Jeju in Vancouver has become the first Korean restaurant in the city to receive a Michelin recommendation in the 2026 selection.
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Before the doors open at Jeju, owner Julie Suh prepares broth for soondubu, a signature spicy silken tofu stew, adjusting the broth ratios based on conditions such as temperature and whether it’s raining.
Suh, who has cooked for nearly five decades, works with her son, chef Dylan Kim, whose training and experience include time under chef Lee Cooper at Vancouver’s L’Abattoir.
The restaurant’s latest milestone came with Michelin recognition: Jeju received a Michelin recommendation in the 2026 selection, the first Korean restaurant in Vancouver to do so.
Kim was born in Seoul and moved to Vancouver with his mother at 16. As a teenager, he worked at a neighbourhood sushi restaurant, where preparing a California roll for a guest helped steer him toward cooking.
At 18, Kim continued building his culinary path after his father initially struggled with his career choice. Kim later travelled and developed an interest in fine dining and reinterpreting familiar food.
Kim said that after nearly a decade, his father finally ate his cooking about a month before Kim opened Jeju in Tofino, adding that it was “the first time he really understood what I was trying to do.”
Jeju began in Tofino when Kim and his wife, Sung, made an offer on a restaurant and opened it under the name Jeju, a nod to Korea’s Jeju Island and a word Kim described as referring to talent or skill.
Kim’s parents came to Tofino before the restaurant opened, Suh said she offered to help her son temporarily, and the short stay became years of mother-and-son cooking.
As Jeju built a following beyond Tofino, Kim recalled visitors driving from Vancouver for dinner before heading home, and said demand was later confirmed by a Vancouver pop-up.
Rather than operate across two locations, Kim and Sung focused on Vancouver and brought the restaurant in a more refined direction.
Over time, Suh’s decades of experience and Kim’s approach have shaped Jeju’s menu, with sections credited as “From Mama Julie,” “From Her Son Dylan,” and “From Us.”
Suh’s portion includes dishes such as fried rice and soondubu, while Kim’s features include spot prawns, octopus, eggplant, and his interpretation of bulgogi, alongside larger shareable dishes including galbi and bossam.
Kim said he sees his mother’s influence as essential to keeping the food rooted in Korean cooking, stating that if he goes “too fine,” “then this is not Korean anymore.”
Kim described Jeju’s ongoing development as a process, saying the restaurant is still “a teenager,” and said he wants to keep evolving the food while carrying his mother’s legacy forward.
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