I've been trying to figure out why I like this series for a little bit, then it hit me: It's like reverse Gal Gohan. the older guy likes the girl, the girl is cool and reserved and doesn't betray her emotions a ton, they're brought together through cooking but it's that she initially really wants to learn and isn't doing it out of necessity, and he's the one with some baggage that needs to be worked through which he hides behind his pleasant demeanor (and food).
Except that since they aren't teacher and student there's no potentially creepy power dynamic issues to deal with and the presumably smaller age gap (if we believe he's supposed to be like early 20s at the high end) makes any potential relationship slightly less problematic (insert cringey romeo and juliet laws scene from that one Transformers movie here)