At The Lume Melbourne, top chefs Brent Savage, Brigitte Hafner, Josh Niland, Rosheen Kaul and Shane Delia are on stage as the envelope is unsealed. “And the Pacific Finalist of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition is…” Pause for effect. “—KyongHo Daniel Choi.” Choi is a South Korean-born, Irish-raised chef working at Omnia in South Yarra. And he is already a natural on stage alongside hospitality-industry elite.
Choi’s career highlights so far include an internship at Benu in San Francisco that led to a position at sister restaurant In Situ (receiving a Michelin star during his tenure). Then roles at Greenhouse in Dublin (as it claimed two Michelin stars) and Chapter One (taking part in another two-star haul). Competing in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition, he cooked off against nine of Australia and New Zealand’s most promising chefs under 30 to claim the Pacific region title.
Choi’s winning dish, as he describes it was inspired by his childhood. “Moving to a whole different country and experiencing another culture is a massive shock to anybody, especially someone quite young,” he says. “I moved to Ireland [as a five-year-old] only knowing how to say “hello”. When I started school my teacher asked me, “what’s your name”; it was “hello.”
Going by the name Bacon and Cabbage or Pork and Kimchi the dish fuses Korean flavours such as gochujang with Irish influences – black pudding and potato – served with kimchi soda bread and a sesame hollandaise. “At friends’ houses after school I experienced bacon and cabbage; really boiled, old-school cabbage with a lot of butter and I thought ‘wow’. The dish came from adopting Irish culture, my background doing Korean garnish and European elements.”
This storytelling ability is what got him over the line. In a discussion on stage in front of a crowd of hospitality luminaries judge Josh Niland breaks it down. “Such a big part of being a chef now is how you market yourself. Innate talent and touch are just part of it,” he adds. “We’re not social creatures, necessarily. We like the confines of a kitchen; we like chef chat. It takes confidence to ‘tools down’ and walk out, shoulders back, and have a conversation.”
Rosheen Kaul weighs in about the calibre on show across the board; “In your twenties you spend all your time cooking other people’s food. But there is such a clarity of identity and confidence coming into the competition dishes,” she says. “You’re seeing crystal-clear snap shots of who these chefs are. It’s formidable to see this generation already so aware of who they are.”
For Brigitte Hafner, the key learning for the next crop of top chefs is shared creativity “and doing great things with other people”. For Brent Savage, preparation is key. “It’s a massive task to show what you can do technically in a very short amount of time. It’s about putting the thought in.” Shane Delia rounds out the masterclass with a message of courage: “Keep putting yourself in a position to be vulnerable; to put your skills and passion on show; to expose your journey.”
Choi will represent the Pacific region at the Grand Finale in Milan in 2025.
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