Hit Netflix show Culinary Class Wars heats up Seoul restaurant scene

SEOUL – In September, Seoul’s fine dining scene received a big boost with the premiere of hit Netflix cooking competition Culinary Class Wars.

The series, which featured 100 chefs competing to win the 300 million won (S$283,000) prize, quickly became the platform’s No. 1-ranked global non-English show.

Its popularity helped one of the competition’s judges, chef Paik Jong-won, raise 102 billion won in an initial public offering of his restaurant chain’s company, Theborn Korea. The deal valued his stake at US$215 million (S$291 million).

The show has also propelled several talented Korean chefs and their restaurants into the spotlight. Mr Choi Hyun-seok, who was a top-eight finalist on the show, is one such success story. A well-known celebrity chef in South Korea, he gained mainstream recognition for his flamboyant appearances on the Korean variety show Chef & My Fridge.

His restaurant Choi Dot, in the affluent Cheongdam-dong neighbourhood, has always been popular, but Culinary Class Wars has brought a whole new level of fame.

Mr Choi told Bloomberg Pursuits that the restaurant has seen a dramatic increase in popularity since the show’s launch: Choi Dot’s revenue increased 300 per cent compared with pre-show levels.

There has also been a “massive influx of customers” from abroad, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Mr Choi. The average share of out-of-town visitors is about 20 per cent to 30 per cent; many of them say they decided to come to the restaurant after seeing Mr Choi on Culinary Class Wars. “And as of now, we’re fully booked until the end of March 2025,” he said.

Until recently, the speciality at Choi Dot, located in a minimalist-designed space in the Gangnam district, was Italian cuisine. But after the success of the show, the chef decided to change the focus to reinterpreted Korean classics.

One of the new menu staples is his version of miyeok-guk, the traditional Korean seaweed soup. Mr Choi serves it as an elegant strip of fried olive flounder in a small pool of the soup, which doubles as a sauce.

A 10-minute walk from Choi Dot lies Trid, from chef Kang Seung-won, known as “Triple Star” on the show. (He was an early favourite to win, in part because he cooked at the Michelin three-star restaurant Mosu Seoul for one of the show’s judges, chef Anh Sung-jae.)

The design at Trid is polished, sleek and luxurious, with soft lighting and an open kitchen that allows diners a front-row view of chef Kang in action.

Among the dishes on his Korean fine dining menu – which goes for 120,000 won at lunch and 200,000 won at dinner with the option of a wine pairing – is tender abalone served with onion that has been cooked six different ways.

According to the chef, Trid has also been fully booked since the release of Culinary Class Wars.

Another of the Netflix show’s stars, Mr Kim Do-yun, says revenue at his restaurant Myeon Seoul jumped 50 per cent in mid-October compared with pre-show levels after people saw him on the show.

The speciality at Myeon Seoul is house-made noodles, made with whole wheat, mung bean and dried pollack. Chef Kim’s signature dish, “5 colour namul-myeon”, features those noodles mixed with perilla oil and soya bean paste and garnished with five types of namul, or seasoned greens and leaves – a common Korean side dish.

The buoyed interest in Culinary Class Wars-linked dining rooms comes as Seoul is seeing a strong rebound in tourism, nearly on a par with pre-pandemic levels.

In the first quarter of 2024, the city welcomed 3.4 million international visitors, an 88.6 per cent recovery from the first quarter of 2019, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The global rise of K-pop groups such as BTS and Blackpink, along with the widespread popularity of K-dramas, has also generated immense interest in South Korean culture. Culinary Class Wars is one of the latest shows to benefit.

Shortly after the finale in October, Netflix confirmed it will return for a second season in 2025. Details are still being confirmed, but, according to the Korea Herald, the creators are interested in inviting famed culinary critic and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to be a judge. BLOOMBERG