Foreign chefs to host charity dinner

Foreign chefs from top hotels in Korea will hold a charity dinner next week to raise funds for a local charity, as part of their long-time wish to give back to the Korean community.

Five executive chefs from Starwood chain hotels in Korea will be in charge of making the dishes for the six-course charity dinner on March 28 at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill. About half of the proceeds will be donated to the Beautiful Foundation, a Korean charity organization that helps underprivileged children, the elderly and single-parent families.

Headed by Giovanni Mauro Seu, Italian executive chef at Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, the special team will use their culinary talents to give back what they have been given from the local community. 

“This charity gala dinner is something we planned a long time ago. This is our commitment to serve our community,” said Seu in an interview with The Korea Herald on Monday.

“We wanted to return the hospitality we received from Koreans and show them we can serve better,” he said.

Most of the participating chefs have been working in Korea for many years. Seu first worked in Korea from 2001 to 2003 and came back in 2011.

“The honest reason why I came back in 2011? I like Seoul. I don’t know much about Korea, but I like the city. It’s clean, and most importantly it’s safe. Transportation is good. Food is good. Korean people are friendly. It has four seasons like Italy,” said the chef, whose wife is Korean.

A simple step they are taking in their goal to serve the community is using local ingredients.

“Around 70 percent of the ingredients will be local ingredients,” he said.

Seu, in charge of a main dish and a dessert, will use shoulder butt, or moksal, Korea’s favorite cut of pork, for his main dish instead of beef or lamb, which are more commonly used in the main dishes for such events.

“I know Korean people think moksal is cheap, but it’s not. We will cook it for 14 hours in a sous vide (cooking in a vacuum container immersed in water). With many resources put into it, you can’t say the meat is cheap meat anymore,” he said.

The sous vide shoulder butt will be served with a sweet fruit sauce, followed by a honey and citrus fig compote.

Using local ingredients is also in line with Seu’s cooking philosophy based on the “Kilometer Zero Movement,” which encourages chefs to work directly with local farms.

“It’s part of serving the community because we help Korean farmers. When you work with local farmers, the cost is low and it’s fresher,” he said.

The six-course dinner will start with amuse bouche, lobster and sea urchin pumpkin panna cotta and mirim jelly made by Gunnar Mueller from Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel, followed by tuna ballotine, wakame salad with teriyaki sauce and wasabi crme fraiche as the appetizer by Heinz Pfister of Westin Chosun Busan. Next up is fava bean soup with Jeju langoustines and citrus gremolata by Ciaran Hickery from W-Seoul Walkerhill and a fish menu of salmon confit, miang of blue crab and cilantro-potato mousseline by Joachim Kreisel from Sheraton Incheon.

The charity dinner will take place every two months at one of the five Starwood chain hotels in the country. The first dinner will invite 80 guests on March 28 at Clock 16 in Sheraton Grande Walkerhill. The dinner is priced at 180,000 won per person, including tax and service charge. Reservation is recommended. For more information, call (02) 450-6457.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)