Imok Smoke Dining: Culinary Class Wars 2 “Barbecue Lab Director” Restaurant in Seoul
If you watched Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars and found yourself curious about the chef known as the “Barbecue Lab Director,” Imok Smoke Dining is where that curiosity leads in real life.
Run by chef Yoo Yong-wook, Imok is a smoke-driven fine dining restaurant in Seoul that translates barbecue techniques into a refined, carefully paced tasting menu.
I recently visited Imok Smoke Dining, experienced the full course menu, and met the chef himself. This is a detailed, honest review—what the restaurant is like, how the menu unfolds, and whether Imok is actually worth visiting after watching Culinary Class Wars.
Who Is the “Barbecue Lab Director” From Culinary Class Wars?
On Culinary Class Wars, Yoo Yong-wook stood out not through flashy plating or loud confidence, but through precision, logic, and restraint. His nickname, Barbecue Lab Director, wasn’t branding—it reflected how he approaches fire and smoke as controlled variables rather than blunt tools.
Imok Smoke Dining is essentially the physical extension of that mindset. This isn’t American-style barbecue, and it’s not traditional Korean BBQ either. It’s fire-based cooking filtered through fine-dining discipline, where smoke is treated like seasoning, not spectacle.
First Impressions: Quiet, Serious, and Intentional
Imok doesn’t announce itself loudly. The exterior is understated, almost easy to miss. Inside, the space is dark, calm, and centered around the open kitchen. The fire is visible. The tools are exposed. There’s nothing decorative for the sake of decoration.
From the start, it’s clear this is a restaurant built around process, not performance.
Meeting Chef Yoo Yong-wook in Person
One of the highlights of the night was meeting Yoo Yong-wook himself. Despite the attention from Culinary Class Wars, he was friendly, grounded, and easy to talk to. No ego, no “TV chef” energy.
He spoke simply about the food—how different woods behave, how fat absorbs smoke, and why over-smoking ruins more dishes than it improves. That calm, analytical approach mirrors exactly what comes out of the kitchen.
This matters, because Imok is not a restaurant that tries to impress you loudly. It earns confidence quietly.
The Tasting Menu at Imok Smoke Dining (₩150,000)
The menu is a single tasting course priced at ₩150,000. It’s compact, focused, and clearly structured around a progression of smoke intensity.
Menu Highlights:
Smoked Korean beef jerky & galbi
Lamb soup with smoky depth
Hand-cut bacon
Mayonnaise salad
Signature beef rib
Galbi ramen
Bongpyeong buckwheat ice cream
There’s no filler here. Every dish exists to demonstrate a different interaction between fire, protein, and time.
Standout Dishes
Signature Beef Rib
This is the emotional center of the meal. Deeply smoky, glossy with rendered fat, and sliced tableside. The texture is soft but structured—proof of time, not force.
Galbi Ramen
Comfort food filtered through technique. Familiar flavors, but with depth built from smoke rather than seasoning tricks.
Dessert: A Clean Ending
The Bongpyeong buckwheat ice cream is a smart finish. Nutty, lightly sweet, and refreshing after a smoke-heavy progression. It resets the palate instead of competing for attention.
Service & Atmosphere
Service is calm and precise. Staff explain just enough—never too much. Plates arrive at the right pace, not rushed, not delayed.
It feels less like being served and more like being guided through a chef’s work.
Is Imok Smoke Dining Worth Visiting After Culinary Class Wars?
Short answer: yes—but only if you understand what it is.
This is not:
A loud steakhouse
A flashy tasting menu
A place chasing trends
It is:
Smoke-driven fine dining
Technique-forward, restrained cooking
A serious expression of barbecue philosophy
If Culinary Class Wars made you curious about how Yoo Yong-wook actually cooks outside of TV, Imok is the most honest answer.
Final Verdict
Imok Smoke Dining feels mature, confident, and settled. Nothing here is trying to go viral. Nothing is rushed. The food reflects the same mindset viewers saw on Culinary Class Wars: discipline, patience, and control.
Meeting the chef only reinforced that impression. This is someone deeply invested in craft, not performance.
If you’re looking for the most refined real-world extension of the “Barbecue Lab Director” from Culinary Class Wars, Imok Smoke Dining is absolutely worth the visit—not for hype, but for substance.
