Hanoi Metropole chef shares insight into Kim Jong-un’s appetite for luxury cuisine
- Executive chef Paul Smart’s summit challenge to feed North Korea’s leader and US President Donald Trump was cut short, but he still gained some insight into Kim’s tastes.
Paul Smart, executive chef at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, was disappointed the lunch he prepared for Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un never saw the light of day, but the experience still offered him a glimpse of the North Korean leader’s culinary preferences.
In an interview with state-run China News Service’s China News Weekly on Sunday, Smart described how both sides brought their own kitchen staff to help prepare the leaders’ meals.
Smart described the North Koreans as “mysterious, but very professional”, and said they worked meticulously and would taste dishes prepared by Smart’s team an hour before the banquet to make sure the food was safe.
They brought all their own ingredients, including Wagyu beef, kimchi, foie gras, ginseng and persimmon punch.
Smart’s time with the Korean chefs hinted at Kim’s taste for luxurious cuisine, and they told him that caviar, lobster and foie gras were among his favourite foods.