This is the new Korea

Indians have a pretty good idea of what Japan is about.

We are crazy for sushi, have grown up using Japanese electronic products, are familiar with such automobile brands as Toyota, Honda and of course Suzuki. Sony is far better known in India than most of our own brands.

 

On the other hand, till a few years ago, we knew very little about Korea. I remember that phase well because in the early years of this century, the Korean government invited me to visit Korea so that I could learn more about the country. I met newspaper editors, government officials, restaurateurs and even academics who had researched the origins of Korean food.

 

   Did Indians known what kimchi was, they wanted to know. Were we familiar with Gochujang? The answer to nearly every question I was asked had to be ‘not really, no’.

 

   I went back again, a little later for a conference but I didn’t really immerse myself in the new Korea till 2016, when I represented India at Korea’s ICICI Institute Summit and my friend Vikram Doraiswami was the Indian ambassador. I came back and wrote here about how much Korea had changed in just a decade: K-pop, K-Dramas, K-Beauty and lots else.

 

   When I look back now at my early feeling that Korea was the new Japan, it seems broadly right but I had underestimated the extent to which Korea would come to dominate global popular culture. BTS was still largely a local phenomenon in 2016. There was no Squid Game. Korea had not yet dominated the streaming channels. International cosmetic companies had not ripped off every Korean cosmetic invention, such as the skin care ranges and the Cushion Foundation. K-beauty was still a niche concept.

 

   I went back last week and of course, Korea had changed all over again. Indians, who have replaced our old Japanese appliances with products from Samsung and LG and have begun watching Korean shows and listening to BTS, may soon know it better than we know most other East Asian countries .

 

   But there is one area that where we are still bemused by Korea: the food.

 

   In New York, Korean is the trendy cuisine, taking over the space once occupied by Japanese omakase and sushi places. Such restaurants as Atomix and Cote are among the city’s most difficult reservations.

 

   Not so in India. Yes, Korea has a disadvantage in that its most famous product, Hanwoo beef, has no future in India. But the Korean flavour profile, which can be spicy, should work for Indian palates. And there is no reason why such dishes as Korean Fried Chicken should not catch on here.

 

   I went to Seoul again last week for three days for a food trip but one that was not devoted only to Korean food. I was there for the announcement of the 50 Best Restaurants in Asia list. (This was 1-50; 50 to 100 had been announced a fortnight ago). I stayed at the Grand Intercontinental Parnas, which is where the ceremony was held and was impressed by how much service in Korea has improved though fluency in English remains a problem throughout Korea.

 

   Because one evening was devoted to the 50 Best function, I had relatively few meals free and given that some of the world’s best chefs were in town I had fewer opportunities to eat the simple Korean food (like the aforementioned Fried Chicken) that I love. But I am not complaining: I still had some amazing meals.

 

"Because Hanwoo is the most talked about ingredient in Korea, it sounded crazy not to try it in Seoul."

   On my first evening I went to the Gucci Osteria in Seoul. Gucci Osteria is a collaboration between Italy's greatest chef Massimo Bottura and the fashion brand. While most such collaborations tend to consist of fancy prices for regular food (such as the Armani Cafes), Massimo runs the Gucci Osteria restaurants as extensions of his flagship Osteria Francescana often regarded as the World’s Best Restaurant. I went to the Gucci Osteria in Florence (one Michelin star) last year and thought it was special and deserving of the two stars that Michelin did not give it only because it was located next to a fashion store.

 

   The Osterias were first set up by Karime Lopez, a brilliant chef of Mexican origin who understands Italian food but whose cuisine knows no national boundaries. Karime married Takaniko Kondo, who was Massimo's right hand man for years and Massimo only reluctantly let Taka (as he is known) leave the mothership to join his wife in Florence.

 

   Karime and Taka, were cooking with Antonio Iacoviello, the very gifted chef at the Tokyo Gucci Osteria and the Korean-born Hyungkyu Jun who runs the Seoul Gucci Osteria.

 

   The opportunity to try this super-collaboration was too good to miss. It was an amazing meal. Of course Karime and Taka were the stars but the most surprising dish of the evening came from Antonio who took the traditional Italian Pasta e Fagioli and re-invented it with Miso and Japanese flavours. Chef Jun took Korean pork from the island of Jeju and paired it with Chamnamul, a Korean plant, also from Jeju.

 

   Lunch the next day was at Mingles, Korea's best restaurant, as the 50 Best confirmed a day later when it won that title and came at 13 on the top 50.

 

   This was Korean food, unapologetically full of local flavours. The restaurant was packed with visiting chefs (from Tokyo’s Florilege, and Singapore’s Meta and Thevar restaurants, among others) and they were impressed by a sticky rice ‘risotto’, a gingery chicken noodle and Korean sausage with Hanwoo beef. Michelin gives Mingles two stars and says, accurately I think, that the chef Kang Mingoo has “a deep respect for tradition” but “marches to the beat of his own drum.” 

 

   On my last day, I had an unusual lunch. Julien Royer is one of the world’s great chefs. Odette, his Singapore restaurant, won three Michelin stars (which it retains) when Julien was only in his thirties and has twice been number one on the Asia 50 Best list. Julien was in Seoul for the 50 Best list but also for the San Pellegrino Young Chef competition, which he has been involved with for years.

 

   He cooked a quiet lunch for San Pellegrino using such Korean ingredients as Hanwoo (he doesn’t normally use much beef at Odette) and the food was everything you would expect from Julien. His elegant wife Agnes who sat with us at the lunch has a sharp intelligence and is the perfect foil to her gifted husband. It was the sort of small, memorable lunch that one is rarely fortunate enough to be invited to.

 

   Because Hanwoo is the most talked about ingredient in Korea, it sounded crazy not to try it in Seoul. Everyone recommended Born and Bred for Korean barbecue and fortunately my son, who was traveling with me, discovered that Singapore’s Burnt Ends was doing a one-night only collaboration with Born and Bred and we managed to get a table for that night.

 

   It was the best evening I have had in Korea because Born and Bred is a wonderful restaurant: happy, relaxed and casual. I even preferred it to Cote, the Michelin-starred super-hot Korean steakhouse in New York. And Dave Pynt, the brilliant “I don’t give-a-damn’ Australian chef from Burnt Ends and Thomas Koh, his elegant manager, shook Born and Bred up.

 

   The food was sensational, including such Burnt Ends favourites as Steak Frites (not really a steak and chips), Bone Marrow Curry, and Grissini with Taramasalata. But the single best dish was the deceptively simple-sounding Maitake mushroom and egg, which is just what the description says: hen-of-the-wood mushrooms and fried egg on white rice. Except that Dave had made it so delicious that it was like no egg and rice you will ever eat. (The mushrooms were cooked in Hanwoo fat; the egg yolk had soya etc.)

 

   So, yes I’m sorry that I didn’t eat more purely Korean food. But this is the new Korea. It’s where great chefs use Korean ingredients and Korean flavours and take global cuisine to new heights.

 

   Should we call it K-Food?