Masters/Fine Dining Restaurant/Onjium

Onjium

No.57 World's 50 Best 2025 — elite chef

Fine Dining RestaurantFine DiningSouth KoreaWorld's 50 Best

Veronica's Take

In Seoul, Onjium has quietly climbed to No.57 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, driven by a meticulous approach to Korean culinary heritage that feels almost academic. Chefs Eun-hee Cho and Sung-bae Park lead the kitchen, reconstructing centuries-old recipes from historic texts with a rigor that stems from their affiliation with an institute dedicated to studying Korean heritage since 2013. Their dishes, crafted from seasonal ingredients, showcase a deep commitment to reimagining tradition with precision and depth. It's not just a restaurant; it's a living archive of Korean culinary history, served with a side of innovation.

onjium_restaurant In Korean, onjium means 'creating in the right way'. Here, the fuel to create comes from researching centuries-old recipe books – after all, this restaurant is part of an institute that has been studying Korean heritage since 2013. The kitchen, led by chefs Eun-hee Cho and Sung-bae Park, uses seasonal ingredients in dishes crafted according to recipes that have been reimagined after years of study. Besides its restaurant, Onjium also houses clothing and design studios.

Accolade

List: World's 50 Best Restaurants · Rank: 57 · Year: 2025

Key Facts

The people behind Onjium

Eun-hee Cho

profile

Head chef

Co-leads the kitchen at Onjium, Seoul (No.57, World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025), an institute-backed restaurant reconstructing centuries-old Korean recipe books.