{"id":571436,"date":"2026-07-06T11:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/571436\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:28:20","slug":"dont-become-a-chef-culinary-class-wars-napoli-matfia-on-hong-kong-time-off-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/571436\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t become a chef\u2019: Culinary Class Wars\u2019 Napoli Matfia on Hong Kong, time off and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In June, chef Kwon Sung-jun \u2013 better known as Napoli Matfia, winner of the first season of Netflix\u2019s hit show <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3282847\/how-was-netflixs-culinary-class-wars-made-look-behind-scenes-popular-show?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Culinary Class Wars<\/a> \u2013 closed Via Toledo Pasta Bar, his famously intimate six-seat restaurant in Seoul.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">There was no massive party, no cakes or balloons to celebrate the end of an era after five years of being booked solid with a waiting list that stretched for months \u2013 and included celebrities from all over the world \u2013 but he did bring a piece of his first restaurant home with him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was this stray cat at <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3283847\/7-seoul-restaurants-top-chefs-netflixs-culinary-class-wars-and-how-get-table?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Via Toledo<\/a> that I had been feeding for years,\u201d says the 31-year-old chef. \u201cOn the last night after the last shift ever, I brought her to my house.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cShe is the only legacy of the restaurant,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That statement is far from the truth. In the coming weeks, he will be setting up his new 3.3 billion won (US$2.1 million) property, also in Seoul, expanding his passion project into a five-storey culinary destination.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The ground floor, he shares, will be a cafeteria for coffee and bites such as desserts and focaccia sandwiches. A public restaurant will occupy the second floor, with a private dining space above that and a YouTube studio on the remaining levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June, chef Kwon Sung-jun \u2013 better known as Napoli Matfia, winner of the first season of Netflix\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[94445,243567,18,117,4202,19,17,243566,243570,127,243569,7267,128,243568,8103],"class_list":["post-571436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-cu","tag-culinary-class-wars","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-hong-kong","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kwon-sung-jun","tag-napoli-matfia","tag-netflix","tag-pici","tag-seoul","tag-tv","tag-via-toledo-pasta-bar","tag-wing"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116872800617781386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}