Korean food and retail giants are competing to open modern hansik restaurants as Korean cuisine gains popularity among health-conscious foodies.

Armed with enough cash to make hefty investments, big names in the food and retail sectors, including Shinsegae, E-Land and CJ Group, have thrown their hats into the ring in recent years with restaurants combining style and mass-market appeal.

These restaurants are all promoting the use of fresh ingredients.

A front-runner in the hansik restaurant competition is CJ Foodville, the restaurant arm of CJ Group, which launched Season’s Table in July 2013.

Season’s Table is a Korean food buffet that offers around 70 dishes for 13,900 won to 22,900 won ($13-$22), depending on the day and the time.

“Waits for reservations can be more than a month and it’s getting more popular through word-of-mouth,” Hong Yeon-gyung, a representative at CJ Foodville said.

Hong said the Korean buffet’s popularity can be attributed to consumers’ thirst for a new experience of traditional Korean dishes.

“Our dishes using seasonal ingredients and our modern and cozy atmosphere certainly appeal to consumers,” Hong said.

She added that typical Korean traditional meals are perceived as not suitable for casual dining, which was a problem that many food chains struggled to overcome.

Quickly following the trend, Shinsegae Food launched a Korean grill buffet outlet named olbaan earlier this month in Yeouido, Seoul.

The restaurant focuses on premium quality ingredients transported directly from different provinces. Prices range from 14,900 won to 22,900 won.

Shinsegae officials said it would quickly expand the number of branches in the country, with the second olbaan opening in Banpo, Seoul, in November.

E-Land also opened a Korean buffet in April, operating six branches as of October. The company said it would open four more branches by the end of the year, including one in Daegu.

“The traditional Korean food market is polarized into restaurants offering expansive traditional course menus, so-called Hanjeongsik, and ones with affordable one-course meals,” Shinsegae Food’s food culture DIV vice president Han Dong-yeom said.

“The era of modern Korean cuisine has just started.”

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)