“It still feels so unreal!” exclaims Sun Kim when asked how he feels about his restaurant, Meta, finally being recognised with its second MICHELIN Star.
He looks out into the distance, as if waiting for the emotion to sink in all over again; but, in an instant, he snaps out of the trance, takes a gulp of water, and gets back into the zone. “However, I believe that it [the second MICHELIN Star] came at the right time. But, really, it still feels so unreal,” he says with a cheerful smile and a snicker to boot.
A Commitment to the Craft
There are, perhaps, only a handful of chefs like Kim who have achieved some inspiring level of mastery; not only in the form of talent, but also in the realm of the self. Kim has always been soft-spoken, but he utters words that are loud with conviction. The lighthearted chef is always ready to greet both friends and diners with a sincere smile, but when it comes to the kitchen, his laser-focus is palpable, translating his culinary skill into unforgettable plates, such as Meta’s Jeju Abalone with Kamtae, Wakame, and Lily Bulb — a dish that has been on the menu since day one, a testament to Kim’s commitment to perfecting flavours and textures.
“To be honest with you, a lot of people have been telling me that Meta would get its second MICHELIN Star since three years ago,” Kim says. “I'm sure they meant it with the best of intentions, but I also knew, deep in my heart, that I was not ready then.” Kim expresses that although he was confident of his food, he was not yet fully confident of a promotion.
The restaurant’s initial location, whose atmosphere Kim describes as “a bit more casual” was at 9 Keong Saik Road, and on 18 July 2024, Meta moved to its new home. As a pleasant surprise — or one can blame it to fate — its address is also at another number 9, but at Mohamed Sultan Road this time around.
“This new space of Meta’s is cleaner and sharper — it reflects more of who I am and my style today. I feel closer to my guests cooking here, primarily because of the open kitchen. They see us cook, and the dishes we cook reach the dining tables in a shorter time so that guests can experience each dish at their best temperatures and as soon as we finish plating them,” he explains.
“I am very proud of Meta. It is the place where I can express myself best and be with people who feel like family. Meta, for me, is everything.”
Meta is nine years old this year, and despite its accolades and awards, Kim says that his restaurant is still continuously evolving, with the recent pandemic becoming a turning point in shaping its identity to what it is today.
“When we opened Meta, I just wanted to cook and serve nice food. In the second year, we received our first MICHELIN Star. Because of this, I felt a strong confidence and continued to innovate and improve my cooking. Back then, my focus was more along the lines of Japanese and European food — like Asian cuisine with French techniques. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to change my direction. I had to survive, the business had to survive, and the shift in peoples’ tastes became more geared towards comfort food. Especially in Singapore, everyone just wanted a taste of home.”
Coming Home to Comfort
It was this sentiment that propelled Kim to steer his direction towards more Korean-focused cuisine. “I wanted to cook more dishes that I could pour my heart into; dishes that are healing, nourishing, and comforting all at once,” he says.
The evolution and shift in Kim’s cuisine sprung from the flavours of home. “You could say I was missing the familiarity brought by my favourite Korean comfort dishes (Kim is from Busan originally and made his way to Seoul). I always respect the original Korean flavours, but I add my own little twist to them.”
“I always tell my team to cook as if they were serving their families, their friends, or their significant others — this way, it will always be special.”
Opening Meta at the age of 31, Kim has turned 40 this year and with an amazing MICHELIN accolade under his belt. When asked if he could go back in time, what would he tell his 31-year-old self? “I want to tell him that you're doing the right thing. Just believe in yourself. You are learning from your mistakes. You are learning from everything. This will be a very good experience for you to become a very strong man,” answers Kim.
The School of Sum Kim
Speaking of youth, a couple of chefs who run MICHELIN-Starred restaurants today — both have also achieved the MICHELIN Young Chef Award — were former protégé’s of Kim’s: Louis Han of NAE:UM and Kevin Wong of Seroja, which is also Singapore’s first-ever Green Star restaurant. There must be some kind of magic touch that Kim has in training his team for them to achieve such great heights.
“I was actually the lucky one to have them on my team,” says Kim sincerely.
“They are such responsible people. That’s why they are very successful now. When they worked with me at Meta, it felt like we were doing something better together. I was still a very young chef back then, and we were evolving and improving at the same time. I remember I even taught them how to fix all the lights and paint the walls with me — especially Kevin [Wong]!” Kim says with a hearty laugh.
Kim says that when it comes to hiring staff, he always tells them that it’s not going to be easy. “I always ask them, ‘will you be in 100%?’ You’ll be surprised at how many people are quick to answer ‘no’.”
However, the few who are up for the challenge come out of the restaurant with learnings that will last a lifetime.
Cooking to Survive
Not many people know this about Kim, but before cooking became his career and life's passion, he had to cook in order to survive. Growing up in Busan, Kim’s parents separated when he was a child, leaving him and his older brother to fend for themselves at a young age. “I learned how to be independent early in life because of my situation back then. I needed to cook so that we had something to eat,” shares Kim. “Back then, I was just a child, and I made my version of fried rice by adding ketchup and kimchi just so my brother and I could eat something tasty and not go hungry.”
After having worked in construction as a builder and as a painter, Kim enrolled himself in a vocational cooking school in Seoul. “At the end of the day, I just really wanted to cook!” he expresses. The idea to further his craft and hone in on his life’s trajectory came after reading a book by MICHELIN-Starred Waku Ghin’s legendary chef, Tetsuya Wakuda.
On Being a Cook and Becoming a Chef
Even after having worked side-by-side with Wakuda himself at his eponymous restaurant in Sydney, Australia, Kim still gushes at the thought of his mentor.
“Isn’t it amazing how a dish Tetsuya created over 30 years ago — the Ocean Trout Confit — is still one of the world’s most photographed dishes until now?” Kim praises. “I read one of Tetsuya’s books while I was in cooking school — a book that I still take inspiration from up to this day — and I thought, ‘I need to work for this man!’ So, I packed my bags, went to Australia, learned English, and I was lucky to have ended up working with him.”
Kim says that Wakuda is one of the people to whom he dedicates his achievements. “Tetsuya is such an inspiring chef and mentor. He started out as a dishwasher, and when he was given an opportunity to make sushi at an event, he did his best making sushi and got recognised for it. He is who he is today because he decided to make the most out of a single opportunity,” Kim emphasises. “Tetsuya really taught me the difference between a cook and a chef. A cook, cooks. A chef is a cook, but he is also a captain; the leader of the team.”
A few years after Kim moved to Singapore for Waku Ghin in Marina Bay Sands, the opportunity to open his own restaurant came about. “Initially, I wanted to maybe name my place ‘Restaurant Kim’, but when I saw that the shop of the lot I was going to occupy in Keong Saik was called Meta… I just fell in love with it,” confesses the Korean chef.
Change is the Only Constant
In this beautiful, chaotic, and delicious world of fine dining, Kim is anchored in precious everyday moments such as enjoying a morning coffee and prata with his wife, or pouring all his focus and energy into jiu jitsu. Fun fact: if Kim weren’t a chef today, he’d probably be in the construction business or a mixed martial arts teacher.
“Meta” is short for “Metamorphosis”, which is a remarkable transformation where a creature drastically changes its form or structure after birth. Popularly alluded to when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, this process unfolds in distinct stages, each tailored to a different phase of life and environment.
Kim smiles to himself as if discovering his restaurant's name for the first time. “Meta was, is, and will always be the perfect name for my place,” he says.
A caterpillar crawls along the earth, feeding on leaves, living in the moment, unaware of the changes waiting for it. And then, it feels a quiet call from nature; an instinctive urge to transform, and so it finds a safe place to spin a cocoon around itself, beginning its metamorphosis. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar dissolves into a formless state, undergoing a profound transformation hidden from the world.
In Kim’s journey as both a human and as a chef, little did he know that these everyday moments in his early life, though mundane as they seem, were building the momentum and giving him the resilience to conquer bigger things and reach greater heights.
After some time, the cocoon stirs, and out emerges a butterfly. Once bound to the earth, the creature now takes flight, its wings a symbol of its journey from a humble beginning to a beautiful new existence.
“I am happy to be where I am today, and I’m not sure I could say that earlier on,” says Kim. “I want people to know that Korean food doesn’t have to be so complicated. At Meta, our direction is that we are going back to the basics; food that nourishes and brings comfort, food that comes from people who cook from the heart.”
Metamorphosis is a poem written by nature, a tale of change and rebirth, of surrender and emergence. It is a reminder that within each of us lies the potential to transform, to become something more, to embrace the unknown and rise anew. It is the art of becoming, a journey from nothingness to the infinite possibilities of what can be.
Kim pauses and curls his lips into a soft smile. “Meta, to me, finally feels like home.”
Meta is located at 9 Mohamed Sultan Road, 238959, Singapore. Book your table here.
All images are courtesy of Meta and Sun Kim.
