7th Door

Seoul

A sensory journey to nirvana through the seven tastes of Korea

On the Pass

Dae-chun Kim

Pastry Chef

Sunghyun Kim

The chef: Dae-chun Kim is well known to followers of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, with his first Seoul restaurant, TocToc, winning the One To Watch Award in 2017 and ranking No.41 Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2019. A former musician and professional kitchen veteran, Kim has been cooking for more than 20 years.

Lucky number seven: The DNA of the restaurant is built on the fundamentals of traditional Korean cuisine: ageing and fermentation. To eat here is to experience the intersection where Kim’s deep appreciation for ancient, classic cooking collides with his thirst for innovative ingredients and modern methods. Kim aims to take diners through ‘the seven tastes of food’, including the basic five senses alongside the taste of fermentation, with the seventh being the chef’s vision for drawing out the essence of all the ingredients in Korea's larder.

Are there really seven doors? Symbolically speaking, yes! On arrival, you’ll be guided down a hallway that is supposedly six doorways-long and lined with glass cabinets that display animal and vegetable matter in varying stages of fermentation, some of which has been aged for up to 10 years. At the end of the corridor you’ll find the seventh door, which is the gateway to a dining room with only 14 seats and a clear view of the open kitchen that hints at the theatrical performance guests will experience over the course of the elaborate, three-hour-long tasting menu.

A taste of heaven: Despite its grandeur, 7^th Door has a surprisingly playful sense of humour based around a concept of refined fried finger-food that Chef Kim weaves effortlessly into his take on traditional dishes. Expect classic Korean tteokbokki to arrive swimming in a slick of aromatic black truffle sauce or Korean hot dog with abalone.