The owner, a gruff, debt-ridden former line cook named Chil-sung (the magnificent Jang Hyuk), doesn’t interview Poong for a job. He simply hands him an apron and says, “You look like a man who needs to burn something.”
In the new wave of cinema and television that has gripped global audiences, that sound has become a metaphor. It’s the sound of second chances. It is, as one character puts it in the cult-hit Korean drama Wok of Love (2018), “the noise your soul makes when it stops running and starts cooking.” wok of love
Poong, sweat dripping from his nose, steps out of the kitchen. “A man who lost everything,” he says. “And decided to start over with just one spoon.” The term wok hei is untranslatable, but you know it when you taste it. It’s the smoky, almost charcoal-like essence that comes from flash-frying ingredients at 400 degrees Celsius in a seasoned wok. It is, according to master chefs, the difference between good fried rice and transcendent fried rice. The owner, a gruff, debt-ridden former line cook