Choi Hyun Seok has long been a name in the culinary world even before his appearance in Netflix’s reality competition series Culinary Class Wars (CCW).

The Seoul-born chef first worked at the Italian restaurant La Cucina before moving on to Elton The Table and Tasty BLVD. In 2017, he opened his own restaurant, Choi Dot, a Korean-European fusion restaurant in Seoul. He also manages the Chinese cuisine restaurant Central Reducer and the vegan outlet Dahlia Dining.

Fans of Korean shows recognize him as a regular in Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, a 2014 cooking variety show that challenges chefs to create meals using random ingredients found in a guest’s refrigerator in only 15 minutes. Yet many know him now as the “White Spoon” chef who forgot to put garlic in Vongole which led to his shocking elimination in CCW.

Chef Choi brings his signature dishes from the hit cooking series to the Philippines for the ultimate gastronomic journey that will bring the heat of competition straight to each plate.

At Solaire Resort, guests were transported to the world of prime dining as chef Choi exclusively served dinner to guests at Finestra for two nights.

The succulent five-course dinner started with beans and donut with corn and caviar. Seaweed soup with hairtail fish and radish was served for the second course.

Next was his critically acclaimed Vongole, with the garlic this time, as the third course. His famous Jang Trio Steak followed after. Korean shaved ice (bingsu) for dessert with mascarpone, white chocolate, red bean paste, and green tea capped the dinner.