The Hyehwa-Dong Grandma’s Lunchbox Kitchen

Kim Jiyun

Shanna Tan

Meet Madam Jeong Geum-nam, affectionately known as "Hyehwa-dong Grandma", a self-proclaimed "cool senior".

Her dosirak are the best in town (much better than from Heja Lunchbox, thank you!) but there is something else that makes her restaurant special: Grandma's warm notes wrapped in silver foil and hidden under the rice, like fortune cookies. Notes that make people laugh, cry and bounce back. She helps them heal their wounds and slowly become friends and neighbours.

Her regulars include Jung, a young mother struggling to take care of her newborn; Son Heung-min, a middle school student whose name, identical to the superstar footballer, causes him much stress; Hae-young, a nurse in her 30s struggling with infertility; and Hae-in, a vendor with a charming voice who has a secret crush.

But Geum-nam has her own secret. She fears one day very soon she will need to close the restaurant, and when the time comes she will need the support of her customers in return . . .

Translated from the Korean by Shanna Tan