Korean street food blood sausage gets the fine-dining treatment – meet the chef serving an haute slice of his heritage to heal ‘daily stress’
- Sundae – pig intestine stuffed with meat, blood, rice and noodles – is a dish of North Korean origin that’s hardly haute cuisine. One chef is changing that
- At his Michelin-recognised restaurant Lee Buk Bang, Choi Ji-hyung is elevating the dish with a nod to his North Korea-born grandmother. He reveals why
By Park Jin-hai
Beloved Korean street food sundae, a dish of steamed pig intestine stuffed with various ingredients, is not typically associated with the upscale ambience of fine dining. Instead, it is a staple of bustling markets, served hot and ready to fill the stomachs of hungry people.
Choi Ji-hyung, 37, has broken that stereotype by elevating Korea’s “blood sausage” to the level of haute cuisine – with a nod to his heritage and childhood experiences under the guidance of his grandmother, a North Korean refugee from Hamgyong province.
His sundae omakase restaurant Lee Buk Bang, in western Seoul’s Mapo District, reminds visitors of the comfort and nostalgia of a grandma’s kitchen.
Century-old wooden tables, a large traditional Korean cauldron and kettles encapsulate the culinary journey that the chef aims to deliver to his guests.
“My grandmother was a great cook. She made sundae, myeongtae sikhae (salted and fermented pollock) and salted pollock roe. It was all too natural for me to help her out in the kitchen. I washed the intestines and went out to the field to get vegetables for sundae fillings as a child,” he says.