"I Don’t Want to Work Like This No Matter How Well I Do" Confession
Netflix variety show ‘Black and White Chef: Culinary Class War’ is gaining popularity, and Chef An Seong-jae, who appeared as a judge, has recently had his story about quitting the high-end Japanese restaurant ‘Urasawa’ spotlighted again on online communities. It was revealed that he once got angry after receiving harsh words from Japanese baseball star Suzuki Ichiro in the United States.
An Seong-jae, known as the ‘only Michelin 3-star chef in Korea,’ appeared on the YouTube channel ‘Sampuro TV’ on December 24 last year and shared an episode about receiving harsh words from Ichiro at the Japanese restaurant ‘Urasawa,’ where he once worked. Urasawa is a high-end Japanese restaurant located in Los Angeles (LA), California, and is the first Japanese restaurant in the U.S. to receive a Michelin star. Ichiro was a regular customer there and reportedly knew that An Seong-jae was a Korean staff member.
An recalled that it was just one day before the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final between Korea and Japan held in LA.
He said, “In 2009, the Korea-Japan World Baseball Classic final was held in Los Angeles,” and “The day before the final, Japanese player Suzuki Ichiro visited the restaurant. He was originally a regular customer.” He added, “Ichiro knew I was Korean, and I could speak a little Japanese.”
He continued, “But Ichiro sat down with a very serious face and said, ‘I’m really upset because we lost twice to the Korean team before,’” and “He has a strong samurai mindset and said things like ‘I’ll kill you.’ It felt unpleasant. He spoke quite harshly to me.”
He said, “At that time, I was working at the Japanese restaurant wearing a kimono and geta (wooden clogs), walking with a clacking sound, and after experiencing that episode with Ichiro, I thought, ‘No matter how well I do, I don’t want to work like this.’”
The incident with Ichiro’s harsh words became the turning point for An Seong-jae to quit Urasawa. He had repeatedly visited the restaurant and pleaded to work there, which only hired Japanese staff, and finally got the opportunity. However, after the incident, he reflected on how he was working like a Japanese person. He explained, “While I was thinking that way, I received a job offer from the Michelin 3-star restaurant ‘French Laundry’ in Napa Valley and went there immediately.” According to Chef An, French Laundry is a dream restaurant where chefs want to work, receiving about 1,000 resumes from chefs worldwide every day.
Afterward, Chef An opened the restaurant ‘Mosu San Francisco’ in 2015 and received one Michelin star within eight months. He then returned to Seoul and opened ‘Mosu Seoul’ in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu in 2017. From 2023 to 2024, he became the youngest chef in Korea to receive three Michelin stars.
Regarding the meaning of ‘Mosu,’ Chef An explained, “I wanted to put the happiness I think of into the restaurant’s name, hoping that guests who visit the restaurant have a good time,” and “I took the name from the cosmos flowers I saw with my family in the field behind our house before immigrating to the U.S. when I was 13 years old.”
The recently popular Netflix show ‘Black and White Chef’ depicts 100 chefs competing for the top chef position. Chef An and Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, participate as judges. According to FlixPatrol, an online video service (OTT) ranking site, ‘Black and White Chef’ ranked first in Korea for four consecutive days since Netflix released episodes 1 to 4 on the 17th. On the 20th, it ranked 10th worldwide.
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