Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
INTERVIEW Chef Kim Do-eun strives to introduce Korean cuisine 'the right way' in Indonesia
Woodae Galbi (bone-in rib) is served at Korean restaurant DOEUN, opened last September in Menteng neighborhood, central Jakarta. Courtesy of DOEUN
By Lee Gyu-lee
JAKARTA, Indonesia — With the rise of Korean culture in Indonesia, the interest in its cuisine has also been growing with locals seeking to personally experience the food they’ve seen in K-content. In the midst of this trend, Korean chef Kim Do-eun, founder and executive chef at DOEUN, a Korean restaurant in Jakarta, is dedicated to delivering an authentic, healthier and more accessible presentation of Korean food.
Kim Do-eun, the founder and owner chef of DOEUN / Courtesy of DOEUN
Opened last September, DOEUN, located in the upscale Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta, offers its guests a taste of Korea through an assorted menu, including its signature barbecue and jeon (Korean savory pancake), stew and traditional dishes such as japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) and bibimbap.
"Of our menu, less than 10 percent of the dishes directly contain sugar and salt. The first thing I realized when I came to this country was that the food tastes overly strong, salty and sweet, using too much artificial flavor enhancers. Even the Korean restaurants here were like that, which gave way less sophisticated images like street foods," Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times at the restaurant on Aug. 19.
"Not that it's bad, but as someone proud of Korean cuisine, (I regretted) that the locals who haven't visited Korea really can't know the more sophisticated side of our food. I wanted to change the simplistic view Indonesians here have of Korean food."
Kim, who has been living in Indonesia for 13 years, shared that she got into cooking by chance when she was spending time with her family in Shanghai after giving up her pilates career due to a serious injury.
DOEUN offers a variety of authentic Korean food in Indonesia. Courtesy of DOEUN
“(In Shanghai,) I got to know a fellow Korean who worked at Coca-Cola there, and he told me, ‘You seem to have talent in food styling,’ and since there are few people who professionally do that in Shanghai, he suggested the profession to me,” she said.
“But personally, I’m not the type to get my hands on something that I don’t have a basis for. So I told him I’ll go back to Korea and do some studying in the field.”
Delving into a completely new area, she entered a culinary school and built her cooking career working at various Korean dining establishments upon graduation, including Chorok Baguni, which specialized in molecular gastronomy.
In 2011, she was offered a managerial position at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Indonesia, which set off her journey in the country.
“I had the job interview at a cafe in Gangnam District (in southern Seoul), and on my way to the subway station, I got a call within 10 minutes after (the interview), asking me to join. And only about 10 days later, I moved here,” she said.
Chef Kim Do-eun offers cooking classes for Indonesians as part of her first business Doeun Kitchen in 2017. Courtesy of DOEUN
Such a swift change in her life turned out long-term when one job led to other opportunities in the Southeast Asian country, from helping a local restauranteur open a new Korean restaurant to working as a general manager of a hotel.
Hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) displayed at the restaurant / Courtesy of DOEUN
About six years after she settled in Indonesia, she finally took a chance to open her own establishment, Doeun Kitchen, specializing in catering service and condiments, in 2017.
"At that time in Korea, boxed meal catering was really popular and you could buy homemade sauces for healthier options. But here, there was really nothing like that. So, at first, I decided to focus solely on boxed catering and sauces," she said.
"But I completely misjudged the target market. Indonesians prefer eating out and don't usually cook meals at home. So many of my customers asked me to offer cooking classes to show how to use those sauces."
She evolved her condiment business to include cooking classes and private catering. Even when COVID-19 hit in 2020, putting the country under a major lockdown, she managed to keep the business afloat with boxed meal catering, boosting her revenue three times higher than before.
Philosophy of DOEUN
But when the pandemic ended, the business went downhill, leading Kim to consider the option to open her own restaurant with partners. She shared that she had two purposes for her restaurant DOEUN — to offer healthier Korean food and to help Korean expats expanding their businesses in Indonesia.
At DOEUN, her secret is using naturally made "cheong," or Korean-style fruit preserve syrup, as a sweetener and avoiding artificial flavor enhancers to maintain the authenticity and healthiness of Korean food.
DOEUN's rendition of Bibimbap, a popular Korean rice dish with assorted vegetables / Courtesy of DOEUN
"If I'm going to sell something as a Korean, I want to do it in a proper Korean way, to the extent of my knowledge. But in reality, it's very difficult to source all the ingredients from Korea, so I looked for ways to do it more easily. And I came up with cheong, made with less sugar to make it healthier," she said.
"What I really wanted to do with DOEUN was that I wanted to support Korean entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Here, most Korean restaurants are either fairly cheap or very expensive fine dining, with little in between … With high-end fine dining, it doesn't mean anything if you are not familiar with how they are made. So when those people bring (their clients) who don't have much information on Korean cuisine, it's not so meaningful to have such a fancy meal for the meeting. I wanted (to provide) an appropriate channel to offer them a proper Korean cuisine."
Kim meticulously crafts each dish at DOEUN, creating sauces like "gochujang" (red chili paste) with minced beef and expanding the menu with fusion items such as fried octopus with seaweed puree. She also brews her own "makgeolli" (Korean rice wine) in four varieties, including omija-flavored, or magnolia berry-flavored, and sparkling options.
Interior of Korean restaurant DOEUN in Jakarta / Courtesy of DOEUN
"Our menu might look similar to other Korean restaurants, but the preparation sets us apart," Kim explained. "For instance, one of our side dishes features gochujang that we ferment for over six months. We also offer dry-aged pork belly, applying a sauce that has been aged for three years."
The chef is also planning to expand DOEUN into a fine dining venue, offering a more sophisticated experience that reflects her vision of Korean cuisine.
“After showing how to properly experience authentic Korean cuisine, not in the typical way the locals have experienced in the past, I plan to gradually elevate it to the fine dining experience and try new things,” she said.
Her long-term goal is to grow her business into a major Korean food company in Indonesia to make Korean cuisine more accessible at more affordable prices.
“The company will not just have the restaurant but also have a cafe and bakery. I want to make a company that produces healthier Korean condiments and dishes,” she said. “I don't want to change what I’m currently doing, but I hope to expand to a larger capacity to produce more and offer the products to people at a lower price."