Face-to-face with two ‘Culinary Class Wars’ chefs
Two white spoon chefs from “Culinary Class Wars” were in Manila for “Mat Nam: Where the Flavor Meets,” their collaboration with Your Local at The Balmori Suites’ Chef’s Table in Rockwell.
Chefs Lee Young-sook and Choi Ji-hyung worked with Your Local’s executive chef Patrick Go and his team and their food will be available at the pop-up until April 23.
Lee, a master of traditional and regional Korean cuisine, runs the restaurant Nakyung. She’s also the winner of the second season of “Korean Food Battle” (sometimes referred to as “Korean Food War”).
Choi’s Seoul restaurant Lee Buk Bang has made it to the Michelin Guide for five years. He is known for being the first chef to offer a North Korean fine dining experience.
We didn’t just get to enjoy Lee and Choi’s cooking, we also got to sit down with them for an interview. Choi spoke to us in English while Lee communicated through an interpreter. Here are excerpts:
What are your favorite memories from “Culinary Class Wars?”
Choi Ji-hyung: Meeting everybody from the show is a good memory. I’m the youngest of the white chefs. Learning from them was a good memory. Every moment was an experience.
Lee Young-sook: The best memory is knowing Chef Choi through the show.
The show has been a hit all over the world. What has been its impact on you as a chef?
Choi: Before the show, some people knew me … but not as much as now. Some days, the restaurant was full house, some days it was not. Now, we get more opportunities to meet people, more customers, more opportunities to use good ingredients for the customers too. After the show there’s a little bit more followers, a little bit more customers.
Lee: I got to go to the Philippines. (laughs) Without the show, I wouldn’t be able to come here. In the past, I only had to think about how to cook in Korea, I didn’t have to think about cooking in other countries. But now, in the Philippines, I had to think about what ingredients are available here … I had to think differently, adjust to the local ingredients.
Are there any Filipino elements or ingredients that you want to take back home to Korea with you?
Choi: I like calamansi. I love a sour taste. Calamansi has sourness and sweetness at the same time. I don’t know how expensive it is here. In Korea, we only have yuzu and mandarin. Mandarin is more sweet than sour and yuzu doesn’t have that much juice. Lemon is okay, lime is super expensive. But I feel like the calamansi has all the good things from all the citrus so I want to bring it back to Korea.
What did you learn from the white spoons and the black spoons in the show?
Choi: There were 20 white spoons in there. Some of the white spoon people including me were not super famous before the show. Some of the black spoon chefs were way more famous than me like Celebrities’ Chef (Lim Hee-won) … they’ve done it before, they’ve made a lot of establishments in their history. So learning from them too was very important. Everybody’s friends and they’re chefs and masters at the same time. Black, white, it doesn’t matter. Everyone has something we can learn.
Lee: I learned from Chef Choi. To be able to work together with the young generation is not easy but I was very grateful to meet him.
What have been your favorite Filipino dishes so far?
Choi: I like lechon. She likes sinigang. Sinigang is very similar to kimchi stew flavor-wise, it’s sour. Lechon, I love it because we have Korean barbecue too. And it’s a different kind of way to cook it. It’s crunchy, has a rich flavor, soft, juicy, everything is there. So I love the lechon. If I have a chance to cook the lechon here, I’d want to try it. There’s a very special way to cook lechon so I’d like to try. It’s one of my favorite Filipino food and some day I’d want to cook it myself.
How did you decide which dishes to offer here?
Choi: I have two dishes which are based on Korean fermented paste called jang. I want to introduce Korean jang internationally … I want to introduce how to apply Korean jang to Filipino ingredients. I want to introduce it through my dishes.
Lee: Japchae is a popular dish in the Philippines but it’s not a daily dish in Korea. You provide japchae when it’s a very good day, like a wedding or there’s a newborn or a kid turned 1 year old. Because it’s a good day, I wanted to do japchae. At the same time I want to bring authenticity to the Philippine people. The second dish is the mushroom and chicken gangjeong. Gangjeong is the old way of cooking Korean fried chicken. Mixing it with mushroom is very unusual. But using mushrooms a lot is my signature. I wanted to create this new dish for Filipino customers.
Even in Korea, the two of you have been working together. How did that end up happening and what do you like about working with each other?
Choi: I’ve always been a big fan of hers. Choosing the right people is a key not only in business but also in life. There were tons of chefs from the show but we specifically like Mom—look at her, her face doesn’t lie. You see a good universe [on her face]. We just want to hang out with her. She’s good people. They were all good people but she has so much knowledge about life and in the kitchen too. And there weren’t a lot of Korean [cuisine] chefs on the show.
It’s been announced that there will be a Season 2. Would you do the show again?
Choi: No one from Season 1 got an invitation. And they’re already filming.
But if they invited you would you have said yes?
Choi: Yeah, why not?
The show has a lot of fans here in the Philippines. What would you like to tell your Filipino fans?
Choi: I want you to try Korean food—not only Korean barbecue but also hidden Korean menu. There’s like millions of good Korean food but people only find kimchi, bulgogi, and galbi … But there’s so much more. If you have any chance to go to Korea, I want you to be more like an explorer. Have more curiosity about Korean food too. It’s gonna expand your idea and mind about the food.
Lee: Please love Korean food.
Two more chefs from “Culinary Class Wars” will be coming to Manila to present their own dishes for “Mat Nam,” which will run until June 1. For reservations, contact 0945-4270054.
