Fusing Korean and European cuisine is a natural fit
Just behind the Volksoper, Danny Kim cooks up dishes you have never seen before. Even Beef Tartare, a quintessential European dish, is served here with Korean chili sauce, pumpkin mousse and rice. Scallops are served with sweet potatoes, miso and cucumber. Tuna steak is accompanied by quince, nashi pear and bok choy.
“What we do here is create a unique European-Korean fusion cuisine” Danny explains. In fact, merging different cultures seems to be the natural thing to do for the business student turned restaurateur. After moving from South Korea to Linz at the age of 13, he worked at the acclaimed Vienna restaurant Kim Kocht between 2012 and 2015.
When his boss, celebrity chef Sohyi Kim, decided to focus only on her two main restaurants, Danny jumped at the chance to take over her Lustkandlgasse locale. In September 2015 he opened his own restaurant, Modern Korean, with his chef de cuisine Norbert Stanek.
For lunch, Modern Korean offers traditional Asian classics, but evenings are when the real treasures are served, fine Korean Dining with a European pinch. Just one bite of the skrei cod served with black beans, oshinko (pickled daikon radish) and chorizo will win you over.
THE RECIPE
Pork Belly with kimchi salad and orange miso sauce
ca. 2 hours
4 portions
Ingredients:
800g pork belly
40g ginger
1 small onion
1/4 leek
1 carrot
1 yellow carrot
1/4 radish
25g galangal
1 lemongrass
1/2 garlic bulb
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Korean chili flakes
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
3 teaspoons miso paste
1/2 handful bonito flakes
1 teaspoon wakame seaweed
2 tablespoons vinegar
Potato starch for dredging
Orange miso sauce
1/2 onion, finely diced
40ml freshly squeezed orange juice
5 tablespoons miso paste
1 tablespoon honey
Kimchi salad
1 1/2 handfuls sour kimchi
1 handful cabbage
1 tablespoon sushi vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Preparation
Main dish
Sauté the onion, garlic and leek. Add carrots, radish, lemongrass and galangal until well roasted.
Add 5oo ml of water, vinegar and spices and bring the stew to a boil. Put the pork belly into an ovenproof pot, add the stew, cover and braise in the oven at 160° C for 90 minutes.
Orange miso sauce
Slowly caramelize the onion. Add orange juice and miso paste. Boil it down to thicken. Blend in honey.
Kimchi salad
Cut kimchi and cabbage into strips and sauté in a pan. Add sugar and sushi vinegar, then fry for two more minutes.
The finish
Drain and pat dry the cooked pork belly and cut into a rectangle about 15cm x 8cm. Then, dredge it in potato starch before frying it in a pan until crispy. Next, drizzle orange miso sauce onto the pork belly and garnish it with the kimchi salad. It tastes best when served with warm rice.
modern korean
9., Lustkandlgasse 4
restaurant@modernkorean.at
(0)664 196 7972
Open Mon to Fri, 12:00–15:00 and 18:00–24:00; Sat, 18:00–24:00
Closed Sundays and holidays
