{"id":2331147,"date":"2026-03-16T12:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2331147"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:25:11","slug":"filipino-celebrities-test-their-nerve-in-seoul-pop-up-resto-in-kumusta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/filipino-celebrities-test-their-nerve-in-seoul-pop-up-resto-in-kumusta\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipino celebrities test their nerve in Seoul pop-up resto in \u2018Kumusta\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A restaurant kitchen in Seoul becomes the unlikely stage for a new cross-cultural television experiment that pairs Filipino and South Korean stars in a cooking challenge with real diners and real pressure.<\/p>\n

The upcoming reality series Kumusta brings together South Korean actors Ji Chang-wook, Kim Min-seok, and Seo In-guk with Filipino celebrities Jodi Sta. Maria, Janella Salvador, Francine Diaz, and Arci Mu\u00f1oz. Guiding them in the kitchen is chef JP Anglo, whose restaurant Sarsa Kitchen + Bar holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction.<\/p>\n

– Advertisement –<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of competing in a studio, the cast travels to Seoul and runs a temporary Filipino pop-up restaurant in the city\u2019s upscale Gangnam district. For several days during filming in 2025, the actors took on full restaurant shifts, shopping for ingredients, preparing dishes, and serving customers while cameras rolled.<\/p>\n

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The show\u2019s title comes from the familiar Filipino greeting \u201ckumusta,\u201d meaning \u201cHow are you?\u201d The phrase captures the spirit of the project, which aims to turn food into a conversation between cultures.<\/p>\n

Chang-wook, known internationally for dramas such as Healer and Empress Ki, serves as host and cultural guide for the Filipino cast as they adjust to life and restaurant service in Seoul.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, there is one reason that I chose to serve in the restaurant,\u201d Chang-wook said with a laugh during a press interview. \u201cIt\u2019s because I\u2019m not good at cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Chef JP Anglo (left) and South Korean actor Ji Chang-wook discuss their roles in the upcoming television project <\/p>\n

Instead of working the stove, he focused on assisting diners and supporting the kitchen team led by Anglo. \u201cI just supported and followed our boss, Chef JP,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The menu reads like a showcase of Filipino comfort food, including sisig, lechon, kare-kare, sinigang, and palabok, along with desserts such as halo-halo.<\/p>\n

For Anglo, the challenge of turning actors into restaurant staff was daunting. \u201cI actually told them that it\u2019s impossible,\u201d he said. \u201cNon-chefs opening a restaurant and cooking Filipino food\u2014the stakes were very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the cast embraced the task. \u201cThey were troopers,\u201d Anglo said. \u201cThey embraced their roles the same way they would embrace their characters when they act. The heart was really there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filming days stretched as long as 12 to 16 hours, mirroring the pace of a real kitchen. Actress Salvador spent much of her time working alongside the chef behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my first time cooking,\u201d she said. \u201cI was mostly in the kitchen with Chef the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even familiar dishes proved demanding. \u201cAng palabok, ang hirap palang gawin,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI now have a renewed respect for people who work in the service and kitchen industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show also reveals the cultural parallels between Filipinos and Koreans, particularly around food.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we are from different nations, in front of delicious dishes we are just all the same people,\u201d Chang-wook said.<\/p>\n

\"\"From left: Arci Mu\u00f1oz, Janella Salvador, Francine Diaz, Jodi Sta. Maria, chef JP Anglo, and Ji Chang-wook pose for the cameras at the launch of their new show<\/p>\n

For Sta. Maria, the project offered a chance to share Filipino hospitality. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about taking care of each other while working,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s also making sure every person who visited the restaurant felt cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most memorable moments came quietly in the kitchen as the cast watched Korean diners finish their plates.<\/p>\n

\u201cJanella and I would pinch ourselves when we saw them eating and enjoying the food,\u201d Sta. Maria said. \u201cIt was a pretty cool moment for Filipino cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kumusta is produced by E&S Partners, a subsidiary of Echolive Korea, with filming and post-production handled by PODO Creative. Food company Rebisco serves as the show\u2019s main sponsor.<\/p>\n

The series premieres May 24 on TV5 as part of its Weekend Trip block and will stream internationally on Viu.<\/p>\n

– Advertisement –<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source manilastandard.net \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A restaurant kitchen in Seoul becomes the unlikely stage for a new cross-cultural television experiment that pairs Filipino and South Korean stars in a cooking challenge with real diners and real pressure. The upcoming reality series Kumusta brings together South Korean actors Ji Chang-wook, Kim Min-seok, and Seo In-guk with Filipino celebrities Jodi Sta. Maria, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2331148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[310647,451725,451726,451727,451728,451729,451730,451731,451732],"class_list":["post-2331147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-celebrity-chefs","tag-cooking-challenge","tag-cross-cultural-tv","tag-filipino-sk-stars","tag-gangnam-dining","tag-jp-anglo","tag-kumusta-show","tag-sarsa-kitchen","tag-seoul-pop-up"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Filipino-celebrities-test-their-nerve-in-Seoul-pop-up-resto-in.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2331149,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331147\/revisions\/2331149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2331148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}