Chae, Cockatoo

It takes guts to open a restaurant that’s unlike any other, and determination to do things your way without bending to trends. A strong sense of conviction is necessary to trade just two days a week, and to serve only six people at a time. And you need an unwavering sense of hospitality to do it all in your own home.

At her eponymous restaurant, Jung Eun Chae doesn’t manage a kitchen team, break down whole animals or have a marketing team. Instead, over many months, she tends to kimchi, soy sauce, gochujang and doenjang – cornerstone Korean ingredients made using centuries-old methods.

The restaurant atmosphere is intimate: just the chef, a few lucky diners, and shelves lined with the preserves, enzymes and ferments responsible for the incredible depth of flavour in each nourishing dish.

There’s no wine list but there is house-made cheongju, the rice wine, fragrant with fermented mandarin.

In an industry where working at speed is lauded, Chae’s slow-food philosophy is liberating. That’s not to say experiencing it is easy. Her cooking and her endearing nature have captured the attention of tens of thousands of online fans, many of whom you’re competing against when entering the monthly ballot for a rare seat.

But the chef’s reach extends beyond the restaurant. A new cookbook, Korean Slow Food for a Better Life, brings her food into homes everywhere. And in her own way Chae is inspiring a whole new generation of chefs, showing there are viable paths forward other than the one most travelled.