In “The True Taste Show,” Kim Jae-hwan opens a fake restaurant, above, to reveal the dirty deals that bring fame to restaurants in Korea. Provided by The People
A restaurant called Mat, or “taste” in Korean, opens in a random area near Seoul. What does it take for this little diner to make it on television?
According to a new local documentary, “The True Taste Show” it seems, not a whole lot.
In “The True Mat Show,” its Korean title and an intentional pun on “The Truman Show,” former MBC producer Kim Jae-hwan reveals the disturbing truth about the corruption behind how “famous” restaurants here win airtime.
The deep level of deception that goes on is played out like a black comedy, with hilarious tidbits and narration by the filmmaker.
To prove his point, the director opens a restaurant of his own in Ilsan, Gyeonggi, and installs hidden cameras inside, filming his meetings with brokers. For just 10 million won ($9,090), Kim’s restaurant gets featured on local broadcaster SBS’ “Live Show Today.” For another 9 million won, Mat is featured on MBC’s “Find! Delicious TV.”
The whole process is systemized to the point that to an outsider, these transactions between the restaurant owner, the broker and TV networks, almost looks like legitimate business.
The subject matter is heavy but Kim keeps the film deceptively light and funny.
In one particularly comical scene, a veteran broker brags to the fake restaurant owners at Mat that he was the one who came up with caviar samgyeopsal (pork belly), which later became a huge hit, and proposes that the restaurant adopt the dish to woo TV networks.
In the next scene, Kim interviews a French chef from Le Cordon Bleu Seoul. The chef explains that when dealing with caviar, one must take special care to ensure that the caviar is served fresh, without exposure to heat. Kim then shows him the footage of caviar samgyeopsal being made, the eggs grilling inside the bits of pork fat at a barbecue restaurant. The chef becomes a bit flustered and loses his train of thought for a moment before seeming to suppress the first words that must have popped into his head. He says instead, “That’s very new to me.”
Kim’s ultimate target though, doesn’t seem to be the brokers or restaurant owners, but the makers of these television programs, who have taken laziness and incompetence to new heights.
He goes on to show that the whole set up of these television shows, from the celebrity panel that introduces the restaurants, to the hired extras who pose as real restaurant customers, is an absurd hoax.
In making this clever film, the director takes a little-known issue that he has a lot of knowledge about, musters up the courage to put his reputation as a former TV producer on the line, and talks to the right people to deliver his message in a clear, engaging way. In many ways, “The True Taste Show” reminded me of exactly why I like documentaries.
