I’m a Monkey and a Capricorn. Under saju paljja, I’m a black horse. I believe more in saju paljja because it’s more specific. There are 60 different signs based on year, day, month, and time of birth and rooted in nature, ying and yang and five elements theory.

I’m a Dragon and Taurus. For most of my life, I’ve resonated more with the description of Taureans. I wondered how all of the people born in the same year could be similar, especially as I looked at all the other students in my class. We all seemed so different for Dragons. Now that I’ve been “converted” by Kwang after being introduced to the Chinese version in Hong Kong, I do believe more in the detailed readings of saju paljja.

I was born and raised in Korea. My ancestors, probably more than a thousand years ago, come from north-central China. After coming to the Korean peninsula, until the Goryo dynasty, my ancestors lived in the northern part of Korea. More recently, my family is from Icheon which is famous for rice and pottery, and then my grandparents came to Seoul.

I am a second generation Korean American. My parents came to the US right before I was born. My mother’s family is from Mokpo and my father’s family is from Gwangju, both in Jeolla-do, famous for its cuisine.

When I was young, I was told that shaking your leg would take away your good luck. I can see why older generations would say that, so I guess I do believe it’s true. You can say that I have a lot of beliefs that other people might call superstitions. We put salt in jars and place them in the corners of our house and at the entrance to ward off evil energy. I don’t consider that a superstition.

When I was growing up, you couldn’t imagine dreaming about being a chef. Chefs were not admired or on television as they are now. I just really liked to eat as a child. So my parents joked that I should be a chef.

When I was growing up, you couldn’t imagine dreaming about being a chef. Chefs were not admired or on television as they are now. I just really liked to eat as a child. So my parents joked that I should be a chef. That joke by my parents perhaps very unintentionally helped guide me to becoming
a chef.

The source of my love of food and cooking came from my late mother. She was an incredible cook whose love was poured into the meals she made for us. She also loved to host parties, and that love and hospitality was passed down to me by her as well.

My mother’s omurice. Every Saturday, she made a Korean-style fried rice with lots of vegetables and what we call sausage and turned that into omurice. My brother and I got to decorate the omurice ourselves with ketchup. There was so much jungsung, or meticulous attention and love, in my mother’s omurice.

As Koreans with traditional family structures, we will look back at
our mother’s cooking it seems. My mother’s patjuk, or red bean porridge with chewy sweet rice balls, is something I miss. She would make giant jars of it -- salted, not sweet. The porridge felt so nourishing and comforting. Eating it with buchu kimchi (garlic chive kimchi) was the perfect meal.

I make a very traditional doenjang jigae. It’s my way of sharing a feeling of home and comfort.

I like to make gimbap to show my love. These days, it seems more trouble to make all of the vegetables that go into gimbap, especially when there is a great gimbap place near us. But making it is a real labour of love and to me a symbol of love from my childhood. My mother and my aunts would get up so early to make gimbap for us before day trips and adventures, so gimbap is also associated with special memories. I would love to share that specialness with our son.

I had beer when I first could drink alcohol. Now, Coke Zero is my drink of choice. I don’t tolerate alcohol well so don’t drink it unless doing tastings for work.

When I was actually 21 years old, it was probably a very cheap wine. Nowadays, my drink of choice is any Korean sool that we have in the restaurant or that we have brought back from Korea. I’m trying to learn more about Korean sool traditions and we’re working on a house makgeolli for baroo.

My family gives me strength. I try to talk to my parents every day. Family is the most important in my life.

I would say my son is my guiding light. I’m learning so much about myself, both good and bad, through trying to raise a good person. Because of him, I want to be a better person.

Chef Pascal Barbot. I admire his work so much and, while some people I know have had the privilege of working with him, I hope to have a chance to cook with and learn from him someday.

I would love to do a collab with the husband-and-wife team from Mokonuts. I love to see how husband-and-wife restaurant owners can be successful while also prioritizing their families. I would pester them with a thousand questions about how they balance life and work.

In terms of inspiration, Noma was truly inspiring and so, it’s the restaurant I will always remember. I also loved Hansik Gonggan by legendary chef Cho Heesook. Her cooking is homey but really refined. Sadly, her restaurant has closed but we hope to have her cooking again.

This is such a difficult question. There is a different favourite restaurant for every kind of occasion or moment. The last great I meal I had was at Antico Nuovo which is a short walk from where we live. Being able to walk to a place makes it feel like a neighborhood restaurant even if we can’t get out to eat very often. My son will eat an entire loaf of their focaccia. Their pasta is impeccable and they have the best whole roasted branzino in town.