CJ CheilJedang's Cuisine K to Open First Popup Restaurant in Hong Kong

Eight-Course Korean Dining Experience Featuring Fermented Ingredients
Expanding Global Recognition of the "K-Food Young Chef Platform"

CJ CheilJedang is entering Hong Kong, known as the "city of gastronomy," with its young chef development platform, Cuisine K.

On May 20, CJ CheilJedang announced that it will operate the "HANU X Cuisine K Korean Popup Restaurant" at the Korean restaurant HANU in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, until June 28. This marks the first time that the Cuisine K project, which launched in Korea in August last year, is being held overseas in the form of a popup restaurant.

Chef Kyungwon Lee (left), Chef Dongmin Chun, and Chef Sunung Lee, young chefs of 'Team Cuisine K' participating in the Cuisine K Hong Kong popup restaurant, are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by CJ CheilJedang

The main figures of this project are chefs who have emerged from Cuisine K. Three chefs?Kyungwon Lee from the first cohort, Dongmin Chun from the second, and the newly joined Sunung Lee?will lead the restaurant as "Team Cuisine K." They have developed creative dishes themselves, using fermented ingredients from five Korean food masters, such as soy sauce, vinegar, black vinegar, Makgeolli, and pickled plums.

First, until May 31, a special lunch event will be held at the restaurant AKATSUKI in the Central district. A limited menu, consisting of a main dish and dessert, will be served to only 20 guests per day.

Starting June 1, the main popup venue will move to HANU, where a full dining course will be offered. The menu consists of a total of eight courses: five types of master’s juansang (traditional Korean food pairings with alcohol), dongchimi mulhoe (cold radish water sashimi), hapjajang buckwheat noodles, mystery chicken, soy sauce marinated crab or duck meal set, Korean beef, oriental melon sorbet, and chachanteng (Hong Kong-style milk tea). There will also be traditional liquor pairings, including Gamuchi soju.

Cuisine K is more than just a culinary platform; it is CJ CheilJedang’s flagship development project that provides young chefs with experience in entrepreneurship and management. Selected chefs develop and operate experimental Korean menus at CJ’s food innovation hub, INNO Play, as if running their own independent restaurants. In this process, they receive menu consulting and marketing support, and all operating profits are returned to the chefs.

CJ CheilJedang plans to expand various global programs such as Korean cooking classes and culinary competitions, starting with this Hong Kong popup. Through these efforts, the company aims to fully develop Cuisine K into a "K-Food Young Chef Platform."

Park Shinyoung, project manager of the Hansik 245 team at CJ CheilJedang, said, "Hong Kong is a world-renowned city of gastronomy, making it the perfect place for Cuisine K’s young chefs to build their global capabilities. Through the popup restaurant, we aim to share the depth and charm of Korean cuisine, reinterpreted through the creative perspectives of young chefs, with global gourmets."