The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Yoon Eun-Hye returns in another K-drama of a working-class lass stumbling into hypergamy (ref: Princess Hours). Coffee Prince's Cinderella is Go Eun-Chan (Yoon Eun-Hye), a Seoul tomboy who, through a series of awkward encounters, finds herself a sidekick and employee of of Choi Han-Kyul (Gong Yoo), the self-centred heir to an F&B empire. As breadwinner for her family, she poses as a boy so that she can get jobs unavailable to girls, of which is that of a trainee barista at the titular coffee house, which Choi needs to make succeed in order to prove his competence to his family.

Despite her apparent gender, though, Choi finds himself falling for Go, and begins to question his sexuality. While hardworking and dutiful Go initially plays the role of a boy in order to earn money, she finds herself unwilling to risk losing Choi's companionship by revealing the truth. Choi's cousin is also attracted to Go, and with his childhood sweetheart entering the fray, a love quadrilateral begins to emerge (ref: Princess Hours, again).

The romantic comedy drama plays out very well for the most part, and the tension/awkwardness-based comedy is delightful. Choi and Go share great chemistry, and while Gong Soo delivers commendable work as an actor, the show is stolen by Yoon Eun-Hye. Tears, giggles, kisses and fights abound in this sugary-sweet rom-com series. Two thumbs up.