i. Biography
At 7th Door in Seoul, the kitchen is built around timing, temperature, and the slow work of fermentation. Kim Dae-chun cooks with a read on conditions rather than control, letting ingredients open at their own pace. The food moves between sea and field with restraint. Raw Fish, a classic TocToc dish, folds in the memory of a seaside upbringing and a preference for fresh seafood from Japan. Winter Dream salad changes daily and is assembled from carefully sourced vegetables and plants cultivated through aquaponic agricultural technology, with the finish kept precise rather than fixed.
The Path
Kim Dae-chun worked as chef at Toc Toc in Seoul, South Korea from 2013–2021, a period that established a strong early reputation in the city’s dining scene and shaped the precision for which he would become known. Today, Kim is chef-owner of 7th Door (since 2013), where the kitchen language is more distilled: reflective, disciplined, and closely tuned to the rhythms that govern both service and season.
The Work Today
The strength of Kim’s cooking is its refusal to overstate itself. His own description is practical and direct: "Rather than forcing people to control the year’s temperature, temperature changes, and many other factors, the key is to read and adapt to the flow." That approach places ingredients, weather, seafood, vegetables, plants, temperature, and time in the same working frame. Nothing is treated as fixed. Each dish is shaped by response, not domination, and the result reads as a kitchen that values adjustment, timing, and clarity over display.
Signature
Kim's signature dishes include Raw Fish and Winter Dream salad. Raw Fish brings a clean, marine line that draws on seaside memory and seafood from Japan. Winter Dream salad shifts with the day, built from produce selected for the moment and organized through the logic of season and texture. Read together, the two dishes show the range of his method: one anchored in freshness and recall, the other in change, selection, and careful assembly.
In Their Words “Rather than forcing people to control the year’s temperature, temperature changes, and many other factors, the key is to read and adapt to the flow.” “Our philosophy is the flow of nature.”
Acclaim
Kim Dae-chun has received MICHELIN Guide Seoul - One MICHELIN Star (2021). Kim's honors include One MICHELIN Star (2021) and Miele One To Watch Award (2017).
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Kim
What is Kim Dae-chun's current role?
Kim Dae-chun is chef-owner.
What recognition has Kim Dae-chun received?
One MICHELIN Star (2021).
