How A Couple Partnered With King Kibo Sushi To Create Franco-Korean Food In Yorkville

When MJ Jeong was completing his mandatory military service in South Korea in 2012, he didn’t have much to do during his downtime. Your only entertainment? Watching TV. “It was mainly competition cooking shows that were featured by a lot of celebrity chefs,” he says. “And it looked great.” So, he decided to become a chef.

He moved to Toronto to pursue his culinary dreams, and for the next eight years, he held chef positions at trendy restaurants like Canis, Après Wine Bar and Matty Matheson’s Matty’s Patty’s Burger Club. But Jeong longed to have a place of his own. He and his fiancee, healthcare worker Jennifer Yeo Jeong, He quit his jobs in 2019, planned to get married in South Korea and then return to Toronto to land new concerts … and maybe even consider opening his own restaurant. But COVID-19 struck and the idea of ​​starting a new business in the midst of a pandemic seemed unthinkable.

A meeting with Bo Seo, creator and CEO of the sprawling Kibo Sushi franchise, proved otherwise and would change their lives. “To get to where he was, Seo went through a lot of trials, mistakes, and failures at a young age,” says Jennifer. “Now that Bo is a successful entrepreneur, he wants to be able to give younger, more passionate people the resources and finances they need to open restaurants. Kibo means ‘hope’ and he wants to give hope to emerging professionals. ”He offered to invest in his dream.

Beef ribs, with mashed cauliflower, hamachi with cucumber water, turnips, wasabi oil and ssamjang and pumpkin and persimmon salad.

The trio settled in Yorkville, on the former site of the French café Chabrol. “Yorkville has amazing restaurants with great food and atmosphere,” says Jennifer. “But it’s also about strongly corporate restaurants. We wanted to open one that was more intimate, focused on people and personal. ”So they got down to work, making the space their own, doing it all the time: Jennifer painted the bathroom floors, Seo chose the chandeliers, and Jennifer and MJ They searched for the perfect silverware, plates and glasses. Jennifer’s best friend designed her butterfly logo. “It means freedom,” says Jennifer. “And hope.”

They opened 156 Cumberland in October and soon found their restaurant filled with diners eager to sample MJ’s seasonal contemporary French cuisine with a Korean twist. “She grew up eating amazing authentic Korean food cooked by her mother and grandmother and she wants to spread the knowledge and the flavors,” according to Jennifer. Specialties include beef tartare nestled in deep-fried tofu skin pockets; mushroom congee with truffle paste, poached eggs and Parmigiano Reggiano; black garlic glazed chicken wings stuffed with purple sticky rice and chestnuts; and sous-vide ribs tossed on the charcoal grill and served with mashed cauliflower, seasoned spinach, and charred maitake mushrooms. “Cooking has always been a passion,” says MJ. “So seeing the empty plates go back to the kitchen makes me happy.”

After years of working in the stressful field of healthcare, Jennifer appreciates the change in environment. “What I love about restaurants is that people come to have fun, celebrate, and enjoy good food and company,” he says. “And I’m happy to be a part of it.”



Reference-www.thestar.com

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