Episode 13

It's been 3 years since Sharon left Singapore. Life has gone on.

Louise and Daniel have returned to Singapore and have attempted to get married three times. It is hoped that at their fourth attempt, she'll finally say "I do".

Martha is a cooking instructor at a Community Center and has come to terms with her life.

Marcus and Nicole have progressed in their relationship. Nicole attempts to mend the relationship between Marcus and his father.

Nicole and Marcus set Steve up on a date. Louise sets Steve up on another date but Steve isn’t inclined to date. He’s very different from the old days. He’s actually been waiting for Sharon, despite his declarations that he wouldn’t.

Sharon finally returns to Singapore. Steve wrestles with whether to approach her. However, when Sharon is interviewed about her personal life, it is clear that someone else has come into her life, Jonathan Kang who wants to help her fulfill her dreams.

Louise makes a discovery about Steve's feelings for Sharon and makes one last desperate attempt to bring the two together.

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Episode 12

Steve receives a call from a lawyer informing him that his maternal grandfather is on the brink of death. Steve had not even been aware that he had a maternal grandfather. Martha denies that she even had a father. Martha’s world is slowly falling apart. Her television program has been cancelled due to poor ratings.

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Episode 11

Nicole makes the first move and approaches Marcus for a date. Marcus turns her down. Nicole is stunned. Marcus reveals that he thinks she may be on a rebound. He doesn't want to be a substitute for Steve.

Sharon has to leave for Europe as part of her prize for winning the competition. Fearing that she will turn out like Martha and that she would leave him, Steve tells her he doesn't want her to go.

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Episode 10

Steve walks out of the qualifying rounds of competition. Martha stays in and competes on her on.

Sharon looks for Steve and urges him to go back to the competition, and not let his mother get the better of him. He shouldn't let her keep him from doing what he does best.

Steve goes back to the competition and asks the judge to let him compete on his own. Louise asks Daniel to give Steve another chance. Daniel relents.

Martha, Steve and Sharon all make it through the first round of the competition. The final round, which takes place the next day, boils down to the three of them.

Nicole, still smarting from her confrontation with Steve, lashes out at Sharon, playing on her insecurity, telling her that she doesn’t belong to Steve's world and is not capable of winning the competition. Sharon loses confidence.

Marcus tells Nicole to cast her feelings for Steve aside and judge competition fairly.

Steve looks for Sharon who is a nervous wreck, Nicole's words have gotten to her and she's completely demoralized, she even wants to drop out of the competition. Steve encourages her and bolsters her confidence.

At the finals, thanks to a hint from Steve, Sharon wins the competition, Steve is second, Martha is third.

Steve is pleased that he's finally shown Martha that he's just as good, in fact, he's an even better Chef than she is. Martha declares the competition rigged.

Louise tells Daniel how she really feels about him and tells him that he's young, eligible and he'll have no problems finding someone else in his life. She leaves before he can say anything else.

Nicole admits to Marcus that she was biased towards Sharon; tasting Sharon's food made her realize that she had misjudged her. Marcus tells Nicole that she’s perfect to him.

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Episode 9

Steve and Martha enter the cooking competition as a team. At the briefing for the contest, Steve discovers that Sharon has joined the competition as well, on the orders of Master Chef Ko. Steve goes to her, wanting to find out what happened to her. She's cold towards him. She seems completely different from the old Sharon. Steve is baffled and hurt.

Nicole turns up at the restaurant with a date. Steve seems happy for her. Nicole is upset that he isn't even the slightest bit jealous. Steve lets slip that he has feelings for Sharon. Nicole is angry.

At the competition, they find out that Nicole is a judge in the competition. Marcus and Louise wonder if this will put Martha and Steve at a disadvantage. To Louise's surprise, Daniel appears and is a judge as well. He works for the company that's sponsoring the competition.

Sharon is feeling the pressure of being in the contest. Marcus has a chat with her and discovers how angry she is about Steve. He tells her about the dish he created especially for her. Sharon is touched.

Steve overhears Martha talking to her assistant Phillip and finds out that Martha has been lying to him about her illness. She had completely fabricated everything so as to manipulate Steve into competing by her side at the contest, so as to give her career a much-needed boost.

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Episode 8

Steve searches for Sharon but she seems to have disappeared. He's baffled as to why she would suddenly go off like that. Louise accuses him of hurting Sharon. He tells her that maybe their inability to sustain relationships is in their genes, pointing out that Louise has been too afraid to go on her date with Mike, the airport security guard.

Steve reads in the papers that Martha may have cancer. When Steve goes to see her, she pushes him away, declaring that she doesn’t need him. She finally relents and Steve manages to get in to visit her. He tries to persuade her to go for treatment.

Martha tells him that she will seek treatment only if he agrees to join regional cooking competition with her. Her dream is for them, mother and son, to enter the contest together. Steve wrestles with it and finally relents, to fulfill his mother's possibly last wish.

Louise goes on her date with the Mike. Just as she's about to leave for her date, her holiday lover Daniel finally comes to Singapore.

Louise is thrown for a loop, she doesn't know what to do. She gives Daniel the cold shoulder and goes to meet Security Guard for dinner.

She returns home to find Daniel waiting for her. He explains that he couldn't meet her at the appointed time because he was involved in a car accident. He's finally recovered now and has come to meet her.

Louise is touched but is torn. Security Guard is stable, secure, if a little bit boring, but a safe choice for a woman her age. Louise isn't sure that she and Daniel have a future together but she can't seem to stop herself from dating both men at the same time. Daniel finds out that she's dating the Security Guard as well. He is upset that she doesn't feel the same way about him as he feels about her. He leaves her. Louise is upset.

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Episode 7

Sharon is no longer at the restaurant. She's now Master Chef Ko's apprentice. Steve finds himself missing her. The kitchen is too quiet. He looks for any excuse to look for her. He leaps upon a packet of tissue, decides that it must be Sharon's and goes to return it to her. When he goes to look for her, he's awkward around her.

Sharon finds an excuse to look for him, she tells him she's returning her apron. Marcus hints that they should date, he subtly hints that there's a cinema very near the restaurant and there's a good midnight movie slated that night. Steve rushes to close the restaurant so that he can make it to the cinema on time. Nicole shows up unexpectedly and asks Steve for a chance to start over. Steve turns her down and races to the cinema, half an hour late. To his surprise, Sharon is still there waiting for him. They end up watching a movie together.

Sharon's brother objects to Sharon and Steve dating. He warns Sharon that Steve is quite a flirt. His ex-girlfriends are all like Nicole, very sophisticated, nothing like Sharon.

Nicole, after Steve's rejection, invites Marcus to have a drink with her. She drinks a little too much and throws herself at Marcus. Marcus pushes her away and points out that he isn't the guy she really wants.

The next day, Steve creates a dish for Sharon who is on her way to meet him. Nicole comes to the restaurant to confront him. She asks if there's someone else, did Sharon come between them. Steve, wanting Nicole to get over him, lies that Sharon is nothing to him. He tells Nicole that he was just making use of her. Sharon overhears the conversation, and leaves, broken hearted.

Steve waits for Sharon with the dish that he prepared for her but Sharon never appears.

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Episode 6

A strange eccentric man appears at the restaurant, looking for Sharon. He is Master Chef Ko and it turns out Sharon's father helped him out when he fell on hard times many years ago. Since then, Master Chef Ko has gone on to become a world-famous chef. He was based in China, and is now back in Singapore to set up a restaurant. He's sorry to hear about Sharon's parents, he wants to repay his debt. Sharon suggests Master Ko take Eric as his apprentice, being the eldest son, it’s his duty to fulfill his father's dream. But Eric doesn't want to take on the job. He urges Sharon to take it up and live her dream.

Another strange man is spying on the restaurant. Louise and Marcus are kidnapped. Louise fears for her virtue but it turns out that their target is really Marcus. Marcus' father, a rich businessman, has been looking for Marcus for months. It turns out that Marcus ran away from home. Nobody knew he is actually the heir to a fortune. Marcus has been hiding that fact from everyone because he doesn't want to be pressured to take over his father's business. He’s still trying to find himself.

Louise decides to exploit the situation and tries to get Mr Tan, Marcus's father to invest in the restaurant. Mr Tan agrees to it, but on condition that she fires Marcus and persuades him to return home. Louise protective instincts are aroused and she stands up for Marcus and refuses Mr Tan's money. Marcus is touched and asks Louise to keep his family background a secret from the people in the restaurant. He doesn't want the fact of him coming from a rich family to change how they think of him.
Martha wants to feature Master Chef Ko on her program. Master Chef Ko agrees on condition that it takes place at Steve's restaurant. Master Chef Ko praises Steve’s restaurant on her program and denounces Martha for a fraud. Martha passes out.

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Episode 5

Steve the chef is back in the saddle again. He's cooking and instructing, and twice the tyrant he used to be because now he's hands on and has higher expectations and standards. Marcus is driven round the bend and Sharon is kept on her toes.

Louise comes up with a new plan to promote their restaurant, the negative publicity has kept customers away. She decides to do a few "roadshows" and bring their brand of fusion food to the heartlands.

In Sharon's neighbourhood, they bump into nosey Aunty Loo, the resident matchmaker. She offers to find Louise a man. Steve objects but Louise is provoked into agreeing.

Sharon bumps into childhood friend Trina. Unlike Sharon who had to take over her father's char kway teow stall and support her three brothers, Trina went on to University and has done very well for herself, she’s now engaged to a rich guy. Trina belittles Sharon.

Aunty Loo sets up dates for Louise but they turn out very unsuitable. The overprotective Steve gloats. Sharon tells him off for being self-centered and not being more considerate fo Louise.

At the engagement party, Sharon is treated like nothing more than the hired help by Trina. Indignant, Louise decides to do something about it and gives Sharon a makeover. Louise's style doesn’t quite fit Sharon.

Steve feels sorry for Sharon and feels compelled to lend a hand. He actually gives her a more subdued, stylish, understated look. Sharon looks sweet and more comfortable. Steve even escorts her to the party. A Cinderella moment for Sharon, and Steve and Sharon, for once, don't fight.

The airport security guard Mike looks Louise up for a date. Louise flees in fear.

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Episode 4

The bad reviews keep rolling in. Business is getting from bad to worse. Louise is beyond distraught. She stomps around the restaurant, in a foul mood.

Sharon still hasn't mastered the finer points of cooking yet. Sharon keeps going on doggedly but the lack of proper instruction from Steve hampers her progress. Steve isn't really teaching her, it’s more like he's instructing her disinterestedly from a distance. All Marcus does is carve vegetables.

Sharon goes around looking for someone to repair the brick game of Steve's that she broke.

Sharon checks the reservation book and finds that a reservation had been placed for two, under the name of Mr Lee, the booking was made a year ago. They don't expect anyone to turn up, considering the reputation of the restaurant now. Flowers arrive for Mrs Lee.

Suddenly, Louise mood changes dramatically. She takes over the kitchen, working on something that's top secret. It's something she's done every year for the last five years but nobody can coax the details from her. Later that night, Louise turns up in a stunning dress, and exits the restaurant, carrying a box.

To everyone's surprise, Mrs Lee, aged about 60, steps into the restaurant. They show her to her reserved table and give her the flowers. She gets emotional when she sees the flowers. She requests for a dish with rose petals that’s Steve's specialty.

Louise, carrying the box, arrives at the airport. She stands at the Arrivals Board, checking out the planes arriving. She takes out a smudged note, "Wait for me, I'll be there November 12th 20--"

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen at the restaurant, Sharon loses her temper at Steve for not taking his talent seriously when he refuses to cook the rose petal dish for Mrs Lee. She tries to find the recipe to replicate the dish but it’s nowhere to be found.

Louise is sitting at the Arrivals floor of the airport waiting. Her smile has dimmed a little as her hopes diminish bit by bit. A security guard, Mike, looks suspiciously at her and the box she's carrying. He arrests her.

Mrs Lee gets emotional and grabs at the knives. She tells them it's time for her to join her husband. They find out that it's her wedding anniversary. Her husband had made reservations a year ago but a few months ago he had passed away from cancer. Mr Lee had wanted to eat at Steve’s restaurant when he read a review about his specialty dish. But he never had a chance to taste it.

Mrs Lee misses her husband terribly. She hasn't eaten, hasn't slept, since her husband passed away. She tells a very moving story of how her husband had saved her life once before.

Under interrogation by Mike, the security guard, Louise tells him why she's there. She's waiting for her holiday fling to come to Singapore for her. Louise decides she’s had enough of waiting. She's been waiting for five years. She gives the cheesecake to Mike and leaves.

Sharon tells Steve that just because his parents had a bad marriage, it doesn't mean that love doesn’t exist. She points out that Steve can help Mrs Lee feel better by cooking the dish she wants but he's selfishly wallowing in self-pity.

Struck by Sharon's scolding, Steve picks up the roses and commences cooking. He later finds his brick game repaired.

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Episode 3

The day after the disastrous re-launch, Martha is interviewed on television. She talks about her husband's death and laments the sad state of her son, Steve. She appeals to him to return to her side and she would guide him to success. Steve stalks off in a fury.

Sharon tenders her resignation to Louise, she blames herself for the debacle. Louise refuses to accept her resignation but Sharon insists and leaves the restaurant.

Sharon opens her char kway teow stall, with a heavy heart. Her brother helps her out and sees how upset she is.

Nicole returns to work and tries to write a column with a positive angle on Steve's restaurant. Her Editor tosses the story out. He's more interested in knowing what happened between Martha and Steve and the truth behind their estrangement. Martha is hot news right now. Martha actually offers Nicole the opportunity to interview her, an exclusive. Nicole's Editor wants her to get the scoop on their mother and son relationship. Nicole tries to argue against doing the piece. Her editor tells her, if she won't do it, somebody else will. She’s up for promotion; does she want to risk it? He tells her that if Steve loves her, he would understand how important her career is to her.

Nicole interviews Martha. Martha paints a sympathetic picture of her life. She tells her about her strained relationship with Steve's father, a spineless, good for nothing man. All he knew how to do was play the cello. Martha was the one who had to go find a job to support their family. She had made sacrifices for the family and unfortunately because of that she could not be by Steve's side throughout his childhood. When he was struggling to make the restaurant work, Martha tried to reach out to him but was rebuffed. Martha indicates to Nicole how heartbroken she was by Steve’s attitude towards her.

Martha also tells Nicole that she knows that she's Steve's girlfriend. She had given Nicole the exclusive because she wants Steve to know that her efforts to reconcile with Steve are sincere.

Sharon's brother asks Sharon if she's really serious about quitting her job at the restaurant. He tells her that he’s never seen her so happy as when she's working at the restaurant. He urges her to follow her dreams, she’s done enough for him and their brothers.

Sharon goes to the restaurant to pick up her things and sees Steve in the kitchen with his father's cello, looking forlorn. He reveals how close he was to his father and how his mother had behaved at his father's funeral. She had manipulated the situation, made a mockery of the occasion, and seized the opportunity to launch a new cookbook. Since then Steve has refused to cook. Cooking to him represents his mother and he doesn't want to be anything like his mother, using her ability to cook to further her ambitions and manipulate the lives of others, like she did his father. Sharon finds out significance of the brick game she had broken in the first episode.

Louise wants revenge for Martha's scathing comments about Steve and his father to the media. She goes to her office and hurls tomatoes at Martha. Nicole is present at the scene. She has no choice but to write about incident. Her Editor reminds her to be professional. Steve reads it and is furious. He storms over to Nicole's office and accuses Nicole of betraying him. Nicole defends herself, if she didn't do it, somebody else would have written it. She worked hard to build up her reputation for being professional.

Steve is utterly disappointed in her. He tells her that their relationship is over. She had picked her career over him, she had betrayed him, just like his own mother.

Sharon finds Steve at the restaurant playing his father's cello, alone. She berates him for giving up on his dreams by not cooking anymore. She tells him she’s taking back her resignation. She’s not giving it up without a fight.

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Episode 2

Nicole walks in on Steve and Sharon asleep in the kitchen. She walks out without saying a word. Louise offers Sharon a job. She accepts. Nicole and Steve have it out. Nicole says she feels that Steve never had any intention of letting her into his life. He obviously has commitment issues. Nicole tells him that maybe their relationship is at an end, there's nowhere else for it to go. She walks out. Steve doesn’t stop her.

Louise prepares a publicity blitz for the restaurant. She wants to re-launch it in a big way, with a big party, inviting important people and regular customers to sample their new menu. Louise tells Sharon to invite a few of her friends to the launch as well, get the crowd in.

Sharon is guilt-ridden about Nicole and Steve's breakup. She talks to Marcus and finds out how Steve and Nicole met and started dating after she wrote a review about the restaurant. They plan a surprise romantic meal for Steve and Nicole – a reenactment of how they first met.

Sharon reminds Steve of everything Nicole had done for him, professionally and otherwise. Steve and Nicole have a heart to heart chat.

Sharon goes back to the restaurant and finds that her loyal customers from her char kway teow stall have come to give her their support. Only problem is they've turned the place into a hawker centre.

Steve confides in Nicole about his traumatic childhood and how he was damaged by his parents' acrimonious marriage. Hence his inability to commit. Steve tells Nicole that their one year relationship is as close he’s ever come to commitment. They reconcile.

Steve and Nicole return to the restaurant to find that it's turned into a full-blown circus caused by Sharon's well-intentioned char kway teow customers.

To add fuel to fire, Martha (Steve's mother) enters with a convoy of reporters. She makes some derogatory comments about Steve’s restaurant, humiliating him.

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Episode 1

Award-winning Chef Steve Lee clashes with Char Kway Teow Seller Sharon Ong when she critiques his tiramisu. The fact that it's true does not make her criticism more palatable. Indeed, Chef Steve Lee has lost interest in cooking after the death of his father. His life is further complicated by his commitment-phobia that results in rift between him and his girlfriend and food critic Nicole.

Steve's aunt Louise, fearing for the future of their restaurant, enlists the help of Sharon, who harbours a secret hope that one day she could become an accomplished Chef.

Steve lashes out at Sharon when she goes too far and unknowingly destroys a memento from his father. Remorseful, he decides to teach her how to make tiramisu to make up for his ill-treatment of her. Working late into the night, they fall asleep in the kitchen when Nicole walks in on them.

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