The chef who wants to introduce vegan cuisine to Koreans: meet Kang Min-goo of Mingles in Seoul

How did you get interested in cooking? “When I was young, I liked to create things with my hands, so my mother taught me drawing, piano, calli­graphy and taekwondo. I like to make things, but my motor skills aren’t very good. When it comes to cooking, though, the taste is more important.”

Where did you learn to cook? “My parents were not rich enough to send me to culinary school abroad. So after vocational cooking school in Korea, I looked for internships overseas. About 10 years ago, when I was 22, I went to a Ritz-Carlton in Florida, to intern at a new American restaurant. I couldn’t speak English well so I was a bit nervous but once I started the job it was fun. I only had a one-year visa and I worked 40 hours a week unpaid, though I got to work in different parts of the hotel.”

And then you joined Nobu Miami as a junior sous chef. Why was it important for you to work at Nobu? “I wanted to see how Asian chefs did Western-style cooking. After one year at Nobu Miami I became head chef; because I’m Asian I gave my opinions of how the food should taste. Then I went to Nobu Bahamas for 1½ years, when I was 27 years old. We used Japanese products but the dishes weren’t authentic. It didn’t matter – for the guest, the most important thing is enjoying the food and having a good time.”

Why open your own place? “Ever since I had worked at the Ritz-Carlton, it had been my dream to introduce Korean food to the world. When I was in Florida, there weren’t many Korean restaurants and people didn’t know much about Korean food. So the cuisine had a lot of potential because it’s tasty, healthy and everyone likes it, but it was not so famous at that time. In the US, only big cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco have good Korean restaurants. My dream was to open a restaurant in Korea so I saved lots of money before going home.”