At the Table with Sáng by Mabasa
Sáng by Mabasa is more than a restaurant. It’s an extension of family, heritage and a deep sense of hospitality. Located in Surry Hills, the family-run restaurant brings together the traditional flavours of Korean cooking with a modern approach, while staying true to the food, culture and values at the heart of their family.
To celebrate the Incu Collection Spring range, we sat down with Kenny and his mother, Jin Sun, to talk about family recipes, Korean food and culture, and the importance of putting heart and soul into what they do. Most of all, they share what it means to welcome people to their table.
SHOP INCU COLLECTION SPRING
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS ONE INGREDIENT YOU CAN'T COOK WITHOUT?
JIN SUN: An ingredient I can’t cook without? Chilli?
KENNY: Chili! I would agree. Korean food without that red chili, it doesn't work!
IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY DISH FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
JIN SUN: Kimchi Stew
KENNY: For me, it would have to be pho. As a family, we love pho – we just can’t live without it. There’s something almost soul-healing about it. I think a lot of Koreans are drawn to pho because it has that same comforting, restorative quality you find in Korean soups. It’s the kind of food that makes you feel better.
CAN YOU TELL US THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME SÁNG BY MABASA?
JIN SUN: When we first opened our restaurant, it was called Mabasa. The name comes from the Korean alphabet, where the sequence begins Ga, Na, Da, Ra, Ma, Ba, Sa. Ga-Na-Da felt too common to us, so we chose Mabasa as a way of reflecting our Korean heritage.
Sáng is a Korean word for “table”, which felt fitting for the kind of place we wanted to create.
KENNY: To add to what Mum said, Mabasa was the name of our previous restaurant in Balmain. We wanted the new restaurant to have its own identity, but we also wanted to retain a connection to the people who already knew and loved Mabasa. It’s still the same family behind the restaurant, so keeping Mabasa in the name felt important. The new name, Sáng, translates to “the table” in Korean. We wanted to create a place where people could sit around a table, gather together and share food. So we ended up carrying both names forward –Sáng by Mabasa.
STAFF MEALS ARE SUCH A BIG PART OF RESTAURANT CULTURE. WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO STAFF MEAL, OR ONE THAT YOU’VE PARTICULARLY LOVED SHARING TOGETHER?
KENNY: Staff meals are often made from ingredients that don’t make it onto the customer menu, but are still perfectly good. For example, Dad will often make a fish bone stew that we don’t serve to customers, and the staff always love it.
Other times, it’s about speed and convenience, so we’ll make things like gimbap – Korean seaweed and rice rolls. It’s something we grew up eating on picnics and family outings, a little like onigiri in Japan.
For us, gimbap is easy, comforting soul food, so it’s something we make often. The staff love it.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NOW COMPARED TO WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED THAT YOU’RE REALLY PROUD OF?
KENNY: When we first started, there were a lot of things we weren’t sure about. We’d ask ourselves, “Are people going to like this? Can we actually do it?” That included introducing ingredients that might be unfamiliar to the general public, like innards, tripe or gizzards.
Now, we’re at a point where we just do it, with complete confidence in what we’re serving. We’ve built a following and, more importantly, we’ve built trust with our customers. Even when we put weekly lunch specials on the wall and 40% of people might have no idea what the dish is, they trust us enough to give it a try.
That’s probably the biggest change for me over the first few years – moving from asking, “Can we do this?” to simply believing in what we do.
I GUESS THE FRUIT OF THAT IS YOUR COOKBOOK, TOO. HOW MUCH OF IT DRAWS ON INTERGENERATIONAL RECIPES, AND HOW MUCH REFLECTS THE NEW IDEAS AND RISKS YOU’RE TAKING?
KENNY: The cookbook brings all of that together. It includes things Mum and Dad grew up eating, recipes our grandmother used to cook for us, and dishes we remember from growing up and from our time living in Korea.
It also includes dishes we’ve introduced through the restaurant that people have come to love, each with our own individual touch. So in many ways, the cookbook is a combination of what we’ve created through Sáng and our previous restaurant, alongside our family’s food history.
WHAT’S A VALUE FROM YOUR FAMILY, CULTURE OR UPBRINGING THAT YOU’VE CARRIED INTO THE BUSINESS AND WOULDN’T COMPROMISE ON?
JIN SUN: Everything we make comes from our own hands. We don’t rely on anyone else to do the work for us, and that means preparation and dedication are incredibly important to us.
I believe there’s a world of difference between cooking with your heart and soul and simply cooking without thought or care. We put that spirit into everything we do, and I believe that if we give something our absolute best, there’s no reason we should fail.
But creating food with soul takes an enormous amount of hard work and dedication, and that’s something we’ll never compromise on.
KENNY: To build on what Mum is saying, the kitchen is really just the two of them – Mum and Dad. There’s no kitchen hand or dishwasher; they are the kitchen. From preparation and service through to the end of the day, they’re responsible for every part of it.
It’s a huge amount of hard work and long hours, but they take real pride in what they put on the table. They know that if they’re putting their heart and soul into it, the food will always reflect that. It’s something they’re proud of, and something they don’t want to change.
LASTLY, WHEN PEOPLE COME TO THE RESTAURANT, WHAT DO YOU HOPE THEY TAKE AWAY WHEN THEY LEAVE?
KENNY: From the beginning, we wanted people to come in without expectations and leave with more than just the feeling that they’d had a good meal. We want it to be a memorable experience.
The restaurant is really a family affair – Mum and Dad in the kitchen, my sister and my wife, Youmee, on the floor, along with a few staff who have become like family to us. We want people to feel as though they’ve been invited into our home, perhaps like when you’re a child and you’re invited to a friend’s house from another culture for lunch or dinner. You leave with a memory that stays with you for a very long time.
That’s the experience we hope to create. It’s not just about the food, but also the space, the service, the design and all the little details that we intentionally put into the restaurant. People might not notice everything, and that’s okay – we know why those details are there.
Ultimately, we want people to feel like they’ve spent time in our home, and to leave with a feeling and a taste that stays with them long after they’ve left.
SHOP INCU COLLECTION
Featuring KENNY SEUN KEE, YOUMEE, JIN SUN
Photography LIAM CHANDLER
Location SÀNG BY MABASA, SURRY HILLS
