Park Sung-bae

Park Sung-bae is Executive Chef at Onjium in Seoul, South Korea, where his work is shaped by a deep engagement with Korean heritage and the discipline of contextual modernisation. In his kitchen, tradition is not handled as something sealed behind glass, but as a living practice that continues to evolve through use, interpretation, and care. The result is a style of cooking that holds one foot in continuity and the other in measured change, allowing the restaurant’s identity to feel both grounded and alert to the present. At Onjium, Park Sung-bae’s role is defined by precision and restraint. Rather than chasing novelty for its own sake, he helps steer a kitchen that understands modernisation as a way of clarifying what endures, not erasing it. That balance gives the restaurant’s Korean cuisine a particular tension and poise: familiar enough to feel rooted, yet considered enough to suggest new possibilities without breaking from its source. His approach reflects a broader sensibility in which technique serves memory, and innovation is guided by respect for what came before.