A Day in the Life of a Korean Restaurant: From Fermentation to Service

The day begins early at our Korean restaurant, with our head chef and PM team arriving around 9 am. The kitchen is bustling with activity as we prepare for the lunch service. Our head chef checks on the progress of the fermentation process, which is an essential step in making kimchi, a traditional Korean side dish. We have two types of fermentation - one that involves covering the ingredients with sugar to create a syrup, and another that uses lacto-fermentation mixed with salt without oxygen.

As we wait for the PM team to finish preparing the dishes, our head chef takes a moment to research new menu ideas. We aim to change our menu as much as possible, but it's been a year since we took on this challenge. The researching and manual development process is crucial to our success. Yesterday, our head chef marinated pork neck and grilled it, experimenting with different seasonings and techniques. Today, they're trying out a new dish - a Lobster bis in Korean style made with per soy sauce paste.

The kitchen is filled with the aroma of cooking ingredients as we prepare for the service. Our head chef checks on the dishes one by one, making sure everything is cooked to perfection. The solo, or gem lettuce, is a key ingredient in our Panang curry, and we're experimenting with different ways to use it. We're also trying out a new technique - adding nitrogen gas to make the lobster more tender.

As the service begins, our head chef takes on their role as expeditor, managing tickets and dispensing dishes to the right tables. They check that each dish is clean and tidy, making sure that every guest has a pleasant dining experience. The kitchen is bustling with activity, but our head chef stays focused, ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

As we take orders and begin to plate the food, our head chef reflects on the menu. We're trying to balance different flavors - saltiness, sweetness, sourness, and umami. The Lobster bis in Korean style is a key component of the meal, and we're experimenting with glazing it with fermented fruit or vegetable juice. The combination of flavors and textures is proving to be a hit.

As the service continues, our head chef checks on the progress of each dish, making sure that everything is cooked to perfection. They take feedback from the guests and adjust their technique accordingly. It's not always easy - sometimes mistakes are made, but our head chef takes them in stride, using them as an opportunity to learn and improve.

As the day draws to a close, our head chef reflects on the service. We had 69 covers for the evening meal, including one vegan guest and several birthdays and anniversaries. The food was well-received by guests, who praised the flavors and presentation of each dish. As we wrap up the service, our head chef takes a moment to appreciate the hard work that went into preparing each meal.

The family meal is a special occasion at our restaurant, where we celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries with our guests. It's a time for us to come together as a team and share a meal together. The PM team is arriving soon, and our head chef will check on the progress of the dishes one last time before they're served.

As the service comes to a close, our head chef takes a moment to think about what went well and what didn't. It's not always easy running a restaurant - there are challenges and setbacks along the way. But with hard work and dedication, we can overcome any obstacle and create delicious meals that our guests will remember for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enbaru is a modern Korean restaurant people say this is inspired by Buddhist temple Cuisine I try to reflect and then I try to put that sprad into what we are doing fermentation is really integral part of cooking in baru because all the dish has at least one fermented ingredients as a restaurant chef and owner having tasty menu restur is all the time my dream I try to keep it inspiring for everyone including me and our team and our guest hello my name is Fang and this is my wife mina park we are running the restaurant together baru in La we have a lot of things to do today so let's get going so this is baru and to me it's very luxurious than previous restaurant right next to 7-Eleven which had only three people working and then very small space when people from the old baru come they say oh this is so different yes it's so different it's 8:30 in the morning as heav Chef I'm the first to arrive here when I first come in the morning I check everything is in place and then make it tidy people say like Contra freak yeah I used to haveen now I kind of try to Let It Go just checking the walking cooler so this is produced this is cold hot and family and this fermentation sometime it's a little bit messed up but today is pretty good Al this is service station this is kind of my time to wake up for the day also Buddhist monk said every part of your life is kind of meditation so to me it's not really matter I really prefer like this way all the leftover NE we are doing laundry at home Mina and me so we have whiteboard we write down something we need and then we go shopping there wasn't too much stuff just few things today we got Korean melon with this we are making Tong chimi which is kind of Korean raddish kimchi we got some beep SHP when you go to Korea Market there are a lot of scrap and that you can get really cheap price so Sean this is kind of origin so we need to take out all the blood so we need to put some sugar and then cold water we need to soak it and then this is just kind of family meal and then also we have kid this is his paper he did last night so he asked please put this one in his desk everything looks good and tidy so now is the time to see our am team in the morning they are usually doing all kinds of sauce all kinds of prep which takes a lot of time and labor there's only two people so now we are making puga puga is kind of Korean traditional snack this is very expensive seaweed imported from Korea we are spreading the rice porridge and then we have giant fan setting up there and then we're going to dehydrate once completely dehydrate we def fry and then that rice porridge is popped off and then is going to make crispy snake he is the master of doing this so I don't even need to check so this is inventory list and anything we need to order we put it here there's a condiment and then farmers market and then prep list we also put it here most important part is actually communication each other with AM and PM did you guys talk last night to PM team yeah so what do you have we're going EXO uh beef Jew and then we're doing the Almond cream as well for the dessert did you guys check today's reservation yeah how many P there's one just one one p yeah one p now it's 9:40 and I'm checking the reservation and then email so today our cover is 68 since we are selected restaurant of the year of the LA times we book pretty much every single night yeah I think tonight and also I talked to mina about the today's plan so we run the restaurant together he takes care of the culinary side metaphorically she's the mother of the restaurant I'm pretty quiet boy P guy so all the important job but I'm not really good at she's doing actually the most important job so I can see the card being delivered we have a live lobster we don't usually get so it's just for R&D and then this one is the soul and scallop and then also we have a black hod our suip mat is checking quality and the freshness when there's a head you can see the eyes and the guils and I check all the invoice quantity and price and today everything looks really good mat is going to Butcher and then we're going to make soy BRAC black C this is actually one of the people's favorite it goes with ch Chim which is Korean melon kimchi and then papaya chip and citrus F it's 10: a.m. so my job is checking fermentation so this one is part of our rice dishes we pickle watermelon raddish rose and Citra peppercorn inside texture should be crunch from the freshness and then taste wise between over ripen and then ripen so I can taste a little bit funkiness this reddish it's done so I think it's done it's a summer time so it's pretty good condition to grow beneficial bacteria and the microorganism and the second thing is a lemon Verina Kucha we strain it and then make some kind of foam and then we put on top of the watermelon and tomato caspo I'm going to just check it's going to be ready what it's good so this is basically you try to squeeze out the moisture from the tofu and then cover with samjang we use this tuu as kind of backbone of our ban vegan menu sauce if it's kind of really age well it tastes like bull cheese it tastes really Savory Umami and little bit of sour good sour that's what I'm looking for one thing I found really strange when I first enter United States people think fermentation is very strange thing but because I'm from Korea it's just kind of natural when I st a Nora they really open and awake my perception about fermentation they try to do everything like roasting def frying and then dehydrating and then ground it and then make it even some kind of water they are trying to apply all kinds of cooking technique interpreted into totally different culture of people and I want to make this for mat condiments because these ingredients are the most important part of the Korean cooking tenan FMA soybean paste Kang soon to be soy sauce and then this one is Kang this one looks also good I open the lead Sun is going to shine it's really good for all the formative condiments so we are done with the fermentation check at least once a week when I go to Farmers Market and then see something interesting resting I try to do some kind of fermentation we got golden NE toop prom and beell and Green Gauge Plum this triner is very typical Korean every household who's making kimchi have this one once it's drain we're going to cut it we're going to se it stem off and then we're going to make fermentation there are two different kinds one is just cover with sugar that is it so all the Sugar's going to melt and then it will turn into liquid it's like a syrup but it has microorganism if we have some kind of Grill of the seasonal vegetable we can just marinate in this syrup and the second is lacto fermentation mixed with salt without oxygen and then a deartment and it's going to be done usually this weather I can say 2 3 days I'm going to wrapping up this fermentation our PM team is arriving now it's around noon so now it's going to be 7 people when PM cook arrive I usually check everything is going properly but every day is pretty good big difference is the length of time so what am do is more time consuming and labor intensive job but what PM do is more like maybe 2 3 hours job cutting shredding picking up the arms and then be ready while they are doing preparation for the service I just check every single component of dishes I taste so this is the aach which is a kind of baby squash we use for the rice dishes in pansang for vegetarian panang is kind of tray with a lot of the side dishes and then rice and soup this is reddish and then N nangi is a shepherd's purse tasting looks great so we can move on now it's a 3:00 so now we going to walk on the R&D we really try to change the menu as much as possible but it's been a year as headship the researching and manual development is really important yesterday I kind of marinate pork neck I'm going to just Grill and then check house the texture and the house the seasoning this one is the gem lettuce we're going to grill this one this gem lettuce can be Solo or it can be garnish so now I'm going to try to use this next Dish as appetizer we are making Lobster bis in koreander made with per soyan paste and with a grain so this is already cooked lentil and then bit we're going to cook it down a little bit more I'm trying to think about kind of hybrid way of the maybe Italian Roto and then our version of the per soybeans stew I try to think about all different kinds of the flavor saltin sweetness beer sweet sour Umami and then also I'm trying to think about what other fed good in the walking Coler going to be well pair with this for the protein side I'm going to make a fried Lobster the better it's typical but we putting in the nitrogen charger it also really make floppy arated better so we're going to Def fry the lobster actually it's better than I expected anyone want to try this one we increase sality yeah increase the sality sweetness is good sness actually I like this one more I'm thinking about to glaze with some kind of fermented fruit or vegetable juice and then glaze it and then it can go well with the solo but it can also go well with any kind of protein I think so this one try to have all together like a grain and then soup and then the pickle reddish I accent it with Lage oil but I'm thinking about something in my mind is kind of lemongrass but we are using lemongrass and the black Co use a liquid bort form yeah that's also a good idea we make a lighter idea yeah that's good idea too great tasting menu session with our team B team so everything was good but there are absolutely more things to work on it and then now it's 4:00 it's almost about to have family meal it's 5:15 everyone is back from the break and then we have 15 minutes to open so we going to have pre- shift meeting now so tonight we have 69 covers we have 11 Birthdays one anniversary we have uh one vegan at 7:30 no other vegetarians tonight have a good service everyone good service right now we are about to start the service so my role today is Expo manage all the tickets and also dispense all the dishes to the right table and then I need to make sure also dish is clean uh this is just wipe the plate I mean I don't mind to do the Expo but sometime kind of joke they don't like me in the Expo sometime I made a mistake so first guest is about to arrive thank you so much we need to be ready so you guys need to be out now byebaru is a modern Korean restaurant people say this is inspired by Buddhist temple Cuisine I try to reflect and then I try to put that sprad into what we are doing fermentation is really integral part of cooking in baru because all the dish has at least one fermented ingredients as a restaurant chef and owner having tasty menu restur is all the time my dream I try to keep it inspiring for everyone including me and our team and our guest hello my name is Fang and this is my wife mina park we are running the restaurant together baru in La we have a lot of things to do today so let's get going so this is baru and to me it's very luxurious than previous restaurant right next to 7-Eleven which had only three people working and then very small space when people from the old baru come they say oh this is so different yes it's so different it's 8:30 in the morning as heav Chef I'm the first to arrive here when I first come in the morning I check everything is in place and then make it tidy people say like Contra freak yeah I used to haveen now I kind of try to Let It Go just checking the walking cooler so this is produced this is cold hot and family and this fermentation sometime it's a little bit messed up but today is pretty good Al this is service station this is kind of my time to wake up for the day also Buddhist monk said every part of your life is kind of meditation so to me it's not really matter I really prefer like this way all the leftover NE we are doing laundry at home Mina and me so we have whiteboard we write down something we need and then we go shopping there wasn't too much stuff just few things today we got Korean melon with this we are making Tong chimi which is kind of Korean raddish kimchi we got some beep SHP when you go to Korea Market there are a lot of scrap and that you can get really cheap price so Sean this is kind of origin so we need to take out all the blood so we need to put some sugar and then cold water we need to soak it and then this is just kind of family meal and then also we have kid this is his paper he did last night so he asked please put this one in his desk everything looks good and tidy so now is the time to see our am team in the morning they are usually doing all kinds of sauce all kinds of prep which takes a lot of time and labor there's only two people so now we are making puga puga is kind of Korean traditional snack this is very expensive seaweed imported from Korea we are spreading the rice porridge and then we have giant fan setting up there and then we're going to dehydrate once completely dehydrate we def fry and then that rice porridge is popped off and then is going to make crispy snake he is the master of doing this so I don't even need to check so this is inventory list and anything we need to order we put it here there's a condiment and then farmers market and then prep list we also put it here most important part is actually communication each other with AM and PM did you guys talk last night to PM team yeah so what do you have we're going EXO uh beef Jew and then we're doing the Almond cream as well for the dessert did you guys check today's reservation yeah how many P there's one just one one p yeah one p now it's 9:40 and I'm checking the reservation and then email so today our cover is 68 since we are selected restaurant of the year of the LA times we book pretty much every single night yeah I think tonight and also I talked to mina about the today's plan so we run the restaurant together he takes care of the culinary side metaphorically she's the mother of the restaurant I'm pretty quiet boy P guy so all the important job but I'm not really good at she's doing actually the most important job so I can see the card being delivered we have a live lobster we don't usually get so it's just for R&D and then this one is the soul and scallop and then also we have a black hod our suip mat is checking quality and the freshness when there's a head you can see the eyes and the guils and I check all the invoice quantity and price and today everything looks really good mat is going to Butcher and then we're going to make soy BRAC black C this is actually one of the people's favorite it goes with ch Chim which is Korean melon kimchi and then papaya chip and citrus F it's 10: a.m. so my job is checking fermentation so this one is part of our rice dishes we pickle watermelon raddish rose and Citra peppercorn inside texture should be crunch from the freshness and then taste wise between over ripen and then ripen so I can taste a little bit funkiness this reddish it's done so I think it's done it's a summer time so it's pretty good condition to grow beneficial bacteria and the microorganism and the second thing is a lemon Verina Kucha we strain it and then make some kind of foam and then we put on top of the watermelon and tomato caspo I'm going to just check it's going to be ready what it's good so this is basically you try to squeeze out the moisture from the tofu and then cover with samjang we use this tuu as kind of backbone of our ban vegan menu sauce if it's kind of really age well it tastes like bull cheese it tastes really Savory Umami and little bit of sour good sour that's what I'm looking for one thing I found really strange when I first enter United States people think fermentation is very strange thing but because I'm from Korea it's just kind of natural when I st a Nora they really open and awake my perception about fermentation they try to do everything like roasting def frying and then dehydrating and then ground it and then make it even some kind of water they are trying to apply all kinds of cooking technique interpreted into totally different culture of people and I want to make this for mat condiments because these ingredients are the most important part of the Korean cooking tenan FMA soybean paste Kang soon to be soy sauce and then this one is Kang this one looks also good I open the lead Sun is going to shine it's really good for all the formative condiments so we are done with the fermentation check at least once a week when I go to Farmers Market and then see something interesting resting I try to do some kind of fermentation we got golden NE toop prom and beell and Green Gauge Plum this triner is very typical Korean every household who's making kimchi have this one once it's drain we're going to cut it we're going to se it stem off and then we're going to make fermentation there are two different kinds one is just cover with sugar that is it so all the Sugar's going to melt and then it will turn into liquid it's like a syrup but it has microorganism if we have some kind of Grill of the seasonal vegetable we can just marinate in this syrup and the second is lacto fermentation mixed with salt without oxygen and then a deartment and it's going to be done usually this weather I can say 2 3 days I'm going to wrapping up this fermentation our PM team is arriving now it's around noon so now it's going to be 7 people when PM cook arrive I usually check everything is going properly but every day is pretty good big difference is the length of time so what am do is more time consuming and labor intensive job but what PM do is more like maybe 2 3 hours job cutting shredding picking up the arms and then be ready while they are doing preparation for the service I just check every single component of dishes I taste so this is the aach which is a kind of baby squash we use for the rice dishes in pansang for vegetarian panang is kind of tray with a lot of the side dishes and then rice and soup this is reddish and then N nangi is a shepherd's purse tasting looks great so we can move on now it's a 3:00 so now we going to walk on the R&D we really try to change the menu as much as possible but it's been a year as headship the researching and manual development is really important yesterday I kind of marinate pork neck I'm going to just Grill and then check house the texture and the house the seasoning this one is the gem lettuce we're going to grill this one this gem lettuce can be Solo or it can be garnish so now I'm going to try to use this next Dish as appetizer we are making Lobster bis in koreander made with per soyan paste and with a grain so this is already cooked lentil and then bit we're going to cook it down a little bit more I'm trying to think about kind of hybrid way of the maybe Italian Roto and then our version of the per soybeans stew I try to think about all different kinds of the flavor saltin sweetness beer sweet sour Umami and then also I'm trying to think about what other fed good in the walking Coler going to be well pair with this for the protein side I'm going to make a fried Lobster the better it's typical but we putting in the nitrogen charger it also really make floppy arated better so we're going to Def fry the lobster actually it's better than I expected anyone want to try this one we increase sality yeah increase the sality sweetness is good sness actually I like this one more I'm thinking about to glaze with some kind of fermented fruit or vegetable juice and then glaze it and then it can go well with the solo but it can also go well with any kind of protein I think so this one try to have all together like a grain and then soup and then the pickle reddish I accent it with Lage oil but I'm thinking about something in my mind is kind of lemongrass but we are using lemongrass and the black Co use a liquid bort form yeah that's also a good idea we make a lighter idea yeah that's good idea too great tasting menu session with our team B team so everything was good but there are absolutely more things to work on it and then now it's 4:00 it's almost about to have family meal it's 5:15 everyone is back from the break and then we have 15 minutes to open so we going to have pre- shift meeting now so tonight we have 69 covers we have 11 Birthdays one anniversary we have uh one vegan at 7:30 no other vegetarians tonight have a good service everyone good service right now we are about to start the service so my role today is Expo manage all the tickets and also dispense all the dishes to the right table and then I need to make sure also dish is clean uh this is just wipe the plate I mean I don't mind to do the Expo but sometime kind of joke they don't like me in the Expo sometime I made a mistake so first guest is about to arrive thank you so much we need to be ready so you guys need to be out now bye\n"