When it comes to Korean food, there’s no one better to consult than Olivia Lee. As a young chef, she became the first South Korean female chef to work in the hallowed kitchens of Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, and counts a stint at Le Meurice by famed chef Yannick Alléno in her extensive resumé. Also the youngest adjunct professor to be appointed at Baekseok Culture University aged 26 in 2008, Lee has also founded SoGoodK, the premier grocer for premium Korean ingredients. She also happens to be married to executive chef Sebastien Lepinoy of three-Michelin-starred Les Amis, forming a formidable power couple in the F&B industry.

There are very few we’d trust to offer their authoritative opinions on the best restaurants in Seoul, but with decades of experience under her belt, we know Lee has us covered.

Among her top recommendations to everyone travelling to Korea is two-Michelin-starred Mingles.

“[It] is one of my all-time favourite fine dining experiences for Korean cuisine. Mingles was founded by my dear friend, chef Mingoo Kang,” Lee shares. “I've been a dedicated supporter right from the beginning, and it's truly remarkable to witness how far he has come.”

She also enjoys 7th Door, chef Dan Kim’s Korean cuisine based on fermentation and ageing.

Says Lee: “Dan finds the essence of Korean cuisine in the time it takes to make it complete. Kimchi, various sauces and condiments, banchan (side dishes) are perfected with time. 7th Door represents seven elements which are the five tastes (sweet, spicy, sour, salty, bitter) combined with the chef’s love and passion, and lastly, the magic of fermentation and ageing.”

For those who love Korean barbecue, Lee has two recommendations for you: Guemdwaeji Sikdang (Gold Pig) and Born & Bred. Gold Pig works exclusively with a farm located south of Seoul, which breeds a specific crossbreed, making the pork at Gold Pig stand out amongst many pork barbecue restaurants. An insider tip from Lee is to make sure you try the pork skin, as it has a fantastic chewy texture. Born & Bred is located in Majangdong near Seoul’s largest meat market and its owner, Sang-won Jung, offers an elevated Hanwoo experience using the crème de la crème of Korean beef. Diners can enjoy premium cuts through the à la carte menu while tasting courses are available in private dining rooms.

Lee’s last recommendation is the newest restaurant of all her recommendations. Just two years after opening, Solbam already has a list of accolades including a Michelin star. The name Solbam comes from the hometown of chef-owner Eom Tae-jun, who found his passion for the culinary arts at an early age. Having worked in hotel kitchens in Korea, he moved to New York to further his studies.

After he returned to Korea with ample experience, his vision to use the finest ingredients has been at the core of Solbam’s carefully designed menu. The restaurant is also known for its detailed service which guests will experience from the moment they walk in. For diners interested in Korean hospitality, Lee highly recommends Solbam.

Visiting Seoul soon? You should now be all set for a gastronomic adventure in the city, thanks to these recommendations by Lee.

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Most Singaporeans would be more than happy to hop on the first direct flight out to Japan. But what if there was another way to get there? A deliberately ponderous journey, taking in multiple stops along the way. That’s right. We’re talking about travelling to Japan by sea. 

Departing from Singapore, the voyage aboard the Quantum-Ultra-class Spectrum of the Seas would call at Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Kagoshima before depositing intrepid seafarers in Yokohama. En route stopovers in Nha Trang, Vietnam and Hong Kong were also part of the itinerary. 

Nagasaki was the first port-of-call in Japan, and it didn’t disappoint. A 12-hour window is available for passengers to explore the city, but the abundance of attractions meant that it was important to cherry-pick a handful of the most iconic ones. 

The next morning passengers arrived in Kumamoto. Or the neighbouring town of Yatsushiro, to be precise—Kumamoto doesn’t have a terminal big enough to accommodate a ship the size of ours (capacity: 5,000 passengers). A shuttle bus transfer followed by a bullet train ride took us to Kumamoto, where passengers explored the vast complex and grounds of Kumamoto Castle, set on a hill overlooking the city. 

Travellers awoke the next morning to a sight they’ll never forget – the majestic Sakurajima billowing a cloud of ash in the distance. Arriving in Kagoshima, the southernmost city on the Japanese mainland, adventurous types could take a ferry across the bay to visit the volcano on a day trip, where hikes and other outdoor activities await. 

As passengers disembarked in Yokohama, they felt it was a shame that there wouldn’t be any more sailings from Singapore to Japan this year. Spectrum of the Seas will move on to Shanghai in 2024, and Anthem of the Seas will arrive in Singapore in November 2024 and sail in Asia for the first time. Fortunately, travellers can also look forward to Royal Caribbean’s newest offering, Icon of the Seas, which will sail from Miami.

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Gone are the days of the hallowed food critic, whose authority rested under the auspices of venerated publications and whose verdict could make or break a restaurant. With social media, anyone can write about food. Under a culture driven by visuals and short attention spans, one might assume that the quality of food writing has fallen in favour of captivating content, but the opposite is true—the hunger for long-form, quality content, including food writing, has increased. How, then, do you write convincingly about food?

Enter Violet Oon, one of the most recognisable chefs in Singapore who is behind famed restaurants Violet Oon Singapore and National Kitchen by Violet Oon. Oon has been cooking Peranakan food since she was 16, but before she embarked on her career as a chef and restaurateur, she was first a feature writer at the now-defunct newspaper New Nation. In 1974, David Kraal, then the newspaper’s editor, got her to write for the food column, claiming that “it's better to have somebody who knows how to cook to write about the food”. 

If there’s anyone who knows more than a thing or two about food writing, it’s Oon. We picked her brain on what a food writer needs to have to write well, how to be critical, and her top tips for writing engagingly. 

She shares how curiosity sets exceptional food writing apart from the rest. She says: “I think what sets exceptional food writing apart from the rest is not only about whether you like the food, or about trends. It’s about what you are interested in. What is the food that is being cooked? What does a chef’s talent represent?”

Oon adds by explaining that while we may know a lot, we need to constantly “be hungry for new knowledge that increases your understanding”.

Looking back at her time as a food writer, she reminisces: “When I was a food writer, I tried not to be cruel. And if a restaurant was so terrible, I didn’t write about it because I think they’re going to just kill themselves anyway. I always remember that people actually have put their savings into their restaurants, so you have to be very careful. You have to look and give them encouragement. You have to say, ‘I think this needs something else’ rather than say ‘this is wrong’.”

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Renowned for its original prints and colours, Marimekko’s portfolio ranges from high-quality clothing, bags and accessories to home decor. The Finnish brand’s latest enterprise is its first lifestyle concept store at Ion Orchard, which sees a cafe located within the retail space. The flagship store sets out to redefine the retail experience by introducing a unique blend of fashion, home decor and cafe culture under one roof. The space was conceptualised as part-retail and part-gallery, and seamlessly integrates Marimekko’s ready-to-wear collection with a cafe that showcases the brand’s vibrant home furnishing offerings.

The launch of the Marimekko lifestyle concept in Singapore is a strategic move for the brand, as it focuses on scaling its business in the Asia-Pacific region. “We’re very excited to expand our brand phenomenon around the world. We’re very much focusing on strategy to expand internationally to scale up our international growth, and Asia is an important geographical region. Singapore being a key hub in Southeast Asia has a very important strategic role for us. We see a lot of opportunity here, but we also know that our presence here will have an echo impact to the wider region. So we’re very excited to bring the colours and prints of Marimekko to the local customers in Singapore,” chief executive officer Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko shares.

She continues to explain how the brand is passionate about capturing the hearts of Asian customers. “It shows in everything that we do from the collection work to customer experience to brand development work. We try to learn more about the local market and consumer, so that we can build a global coherent brand, one that is locally relevant. For example, here, we have been able to introduce the Marimekko Cafe, it’s such a beautiful way to invite our customers to interact with the brand and its philosophy,“ she says.

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