Chef

Yesoon Lee

Discipline: Chef
Based in: Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
Venue: KOMU · Restaurant

i. Biography

Coming Up

At Mandu in Washington, D.C., Yesoon Lee built a working model of Korean comfort food shaped by classical precision. The restaurant she opened with her son Danny Lee in 2006 gave that approach a public form: familiar dishes handled with control, clarity, and restraint. That same discipline now carries into KOMU in Munich, where her present role reads less like a reinvention than a continuation of the same method. Across both kitchens, the work is defined by consistency of line, a steady hand, and an aversion to excess.

Where They Are Now

At KOMU in Munich, the executive chef role puts Korean cuisine in direct conversation with place, and Lee keeps the expression plainspoken. The food is grounded in tradition and shaped by technique, with emphasis on clarity over display. What comes through is not ornament but control: a kitchen language built from measured choices, familiar flavors, and a focused sense of what each dish needs to communicate. Mandu in Washington, D.C. remains the other pole in that line of work. There, the restaurant Lee opened with Danny Lee in 2006 established a foundation in Traditional Korean comfort food and classical precision that still frames her practice now. The connection between the two kitchens is practical rather than sentimental: one reinforces the other through the same disciplined attention to flavor, texture, and form. Whether at Mandu or KOMU, Yesoon Lee works with the same calm consistency, carrying Korean cuisine forward without loosening its structure.

Profile updated July 2026

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