Where the Chefs Eat asks your favourite chefs for their top restaurants in cities across the world. For this edition, we sit down with David Chang
David Chang first properly registered on my radar when I happened upon an episode of his utterly hypnotic Netflix series Ugly Delicious. There was something about his very real demeanour, chatty enthusiasm (and his study of the culinary history behind Chinese food, hot Nashville chicken and Viet-Cajun cuisine that had me hooked. Watching him chat with comedian Ali Wong over whether stuffed Italian pasta or Asian dumplings were better was a pinnacle for me, and I couldn’t get enough of the Momofuku founder, TV presenter and author from then on.
Chang opened the Momofuku noodle bar in New York’s East Village back in 2004; his Momofuku brand grew stratospherically, and Momofuku Ko garnered two Michelin stars in 2009 and kept them until it closed in 2023. Chang was born to Korean parents, raised in Virginia and trained at New York’s Café Boulud under Alex Lee after working at a Japanese Soba shop in Tokyo. Momofuku has spread like wildfire – there are now outlets across the United States and as far afield as Sydney, Australia. He continues to glitter on the small screen (he has hosted Dinner Time Live with David Chang since 2024), launched his own magazine, and, most recently, opened Super Peach in Los Angeles.
Given my self-confessed adoration of Chang, it was a real privilege to catch up with him to discuss his recent trip to Paris, favourite restaurants, and the opening of Super Peach. “It’s going really well,” he tells me, no mean feat given the well-documented challenges facing the restaurant industry around the world at the moment. “But then, opening a restaurant has never been easy. As a diner, eating out is probably better than ever, but as a restaurant owner, I think it’s never been more difficult.”
With floor-to-ceiling orange and green interiors, Super Peach is described as “American Classics reimagined through the Momofuku lens”, so lots of dishes like Korean fried chicken wings, sesame marinated cucumbers and citrus-soy soft tofu abound. Momofuku (which means “Lucky Peach”) was also the name of Chang’s food magazine, which featured a high-calibre roster of contributors, including his close friend, the late Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Reichl, and Harold McGee. Chang is clearly very hard-working, if not a verifiable workaholic, and tells me that he is “currently working on a new show based here in America, but I can’t tell you which network it’s going to be on yet.”
Chang is very bashful about his success as a celebrity chef, author, podcaster, and television host, simply telling me, “I am just doing the best I can, and I’m really grateful for the opportunities.” He is, clearly, crazy busy but takes some time out to chat with me about not-to-be-missed restaurants. He fires them at me with the same enthusiasm I’ve seen time and again on my television screen and, though I only ask for five in one city, he gives me two he loves in Paris, (from where he has just returned with his wife, Grace Seo Chang), and several that he tells me, “are perfect if you visit New York, for really giving you a true slice of America.
Maison, Paris
