How Netflixs Culinary Class Wars Made Chef Anh Sung-jae a Star

On an early episode of Netflix’s hit cooking show “Culinary Class Wars,” the chef Anh Sung-jae stood in a warehouse filled with makeshift cooking stations and considered the plate in front of him: a rainbow palette of handmade pastas, purées and delicately cooked seafood.On top was a smattering of flower petals.Mr.

Anh, a judge on the show, praised how the contestant had put together an elaborate dish and handled everything perfectly — almost.“I don’t know why you chose to put flowers on top of such a gorgeous pasta,” he said to a crestfallen contestant.“I hate putting useless stuff on dishes just to make them look prettier,” he said later.“What he did was add something that had no flavor and no use.”Mr.

Anh is the chef and owner of Mosu, South Korea’s only three-star Michelin restaurant, where his exacting and uncompromising standards have served him well.Yet, despite reaching the pinnacle of the culinary world, Mr.

Anh was not a household name in the country.When he was introduced as a judge, a handful of contestants whispered to each other: “Who’s that?”That’s no longer the case.

He has risen to TV fame as a hard-to-impress and ruthlessly unsentimental judge on the popular cooking competition, which features 100 contestants from all corners of the culinary world.“Culinary Class Wars” feels like “Iron Chef” meets “Survivor.” It manufactures a class struggle, pitting renowned chefs against undiscovered talents like a school cafeteria cook.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....