Judy Joo, Celebrity Chef & Founder, Seoul Bird

“Our Homemade Korean Ice Teas are refreshing, thirst quenching, uniquely flavoured. They are full of revitalising vitamins and antioxidants too. At Seoul Bird, we offer Yuzu Green Tea, which has a lemony honey sweet, slightly sour flavour derived from Yuzu, a citrus fruit known as Yuja in Korea. Bursting with Vitamin C, Korean’s drink Yuja juice regularly to strengthen their immune systems.  

Our best seller, Mixed Berry and Lychee Green Tea needs no explanation as to why it’s so popular! This crowd pleaser not only tastes absolutely amazing, but also packs the endless health benefits associated with green tea and berries. Our ice teas are refreshing and full of flavour; they are the ultimate Korean mocktail. If you feel like stiffening it up slightly, then add a shot or two of Soju!”

Gina Barbachano, Bar Manager, Hanky Panky

“We don’t have a mocktail menu per se, but we love to interact with our guests and create drinks in the moment. We ask what they like and we make something delicious using our imagination. It’s a great way of making a connection as well! Almost all of our ingredients are homemade, we like to make them from scratch so that we can guarantee the flavour and consistency that we want and are famous for. We use a lot of cold brew because at Hanky Panky we don’t have an espresso coffee machine and cold brew is a great option to have for those refreshing and delicious coffee cocktails. We also use cold-brew tea, and actually one of the menu drinks is a cold brew non-alcoholic drink called, Auritum, made with Black Team infusion with coffee peel, topped up with coconut soda.”

Aidan Beaumont, Group Bar Manager, Chaophraya

Our ‘Made in Thailand’ cocktail showcases the exotic and tropical flavours of every corner of Thailand. Incorporating three of the four flavours of Thailand; sweet, sour and spice. Refreshing and moreish, we consider this our signature cocktail. It boasts ginger, pineapple juice, fresh lime juice and is finished with a fiery ginger beer. It comes served in a ceramic bamboo cup with pineapple leaves for garnish. If you’re feeling adventurous, add a non-alcoholic spirit.”

Gabriela Lozada, Bar Manager, Brujas 

“This summer we set ourselves the challenge of creating fresh, citrusy flavors by limiting ourselves to using lemon juice or other citrus fruit that is around us. In other words, we are going to exploit ingredients and handle them in such a way that we can highlight the acid notes with sparkling wines and homemade sodas (for very refreshing non alcoholic drinks). 

In Brujas we are lovers of mocktails, especially because we open in the afternoon and alcohol is not always a great choice. That’s why we always have herbal infused sodas that we play with by adding seasonal fruits or other ingredients. In my obsession with creating complexity in a non-alcoholic beverage, I began to experiment with edible resins. The weirdest mocktail I’ve ever made was the Mexican Forrest, made using pine resin, citrus ash, agua miel and a bit of mead. The flavor was so complex and unique that it felt like it contained alcohol.”

Anh Pham, Owner, Paeonia

At Paeonia premium bubble tea lounge, we love bringing new, original and exciting flavour sensations to the tastebuds of our customers and we’ve just launched our summer drinks menu. New for SS22 are bespoke and exotic drinks such as dragon fruit tea, whale tea, mango matcha latte and a tropical fruit tea with guava, mango and passion fruit. We’re really excited to see what people think!

We’ve also got several slushies on the menu at Paeonia this season, where we use only the very finest ingredients. Slushies include mango, taro, melon milk, marble matcha and cookies and cream, to mention a few.

The post The Sweet Taste of Summer appeared first on Stir it up Magazine.

Following an engineering degree at Columbia University and a career on Wall Street, Judy became disenchanted in finance and decided to follow her true passion in life: food. After enrolling with the French Culinary Institute in New York, Judy received her Grand Diplome in Pastry Arts before becoming a test kitchen and editorial assistant at SAVEUR magazine.  

Judy has worked in some of the world’s most prestigious restaurants including Maze, Claridges and Pétrus in London, 3 Michelin-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, California, Heston Blumenthal’s 3 Michelin-starred The Fat Duck in Bray and Bangkok’s 1 Michelin-starred Nahm restaurant.  We caught up with her earlier in the year to learn more about what drives her innovative style of cooking and what she has learned from operating her own restaurants.

Having had a breadth of international experience and working for renowned chefs such as Gordon Ramsey and Heston Blumenthal, how did you develop your own style of cooking?

Every chef has to develop their own style in order to distinguish themselves.  I consider working for other great chefs as a way to lay down the foundation for your career and development. It is from this foundation and way of working that you can grow from and develop your own style, techniques, and flavour profiles. 

Your recipes have been described as “food without borders.” Are fusion dishes an integral part of your work as a chef?

Absolutely.  I often describe myself as a French trained Korean American Londoner.  I have deep roots in three continents and am constantly pulling inspiration from many different cultures.  I meld flavors and techniques from all of my travels.  I think this fusion is what makes modern cuisine so exciting these days. 

What excites you about fusion food?

The unexpected flavor combinations that surprises and makes you say “wow”. 

I love taking something completely traditional and modernising it— I think it gives people a fun playful hit of nostalgia while appealing to modern tastes not only in flavour, but also in presentation. 

When working on new dishes, what is your development process?

I test and test and test again.  The kitchen is a laboratory to me with controls and variables.  I don’t settle for just good tasting food— It has to be fantastic. 

How is the Korean food trend evolving in the UK?

Now, I am seeing that people are somewhat more aware that Korea has its own cuisine and it is not in South East Asia.  People are slowly becoming more educated about Asia as a continent as a whole, and not just assuming that all of Asia shares one flavor profile.  Korean food is becoming more and more popular and items like kimchi are practically main-stream now.  

Where should a chef visit in Korea to experience/learn about the variety and flavours of Korean food?

Seoul, Korea the capital is a great start… and just eat on the street. Street food is wide and varied in Seoul—everything from a sidewalk barbecue to savoury pancakes, noodles to donuts. 

What inspired you to open your first restaurant in London and why did you choose that specific location?

I have been living in London for 18 years now; I am a British citizen. I saw an opportunity and gap in the market; no one was doing modern Korean food at all in modern fun way.  Soho, with its young and multi-cultural clientele seemed like the ideal place to open my concept.

What were your stand-out memories of the first year of trading?

Customers were very curious about the cuisine, but there was a lot of education necessary.  Even with the professional food critics— I had to explain to them that Korea doesn’t grow let alone cook with lime or lemongrass!  The concept of wrapping food in leaves was also a bit lost— we had to really explain everything. 

What lessons have you learnt that you applied to the launch of Seoul Bird?

People love comfort food and fried chicken is loved all around the world.  Chicken is eaten by more people around the globe than any other meat.  

What inspires you to continue innovating?

My travels always inspire me to invent new flavor combinations and dishes.  

With multiple recipe books, restaurants and tv shows under your belt, what’s the next challenge?

I would love to successfully franchise Seoul Bird internationally.  

The post Leading Lights – Judy Joo appeared first on Stir it up Magazine.

Statistics show that at least 500 individuals have found themselves newly homeless due to not being able to pay rent and utilities, following redundancies and job losses for those who did not meet the criteria for furlough pay.

Hospitality industry charity, Only A Pavement Away (OAPA), was set up in 2018, by founder Greg nominate five friends. The charity has now turned its attention to helping those who have suffered most throughout the pandemic, through a number of food bank donation operations, fundraising campaigns and even celebrity partnerships.

The Hospitality Against Homelessness campaign was the largest to have been set up by the charity since its inception, and has exceeded the highest of expectations. Through a collaboration with celebrity chef Tom Aikens, the Tom Aikens Charity Cookery Challenge was born, in which those who took part must cook a meal in five minutes, donate £5 to the charity and nominate five friends. That challenge has now had in excess of 200 participants, with high profile names such as Judy Joo, Tom Kerridge, Paul Ainsworth and Jason Atherton, and sees the total number of donations rising daily.

In celebration of his incredible support for the charity, Tom Aikens was also announced as an official ambassador for Only A Pavement Away. This was marked along with his attendance confirmed for the charity’s Cook and Dine 2021 event, set to take place in January next year.

Following on from the success of the Charity Cookery Challenge, OAPA didn’t want to waste the fantastic recipes that were being shared across social media, so it was decided that a cookbook would be created; including recipes from both celebrity chefs and the general public alike. The cookbook, which is due to launch in November 2020, will be created in two formats, the first, a miniature booklet which will be distributed for free to members of the charity to give them access to quick, easy and affordable recipes, as well as a published hardback including up to 200 recipes with imagery.

The hardback cookbooks will retail at approximately £10-£12 and all proceeds from both the challenge and the cookbook will go to support both members and non-members of the charity in getting back into work.

The work that the charity does doesn’t stop there either, with the team already looking to the future of hospitality by launching its, first of its kind, jobs board and candidate profile page. The site, which launched on 21st July 2020, allows all charity employer partners to search through candidate profiles and shortlist them for interviews, before hiring through the charity, and giving someone the fresh start they need for their new life.

To find out more about Only A Pavement Away, register your interest as a volunteer, or make a donation, please visit https://onlyapavementaway.co.uk

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