Profile | Meet Culinary Class Wars’ Comic Book Chef, self-taught cook and Netflix star

The story of chef Cho Kwang-hyo is a testament to life’s unpredictable twists. A decade ago, he was a bicycle designer in South Korea with no culinary training or particular interest in food. Today, he is widely known as the Comic Book Chef from Netflix’s cooking survival show Culinary Class Wars – in which he stood out as a self-taught chef against Korea’s most acclaimed culinary legends. In early July, the chef, who runs two Sichuan restaurants in Seoul, was in Hong Kong for a four-hands collaboration with Kyle Lee, executive chef of Honjokko in the city’s Quarry Bay neighbourhood. The pair’s menu blended Korean, Japanese and Chinese influences paired with soju, makgeolli and champagne. It also featured Cho’s signature Dongpo pork and mapo tofu, which were both spotlighted on Culinary Class Wars. The menu will be available at the restaurant until August 3. Cho admits he is as surprised by his journey as anyone. He recalls lying on his bed watching YouTube when he saw the advertisement that changed his life. “Chef Paik Jong-won [one of the judges for Culinary Class Wars] was calling for people to apply for a new cooking competition on Netflix,” he tells the Post. “There was this slogan: ‘Who are the best cooks in Korea?’ They were selecting 100 people, so I thought, ‘Why not try?’ and just sent my application.” Culinary Class Wars pitted “white spoon” chefs (elite professionals) against lesser-known or untrained “black spoon” cooks such as Cho. Cho chose to compete under the moniker “Comic Book Chef” in a nod to the Japanese manga comics he learned to cook from. In one episode of the show, he theatrically ripped recipes from comic pages. His dishes – such as the one called Oishinbo Vol. 2, Page 25: Dongpo Pork – even referenced specific pages within manga. Cho was one of only eight “black spoons” out of 100 to survive four of Culinary Class Wars’ six rounds. But the “comic book” narrative oversimplifies Cho’s path as a chef. In fact, by the time the show was filmed, his cooking journey had been under way for some time. Cho’s underdog cooking saga began in 2015, when he quit his job as a bicycle designer and partnered with a friend to open a comic book cafe. There, he served dishes inspired by manga such as Chuka Ichiban! to make extra cash. But cooking remained a side gig. One day, Cho had a meal of Sichuan-style mala xiang guo (numbing and spicy stir-fry pot) in Seoul’s Chinatown with the friend he opened the comic book cafe with. This introduction to Sichuan cuisine’s numbing spicy flavour was a watershed moment for Cho. He and his friend soon flew to Sichuan province in southwestern China to try authentic dishes. “After trying the food in Sichuan, like the mapo tofu from Chen’s Mapo Tofu in Chengdu, I thought, ‘Let’s try making this ourselves and open a shop to sell it.’” He reverse-engineered flavours by recalling what he had eaten in Sichuan province and studying Chinese and Japanese cookbooks. “At first, I bought basic imported cookbooks and practised until I understood the flavours. Then I levelled up to advanced books, even Japanese-Chinese fusion ones,” he says. He went on to open his first Sichuan restaurant in Seoul in 2017. It did fairly well. Cho’s passion for more serious cooking began in 2019, when ingredient shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to make doubanjiang (Chinese fermented chilli paste) from local Korean ingredients. “I’d relied on Chinese imports, but when supplies stopped, I wondered: ‘If this brand disappears, can I still cook?’ I spent two months testing Korean ingredients to recreate the flavour.” His design background proved unexpectedly useful. “In bicycle design, you learn to combine parts systematically. I applied that to ingredients, narrowing options until it worked. When I finally made doubanjiang, I realised, ‘This is why cooking is fun,’” he says. With his new-found passion, he opened ChoKwang 201. He says his goal for the restaurant has always been to be listed as a Bib Gourmand restaurant in the Michelin Guide. He says that his self-taught methods of cooking are very different from those of conventionally trained Chinese chefs. “I am not that skilled in using a wok, for example … and the language I use to describe my cooking is very different from professional chefs,” he says. But over the years, he has continued to develop menus and create his own culinary world, making adjustments based on Korean preferences. This led to his restaurants gaining a following even before his appearance on Culinary Class Wars. But the Netflix show took his restaurant’s popularity to a new level. In the aftermath of the show’s debut in 2024, online bookings for ChoKwang 201 skyrocketed, with up to 30,000 people rushing to access its website at once. Now that the buzz has faded, making a reservation at ChoKwang 201 is not as difficult as it once was. Still, the restaurant – which is only open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday – attracts a lot of customers for a small Chinese restaurant in Seoul. Cho is engaged in various projects outside his restaurant, too. He has recently published a recipe book and launched collaborations with Korean convenience stores, such as for a reheatable mapo tofu meal kit. The chef says he is not fazed by fame and is grateful for all the diners who visit his restaurants and the opportunities that his appearance on Culinary Class Wars has afforded him. He vows to continue to refine the dishes at his restaurant so that one day the restaurant can make it to the coveted Bib Gourmand list. Out of everything that came from the show, what makes him happiest is that he can now provide for his family. On the day we spoke to him, Cho shyly revealed he had been married to his wife for 2,751 days. “Of course, financially, I have a lot more freedom now. But what’s most meaningful for me is that I used to think it would be really hard to become the proud father I wanted to be for my son. “Now it feels like I’ve made it. Honestly, achieving this dream for my family is what makes me happiest.”

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}South Korean chef Cho Kwang-hyo shares how manga comics taught him about food and how Culinary Class Wars changed his life

South Korean chef Cho Kwang-hyo shares how manga comics taught him about food and how Culinary Class Wars changed his life