Korean fine dining in a Singaporean car showroom: chef of 3-Michelin-star spot in US curates new restaurant’s menu

Na Oh is no ordinary Korean restaurant – it is set in a US$295 million car showroom in Singapore and will have a menu curated by Korean-American chef Corey Lee

The restaurant will serve dishes made with ingredients grown in a smart farm within the building and ‘deliver the best versions of traditional dishes’, Lee says

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Korean-American chef Corey Lee, of three-Michelin-star Benu in San Francisco, is working on the menu for Na Oh, a Korean restaurant opening in the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre Singapore. Photo: Hyundai Motor Group

Published: 11:15am, 14 May 2024Updated: 11:18am, 14 May 2024

Would you deliberately make your way to a car showroom in a far-flung neighbourhood in Singapore to eat dinner? In all likelihood, no – but perhaps you would change your mind if you knew that Korean-American chef Corey Lee is the maestro orchestrating the menu.

The Seoul native grew up in the United States and spent almost a decade working at three-Michelin-star restaurant The French Laundry under restaurateur Thomas Keller in the Napa Valley. His own restaurant Benu, in the US city of San Francisco, earned three Michelin stars in 2014.

Na Oh, where Lee is consulting on the concept and menu, is no ordinary Korean restaurant. It is set in the S$400 million (US$295 million) Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre Singapore in Jurong West, which supports research and development and showcases the Korean automotive brand’s manufacturing innovation.

One of the highlights here is a two-storey vertical smart farm where robots, rather than humans, are responsible for planting seeds, transplanting seedlings and harvesting.

One of the highlights at the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre Singapore is the two-storey vertical smart farm that will supply Na Oh. Photo: Hyundai Motor Group

Lee will have access to different crops produced in the fully automated hydroponic gardens – such as ice plants, Romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, Japanese mustard greens and kale, and, in the next phase, chrysanthemums, nasturtiums, perilla and marigolds.