You’ve probably seen the guy. The one with the waist-length hair and the massive, bushy beard that makes him look less like a Michelin-starred chef and more like a hermit who just stepped off a mountain. Kim Do-yun is not your average culinary personality. When he showed up on Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars wearing noise-canceling headphones while cooking, the internet basically lost its mind. People were asking, "Is he listening to a podcast? A heavy metal playlist? Is he just trying to block out the chaos?"
Turns out, it was way more personal than that. Kim was actually dealing with a panic disorder, and those headphones—playing songs by Jia and Onion—were his lifeline to stay grounded while the cameras swarmed around him. It’s that kind of raw honesty that has turned Chef Kim Do-yun into a cult favorite. He isn't there to play the "star chef" character. He’s just there to cook, mostly because his girlfriend told him she’d break up with him if he didn't join the show. Seriously.
The Secret Lab in Cheongdam
If you walk into his restaurant, Yun Seoul, located in the swanky Gangnam district, you aren't just walking into a dining room. You’re walking into what Kim calls his "research lab." Most chefs brag about their fresh produce, but Kim is different. He’s obsessed with the old stuff.
Hidden in the back is a refrigerated storage space packed with over 500 different ingredients. We’re talking dried fish, aged grains, and various pickles labeled by the year they were born. Some of these ingredients have been sitting there for seven years. He treats them like rare books in a library. If a staff member accidentally uses up a specific batch of dried bracken from 2017, he feels the same physical pain a book collector would feel if someone ripped a page out of a first edition.
What Most People Get Wrong About His Noodles
Everyone talks about the noodles at Yun Seoul, but most people don't realize how much of a technical nightmare they are to produce. Kim spent 17 years—over half his career—just trying to get the noodle right. He hates additives. He hates MSG. He even hates it when restaurants use concentrated broth.
🔗 Read more: Finding Your Next Best Friend: What to Know About Clayton County Humane Society Adoption
To get that specific "chewy" texture without chemicals, he roasts soybeans and mung beans before grinding them into whole wheat flour. It gives the noodles a scent that’s kind of like misutgaru (that roasted grain powder Koreans grew up drinking).
When he returned for Culinary Class Wars Season 2 in late 2025, he didn't just bring his knives. He brought his own custom noodle-making machine. He served these wide perilla oil noodles topped with dried fish roe (eoran) that he'd carefully blowtorched to kill any fishy scent. It's a dish that looks simple on the plate but took decades of obsession to perfect.
Why the "Weirdo" Label Sticks
Kim actually likes it when customers call him a "weirdo obsessed with ingredients." It fits his vibe. He never went to culinary school. Instead, he started in the trenches in 1992, working through French and Japanese kitchens before finally circling back to Korean roots in his mid-30s.
💡 You might also like: The Battle of Bunker Hill: Why Everything You Learned in School Is Kind of Wrong
He’s the kind of guy who:
- Sails with fishermen for days just to understand how they live.
- Collects 90 different kinds of sesame and perilla seeds.
- Dries his broth ingredients naturally instead of boiling them to "force" the flavor out.
- Believes that real food shouldn't make you thirsty in the middle of the night.
The Reality of Fine Dining Fatigue
Honestly, Kim is pretty open about the fact that he isn't an entertainer. He initially turned down the Netflix producers because he felt like Michelin chefs shouldn't be treated like reality TV stars. He views cooking as an "endless journey" and says he's only about halfway through.
There's a certain humility in that. While other chefs are busy building "brands," Kim is busy comparing the texture of bracken fern dried seven years ago versus bracken dried this year. He wants to build a museum. Not a museum for himself, but for Korean food ingredients. He wants to archive the history of what we eat before it’s replaced by instant flavor packets and shortcuts.
How to Experience Kim Do-yun's World
If you’re planning to visit Yun Seoul (which you should, though reservations are a nightmare since the show blew up), keep a few things in mind. This isn't "loud" food. It’s quiet. It’s about the scent.
👉 See also: 11 Squared: Why This Simple Number Keeps Popping Up in Math and Life
- Check the Pantry: When you walk in, there’s a display of the ingredients used that day. It’s a silent way of saying, "Trust me, I didn't take any shortcuts."
- Order the Noodles: Even if you aren't a "noodle person," his perilla oil noodles are the thesis statement of his entire life.
- Respect the Time: Remember that the meal you’re eating probably started five years ago when he put something in a jar to ferment.
The biggest takeaway from Kim’s rise to fame isn't just that he’s a "White Spoon" chef or a Michelin star holder. It’s that in a world where everything is fast and "optimized," there is still a place for the person who chooses to go slow. He proves that being a "weirdo" with a singular, borderline-unhealthy obsession is sometimes exactly what the world needs to taste something real.
Next Steps for Food Enthusiasts:
If you want to try Kim's philosophy at home without the seven-year wait, start by sourcing single-origin, cold-pressed perilla oil. It’s the backbone of his signature flavor profile. For the full experience, Yun Seoul is located at 805 Seolleung-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Use the Catch Table app for reservations, but be prepared to book weeks in advance—the "headphone chef" effect is very real.