Who Is the 'Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Runner-Up? All About Hasung Lee, a.k.a. Culinary Monster

Netflix's cooking competition Culinary Class Wars came to an end on January 13, with two chefs facing off for a prize of 300 million won (roughly $203,000). After four weeks of intense battles, the Korean reality show came down to celebrity White Spoon Choi Kang-rok vs underdog Black Spoon Culinary Monster, real name Hasung Lee.

From the first moment he arrived on screen, the season 2 chefs clocked Lee as the one to beat, based on his impressive fine-dining résumé and quiet confidence. With his elevated fusions of Korean and Western cuisine often impressed the judges and natural leadership ability, he quickly became a standout among fans. Eventually, Lee became one of only two Black Spoons among the show's top 7 finalists, along with traditional barkeep Brewmaster Yun.

When Lee and Choi Kang-rok faced off in the final round, under the theme "Just One Dish For Myself," he chose to make sundaeguk, a blood-sausage stew he described as his "comfort dish." Though Choi's sesame tofu claimed the win, Lee still said of his time on the show, "Personally, I had a really fun time."

"As a chef, I want to be someone who's really good at cooking. I want to rise to the level where I can say to myself that I'm a pretty good chef," he said in the season 2 finale. "And through this profession and ability to cook well, I want to make the people around me happy, including myself."

Read on to learn more about Culinary Class Wars season 2 runner-up Hasung Lee, including when he hopes to open his upcoming restaurant.

Hasung Lee, a.k.a. Culinary Monster, is a fine-dining chef who has worked at the world's best restaurants.

Before arriving on Netflix, Hasung Lee studied culinary arts at both a Korean university and the esteemed Culinary Institute of America. According to The Chosun Daily, during his university days, he and some friends ran a food truck serving meals like "tomato backbone stew, quesadillas, and clam soup" for under 10,000 Korean won (about $7).

"I attended classes during the day, sold food from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., and prepared for the next day until 4 a.m," he told the outlet. "I didn’t even feel tired back then. Looking back, the food and business were absurd, but this experience made me fearless in taking risks. It also made moving between cities abroad smoother."

After graduating, Lee went on to work at restaurants like N.Y.C.'s Gramercy Tavern, San Francisco's Benu, and Copenhagen's Geranium. He was also a founding member of the N.Y.C. restaurant Atomix; the restaurant earned two Michelin stars during his tenure as chef de cuisine. His last full-time position was sous chef at The French Laundry, a three-star restaurant in Napa Valley. (Culinary Class Wars judge Ahn Sung-jae is also an alum.)

Hasung Lee, a.k.a. 'Culinary Monster,' is preparing to open his first restaurant, Oyatte, in N.Y.C.

During season 2's run, Lee has stayed in his home base of N.Y.C., where he is preparing to open his first restaurant, Oyatte, this spring. Lee's team has confirmed to Marie Claire that "the fine-dining venture—shaped by a philosophy of restraint, clarity, and deep respect for ingredients—will offer a highly seasonal tasting menu, and is rooted in close partnership with a single farm in upstate New York."

Speaking to The Chosun Daily last year, Lee explained, "It will be a restaurant that blends everything I’ve learned through my Western-focused career. I don’t want Oyatte to be confined to the category of Korean cuisine. I’ll use fresh vegetables from my own farm to create Lee Ha-sung’s unique dishes. I want to compete with Chef Thomas Keller."

Lee had worked with 'Culinary Class Wars' chefs Son Jong-won and Hidden Genius before he appeared on season 2.

In an interview posted by Netflix Korea (via Chosun Daily and TopStarNews, translated by Papao), Lee opened up about his connections to other Culinary Class Wars stars and his time on the show. He said that his close friend, season 1 chef Kim Taesung, a.k.a. Hidden Genius, encouraged him to go on the show. (The pair had previously worked together at sister restaurants Atomix and Atoboy.) Lee recalls Kim saying, "Ha-sung, go out here. I hope it will be an opportunity to gain confidence on your own."

Lee also spoke on his one-on-one battle with fan-favorite White Spoon Son Jong-won. The two fine dining chefs had a similar background and previously worked together in the past, so they chose to work together in the Alliance round. However, after they failed to advance, the duo had to compete in a one-on-one match for a spot in the Top 7.

Lee said of the match, "First, I thought, 'Wow, the Netflix production team is really amazing. To think of turning the cooking stations back around — that's vicious.' That was my first thought, and second, then as now, he's a chef who is very skilled and currently very on form, so I also wondered, 'Can I win?' At the same time, if I climb higher, there will likely be another time when we meet again, so I felt I should prepare well as given"

Lee says that he felt "desperate and eager" while filming 'Culinary Class Wars' season 2.

In the Netflix interview, Lee also took the chance to address backlash he's faced from the Korean public, for speaking harshly at times during the show. When asked if he had a message for the viewers, he explained that he had been doubting himself at the time, as he was in the midst of preparing his own restaurant.

"I felt really desperate and eager during the filming," he explained. "I had been fortunate to work at good restaurants, and I thought that would smoothly connect to opening my own restaurant without much difficulty. But the constant thought that it wasn’t the case kept eating me up inside. I kept thinking, 'Should I have worked harder? Did I not put in enough effort?'"

The pressure of thinking that if I didn’t achieve good results in this filming, everything I had done so far might go to waste made my actions and words come across a bit more harshly. For that, I sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable."