Partnering with London’s Westminster Kingsway College, Cuisine.K backed a Korean cooking competition where 11 finalists reimagined “hansik” using gochujang and doenjang — Korea’s signature fermented sauces
CJ CheilJedang’s training platform for young chefs, Cuisine.K, teamed up with the UK’s leading culinary school to host a Korean cooking competition in London aimed at discovering the next generation of K-cuisine chefs.
On December 3, CJ CheilJedang announced that it successfully held the K-Sauce Hansik Contest in London. The event was organized by Capital City College (CCC), the UK’s leading vocational and corporate training institution, along with the South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Food Promotion Institute, with Cuisine.K serving as the exclusive sponsor.
Westminster Kingsway College, part of CCC, is the UK’s first culinary school with more than a century of history and is well known for producing celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. This year’s competition, now in its second year, was held under the theme “Modern Korean Cuisine With Gochujang and Doenjang,” designed to deepen participants’ understanding and appreciation of K-sauces.
The judging panel featured renowned Korean chefs who are at the forefront of promoting K-food in the UK. Among them were chef Park Woong-chul of the one-star Michelin restaurant Sollip, chef Kim Ji-hun of Somssi at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, chef Emily Merricks of the CCC’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts program and Park So-yeon, team leader of Hansik245 at CJ CheilJedang — all of whom brought their culinary expertise to the competition.
The online preliminary round, held throughout October, was open to first-year students taking Hospitality and Culinary Arts courses at CCC. From the submitted recipes, 11 contestants were selected to advance to the finals, which took place at the Westminster campus on December 1.
In the final round, the young chefs presented a variety of Korean dishes featuring traditional Korean fermented sauces as the core ingredients. Using CJ CheilJedang’s gochujang and doenjang, they successfully captured the deep flavors of Korean cuisine while showcasing creative interpretations and localized touches. The competition “demonstrated the limitless potential of Korean cuisine as it continues to expand globally,” one judge remarked.
After a highly competitive final round, Angel Elemike took first place with a recreation of the iconic “Doenjang Pasta” featured in the tvN drama “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty.” Earning enthusiastic praise from the judges, the pasta starred doenjang, traditional Korean fermented soybean paste, in its umami-rich sauce and was presented with a delicate, refined plating that brought the drama’s much-discussed dish to life.
As the winner, Angel received a premium knife set engraved with the Cuisine.K logo, while the top three finalists were awarded dining vouchers for a renowned Korean restaurant. The winning Korean dishes from the competition will be compiled into a recipe book and published on the official Cuisine.K website.
Meanwhile, ahead of the competition finals, CCC designated the week of November 24-28 as “Korean Cuisine Week,” offering young local chefs a special opportunity to learn and experience the identity and culinary philosophy of Korean cuisine. Eight students with a particular interest in Korean food operated a pop-up restaurant in the campus dining hall, serving a six-course Korean menu that included gochujang pork belly, kimchi salad, chicken ginseng soup, stir-fried octopus and beef bibimbap.
On December 1, chef Kim Dong-hyun, an alumnus of the third generation at Cuisine.K, hosted the “Guerrilla Korean Kitchen” event, offering an in-depth cooking demonstration and sharing insights on K-food with young chefs who led the campus pop-up store. Chef Kim, who introduced contemporary Korean cuisine through Cuisine.K’s sixth pop-up restaurant, K’arch, in February, is currently advancing his career at a two-Michelin-star restaurant in the UK.
During the session, chef Kim guided the next generation of global chefs through the core DNA and philosophy of Korean cuisine. He demonstrated a series of fusion dishes that blended Korean authenticity with British culinary culture, including a mille crêpe-style starter inspired by “ssam,” Korean-style wraps, a Korean-style braised fish prepared and smoked on-site, and a modern take on “gujeolpan, “a traditional Korean platter of nine delicacies, featuring brown crab, a seafood ingredient popular in the UK.
“It was a rare opportunity to watch a Korean cuisine expert prepare dishes from start to finish,” remarked a young chef who participated in Guerrilla Korean Kitchen. “I was able to truly feel the depth and appeal of Korean food, and the experience was incredibly meaningful.”
CJ CheilJedang plans to continue supporting Korean cooking competitions around the world through the Cuisine.K project, with a focus on discovering and nurturing global Korean cuisine talent. The goal is to inspire future chefs to develop an early interest in Korean food, experiment with Korean ingredients, and grow into the next generation of K-food ambassadors. Building on this year’s initiatives — including a pop-up restaurant in Hong Kong and cooking classes across three countries in Europe — CJ Cheiljedang will further accelerate the global reach of Korean cuisine through a range of domestic and international programs.
“It was a meaningful opportunity to showcase the appeal of Korean cuisine in the UK, where interest in K-food is growing, and to see the potential of the next generation of Korean cuisine talent,” said Hong Jong-wook, project lead for CJ CheilJedang’s Hansik245 team. “We will continue to develop diverse programs in collaboration with Cuisine.K alumni who are active around the world to discover and nurture promising young Korean chefs.”
