SEOUL – Netflix’s mega-hit Culinary Class Wars (2024 to present) is once again catapulting its chef contestants into stardom.

Leading the Season 2 pack is Son Jong-won, a member of the White Spoon team comprising established chefs. Soft-spoken yet confident, the chef behind Seoul’s one-Michelin-starred restaurants, Eatanic Garden and L’Amant Secret, has captivated viewers.

Son’s Instagram following has jumped by more than 300,000 since the show’s release on Dec 16, 2025, reaching 495,000 as at Jan 11. It is said the celebrated chef is South Korea’s most followed chef on Instagram. Reservations at his restaurants have become nearly impossible to secure.

The 42-year-old has even earned the nickname “good-vibe man”. South Korean women use the newly emerging term to describe men whose attractiveness is defined by warmth and an overall pleasant and approachable presence.

Everything from his taste in fashion – he wears American designer brand Rick Owens, known for its dark, glamorous grunge aesthetic – to his 1.84m height has helped him stand out.

He is also the ambassador for luxury Swiss watchmaker Blancpain and Scottish whisky brand Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

His resume stands out too. Son earned a civil engineering scholarship at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, United States. He has worked in some of the world’s best kitchens, honing his craft at Noma in Copenhagen and three-Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurants Quince, Benu and Coi. He also speaks English at a native level.

Riding high on his growing popularity, his connections have extended beyond the culinary world, with members of South Korea’s conglomerate families publicly noting their ties to him.

Hyundai Card chief executive and vice-chair Chung Tae-young posted a photo of himself and the chef on Instagram on Jan 7, recalling his visit to Son’s Eatanic Garden.

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