The restaurants changing what we know about Korean cuisine
Korean cuisine is so much more than kimchi or gochujang. Meet the chefs bringing a broader range of traditional and modern flavours to Australia’s biggest cities.
Executive chef Jung-Su Chang of Sydney’s Allta restaurant plates up.
IIt was not so long ago that Korean dining was widely known for little more than fried chicken or a table crammed with plates at a cook-it-yourself barbecue restaurant. A new generation of chefs is challenging that in Australia, exploring the broader traditional and modern nuances of Korean cuisine, buoyed by a surging global love affair with Korean culture
“I’m trying to show people authentic Korean food,” says Levi Eun, the co-owner of Ondo in Melbourne’s CBD, who’s previously cooked at Quay in Sydney, Longrain Melbourne and Igni in Geelong. His restaurant highlights bansang dining, where small side dishes known as banchan – a Korean staple – are eaten with rice or soup mains.
