How ‘Culinary Class Wars’ Season 2 is reshaping Korea’s dining trends
Netflix’s culinary survival show “Culinary Class Wars” Season 2 may have ended earlier this month, but its ripple effects are still being felt across Korea’s dining scene — not just in conversation, but in concrete consumer behavior.
According to an analysis by restaurant reservation platform CatchTable on Friday, the show's second season has helped shift diners’ attention from passive viewing to active planning, turning curiosity about chefs and dishes into searches, waitlists and fully booked tables.
Comparing app data from five weeks before and after the show’s Dec. 16 premiere, CatchTable found that interest expanded well beyond fine dining.
Searches in the “pub” category jumped more than 52 percent, the largest increase among all food genres, followed by bunsik (Korean light meals and snacks), Western cuisine and pasta. The pattern suggests that viewers were drawn not only to high-end tasting menus, but also to everyday, approachable formats — a trend the platform described as the rise of “casual gastronomy.”
Search rankings also reflected a chef-driven exploration. Viewers actively looked up contestants and their restaurants, with names such as Ok Dong-sik, Son Jong-won, Sam Kim and Choi Kang-rok dominating query lists, alongside venues featured or associated with them.
That curiosity quickly translated into action.
Reservation and waiting-list users at restaurants linked to the show rose by over 300 percent per location on average, despite the year-end period already being one of the most competitive booking seasons. Italian bistro Osteria Sam Kim and modern Italian spot Doughroom in Gwanghwamun were among the most sought-after.
Even when tables proved hard to secure, interest did not fade. The number of users saving featured restaurants for future visits surged more than 1,300 percent on average, indicating that viewers were building wish lists and planning return attempts rather than abandoning the search.
Copyright © 코리아헤럴드. 무단전재 및 재배포 금지.