In partnership with Hyundai
The last place you’d ever see Corey Lee opening a casual Korean restaurant is an industrial estate, let alone Hyundai’s swanky new innovation center in Singapore. But according to the three-star chef, his first collaboration with the automotive giant was a good opportunity to explore memories, culture, emotions and even time through the lens of a carefully crafted menu based on classic Korean dishes.
When Lee – the Seoul-born former chef of The French Laundry and driving force behind San Francisco’s famous restaurants Benu and San Ho Won – first met Hyundai, it was to carefully explore how he could improve the new “Smart Urban Mobility Hub,” which is committed to sustainable, human-centered innovation and a highly automated, flexible production system. A desire to share the beauty of Korean culture – through authentic local cuisine with an innovative contemporary twist – formed the basis for the hub’s new restaurant, Na Oh, which translates to a koan-like “movement from the inside out.”
Corey Lee on Na Oh and the combination of modernity and tradition
Na Oh is run by three-star chef Corey Lee
(Image credit: Khoogj)
The timing of the conversation, says Lee, was fortunate. “Na Oh and its location are a perfect fit for where I am in my career now. I opened Benu in 2010 when I was 33. Today, I don’t have as much to prove. I am now freer to explore the more creative side of running a restaurant. I can enjoy the process and maybe even contribute to Singapore’s dynamic restaurant scene.”
Hyundai wanted to offer a healing experience in a tranquil space away from Singapore’s city centre, while also enabling an innovative brand narrative. The resulting 40-seat restaurant, tucked into a light-filled corner on the building’s third floor, is a tranquil oasis of dark stone, warm-toned wood, geometric ceiling shades and delicate rod lamps, artfully hung with thick sheets of handmade Hanji paper that cast diffused light on the dining tables.
(Image credit: Khoogj)
To furnish the space, Lee and Hyundai worked with a gilded team of Korean creatives and artisans who reimagined classic Korean elements with a deft modern twist. Traditional ceremonial vessels were revamped and hand-crafted into striking dessert bowls by tableware specialist H’soban, window blinds are made from natural oksa silk woven by fifth-generation weavers Hu’s Silk, while the normally voluminous silhouette of the hanbok (traditional Korean dress) was slimmed down by K-pop darling Leesle to create elegantly tailored, minimalist uniforms for kitchen and service staff.
This almost manic attention to detail—embracing the beauty of craftsmanship, as Lee puts it—creates a contemporary take on a Korean interior that cleverly avoids hackneyed decorative cliches while maintaining an atmosphere that is both familiar and comforting, especially for die-hard traditionalists.
It’s a difficult balancing act, but one that’s skillfully executed in Lee’s deliberately unfussy, seasonal menu – though he’s careful to ensure that casual doesn’t mean cheap. “The style at Na Oh is considerate, guiding guests through the menu a little more than you would in a really casual restaurant,” he says. “In that sense, an element of fine dining comes through. At the same time, I want to make sure that the food here isn’t simplistic either. Yes, it’s modern, but it’s also connected to Korean traditions that have evolved in a warm and relatable way.”
(Image credit: Khoogj)
As an example of this development, he cites samgyetang (chicken soup with ginseng), currently on the summer menu. It consists of a young chicken stuffed with rice, mushrooms, green scallion sauce and kimchi. It is one of the most well-known dishes in the Korean culinary repertoire, and yet, as Lee points out, it is a dish that is mostly pre-made, pre-stuffed and pre-cooked even in high-end restaurants. At Na Oh, however, the kitchen prepares the poultry in a cast iron pot heated to 200°C and 50% humidity, which allows the meat to be slow-cooked on site.
Cold noodles are made Pyongyang-style, with thin strips of beef that’s been cured for two days, served with marinated quail eggs and topped with a pure, clean broth. Even the jang, the traditional sauces that range from soy and doenjang to gochujang, are naturally fermented and aged in giant glazed onggi pots handmade by 87-year-old master potter Chun-ung Bang.
There are two intelligent hydroponic farms on site with harvesting robots that collect around 30 kg of seasonal leaves every day.
(Image credit: Khoogj)
The vegetables come from two smart on-site hydroponic farms that look unashamedly futuristic, with their double-height winter gardens and white harvesting robots that collect around 30kg of seasonal leaves a day, including ice plant, sorrel, romaine lettuce, red coral lettuce, crystal green lettuce, chard, mustard, kale and mizuna.
Buckwheat and Mugunji Jeon, salad made from lettuce harvested today
(Photo credit: Jinju Kang)
Lee will be the first to tell you that any discussion of Korean food is polarizing. It doesn’t help that the Korean restaurants that tend to get covered in the press are mostly newly opened establishments that don’t represent the full Korean repertoire. Na Oh offered him the opportunity to put together a truly Korean menu and create an unintimidating experience that’s accessible to newcomers while resonating with connoisseurs in meaningful ways.
“We can’t please everyone,” he admits. “But we have to be confident and remember why we’re doing this – to create not only the best dining experience possible, but one that guests want to repeat. But how do you create an experience that bridges ages and values when the goal is for someone to dine with us and at the end of the meal say, ‘I want to come back here with my parents’?”
Golden Queen Rice and Butterfish Gamasot
(Photo credit: Jinju Kang)
If it’s not clear yet, for Lee, this partnership with Hyundai – the biggest and most ambitious project he’s ever undertaken – is both an opportunity for exploration and a daring experiment. “The thing is, we don’t have a common vocabulary to describe even the taste.”
The fact that he has decided to start his journey of discovery from his hometown on the other side of the world only underlines how serious he is about his intention. “When you open a restaurant abroad, the goal is different. It is no longer just a business opportunity. It is something personal.”
hyundai.com/sg/naoh, @naohrestaurant
(Image credit: Khoogj)
