Creativity - key ingredient for good chef

By Kim Rahn

There are three small-sized pieces of food on a plate. They look like a tart, a beef steak and a chocolate, as if the appetizer, main meal and dessert are being served on one plate.

But when tasted, voila! The tart was beef, as was the chocolate-looking food. The three pieces were all beef, all main courses served in three different ways.

This is the creation of chef Manu Lee at the Imperial Palace Hotel's Italian restaurant Verona. With the dishes, the 28-year-old won the grand prize in the main course category at the Black Box Culinary Challenge organized by Meat and Livestock Australia last September.

In the competition where contestants were required to create a dish in 24 hours after the main ingredients were revealed, what he had to deal with was beef brisket.

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"Brisket is not used widely because it is dry and tough. So I chose braising to make it as moist as possible. I also decided to present three types, like an appetizer, main and dessert, to give visual pleasure", Lee said.

"For the 'appetizer', I boiled the meat down with tomato juice to make it light. For the 'main', I braised it with fruit, not with gravy, to also make it light and to make balance with the appetizer. For the 'dessert', I covered it with herb crust to give a different texture".

Judges of the competition recognized the young chef's idea to present three different tastes from a single ingredient like a full course and the unexpected tastes which they experienced when eating the tart and chocolate-like servings.

'Menu di Manu'

With the dish as a main meal, Lee has developed a six-course menu and presented it at the restaurant under the name "Menu di Manu". Manu is his baptismal and English name.

Other dishes on the menu include grilled scallops and king crab salsa verde; fricassee of wild mushrooms and barley risotto; salad of pea, chicken breast, ricotta cheese, artichoke and endive in tomato and salami dressing; seared beef capacchio and creamed potato in citrus sauce; and white chocolate mousse, also the Black Box challenge award-winning dessert created by another chef of the hotel.

Such "unexpectedness" and "Surprise" is what Lee is good at and what he pursues. "People first recognize food visually, and they expect something from visual information. But if they taste something unexpected, they get surprised and wonder what it is. I like to make customers wonder and be immersed in the food because it is also a pleasure food can offer", he said.

It's art

Lee grew up in a family where his father was a sculptor, his mother a fashion designer and his sister is a jewelry designer. Full of the sense of art, his dish is not only tasty but also beautiful.

"I get inspiration from classical music, painting and sculpture, and I like the shock colors give. I think such art is possible in cooking, too, although the method to embody it is different".

He started cooking in Sydney at the age of 18 in 2002 when he studied sports marketing there. "I worked part-time at a restaurant to make living expenses. One day I looked at a book on seafood and was stunned. It was art. Since then, foods looked new, they looked like pieces of art. I was fascinated".

Lee then worked at Pier and Pello, famous restaurants in Sydney, and moved to Relais Louis 13 in Paris to learn classical French cuisine and then to Stating in the Netherlands. Despite the short career, he was promoted fast, becoming chef de partie, sous chef and head chef at the restaurants. "I guess they appreciated my creativity", he said, shyly.

He returned to Korea to serve in the military. "Fortunately, I worked at a general's residence as his personal chef. He encouraged me to keep studying food and developing recipes".

After finishing his service, Lee chose to stay in Korea instead of working at a restaurant overseas. "Korea's culinary industry is an undiscovered world yet and there are very few star chefs, like Edward Kwon. Bringing new trends and leading Korean culinary culture, I want to be remembered in history".

Menu di Manu is available at the restaurant at 70,000 won. For information, call 02-3440-8000.