Kristian Baumann is an extraordinary combination of two culinary cultures, which he has managed to combine to perfection in his own style, which he defends to the hilt. Born in South Korea, he was adopted as a child by a Danish family and studied at a "very strict boarding school where we did all the work, including cooking. That's where I found my passion," he admits. And in Denmark he lived and trained with the best, including a stint at the famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen. I've been very lucky because I've had very good mentors who have taught me well.

The pandemic and an inner strength that drove him to define himself 'because I always felt I was in the middle', sparked my curiosity after the completion of my first project, 108, and I began a journey that led me to discover the tradition of my homeland. Since April 2023, he has been at the helm of the renowned Koan restaurant, which received two Michelin stars in just 10 weeks and has been praised for its creativity, attention to detail and commitment to sustainability.

Art in avant-garde, age-old dishes

Koan's approach reflects Kristian's years of research in South Korea, where he studied everything from street cuisine to royal court kitchens. For some of the dishes, he has enlisted the help of artists, and all of them offer diners a taste of Korean heritage, but imbued to an extraordinary degree with Danish culinary art. And at Gastronomika he presented four of them, delighting the public with their aesthetic simplicity and explosion of flavours.

The first was an oyster with Gamtae seaweed, one of the rarest seaweeds in South Korea, bathed in champagne sauce, "a dish you can drink in one gulp". He then presented a Danish lobster, 'whose head we let dry to grin'.

The first was an oyster with Gamtae seaweed, one of the rarest seaweeds in South Korea, bathed in champagne sauce, 'a dish you can drink in one gulp'. He then presented a Danish lobster, 'whose head we let dry to grind it into flour, which we use to make very fine noodles,' he explained, as he placed the noodles at the bottom of the bowl, seasoned with lobster oil, under pickled pears and turnips to add texture. He then placed the lobster meat, bathed in a clear broth also drawn from the lobster's head, and topped with strips of fried leek.

A beautiful white kimchi flower with herbs and seasonal flowers was the third dish, "which we use in the restaurant to reset the palate before going straight into the menu", before finishing with an original reinterpretation of sundae, "a traditional sausage similar to blood sausage that is eaten in Korea when you have a hangover". He brought it wrapped in a butter made from rice, vegetables and pork, which he cut into slices, accompanied by a thin blackcurrant paste "to give it a crunchy and sour point, a very different approach to a traditional dish that is a precious marriage between Korea and Denmark," he said to applause.