Cast and characters:

Hasegawa Kyouko <<Shiraishi Suzuko	Koide Keisuke <<Katsuragi Haruki	Nishimura Masahiko <<Ookouchi Tamio	Kobayashi Mao <<Shimazaki Saori	Saeko <<Asakura Michiru	Koike Eiko <<Kashiwagi Maki	Ishii Masanori <<Ookawachi Takanobu	Amano Hiroyuki <<Shiraishi Tooru
Hashizume Isao <<Katsuragi Michizou

A Delicious New Series Told in Classic Drama Style

Hasegawa Kyouko is a chef named Shiraishi Suzuko who recently returned from studying the culinary arts in Italy. She is the head chef at a modest Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Tokyo called "Trattoria Bambina". Though the restaurant is quite popular for its tasty food, profits are modest due to the restaurant's reasonable prices and middle-class atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the restaurant has just been sold to a larger company that owns a chain of premium Italian restaurants. They want to fire the current staff and turn the Bambina into another location for their expensive chain. They send an executive of the company, Haruki (Koide Keisuke), the son of the company president, to examine the restaurant. He already met Suzuko by chance in an earlier scene where they had an unpleasant encounter with one another in another restaurant.

He arrives at the Bambina and turns his nose up a bit at its modest appearance. Koike Eiko's character, who works at the restaurant and is also Suzuko's roommate, falls for Haruki immediately. Suzuko recognizes Haruki and renews her dislike for him again. Haruki decides to cut the restaurant a deal. He is going to bring "someone special" to the restaurant at a later date, and if she is pleased with the meal he will consider letting the Bambina and its staff continue to operate as long as profits increase dramatically. If not, "YOU'RE FIRED!" he exclaims in English which is met with, "OH MY GOD!" - the catch phrase of one of the waitresses (who is supposed to be half-Japanese and half-caucasion, but doesn't look it at all since she's played by a full-blooded Japanese actress).

That "someone special" turns out to be the fiance of Haruki's deceased brother (Kobayashi Mao). Since his brother died, Haruki has fallen in love with his fiance and has vowed to look after her in his brother's stead.

The Bambina manages to clear the first hurdle. Haruki's someone special is quite pleased with the dinner on her birthday where Suzuko makes her favorite pasta. However, the Bambina's profits still show no signs of rising, despite the efforts of the staff. So the Bambina's fate is still far from secure.

Through various circumstances Suzuko ends up having to associate with Haruki, though she still hates him. She is his date to an extravagant party, and a cook for Haruki's father's private party. Haruki respects her cooking abilities, and offers her a job working at the chain of Italian restaurants after the rest of the Bambina staff is gone, which she refuses since she doesn't want to betray her friends.

Haruki is still in love with his brother's fiance. He can't give up, despite her attempts to keep him at a friend's distance. Also, there is a young "GAL" (played by Saeko) who has been desperately in love with him since childhood, and is the daughter of a rich family. Haruki's parents also want him to marry her in order to secure relations between the two family's companies.

Although these other factors are at work, Suzuko and Haruki keep becoming closer to each other despite both Suzuko's despise for him and Haruki's feigned sexual disinterest in her. The drama keeps pushing them together. There are times when they seem to get along pretty well, but usually Haruki ends up having to make more threats toward the Bambina due to his work duties and Suzuko starts hating him again.

As a completely unrelated side story, Suzuko's older brother is a deadbeat single dad. He leaves his daughter with Suzuko and her roommate while he says he is going to China (while he has actually become a bum in the parks of Tokyo). He and Koike Eiko's character begin to gravitate together later in the series.

Just in case you were wondering, the word "PROPOSE" in Japan can be used as a noun to mean "a wedding proposal". So the title actually means "Delicious (Wedding) Proposal". The word "PROPOSAL", on the other hand, is considered a completely unrelated word in Japanese which is used strictly for business proposals.

So, this show is kind of a mixture of the old "Cinderella Story" where a poor girl is loved by a rich man, as seen in classic dramas like "imouto yo"; and mixed with restaurant dramas like another classic "ousama no RESUTORAN". Coincidentally, in both this drama and "ousama no RESUTORAN", the restaurant manager is played by Nishimura Masahiko. "oishii PROPOSE" is one of the most old-fashioned and simple dramas I've seen in a long time. The style is complete 90's, and in a way this is actually a bit refreshing. Dramas nowadays have to have gimmicks, and that doesn't necessarily make them good. Dramas like "oishii PROPOSE" are still fine as long as there is good script and good acting. I'm enjoying this drama. Somehow it seems very relaxing and comfortable to watch for me. And I have always been a fan of Hasegawa Kyouko, but this is the first time in a while that I really like her character. Koide Keisuke is actually quite good too and has some chemistry with Hasegawa. This is probably thought of by most as a minor drama of the season, but it's still a hit with me. If you didn't get enough of the golden age of "trendy" dramas through the late 80's and 90's, or if you just miss how simple things were back then, you should find plenty to enjoy in "oishii PROPOSE".