[HIGH TO LOW] By the slice, or piled high with seafood — these pizzas are sure to please

Playing with fire is what Eric Kim, 43, does every day as the owner-chef of Brûlée in Yongsan District central Seoul. Brûlée is a “contemporary dining restaurant serving woodfire cuisine,” though Kim doesn’t like to limit his cooking to labels. “I...

Seoul is a city where you can find top-tier street food as well as world-class premium dining experiences. In this series, the Korea JoongAng Daily interviews chefs and cooks across the city, to introduce two restaurants offering the same dish at vastly different price points.

Brûlée

Erick Kim, owner-chef of Brûlée in Yongsan District, central Seoul, poses with a pizza made from the restaurant's woodfire oven. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Playing with fire is what Eric Kim, 43, does every day as the owner-chef of Brûlée in Yongsan District, central Seoul.

Brûlée is a “contemporary dining restaurant serving woodfire cuisine,” though Kim doesn’t like to limit his cooking to labels.

“I don’t like to be boxed in,” he said. “It takes away the joy of cooking and the most important value that I hold as a chef is to have fun — never let a day go by monotonously.”

And it is with two wood-fired grills positioned in the middle of his open kitchen that he achieves this.

“Fire is one of the most basic things in cooking and when I encountered woodfire cooking in London 11 years ago, I was intrigued with the idea of its endless possibilities,” he said.

“Everything is a passing trend these days but fire is a fundamental necessity. The number of things that can be done with fire always keeps me on my toes for new, creative dishes.”

The restaurant’s entire offering, including dessert, involves cooking with a woodfire.

The open kitchen and tables at Brûlée [PARK SANG-MOON]

Kim worked as the head chef at local restaurants Congdu, Second Kitchen and Maison de la Categorie prior to opening Brûlée. He has also worked in seven countries around the world including prestigious restaurants like Noma in Finland.

“Traveling is a big part of my chef identity,” he said. “I believe that cooking is ultimately about where a person is.”

This philosophy translates to the varying ingredients that Kim chooses to use each spring, summer, fall and winter.

Brûlée offers a 10-course tasting menu for 100,000 won ($77) as well as à la carte dishes ranging from 10,000 won to 85,000 won, which change with each season. Its 2023 spring menu, for instance, incorporates baby octopus, namul (seasoned greens) and seasonal fish — all springtime favorites in Korea.

But its pizzas have a permanent spot on the menu.

“Pizza is such an iconic woodfire dish so we serve it all year round,” he said.

The restaurant’s spring special is a namul pizza for 20,000 won, which has piled four different types of namul on a tomato-based pizza.

Its à la carte menu offers two more types of pizza: Tomato Clam Pizza for 20,000 won, which is served with a mountain of clam shells, and Calzone and Pork Scrambled Egg Pizza for 25,000 won.

“We strive to create the ultimate pizzas here that one wouldn’t normally encounter anywhere else,” he said.

While the toppings may seem a bit unusual, the star of the dish is undeniably the dough.

Pulled fresh from the oven, pies at Brûlée are crispy yet fluffy with a pleasant amount of acridness from the charring.

“Working with fire can be challenging because it is different every time,” said Kim. “The outcome is very different depending on who is cooking.

“As for me, I enjoy surprises. Even when I ride the subway to work, I take different routes every day!”

The Slice Pizza is located at a corner in Mapo District, western Seoul [PARK SANG-MOON]

The Slice Pizza

Life is cool and simple at The Slice Pizza in Yeonnam-dong, western Seoul.

On a Friday afternoon in May, a few young locals were lounging in the sun, some with their dogs by their sides. Others walked into the store to grab a slice to-go.

Positioned on a small, sharp corner, the unique space is what galvanized Jun Gi-hong, 37, to open his own pizza shop almost two years ago.

“This place was what got me thinking about selling pizza in slices,” he said. “I loved the location and the vibe. It very quickly inspired me to create an easy and casual stop for a slice or two of freshly-made pizza.”

Jun Gi-hong, owner-chef of The Slice Pizza, poses with pizza dough in the kitchen of The Slice Pizza [PARK SANG-MOON]

The modest pizza parlor sells seven kinds of pizza by the slice, from classics like cheese for 4,800 won and margherita for 6,000 won to more creative variations like taco pizza priced at 6,800 won. Most of his customers take the slices to-go, so Jun carefully places their orders inside takeout boxes imprinted with the store’s “cheese monster,” which Jun designed himself.

The square-shaped slices with a side of the store’s in-house ranch make for an easy yet delicious meal to devour in the quirky atmosphere of the Yeonnam neighborhood.

As a boy, Jun loved pizza so much that it was his childhood dream to become a pizza shop owner.

“But I didn’t think that dream would actually be realized until just a few years ago,” he said.

Jun is an avid biker and his previous job was at Vespa, an Italian luxury brand of scooters and mopeds. He worked there for some eight years before he got into a serious bike accident. It was after this that he started a new career in pizza-making.

“I love the creative freedom that comes with this job,” said Jun. “Depending on what sauce and toppings you put on the pizza, it tastes completely different. It’s like I’m on a journey — a journey to finding the best pizza out there.”

While the toppings give him leeway for some originality, what he really feels the most pride in is his dough.

“There is nothing more satisfying than working a well-fermented dough with my hands and then, seeing it perfectly baked out of the oven,” he said.

Pizza slices sold at The Slice Pizza [PARK SANG-MOON]

Jun’s passion for pizza had a bit of a belated start after he quit his job at Vespa in his 30s and began working at a local pizzeria that his friend ran.

“It was then that I discovered the charms of pizza and decided to open my own shop,” he said.

Jun has always had a keen palate for food, even though he hasn’t been in the industry long. He said that one of his favorite hobbies in his 20s was traveling to the best eateries across Korea on his bike.

“I even biked to all corners of the country when I was young,” he said.

Though he doesn’t ride as much as he did in the past, he still drives to work on his Vespa, sometimes with his nine-year-old pitbull terrier named Samba.

“I like to think that I’ve outgrown that part of me though, mostly,” he said with a sheepish smile.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]