Satisfy those 'Bon Appétit, Your Majesty' cravings

With Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, the cravings are elevated because the lead character Yeon Ji-young (played by Im Yoon-Ah) is a chef so talented that she was on the verge of heading a restaurant with three Michelin stars—until she finds herself in the Joseon era, forced to cook for a tyrant king (played by Lee Chae-Min).

The show is so food-centric that each episode is named after a dish. With so many cooking and eating scenes, watching it on an empty stomach feels like sweet torture.

Fans have been so inspired by Ji-young’s culinary prowess that they’ve started cooking the dishes from the show. You can find a lot of their videos and their recipes online. But what if you don’t have Ji-young’s kitchen skills? There are still ways to satisfy your Bon Appétit, Your Majesty cravings. But it isn’t as easy as grabbing some ramyeon or going for Korean BBQ—because Ji-young’s dishes bring together Korean flavors with French technique.

Warning: some spoilers ahead.

Gochujang Butter Bibimbap

In the first episode, after inadvertently ending up in the Joseon era, Ji-young turns barley rice into a beautiful gochujang butter bibimbap using a tube of gochujang and a little pack of butter that she had in her pocket.

In the Philippines, there’s no shortage of places that serve the popular Korean rice bowl called bibimbap. Some of my picks include Haru (37 Polaris St. Makati) and Sariwon Korean Barbecue (C2, Bonifacio High Street Central in BGC) while my Korean friend Joseph recommends the bibimbapat Myeongga (558 Gen. Malvar St. Malate), Bon-ga (615 Remedios St. Paco, Manila), and Daraejung (Bonifacio High Street BGC). Because butter isn’t usually part of the dish, you might have to copy Ji-young and head to your favorite Korean resto with some butter in your pocket. Or just get your bibimbap to go so you can add the butter at home. Bonus points if you spend time turning the butter into beurre noisette like Ji-young. Cook it on low heat until it turns into a nutty brown color and use it in place of sesame oil.

In the second episode, Ji-young had to cook a slab of tough meat. She improvised and used the sous vide technique by adapting a Joseon-era method called jeonchisu. “If heated slowly with lukewarm water, a protein in the beef called myosin reacts, tenderizing the meat,” she said.

The king was impressed. “How can the texture of the meat be so tender? The more I chew, the more the juices linger and build up in my mouth.”

Invented in the 1970s, the sous vide method is popular with chefs and now even home cooks, thanks to the availability of more affordable equipment. But you don’t need to buy any special tools to enjoy the benefits of sous vide at home. Sous Vide Station (@sousvidestation on Instagram; 09179622114) offers premium sous vide meats that have been pre-cooked. Simply thaw the meat and sear both sides to prepare a steak that’s tender and ready to eat in about five minutes.

Steak Tartare

In episode three, the king’s haute cuisine meal begins with steak tartare which Ji-young serves with kelp chips. Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill at Newport World Resorts serves a delicious aged steak tartare made with Wagyu beef fillet, egg yolk confit, gherkin and pickled shallots. It’s so delicious it converts even people who do not think they can eat raw meat. Of course, they do not serve it with kelp chips. Instead, an order comes with potato crisps—giving you the same delightful contrast in textures that King Yi Heon enjoyed in the show.

And while you’re there, order the pea and asparagus soup – it just might satisfy your craving for Ji-yeon’s pea potage.

In the fourth episode, Ji-young won over the grand queen dowager with doenjang (fermented soybean paste) soup enriched with spinach and small freshwater clams called jaecheop, which are native to Korea and can be found in the Nakdong River and Seomjin River.

Finding the exact dish in Manila has been a challenge. The closest I’ve come is the seafood doenjang jiggae or Korean soy bean soup with seafood at Sarang Korean Restaurant in Malate (2nd Floor Mervin Terraces 980 P.Ocampo St., Malate, Manila). Jang Geum Kitchen (Ground floor Met Live Mall Pres. Diosdao Macapagal Boulevard Pasay) also has a version with mussels, shrimp and other seafood while Kumsugangsan Korean Restaurant (Manhattan Square 162 Valero St. Makati) has clams in its haemul doenjang jiggae.

Doenjangpasta, which Ji-young also served the king (I was in awe of how she expertly twirled the noodles with her chopsticks), is even tougher to find. If you really want to try this dish, it looks like you’ll have to make it at home. But don’t worry — there are a lot of online recipes and even Instagram reels (like the ones posted by @haileyateit and @latenightannaa) that show how you can do it.

Schnitzel and Macarons

Ji-young also had me craving schnitzel after she served it to the king and the vile Prince Jesan. Her version was beef schnitzel served with raspberry jam and tartar sauce.

You won’t get those exact same fixings, but Brotzeit (Shangri-La at the Fort in BGC, Podium, and West Parade Alabang) can satisfy your schnitzel cravings anyway. They don’t have beef schnitzel, but you can choose from chicken, pork, or pork with mushroom sauce. You won’t get burdock root as a side dish—they offer fries, potato salad, parsley potato or side salad. While you’re at Brotzeit, order my favorite mango beer. It wasn’t in the show, but it’s absolutely delicious.

You can also go classic and head over to Old Swiss Inn for their Paniertes Schnitzel, which is topped with anchovies.

To welcome the envoys from Ming, the royal cook made Joseon-style macarons with very Korean flavors: black sesame, mugwort, gardenia, jujube and rice. “Nothing eases tension like dessert,” she said.

There are a lot of places that serve macarons in the country but not a lot that offer Ji-young’s Korean flavors. I found three businesses that serve black sesame macarons: Kevin Ong Patisserie (4th Floor, Food on Four, SM Aura, Taguig), Memoi’s Patisserie + Cafe (Falcon Ave. corner Eagle St., Anak Pawis 1 Floodway Cainta, Rizal), and Dough & Batter, a home-based baker in Tarlac (@dough_batter on Instagram and Dough and Batter PH on Facebook).

Pajeon

In Episode 7, Ji-young’s Dongnae pajeon was so good it convinced inventor Chun-saeng to change his mind about helping her.

Ji-young’s pajeon was made purely with spring onions. In Manila, most places—like Soban K-Town Grill (SM North Edsa, Megamall, Robinsons Place Manila, Greenbelt 3), Jinsang Korean Homestyle Cuisine (HK Sun Plaza in Pasay), and Chungdam Korean Restaurant (2nd Floor, 590 Remedios St, Malate)—serve hameul pajeon: spring onion pancakes with seafood.

Tasked to make a dish the world hadn’t seen before, Ji-young decided to make rice wine beef bourguignon, which she then flambéed.

Chef Jessie Sincioco, who we think can win over a tyrant king with her culinary skills, serves U.S. Black Angus beef cheeks bourguignon at Chef Jessie (Rockwell Club Amorsolo Drive Makati).

My final Bon Appétit, Your Majesty craving is Peking duck. But I had to quickly accept that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it the way Ji-young prepared it—with the skin topped with glutinous rice, sliced cucumbers and green onions before being rolled and cut into bite-sized pieces.

That’s okay. I’m happy to eat Peking duck the regular way—with the skin drizzled with hoisin sauce and wrapped in a pancake. I love Peking duck so much that I order it even when I’m dining alone. Ideally, I’d be in Cebu so I could go straight to Mott 32.

But there are great places for duck in Manila too, like China Blue by Jereme Leung at Conrad Manila and Peking Garden in Greenbelt 5.

Bon appétit!