2014 was a great year for Yim Jung-sik, executive chef of Jungsikdang in Seoul and its New York outpost Jungsik. The Seoul restaurant recently relocated to the posh neighborhood of Cheongdam-dong while his New York establishment kept its two Michelin stars for the second consecutive year.

However, foremost on his mind on the day of this interview, Dec. 19, is his wedding set for Christmas Day. The wedding will be at the Hotel Shilla and he is not sure how many of his friends and colleagues will show up. “Christmas Day is the busiest day in the year for chefs,” Yim says with a chuckle. He is characteristically nonchalant about the food he will be serving his guests. “It will be hotel food. The hotel does not allow outside food,” he says. Alas, one of the best-known chefs in Korea will be serving standard hotel fare at his wedding banquet.

Yim is something of a trailblazer, a wunderkind, if you will, in the Korean culinary scene. After successfully launching modern Korean fine dining restaurant Jungsikdang in 2009, he headed to New York, setting up Jungsik in the trendy Tribeca in September 2011. The following year, Jungsik received one Michelin star, a coup for a young chef serving modern Korean cuisine in New York. The following year, Jungsik was awarded two Michelin stars and has maintained that status, surprising the jaded New Yorkers’ palates with modern twists to Korean dishes as well as unexpected Korean flavors combined with Western classics, such as steak with kimchi juice and sesame oil.

For now, Yim is preoccupied with Jungsikdang, which boasts 75 seats, including six private rooms on the third floor. “The number of customers has increased and the percentage of foreign diners has gone up, too,” says Yim, a development he attributed to the restaurant’s No. 20 spot on San Pellegrino’s list of Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants. All this success, however, has the pragmatic chef wary. “Because the expectations are higher now, the degree of satisfaction will go down.”

The lack of a solid base of fine dining aficionados is a major difficulty in running the Seoul operation, Yim observes. While business is good now, he worries about what will happen when the current hype ― customers are checking out the new location and there is the typical year-end boost ― dies down. The statement is hard to believe coming from a two-Michelin-star chef. “I wonder, ‘Can we fill the restaurant?’” he says.

Does it irk him that there is a constant clicking of smartphone cameras at the dining tables? “I now have a staff of 30 and I need to make a living. I don’t mind people taking food pictures. It is free publicity on social media,” he replies.

“Fine dining is a hobby. You need a money-making business to sustain the fine dining business,” Yim says. To this end, he is opening a casual concept dining space on the first floor in March where prices will be reasonable, with no side dishes but a cheaper menu.

“My final goal is to last 10 years even without awards. That is why I tell my staff not to focus on filling the seats but work on raising customer satisfaction.” 

Something of a star chef himself, how does Yim feel about the role of a star chef in promoting Korean cuisine overseas?

It is a misguided thought, he flatly states. “Even for the celebrated Noma chef Rene Redzepi, it is a personal honor. People talk about how great Noma is but no one really knows about Danish food. On the other hand, McDonald’s is known worldwide,” Yim says. “Dishes need to become the star.”

With the relocation and the wedding, Yim, who typically shuttles between Seoul and New York every three months or so, has been spending a lot more time in Seoul. How is his New York operation faring in his absence?

“We are having problems,” he says matter-of-factly, explaining that the New York operation has been hit by staffing problems. Jungsik started out with four kitchen staff from Korea but now there is only one. “It’s a visa problem. Since the Boston Marathon bombing, visa extensions have become impossible.”

Still, he is not giving up on New York, a city with the most fiercely competitive culinary scene in the world. Yim admits he did think about giving up New York at one point but decided to keep it after earning the first Michelin star.

“There is a Michelin effect. … We need to get three stars,” says Yim, which he expects “may be in five years.”

On a recent weekday, ladies who lunch filled the second-floor dining space at Jungsikdang, oohing and aahing as each delectable dish arrived at the table. There was indeed a discernable noise of clicking, diners not shy to whip out their smartphones to take shots of the creative and often whimsical presentation. After all, who could resist attempting to preserve the memory of the deep-fried oysters, crispy yet succulent on bite, presented as a string of islands, or the sheer fun of the tiny morsels of amuse-bouche that tease the palate?

By Kim Hoo-ran (khooran@heraldcorp.com)