About Us
Our story
I grew up in a traditional Korean house near the fish market in Incheon. I came to cooking early: at seven, I nearly burnt the house down trying to make apple fritters.
I trained as a fine artist and worked as a scenographer and art director, but I always came back to the kitchen. As a girl I helped my mother cook banquets for Korean family ceremonies. In London I became head chef for William Norris, catering events at venues such as the V&A and the National Gallery. Later I became a development chef specialising in Asian food, creating dishes for Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Tesco.
SSUG is the food I grew up with: kimchi pressed down in an onggi pot, sauces made slowly, recipes passed down through my family. Every recipe is my own, made in small batches and given the time it needs.
The name comes from ssug (쑥), Korean for mugwort, a humble wild herb. In Korea's founding legend, a bear ate only mugwort and garlic for 100 days and became a woman. It's a story about patience, and patience is what good kimchi needs. Read the legend
At Understory House, our 17th-century barn in the Chiltern Hills, I also run hands-on cooking classes and Yun's Table, a seasonal supper club.
— Yun
Understory House
In a forest, the understory is the quiet layer beneath the canopy, where new things take root and grow slowly.
Understory House is the home behind SSUG. It's our 17th-century barn in the Chiltern Hills, and it's the company I run everything from. SSUG is what goes into the jar. Understory House is where the recipes begin, and where food is shared and taught.
Everything here grows from one idea: good food takes time. It works in four connected ways:
The Pantry · SSUG. Kimchi, sauces and seasonings made to my own recipes and standards, in small batches, and delivered across the UK, including through the Kimchi Club.
The Table · Yun's Table & Private Dining. Seasonal supper clubs at our long table, and private dinners and celebrations wherever you are.
The Practice · Classes. Hands-on kimchi and Korean cooking classes, so the knowledge travels home with you.
The Craft · Food Development. Twenty years of developing Korean and Pan-Asian food for UK retailers and restaurants, now shared with brands that want to do it well.
Each part feeds the others. Guests at the table discover the pantry. The pantry brings people to the classes. And what I learn in each one makes the food better.
Looking ahead, I'd like Understory House to become a home for Korean fermentation in Britain: SSUG on more shelves, seasonal gatherings through the year, and one day a book of the recipes that started it all.
But the real hope is quieter. Like so many Koreans who've made a life far from home, I carry recipes that were never written down. I want to plant them somewhere they can grow, for my children growing up with Britain as home, and for anyone who finds a little of themselves at our table. A legacy that takes root slowly, and keeps on blossoming.
— Yun
Meet Dori · 누름돌
In every Korean kitchen there used to be a smooth, heavy stone that sat on top of the kimchi in the onggi pot. It was called a nureumdol, a pressing stone. Its job was simple: hold the vegetables under the brine, keep the air out, and let the ferment take its time.
Nobody ever praised it. But without it, the kimchi spoiled. Quietly essential.
That's Dori.
Dori sits on every SSUG jar, wearing what's inside: apple blossom and a bee for our Bulgogi Sauce, chilli flowers for Gochujang, and garlic chive for Kimchi Sauce.
On our kimchi and seasonings, she has moved from the pot to the lid. Look on top of the jar and you'll find her on the lid label, still quietly pressing.
Small, patient and steady, Dori is how we like to cook: patience over speed, craft over scale.
Thoughtful Korean flavour. Made to be shared.