Chefs Under 35: Chef Sun Kim from Meta
When he was young, Sun Kim had vague ambitions of having his own restaurant before he turned 35. “But I didn’t really work hard with that in mind,” he says.
Sun Kim, 33
Meta
In this series, we meet chefs under 35 whose restaurants were awarded stars in Singapore’s Top Restaurants 2017/2018.
“I worked hard because I just wanted to grow and learn,” he says.
That learning journey eventually took him from Italian and French restaurants in Seoul to Tetsuya’s in Sydney, then Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands before he opened Meta in 2015.
Located at Keong Saik Road and serving “French-inspired cuisine with an Asian twist”, Meta was given two stars in our Singapore’s Top Restaurants guide last year, as well as Best Degustation Menu (Asian). This year, it received two stars in our awards, and was also anointed with a Michelin star.
Kim’s set menus at Meta match French cooking techniques with Asian flavours. Some of the Korean ingredients he loves and uses often are traditional doenjang (bean paste), gochujang (chilli paste), sesame oil and seaweed. A recent fascination with Chinese ingredients also sees him experimenting with items like Chinese lily bud for its unique flavour and texture. A dish to look forward to in Meta’s Autumn menu, is a modern interpretation of Korean abalone congee using the liver of the abalone.
This was first published in Wine & Dine’s September 2017 issue – Singapore’s Top Restaurants, ‘Early Risers’