Foodbuzz 24,24,24 with Zenkimchi and Star Chef

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Behind-the-Kitchen with Chef Hu-nam Kim of Star Chef
Posted in: Restaurant

Last month, we were helping the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” scout locations, foods and guides for their upcoming Korea show. In our research, our friend Jennifer Lee (Naked in the Sauna, Between Pee and Kimchi) told us about this amazing restaurant with an amazing Chef, Hu-nam Kim. Cathy and David Harris (SeoulLife.net) concurred. They said it was one of the best meals they ever had in Seoul.

Really?

We had to check this out.

A couple of weeks later, we headed to the Maebong neighborhood in southeast Seoul, near Yangjae (you know, “Costco” Yangjae). Tucked in the corner of some back streets is this cozy little pub. Star Chef.

Jen, Cathy and David weren’t exaggerating. The food here was amazing (I’ve noticed that I tend to say, “Amazing,” as much as Andrew Zimmern says, “Fantastic.”)

I wanted to immediately post about the restaurant, but the evil self-promotional synapses started firing.

“Chef Kim, would you mind us going into your restaurant and filming you in the kitchen, say, sometime in September?”

Either it was our charm or the massive booze tab we racked up that pushed him to agree.

So here we are with Foodbuzz’s “24 Meals, 24 Cities, 24 Blog Posts,” where twenty-four food bloggers around the world have a special meal and blog about it on the same day. Cool concept. It looks like ZenKimchi is the sole representative of East Asia.

I hope I don’t embarrass everyone too much.

Read the rest and see more pictures at zenkimchi.com

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.