The Korean cooking show Culinary Class Wars on Netflix has had viewers hooked from the day it premiered. The cooking show is one of its kind, as we see 100 chefs, 20 famous and established ones, and 80 industry underdogs competing against each other in a tasty and intense battle.
Though the White Spoon chefs, owing to their fame, had generated much curiosity before the show aired, it is now evident that the Black Spoon chefs are also pretty good at what they do.
This group of not-yet-established chefs consists mostly of veterans, some of whom own and run small restaurants. These chefs are passionate about cooking, and their love for cooking and honest energy make Culinary Class Wars all the more enjoyable.
Let us now look at some of the Black Spoon chefs and what they are doing besides competing with the high-profile chefs of Korea.
Black Spoon Chefs in Culinary Class Wars
While the White Spoon chefs were downright taking advantage of their higher position and stature over the Black Spoon chefs from the beginning, these underdogs are gradually making their well-earned place.
Some of the top Black Spoon chefs in Culinary Class Wars are:
1) Cho Kwang-hyo
Nickname: Comic Book
Eateries owned: Cho Kwang 101 and Cho Kwang 201
From day one, Cho Kwang-hyo made his place in the show as someone who is self-taught and cooks from comic books. That very well explains his nickname as well.
Of the two eateries he runs, Cho Kwang 201 offers well-known Chinese dishes that the Korean youth especially love.
Some of his most popular dishes are malatang (hot pot), mapo tofu (tofu braised in spicy sauce), mala xiangguo (stir-fried hot pot), azji (firecracker chicken), dong po rou (braised pork belly) etc.
His other eatery, Cho Kwang 101, is an Asian tapas bar with more experimental items. Cho calls it a “research lab.” With seasonal ingredients that he brings daily to the restaurant, Cho prepares the two highlights of the place: Dumpling of the Day and Dish of the Day.
What is interesting about the place is that visitors can bring a packet of instant ramen and ask the chefs to cook it. They will, and as per the menu, it will cost 2,000 won ($1.52).
2) Kwon Seong-joon
Nickname: Napoli Mafia
Eatery owned: Toledo Pasta Bar
As his nickname suggests, Kwon Seong-joon is passionate about Italian food. He speaks fluent Italian, and his love for Italy is evident in his dishes.
On Culinary Class Wars, Kwon cooked an Amalfi Coast-inspired bisque risotto and fagottini-stuffed pasta, which captured Neapolitan history.
His establishment, Toledo Pasta Bar, is a fine-dining restaurant that offers a single seven-course Sicilian dinner. The spread mainly features different kinds of risotto and pasta, appetizers, and desserts.
According to the current menu, one meal at this restaurant costs 89,000 won ($67.40). However, the restaurant's social media has informed us of an increase in prices in the coming months.
3) Lim Hee-won
Nickname: Celebrities’ Chef
Eatery owned: Buto
Lim Hee-won stood out from the beginning because he was confident that whatever he cooked had not been done by anyone else before.
In the first round, he cooked vegetarian sashimi, preparing and presenting it in a way that mimicked the texture and flavors of the dish.
Buto, his modern hansik (Korean food) bar, sells the same dish. The place serves dishes focused on umami flavor bombs, which go well with alcohol. Some of the dishes of Buto are mala herring roe dry noodles, fried eggplant shrimp toast, braised chicken with nurungji (scorched rice), etc.
Previously, Hee-won worked as the owner-chef of Momojein. It has now been closed.
4) Lee Sang-pil
Nickname: Hidden Genius
Eatery owned: Pono Buono
Unlike the others, Lee Sang-pil did not prepare multiple dishes but went for the simple and traditional aglio olio. His decision proved right, as Judge Ahn Jae highly praised him.
Lee prepares the dish unconventionally, which adds to its intrigue and charm. He cooks his linguine for only three minutes and strains it.
He adds olive oil while it's still hot. The noodles are then spread out in an aluminum pan, and once they are cool, Lee Sang-pil covers them with another pan until they reach al dente perfection from the residual heat.
Other Black Spoon chefs are:
1) Home Meal Mogul
Restaurant: Mom's Homemade meal
Specialty: Daegu Palgongsan-ro
2) Cooking Maniac
Restaurant: Deepin
Specialty: Wine bar in Seoul that serves good snacks
3) Auntie Omakase #1
Restaurant: Cheerful Drinking Table
Specialty: Famous bar in Seoul
4.Genius Restaurateur
Resturant: Euljiro Boseok
Specialty: Good Korean fusion cuisine bar
5) Triple Star
Restaurant: Trid
Specialty: Western-style course
6) God of Seasoning
Restaurant: Edamame
Specialty: Chinese-style snacks serving bar
7) Yakitori King
Restaurant: Yakitori Mook
Specialty: Famous for yakitori
8) Yeong Chicken
Restaurant: Namyeong Chicken
Specialty: Famous for their chicken
9) King Bibim
Restaurant: Bibim Sori
Specialty: Famous for bibimbap
10) Chef Spark
Restaurant: Bistro Spark is closed; Things Burger is scheduled to open in October
11) Self-Made Chef
Restaurant: Doryang
Specialty: Eight Treasures fried meatball
12) Meat Master
Restaurant: Guunmong
Specialty: Galbi
13) One Two Three
Restaurant: Bornyon
Specialty: Wood fire-based course
14) Seung-woo's Dad
Restaurant: Kitchen Maillard
The chef is a YouTuber with 1.38 million subscribers at the time of this article's writing.
15) Master of School Meals
Restaurant: Habuk Elementary School meal cook
He recently retired from the position
16) Kitchen Gangster
Restaurant: Nawoo
Specialty: Wine bar
17) Little Giant
Restaurant: B3713
18) Ansan Paik Jong-won
Restaurant: Passion People
The chef manages restaurants like Bbok Sikdang.
19) Silver Spoon
The chef operates the YouTube channel Silver Spoon'.
20) Japanese Cuisine
Restaurant: Ace Nakajima Goemong
Specialty: Sushi
21) Baking Chef
Restaurant: Aoitori
Specialty: Hongdae bakery that’s famous for melon bread made by a Japanese artisan
22) Blue House Chef
Restaurant: Meat Culture
Specialty: Western Cuisine
23) President of K-chicken
Restaurant: 101 Chickenusa
The chef is the founder of 101 Chickenusa, a chicken franchise in the U.S.
24) Camping Man Mimiok, Burgerboy,
The chef operates a YouTube channel and is the CEO of Lof Company.
25) Storytelling Chef
Restaurant: Wild Flower
Specialty: Western Cuisine
26) Chicken Man
Restaurant: Atari
27) Underestimated
Restaurant: Pog
Specialty: Pizza
28) Full Makeup Chef
Restaurant: Yiayia and Friends
Specialty: Brunch cafe
29) Korean Food Boomer
Restaurant: The Dameum
30) Golden Maknae
Restaurant: Golden Maknae
31) Hupo-ri Bumpkin
Restaurant: JADE&WATER
Specialty: Brunch restaurant
32) B-grade Chef
Restaurant: Last Spring
Specialty: Western Turkish fusion
33) 4.8.100
Restaurant: Ko House
The chef operates several restaurants.
34) Korean Taco King
Restaurant: Molino Project
The chef operates several restaurants.
35) Poker Face
Restaurant: Korii
Specialty: Korean course meal
36) French Cuisine Idol
Restaurant: Sav Seoul
Specialty: Wine bar
37) Happy Birthday
Restaurant: The Siot
Specialty: Western restaurant
38) Golden Shovel
Restaurant: Janghwa
Specialty: Bistro
39) Kordon Ramsay
Restaurant: Sushi Haehwa
40) Side Dish Magnate Dosigotgan CEO of the side dish shop 'Dosigotgan'
Restaurant: Dosigotgan
The chef is the CEO of the side dish shop 'Dosigotgan'.
41) Sushi King
Today, Sushi operates four branches in Suwon, Gwanggyo, Dongtan, and more.
42) Canadian Uncle Momofuku
Restaurant: Momofuku
Former chef at Momofuku in New York.
43) Dirty Korean
Restaurant: Dirty Joonho House
Specialty: pork soup and su-yuk set (boiled pork set meal)
44) World-Class Recipe
Restaurant: Choi's Pizza
Specialty: Pizza shop
45) The Butcher
Restaurant: Oneday Maister
Specialty: Butcher shop expert
46) Smile Chef
Restaurant: Chuan Chuan Jiu Bar
Specialty: Chinese food
47) Thai Select
Restaurant: Thai Select
Specialty: Thai restaurant
48) Fit Chef
Restaurant: Yido
Specialty: Korean Cuisine
49) Construction Site Chef
Restaurant: Triple Bones
Specialty: Pork soup made by a chef who trained at Table for 4 and alla prima
50) Ko Pro
Restaurant: 8nrm Burger
Specialty: Best shrimp burger
Culinary Class Wars is available on Netflix.
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