4 New Seoul Restaurants Win Michelin Stars

Two Japanese restaurants in Seoul have been awarded a star by the Michelin Guide to the city's best gourmet restaurants for the first time.

The latest edition of the guide published by the French tiremaker newly gives Muni and Mitou a star each as well as French restaurant L'Amant Secret and Korean eatery 7th Door.

A total of 32 restaurants have won stars, including two that earned the coveted three stars and seven that bagged two.

The Seoul edition of the guide first came out in 2016. Sushi restaurant Kojima already has two stars, but newcomer Mitou, which opened in 2018, uses seasonal Korean ingredients to create healthy high-end Japanese dishes.

Muni, which opened the same year, is run by a chef who graduated from Japan's famed Hattori Nutrition College. The owner went to study the culinary arts in Japan when he was 25 and spent almost two years as a trainee in a restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza dining district, toiling in the kitchen for 11 hours a day.

Located on the 26th floor of L'Escape Hotel in downtown Seoul, L'Amant Secret is run by Chef Sohn Jong-won, who has worked in the three-star restaurants Café Venu and Queen's Restaurant in San Francisco.

7th Door is a Korean restaurant specializing in fermented dishes and run by chef Kim Dae-cheon, who has worked at the French restaurant Toc Toc here.

Otherwise nobody lost or gained a star on the established list, with Gaon and La Yeon retaining their three stars and Kwon Sook-soo, Mosu, Mingles, Alla Prima, L'Impression, Jungsik and Kojima keeping their two.