A new chapter for the hit variety series Undercover Chef is coming, after tvN confirmed a follow-up that moves the story from overseas kitchens back to Korea. The spin-off is titled Undercover Chef: Friends Who Came From Afar, a literal rendering of the Korean name, and it will send the local chefs who once trained Korea’s stars into unfamiliar Korean kitchens. On September 18, the network said those visiting cooks will experience Korean food culture firsthand after bonding with the original cast abroad.
The original Undercover Chef concluded in July after following some of Korea’s best-known chefs as they went undercover as the most junior employees at restaurants in the countries that shaped their cooking. Stripped of their titles, they took on hidden missions while navigating unfamiliar environments and language barriers. The format mixed kitchen tension with the slower work of earning trust from people who did not know they were serving celebrities.
Sam Kim went undercover at a restaurant in Parma, Italy. Jung Ji-sun worked in Chengdu, China, while Kwon Sung-jun joined a kitchen in Naples, Italy. Each chef started at the bottom of the line and had to survive local standards without leaning on fame. Those immersions became the emotional core of the series, because cooking slowly turned strangers into something closer to family.
The show topped its time slot in viewership ratings from its premiere. Its finale reached a peak rating of 8.6 percent according to Nielsen Korea, the program’s highest rating yet. That finish left demand for one more meeting between the Korean chefs and the overseas crews who taught them.
While the Korean chefs were the most junior members in the kitchens overseas, the spin-off will offer a fun role reversal as they welcome their new friends to Korea as owner chefs. The visiting cooks will no longer be seniors giving orders in Parma, Chengdu, or Naples. Instead, they will walk into Korean kitchens where the former juniors now run the room.
The series was never only about hidden missions. People who spoke different languages and came from different food cultures grew closer through cooking and ended up looking like a real family. The new season asks whether those same bonds will hold when the guests taste Korean dishes and confront a dining culture that is not their own.
Local chefs who have spent years protecting the authenticity of their regions will now face Korean ingredients, service habits, and kitchen tempo. The collision of those traditions is expected to produce unexpected discoveries as well as new stories. Viewers will also watch whether the visitors, once intimidating seniors abroad, relax when they are received as treasured friends.
Schedule problems shaped the guest list. Because the overseas cooks run restaurants for a living, gathering every team at once proved difficult. Filming for two groups is already complete, while one popular team will have to wait.
Addressing those logistics, the production team shared, “Since the chefs run restaurants for a living, it wasn’t easy to coordinate their schedules. The Naples team with Chef Kwon Sung-jun and the Chengdu team with Chef Jung Ji-sun have completed filming, but unfortunately, Chef Sam Kim’s Parma team was unable to join this spin-off.” The comment makes clear that Kwon Sung-jun and Jung Ji-sun will host their overseas counterparts first.
The same team left the door open for the missing group. They continued, “However, as mentioned in the finale of Undercover Chef, the Parma team is planning to visit Korea in February next year. We also talked about hopefully joining forces again and having fun together if the opportunity arises.” That February trip would reunite Sam Kim with the Parma kitchen that once treated him as the newest hire.
Looking ahead to the episodes already shot, the production team added, “The chefs from Naples and Chengdu will open up a new world of gastronomy in unfamiliar Korea. With the tables turned, many unexpected episodes came about. We hope viewers will look forward to the show’s diverse entertainment and the new chemistry between the chefs.” Those remarks point to reversed hierarchy, surprise moments, and fresh pairing energy rather than a simple travel reunion.
The spin-off is directed by Hong Jin-ju and Yoon Min-jun, who are moving the original bond onto Korean soil. Their version follows the local chefs who laughed, cried, and taught with the Korean stars, then asks those guests to work inside kitchens they have never run. The result is meant to show gratitude as much as culinary contrast.
Undercover Chef: Friends Who Came From Afar is confirmed to premiere in the second half of this year, giving the Naples and Chengdu teams the first Korean welcome while the Parma visit remains planned for February next year. Exact episode dates have not been announced, but the series is locked for a later-2026 broadcast after filming with Kwon Sung-jun’s and Jung Ji-sun’s overseas friends wrapped.
Sources: tvN, Naver
