The Taste of London this year has a certain amount of Korean interest. But as is sometimes the case with events that have many participants, the festival website is currently a bit light on important specifics such as timings and locations of various events, including demonstrations. We assume all will be made clear in a festival booklet.
Where, for example, is the Fire Pit which is where most of the demos seem to be happening. And when exactly will the demonstrations take place? Currently Thursday or Friday look to be the days of most interest to K-foodies, with Jay Morjaria (Thursday) and Judy Joo (Friday) making appearances, but whether they’ll be appearing in both the afternoon and evening session is just not clear from the website. If you opt for booking the evening session you might just miss out if they’re only appearing in the afternoon. Note also that Jay Morjaria, I’m guessing, is more likely to be talking about his more recent Pastrami directions than his Korean years.
For K-foodies I expect the highlight of the festival will be the chefs from Andong who are in the Artisan Producers section of festival, under the banner of Korea Foundation For Cultures and Ethics. The timing of their demonstrations has been announced, but you’ll have to research for yourselves where their stall is when you get to the festival.
Similarly, the festival website is not clear about how you access the event. But based on the sketch map on the festival website (reproduced in the main body of the post below) the event will be held in the bit of the park which Google Maps calls Marylebone Green [Map] and according to What3Words the best entrances to use to access the event would be at ///budget.tuck.wipes and ///barks.thanks.nature
Note that the demos mentioned below are on a first come, first served basis and are not bookable.
Update 14 June 2023: we’ve now been provided with a more detailed map of the venue on the basis of which we can confirm that entry into the venue is at ///budget.tuck.wipes in Ulster Terrace.
The location of the Korea Foundation For Cultures and Ethics stand is shown on the map, at the bottom right of the showground.
Click on the map for a full-size version.
The Tastes of Korea at the Taste of London
Every summer, The Taste of London takes over Regent’s Park for a next level food-fuelled garden party, slap bang in the centre of one of the coolest cities on earth. We’re joined by 55,000 hungry Londoners, ready to devour the best food and drink in the country.
This year, we’ll be returning to Regent’s Park for eight delicious sessions spread across 5 food-fuelled days.
Weds 14 June 17:30-21:30
Thurs 15 June 12:00-16:00 & 17:30-21:30
Fri 16 June 12:00-16:00 & 17:30-21:30
Sat 17 June 12:00-16:00 & 17:30-21:30
Sun 18 June 12:00-17:00
We round up the hottest London restaurants, hunt down the future food heroes, hit up a few chefs about to launch their next big thing, and throw a festival celebrating it all. Alongside our week-long restaurants, a line-up of Daily Specials give you the chance to sample some of the city’s tastiest new concepts, popping up for one or two days only.
The following Artisan Producers, chafs and restaurants at the festival will be of interest to K-foodies:
Artisan Producers: Korea Foundation For Cultures and Ethics
Korea Foundation For Cultures and Ethics (KFCE) recreates the dishes from Korea’s oldest existing cookbook, the Soowoonjapbang. Soowoonjapbang is a recipe book, which is well-known as “a cooking method which is suitable for those who appreciate art’, and it describes the cooking methods and how food is being processed during the Joseon Dynasty. Hence, Soowoonjapbang has been designated as a treasure in Korea. Their colorful and well-presented dishes bring out the best of traditional Korean cuisine. The menu, which includes Jeongyea (Andong’s traditional braised Chicken), has a 500-year history and tradition. With a variety of flavors that are not overwhelming, you can enjoy authentic Korean traditional dishes at KFCE, prepared with 500-year-old recipes, and local ingredients from Andong.
Korea Foundation For Cultures and Ethics (KFCE) offers courses on traditional Korean cuisine from the Soowoonjapbang Cookbook. You would be able to learn how to prepare traditional Korean food, which has 500 years of history by Jongbu Kim Do Eun, the eldest daughter-in-law from the head family. Furthermore, there will also be a display, which features the reproduction of the Queen Elizabeth II’s 73th birthday meal. This birthday meal was prepared for the Queen Elizabeth II of England during her visit to Hahoe Village in Andong, back in 1999. Visit KFCE and discover the culinary heritage of Jongga (noble Korean families), which showcases the unique flavours, style, affection and history of the country.
Schedule (on a first-come-first-served basis for 15 people):
14 June – 19:00-20:00
15 June – 19:00-20:00
16 June – 13:00-14:00, 19:00-20:00
17 June – 13:00-14:00, 19:00-20:00
18 June – 13:00-14:00Chef: Jay Morjaria
Appearing on Thursday at the Fire Pit
Jay Morjaria is an Executive Chef and founder of JAE and owner of his successful F&B consultancy based in London. He was a winning contestant on series one of BBC2’s Million Pound Menu in 2018. In 2020, Morjaria launched his permanent residency JAE at Untitled Bar in Dalston, serving small plates inspired by regional Korean dishes. He received glowing reviews from critics including Jay Rayner of The Observer, who called his cooking ‘Seriously punchy Korean flavours’.
He has been shortlisted as ‘Chef to watch 2021’ for the prominent National Restaurant Awards Jay is also co-founder and Executive Chef of Mamma Pastrama, a new pastrami centric sandwich and craft beer concept which opened in Summer 2021.
Chef: Judy Joo
Appearing on Friday at The Fire Pit
In 2003, following an engineering degree at Columbia University and a career on Wall Street, Judy Joo decided it was time for a change. Realising that her passion was in cooking, she enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York, and received her Grand Diplome in Pastry Arts before becoming a test kitchen and editorial assistant at SAVEUR magazine.
Excited about the thriving UK food scene, Judy moved to London in 2007, and joined Restaurant Gordon Ramsay as a pastry chef. For the following few years, she also worked throughout other Gordon Ramsay restaurants including Maze, under Jason Atherton, Claridge’s, Pétrus, and Boxwood Café as a chef and pastry chef. Judy also staged around the world at restaurants including 3 Michelin-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, California; Heston Blumenthal’s 3 Michelin-starred The Fat Duck in Bray; as well as Bangkok’s 1 Michelin- starred Nahm restaurant.
In 2011, Judy became the first Executive Chef for The Playboy Club London, and in the same year became a regular face on TV, starring in Iron Chef UK and securing herself the title ‘Iron Chef UK’, becoming the only female Iron Chef in the UK and the second female Iron Chef worldwide. Off the back of her success in the UK show, Judy became a resident judge on Iron Chef America. Her expertise in Korean cooking led to her own shows: Judy Joo’s Return to Korea and two seasons of Korean Food Made Simple. Since then, she published her debut cookbook, Korean Food Made Simple and has made regular appearances on numerous programs in the USA including The Today Show, Wendy Williams, The Talk, and various Food Network shows, and in the UK, she has popped up on Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch and James Martin’s Saturday Morning. In 2021, Judy began starring on ITV’s new primetime show in the UK, Cooking With the Stars, and in 2022, Judy became a lifestyle contributor for Us Weekly, where she has a monthly column interviewing celebrities and chefs.
Having settled in the UK, London was the obvious choice for Judy’s first restaurant as Chef Patron, and she opened the doors to her modern Korean restaurant Jinjuu – meaning ‘pearl’ – in 2014. Judy’s cooking is focused on the flavours of her childhood – raised in a Korean- American family in New Jersey, her back porch was lined with her mother’s clay pots, filled
with fermenting kimchi, gochujang and doenjang. The house’s garage had racks of drying seaweed, and a Korean barbecue grill tucked in the corner. Judy and her sister were often drafted in to help fold row upon row of dumplings. Her multicultural heritage and training are evident in her dishes today: from ‘disco fries’ influenced by New Jersey highway diners, and topped with spicy cabbage kimchi, to classic French pastries that incorporate traditional Korean ingredients.
In 2019, Judy left Jinjuu after five years in order to start a new chapter, which includes the recent launch of her new cookbook, Korean Soul Food, and Seoul Bird, a new venture in Westfield that specializes in the Korean Fried Chicken that Judy is known for. In 2021, Judy opened a second location for Seoul Bird in Canary Wharf. In 2022, Judy embarked upon an exciting new adventure for Seoul Bird, opening the first location in the US. The newly opened restaurant is in Las Vegas at the luxurious ARIA hotel, introducing the exciting flavours of Seoul Bird in London to Las Vegas and the many tourists coming in from all over the world.
Restaurants: Seoul Bird
Seoul Bird was created by Judy Joo and Andrew Hales, inspired by both Judy’s Korean-American heritage and the duo’s food tours across South Korea, which have seen them eat their way from Seoul to Busan numerous times, Seoul Bird is built on the foundations of Korean cooking and flavours.
Their passion for Korean food, particularly Korea’s famous fried chicken, led them to create Seoul Bird, serving high quality chicken bursting with flavour and famed for being addictively crispy on the outside and delectably juicy on the inside.
Signature Chicken Slider (H) (Korean fried chicken, signature sauce, iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mayo.) £6
Kimchi Waffle Fries (V) (H) (Waffle fries topped with melted cheese, kimchi salsa, hot sauce, and ranch dressing.) £6
Bulgogi Beef Ribeye Rice Bowl (Seared bulgogi ribeye, steamed Korean rice, spicy pickled radish, spring onion, and chili.) £9
Links:
- Taste of London homepage
- Tour Andong Website | Instagram | Facebook