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Junghyun Park of Atomix and Atoboy: the Korean chef changing New York’s perception of his country’s cuisine

Park started married life in the Big Apple, and stayed there, with wife Ellia looking after front of house

He had long known he wanted to be a chef, even if the United States was not where he imagined he’d end up

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Chef Junghyun Park, of New York restaurants Atoboy and Atomix, in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 5:00am, 19 Jul 2019Updated: 5:41am, 19 Jul 2019

When did you know you wanted to be a chef? “When I was around 14 or 15. The reason I went to Kyung Hee University [in Seoul, South Korea], which is well known for hospitality, is because it’s not easy for Asian parents to understand sending their son to cooking school, even if it is the top school. So I got a degree in food science, but they also teach restaurant management, hotel management, franchise and nutrition.”

How did you get interested in cooking? “Both my parents worked, so I had to prepare food myself. I would take rice from the rice cooker, banchan [side dishes] from the refrigerator and heat up soup. Sometimes I’d prepare food for my older brother. I thought working in a restaurant would be interesting.

“My parents never said no, but they worried that it would be a tough job and that it would be hard to make money. The reputation of a chef wasn’t as high as it is today. Some chefs have television shows now and are very popular, but 10 or 15 years ago it wasn’t like that.”

What did you learn overseas? “When I was at university, in 2007, I went to Finland as an exchange student, to study restaurant management for six months, and then to London for my internship. I started working at The Ledbury [Australian chef Brett Graham’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Notting Hill] and it changed my idea of food.

Hanwoo striploin with fermented fruit sauce, dashima and wasabi leaf, by Park. Photo: Atomix and Atoboy

“Before, I had thought about going to The Culinary Institute of America [in New York], but after working with Graham, I changed my mind. He helped me understand what exactly food, cooking and the restaurant business are about. After university, I moved to Australia to work for three years, which was stressful and physically hard. In 2010, I travelled in Southeast Asia for six months and that helped me narrow down what I really wanted to do.”

Why did you go back to Korea? “Before I went back, in 2010, to work for Yim Jung-sik [of the Jungsik restaurants in Seoul and New York], I thought about cooking French or European food. If I worked hard, I knew I could become a sous chef or earn a management position, but I’m not used to eating this kind of food; it’s not my childhood memory, so it’s hard for me to develop the menu. My advantage is my knowledge of Korean food. I worked with Jung-sik for six years, three years in Seoul, three years in New York.”