Chung Jae Lee

Award winning restaurateur, chef and author

Chung Jae Lee was destined to become a restaurateur and chef, after all, he was born at the back of his mum’s little restaurant in South Korea! He now runs one of the Northern Territory’s more quirky restaurants, Little Miss Korea at the back of the old Woolworths in Darwin city centre.

Chung Jae owned a tiny cafe at the back of a house in Adelaide before opening a highly regarded Korean restaurant called Mapo, named after his hometown in Korea. Mapo was named Adelaide’s Best Asian Restaurant five years running and Chung Jae was crowned best chef in 2012.

Not surprisingly, Chung Jae is renowned for his authentic Korean dishes – particularly barbecued pork.

An excellent speaker and the author of a well received Korean cookbook called A Twist on the Traditional, Chung Jae is delighted that Korean food is now being recognised as among the best in the world.

Chung Jae isn’t just an excellent chef, he was also a world-class sportsman in his younger days. He went to a special state-run school for young potential Olympians and became Australia’s heavyweight judo champion.