Junghyun Park

ATOMIX, NEW YORK

What did you cook while growing up

in South Korea? Naengmyun (Korean cold noodles). My mother kept some packaged versions for me to make in her absence. I remember my first attempt being very challenging – far from the familiar technique of making packaged ramen. I had underestimated the intricacies of cooking.

Tell us about the illustrated menu cards

at your New York restaurant, Atomix. We thought dining experiences as an artform was rather too fleeting. Food – once consumed and digested – is gone. But when you have something tangible like our menu cards, it becomes a memento.

The cards also convey a lot about

Korean food, right? We like to detail things: a Korean cooking technique, a brief history lesson on Korean cuisine, or even a crash course in a Korean translation of widely known foods. What inspired you to polish rice yourself at Atomix? We wanted to show that we have paid attention to literally the smallest details. Polishing in-house allows for freshness and we can also play around with different levels of polishing to experiment with the textures. You used to work in Melbourne, under Andrew McConnell. What was it like? We never expected Cumulus Inc to be such a smash hit from the get-go. We had really long days – 9am-1.30am – with most days filled with careful time management between prepping, service, break-down, and trying to squeeze in little breaks as much as possible.

What will you be doing at Melbourne

Food and Wine Festival? A collaboration dinner with chef Peter Jo (Restaurant Shik). I’m excited to work with yabby; it’s impossible to find it here in the States.

What are you fermenting currently? We have a ramp (wild leek) kimchi that has been fermenting for over a year. It’s really interesting to see the different flavours and textures that one extremely seasonal vegetable can take on solely with time. Junghyun Park appears at Restaurant Shik, at Melbourne Food and Wine Festival on 12 March, melbournefoodandwine.com.au

In Shanghai’s Changning District, Sarah Armstrong picks up shēng jiān bāo from a street vendor on her way to work every morning. The Scottish designer relocated to the city for her job and dumplings are not only part of her daily ritual (she buys market dumplings to steam at home, and is sometimes treated to home-cooked jiaozi by a Chinese “aunty”), they’ve also inspired her Pinyin Press range (which includes baozi tote bags, $30, tea towels and other dumpling merch. pinyinpress.com