappointed since I was rooting for the other side, but it was finished off well either way. No loose ends.

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Not very good

by LexxRyott
5 years ago

Rating: N/A

I agree with the others. I thought Jiho the main character was going to be bolder and Woohyuk is very intense and annoying, he is possessive and manipulative.

I just keep reading for producer Lee but they hardly pay attention to him, he is mature, intelligent, kind and Jiho still does not see him as a friend, and I think they will ruin him somehow (I mean, the author). It's a shame.

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Good idea but..

by Charrr
5 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

The concept is good.. but the two characters are so damn unlikable. I completely agree with @MaZzax on this. It’s really disappointing that the good idea is ruined by the trash characters. I couldn’t get emotionally invested in the characters despite reading 20 chapters of this. The only good point that I can mention with confidence is the art style, I really like it and it was the only thing that kept me reading this far.

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Interesting concept...

by MaZzAx
5 years ago

Rating: 5.0 / 10.0

The concept is really interesting. Guy wants to win cooking competition so proposes to another handsome contestant that they pretend to be in a gay relationship to increase their popularity with the viewers. HOWEVER, somehow the writer manages to make both of the main characters really unlikeable. I can't read this anymore because I couldn't care less what happens to either of them.

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