'Star Chef' Yannick Alleno: "Korean Customers Are Explorers... Competing with Creative Menus That Awaken the Senses"

Interview with Stay Executive Chef at Signiel Seoul French Restaurant

Michelin 3-Star Chef... Operates 8 Restaurants Worldwide Including Paris and Monaco
5 Years Leading Signiel Seoul Stay, "Korean Customers Seek New Places and Experiences"
Focus on Evolving Creative Menus to Add Charm That Makes Guests Want to Return
"81st Floor Fantastic View and French Cuisine Using Domestic Seasonal Ingredients... Pursuing Satisfaction of All Five Senses"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] "Korean customers prefer new places and experiences more than anyone else. The key is to present creative menus while achieving qualitative growth so that they feel the charm that makes them want to visit again."

On the afternoon of the 27th, I met Yannick All?no, the executive chef of the French restaurant 'STAY' at Signiel Seoul in Lotte World Tower, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Having arrived the day before to prepare for the 'Yannick All?no Gala Dinner' on the 30th, he was busy discussing the menu with his team without even having time to adjust to the time difference. He is a world-renowned star chef, a Michelin 3-star restaurant owner chef, and has been selected as one of the world's top 100 chefs by France's 'Le Chef' magazine, as well as one of France's top 10 chefs. He operates restaurants in eight major cities worldwide, including Paris, Monaco, and Seoul.

His relationship with Korea began in earnest in 2017 with the opening of Signiel Seoul. He visits STAY more than twice a year to meet his dispatched team in Korea and checks overall aspects such as food, service, and atmosphere. Despite COVID-19, STAY consistently attracted customers and has shown excellent performance, with sales increasing by more than 30% compared to the previous year after the endemic phase this year. Despite the expensive price of 295,000 KRW per meal, all 80 seats for this gala dinner were fully booked early on.

What is the secret to its popularity? Chef Yannick All?no first mentioned the 'fantastic view' from the 81st floor of STAY, overlooking Seoul through floor-to-ceiling glass. He said, "When I decided to join STAY five years ago, the fact that Lotte World Tower is a symbolic building of the city, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Taipei 101, played a big role."

Having experienced the domestic fine dining market through STAY for five years, he felt that the biggest characteristic of Korean customers is their 'explorer nature.' He said, "Korean customers tend to want to experience different restaurants rather than revisit the same one." To capture such customers, Chef Yannick All?no believes it is essential to continuously provide new experiences. He pointed out that showing qualitative growth every time while presenting creative menus and allowing customers to feel a stable charm within that is the way for STAY and the Korean fine dining market to 'long run.'

Chef Yannick All?no evaluated, "The Korean fine dining market overall, including Michelin-starred restaurants like Mingles, is highly competitive, but each performs well." He cited STAY's strengths that differentiate it from others as 'creative attempts' and 'perfectionism' in menus and ingredients. He explained that they do not compromise until the result harmonizes scent, color, taste, shape, and texture properly.

Chef Yannick All?no presents dishes that incorporate French local trends with Korea's seasonal ingredients in different ways each season. The current dinner includes various domestic ingredients such as Jeju tiger prawns and altari radish within the French course. He added flavors with sauces developed in-house. During this visit, following his cooking philosophy of using local ingredients as a principle, he plans to visit the early morning market with his team to scout new ingredients and experience Korean-style barbecue such as samgyeopsal as well as other fine dining.

He said, "This gala dinner’s top-grade Korean beef tenderloin itself is excellent, but the accompanying mille-feuille is made by thinly slicing celery and topping it with truffle, so it will be delicately perceived by the palate." He plans to focus more on wine and related menus in the future. He emphasized, "We have excellent talents, including sommelier Jeong Jae-hoon, who was awarded the French Bordeaux wine knight title, so we will leverage this strength going forward."

Born in France in 1968 and entering the culinary world at age 15, he defines cooking as "my life itself." His goal is for visitors to remember the French food they tasted at Seoul’s landmark for a long time and to seek out Chef Yannick All?no’s restaurants first when they visit Paris.