Corey Lee

Benu, San Francisco

The identity-driven chef who redefined Korean cuisine

It's no understatement to say that chef Corey Lee changed the landscape of Korean cuisine in the United States. His San Francisco restaurant, Benu, is a hub of boundary-pushing cooking, combining personal memories of the food of Lee's childhood with influences from across Asia, French culinary technique and California produce.

Born in 1977 in Seoul, Lee's family moved to the US in the early 1980s. He grew up in a New Jersey suburb where Korean food was scarce – here, the thought of putting kimchi on a fine-dining menu simply didn't exist.

At 17, Lee took on a summer job as a server at Blue Ribbon Sushi in New York. Like many second-generation migrants, he didn't aspire to become a chef. However, curiosity took hold and Lee found himself transferring from the dining room of Blue Ribbon to the kitchen, and then across the world, staging at Pied à Terre and Restaurant Marco Pierre White in London.

In 2001, Lee began what would become a nine-year working relationship with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry (TFL). After spending a year opening Keller's Per Se in New York, Lee returned to TFL as head chef. Here, in 2006, he won the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year.

Lee parted ways with TFL in 2010, relocating to San Francisco to open his debut restaurant, Benu. Within four years, the restaurant became the first in the city to receive three Michelin Stars (he was also the first Korean chef to do so), and within 10 years, Benu was featured on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Benu is widely regarded by diners and the chef community to have redefined Korean cuisine in the US, providing a benchmark for identity-driven, highly technical dishes that showcase a high level of skill. Here, Lee creates dishes that bridge East and West, reinterpreting memories and travels further afield in Asia into modern dishes with purpose and storytelling.

While Lee's career has taken him into different ventures, including the newly opened Nah Oh in Singapore, it is his commitment to a deeply personal interpretation of Korean cuisine that has remained. This tireless pursuit of excellence, thoughtful cooking and imaginative representation of Asian-American food has earned him great respect from the restaurant community, with his peers choosing to honour him with the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award 2026.

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