DL heiress publicly backs chef Son Jong-won after TOP7 exit
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Chef Son Jong-won was eliminated from Netflix’s cooking show The Black and White Chef: Cooking Class War (season 2) before reaching the TOP7, but received public support—most notably from DL Group heiress Lee Ju-young. On her Instagram she posted a photo with Son and wrote that she wouldn’t skip episode 11 because his dish, “Itanik (Garden),” is the tastiest. The post highlighted their friendly rapport and praised Son’s cooking. Son, who also heads Itanic Garden (a Korean fine-dining restaurant at Chosun Palace Seoul Gangnam) and serves as executive chef of L’amant Secrète (a French restaurant at the Hotel L’Escape), has earned Michelin one-star ratings in both Korean and Western cuisine. Itanic Garden features a plant-research-based concept combining Korean food history, ingredients, techniques, and tableware with seasonal, globally influenced cuisine. Lee Ju-young is a fourth-generation member of the DL (Daelim) family, a social media influencer with about 150,000 followers and a background in fashion and luxury-brand collaborations. Industry reaction after Son’s elimination emphasized that his culinary reputation is already established and interest in his next moves remains high.
