Along with the establishment of the group, Bae has also shared three venues which are to open over the next three months.
The first is a relaunch of Surry Hills venue Tokki as a Korean Anju bar in mid-April.
The venue will have a fun, intimate feel with the aim of bringing a feel of the snack and drinking culture of Korean nightlife to Australia.
There will be a range of imported Korean drinks and cocktails on pour, along with an Anju menu featuring dishes like mul hwe (Korean sashimi), jjajang pork ribs and seafood pancake with octopus, shallot and squid.
Following in late-April, Bae is scheduled to open premium Korean BBQ steakhouse Soot in Barangaroo.
The venue will host smokeless and odourless DIY grills and will star a menu of premium and aged wagyu cuts and galbi, a soy-based marinated short rib using Bae’s 50-year-old family recipe.
Lastly in early June, a 8-seater Korean chef’s table experience Leemix will open in Circular Quay.
Bae is known for his impressive portfolio of venues in Australia, first starting his career by opening the Moochi frozen yoghurt franchise in 2011 which expanded to to 22 venues in two years.
He then continued to launch street food franchises Bun me and K-BIRD before more recently working on restaurants KOGI Korean BBQ, Honey, Kinhboy and Kobo.
The launch of Kolture comes from Bae’s passion to put Korean food on the Australian map.
“Every time I would go back to Korea, I would have these incredible dining and drinking experiences and always think to myself ‘if only this was in Australia’,” says Bae.
“I decided to build the types of places I love to go to so that people can experience them here.”
Korean-born chef Jacob Lee will join Bae and lead each venue as executive chef.
Bae met Lee five years ago, and they went on to open Tokki and Kobo together.
“Our passion lies in creating venues and experiences that embrace the diversity and journeys life has brought us and carry through the soul, excitement and flavours of different cultures, especially (but not limited to) Korean culture,” says Lee.
“My dream is that one day Korean cuisine will be mainstream in Australia.”
Bae comes from a family well versed with the hospitality scene, including his father Donald Bae who first brought Korean BBQ to Australian in 1992.
