Meta in Singapore is Asia's 50 Best One to Watch 2021

Meta in Singapore is the recipient of the American Express One To Watch Award 2021 for Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Combining South Korea’s gastronomic heritage with chef Sun Kim’s international experience, Meta – short for metamorphosis – has distinguished itself as Asia’s most up-and-coming restaurant.

Kim’s international experience began when he took a job at Tetsuya Wakuda’s world-famous restaurant in Sydney at the age of 26. The young chef spoke no English but was determined to get his foot in the kitchen door at the restaurant after reading the chef’s book, Tetsuya.

“I first saw Tetsuya’s cookbook in 2008,” Kim told The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. “The idea of a Japanese chef cooking modern Australian cuisine was completely new to me and something that I wanted to learn. I read the book every day until I got to the point where the only way I could learn more was to move to Sydney and work with Tetsuya himself. That was my dream job.”

After two years in Sydney, Kim was handed the reins of Tetsuya's Singapore restaurant, Waku Ghin, in 2010. It was five years later when Kim was made executive chef at Meta.

After a tricky start, Kim began to find his gastronomic identity by going back to his roots and his mother’s Korean cooking for inspiration.