The Grill: David Chang

We chat to the man at the helm of the legendary Momofuku empire, David Chang.

David, you have your baseball-capped crew in a lot of joints at the moment – what has been the most significant project for you in the past year?
Opening Momofuku Seiobo (in Sydney) was definitely a significant project, it’s the first Momofuku outside of New York. The Lucky Peach print journal also launched this past summer, and the Momofuku restaurants in New York are always a work in progress. We work with the motto that it’s never good enough.

Who in Australia is doing food that excites you?
Ben Shewry is doing great work at Attica, and I’m looking forward to checking out what Andrew McConnell is up to at Golden Fields and Cutler and Co. I’m excited by the work of Sydney chefs like Mark Best (X), Peter Gilmore (X) and the crew at Porteño. There is so much talent in Australia.

Food prediction for 2012?
Scandinavian dominance continues.

What food trend of the moment do you call bullshit?
Farm to table. The assumption should be that chefs work with fresh ingredients so the phrase seems like semantics.

Where do you eat in Melbourne?
I love Dainty Sichuan.

Will there be a Melbourne Momofuku restaurant in the future?
We’re planning on opening in Toronto later this year, so opening in Melbourne is not in the cards for 2012. I do love Melbourne, so maybe someday!

What’s your cooking soundtrack?
Most played song at Momofuku: T.N.K. (Tomorrow Never Knows) by 801.

The world is going to end in 2012 (apparently), how do you reckon it’s going to go down?
This is too depressing. I hope I can at least have an ice-cold beer first.

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