Chef Hooni Kim Of Danji And Hanjan Brings His Take On Korean Fine Dining To NYC: 'I Wanted To Show New Yorkers That Korean Food Isn't Always Cheap'
New York City has no shortage of tremendous Korean restaurants, but there was one area where Michelin-starred chef Hooni Kim felt there was room for improvement.
"I wanted to show New Yorkers that Korean food isn't always cheap and that we are about quality and ingredients, values and philosophy," Hooni told the Korean news agency Yonhap in an interview Friday at a cafe in the Gangnam district of Seoul.
New York's lesson in Korean high-end dining came in the form of two restaurants, starting with the small, modestly decorated Danji on West 52nd Street which became an overnight success and following it up two years later with his take on the English gastropub Hanjan on West 26th. Danji currently has earned one Michelin star.
"Hooni Kim, who opened this place in December as a new-style Korean take on a Japanese izakaya, is a terrific cook," New York Times food critic Sam Sifton wrote in his review of the restaurant back in 2011.
"Those who take the time and care to explore his menu of both traditional and modernized Korean food will be rewarded."
Hooni, who studied with the legendary French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud and worked at the three-star Michelin restaurants and cornerstones of Manhattan's upscale culinary scene, Daniel and Masa, is modest about his success.
"I think we are on a good pace [financially]. Quality wise, we are just starting," he said.
"You can't suddenly get 100 million people to like my Korean food in one year. It just doesn't happen. For a small country like Korea to affect all the other countries, it takes time. Good quality foods would make it faster."
The rising star in the cutthroat world of Big Apple dining admits his mother would have liked him to pursue the medical career he considered.
"My mom says 'I raised a son to be someone sitting in the dining room to be served by somebody like you,'" he said, with the Yonhap News Agency on Friday.
"She is okay now, not 100 percent though. You know how a Korean mother is."