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Photo: Hyundai
One of this year’s most anticipated restaurant openings will take place in an unlikely location — Jurong Innovation District in the far-west corner of Singapore.
Renowned Korean-American chef Corey Lee of three-Michelin-starred contemporary Asian restaurant Benu in San Francisco will make his South-east Asian debut in the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Jurong West in June.
Lee is partnering with the Korean automotive conglomerate to open a casual Korean restaurant, Na Oh, which means ‘moving from inside out’ in Korean.
Chef Corey Lee. (Photo: Robert Beck)
Breathing new life to the ‘farm-to-table’ experience, Na Oh will utilise ingredients that are grown in the facility, which runs a two-storey vertical smart farm that can produce over 30kg of vegetables daily. The Smart Farm, which occupies two of the building’s seven storeys, runs on a self-contained hydroponics system that incorporates robots to plant seeds and harvest greens. The farm grows vegetables such as romaine lettuce, chard and mustard greens.
While details of Na Oh’s menu have not been revealed, the restaurant will deliver “an exquisite Hansik cuisine calibrated for the modern palate”. The dishes will also weave in cultural elements from master artisans and craftsmen from South Korea.
Lee made his mark in the global culinary world when his restaurant, Benu became the first in San Francisco to receive three stars from the Michelin Guide in 2014. The Seoul native is known for blending Korean and Chinese culinary traditions with western techniques, with dishes such as thousand-year-old quail’s egg with ginger and cabbage and beef and oyster saengchae with radish and oyster leaf.
