Muoki

Oak, in Afrikaans

Muoki takes its name from the Afrikaans word for oak tree, a reference to the years its chef, James Park (Park Moo-hyun in Korean sources), spent in South Africa and to his wish for roots deep enough to keep a tree steady in storms. It opened in 2017 on the second floor of a building in Cheongdam-dong, in Seoul‘s Gangnam district, and holds one Michelin star in the 2026 guide. Park is owner and chef. Visit Gangnam calls the style hard to tie to one national cuisine, and Esquire Korea has called it a contemporary French concept.

Cape Town, then Namyangju

The cooking’s grammar comes from Park’s years abroad: Washington, The Fat Duck in London, Quay in Sydney, and above all about five years at The Test Kitchen in Cape Town under Luke Dale-Roberts, where he says he grew from a junior cook into a real chef. There he worked with South African ingredients, including game, inside a kitchen built on global technique. Back in Korea from 2015, he spent 50 days visiting farms and producers before opening, and he still goes every week to a farm in Namyangju to harvest herbs and edible flowers. The pattern, which is OKYTO’s reading of the career rather than Park’s own statement, is local produce under international technique, not traditional Korean dishes refined.

Tomatoes, carrots, an egg

The restaurant’s organising idea is one ingredient at a time, taken through as many preparations as it will bear. Tomatoes Seven Ways, which Michelin profiled as his signature, shows the method: cherry, plum and black tomatoes at different stages of ripeness, poached, pickled, slow-wilted in oil into a confit and dried into chips and powders, with fresh basil sorbet at the centre. Park tested more than ten methods and reworked the dish seven or eight times over about four years, and a later edition kept the structure while changing the accompaniments. A carrot dish follows the same pattern in five forms.

Iteration is built into the menu. The Muoki Egg, a chicken liver and chicken mousse with parsnip, has reached its third edition, and the café au lait sauce served with autumn Hanwoo sirloin and wild mushroom purée has been revised more than thirty times since opening. Michelin’s 2026 entry describes a set menu that mixes complementary pairings with more inventive ones, singles out a beet dish with goat’s cheese and hazelnuts, and notes that dessert is often a highlight. The raised open kitchen, with its large brigade, gives the room some of the theatre of the cooking.

Sources: Michelin Guide; Esquire Korea; Visit Gangnam