Oppa cooks: Korean chef of 2-Michelin star Meta presents modern Korean comfort food

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MANILA, Philippines — Singapore’s 2-star Michelin Korean oppa chef Sun Kim is in town for a limited time to cook comforting modern Korean food reminiscent of the fresh bounty from his hometown Busan. 

The Korean chef looks easy on the eyes, with his warm smile and shy demeanor. His dishes are equally the same — no frills yet palatably superior with their clean, balanced taste served with manageable portions at yesterday’s press preview in Solaire, Pasay City.

“’It’s simple, have to be tasty, have to be hot and have to be fresh as well,” the chef said when a reporter remarked about his food tending not to let diners overthink about them. 

Chef Sun, an apt name for the soft-spoken 40-year-old, demonstrated this philosophy at the six-course preview paired with the finest wines and exquisitely crafted teas for non-alcoholic drinkers. 

Every plate that came out of the kitchen of Waterside, where he will be showcasing his dishes starting today until Sunday for brunch and dinner, highlighted flavor above anything else.

When most other dishes at some other time would be overwhelming on the taste buds, Chef Sun’s food are light and easily recognizable, especially for many Korean drama lovers. 

Since he hails from the port city of Busan, his menu is 95% seafood, he said. Chef Sun grew up with good food, waking up to a view of a seafood market and being nourished by his mother’s cooking, who ran a restaurant. 

From Meta’s menu, he brought his popular Abalone dish, a juk, or porridge in English. The scored Abalone meat rests on top of the porridge with kamtae, chicken heart and lily bulb. This has been part of the restaurant’s menu since it opened in 2017. Meta earned its first Michelin star the year after in 2018. Last year, it earned its second star. 

Chef Sun highlighted his evolving technique that has helped him shaped as a chef, and this was seen at yesterday’s preview with influences culled from his experience working in French and Italian restaurants. 

Notably, his use of Japanese ingredients stems from his tutelage from the noted Japanese chef Tetsuya Wakuda, who founded the 2-Michelin starred Waku Ghin, listed as among The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2015. He worked with the chef in Australia before moving to Singapore. 

Chef Sun’s tuna sashimi with cuttlefish, Hokkaido scallop with aged soy sauce, and his take on the Chawanmushi or the Japanese steamed egg  was the surprising hidden twist on a bowl of seafood broth, Spanner crab and chili oil (suprisingly this dish didn’t sting), were the perfect prelude to the only meat dish on the menu. 

Some of those in the table with this writer remarked that his Miyazaki grilled Wagyu beef is reminiscent of Korean barbecue, but this dish was just a delicate yet indulgent number of perfectly grilled and marbled Wagyu beef with just the right char. It is served with an onion puree and a celtuce with a surprise well-known Korean dish as a filling. 

Corn was the only ingredient sourced from the Philippines, and he ended it with a trio of corn dessert in some of its popular forms: grilled sweet corn, caramel-coated popcorn, and creamy corn ice cream. One flavor, but with three different textures dancing on the palate as an apt sweet ending. It paired well with the Earl Grey tea with rose essence. 

“I serve food that I like to eat,” Chef Sun said. 

He prefers not to label his food as fusion, just modern Korean food. And in his Manila preview yesterday, he proved that labels are just names; the taste reign supreme. 

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