[INTERVIEW] A touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene

Jin Woo-bum, the chef and CEO of local food brand Molino Project, poses in front of street taco-style restaurant, La Calle, located in Sindang-dong, Jung District, central Seoul, Jan. 27. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Chef and CEO tries to introduce real Mexican vibe to Koreans through 2 restaurant brands

By Lee Gyu-lee

In Korea, taco is often used as an equivalent term for Mexican cuisine. Looking up the word "taco" on an online map will show the results for Mexican restaurants nearby whether they sell the dish or not.

Molino Project is a local Mexican cuisine brand that offers authentic Mexican food in Korea. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

The food, made with flour tortillas, often has Korean-sourced ingredients that give it a very Korean twist. The majority of restaurants here try to adapt the food to local preferences, and many customers, therefore, believe that this is what Mexican cuisine is all about.

But not Jin Woo-bum, the chef and CEO of a local Mexican cuisine brand, Molino Project.

"I always have faith in the foundation. And the foundation of Mexican food starts with corn and the tradition of grinding it," he said from his restaurant, La Calle, central Seoul, Friday. "That was what I really wanted to put at the forefront. I want to show what real Mexican food is about."

Founded in 2020, Molino Project currently has two restaurant brands, El Molino in Seongdong District and La Calle in Sindang-dong, Jung District, and Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo District. It specializes in an authentic tortilla made from masa, a maize dough, running its own corn grinder house to make the restaurants' tortillas from scratch in a traditional way.

"What I've learned in Mexico is that corn tortilla is the core element of their cuisine," he said. "But in Korea, there isn't a market yet. The food we do, tortilla, is a product that has thousands of years of history. It just hasn't made its way to Korea yet. So I thought it was worth expanding it into a business."

Jin Woo-bum worked as a chef at a fine-dining restaurant in Mexico, Pujol, run by world-renowned chef Enrique Olvera. Courtesy of Molino Project

The 29-year-old CEO first fell in love with Mexican cuisine when he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 13. After taking his time off from UC Berkeley to serve in the military in Korea, he decided to pursue his love for the cuisine, moving to Mexico in 2016.

As an architecture major with no previous cooking background, he began by studying at Le Cordon Bleu Mexico, and traveling around the country exploring the local cuisine. Three years later, he landed a position at his dream restaurant Pujol, run by world-renowned chef Enrique Olvera. There he became the first Asian chef to create a Korean-infused menu in Mexico, by using kimchi.

As the coronavirus pandemic hit, Jin returned to Korea and began working with guacamole ― something much more familiar to Koreans.

"I planned to stay for about two months. And I was looking for something to do while I was here and started to sell packaged guacamole on Wadiz ― a crowdfunding platform ― and it was a huge hit, more than I expected," he said, adding this led him to leap forward with the business.

La Calle's signature dish, Al pastor taco / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

A short-term operation turned into an umbrella project for two different restaurant brands. The two have different purposes: El Molino was created to redefine fine dining regarding Mexican cuisine and La Calle to introduce real street tacos to Korea.

"With El Molino, I wanted to show that Mexican cuisine can also offer a fine-dining experience," he said. Although he does need to use some local ingredients instead of Mexican-produced ones for freshness, Jin said, "At the same time, we're not tossing away traditional elements but using traditional techniques like those from the Aztecs."

La Calle in Sindang-dong sits along an ally of the hustling, vibrant Seoul Jungang Market, where locals come out for their daily grocery shopping. A taco stand with a grill and meat tower, next to the fish vendor, exudes an eccentric vibe.

Jin noted that the restaurant's location made masa tortilla taco more accessible to the wider public. "I thought the market is the place where anyone can come and enjoy, rather than specifically targeting certain groups, like foreigners or the younger generation who studied abroad," he said.

"People who run nearby vendors might come and eat our food … As they were unfamiliar with tacos, I wanted their first try to be with us. I felt it should be with a real, authentic taco."

La Calle sits inside Seoul Jungang Market, a busy traditional local market. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

However, he said there were still misconceptions about the cuisine.

"There are a variety of menus in for Mexican cuisine … It's unfortunate that people only see the cuisine as tacos and burritos and think of it as just cheap food," he said. "There's also little understanding of how the food is made. It's hard to break out of that."

He said that he is developing Mexican-related cultural content to help familiarize people with the country and to expand the local Mexican cuisine community.

"I want to visit other Mexican restaurant owners and interview them … They are our competitors. But I really respect them and feel we can develop synergy together," he said.

Jin shared that his ultimate goal is to open a tortilla plant in Korea and to further expand its brand, even overseas.

"If Western food culture is based on bread, Mexico and other Central American countries' culture is about the tortilla. So establishing a tortilla-making plant and distributing tortillas means spreading that element of the culture," he said. "Central American culture is so beautiful, interesting and so charming but it is still not well known in Korea. But that time is slowly coming. And when it has, we want to be seen as one of the main players of that scene."