Hanna Jang

Hanna Jang holds one of the most exacting positions in Asian fine dining: head pastry chef at Mingles in Seoul, a restaurant that holds one of the region’s most closely watched kitchens, which is built on modern Korean fine dining, a contemporary tasting format that draws on traditional Korean culinary philosophy while layering in today’s techniques. The pastry section is not a separate exercise in sweetness tacked onto the end; it is where that modern Korean idea has to hold one final time, in a register that is technically precise and conceptually coherent with everything that came before.

The current dessert menu shows what that responsibility looks like in practice. There is sweet bibimbab, a rice pudding with ginseng ice cream, ganjang, sesame oil and root vegetables, a dessert that leans savoury and plays with texture and familiarity rather than relying on sugar for impact. There is also Korean melon and soybean, pairing ice cream and granita with sesame and black pine nut, and of course, the signature jang trio, which folds doenjang, ganjang and gochujang into a delightfully balanced frame of dessert. These are not simple compositions, and the pastry section at Mingles has to execute them at the highest level.

Jang’s case rests on that sustained execution. Not on theatrical flourishes, but on the discipline of running a pastry programme inside one of Asia’s most celebrated kitchens and making the final course feel like the inevitable conclusion of a modern Korean meal rather than an afterthought. In a restaurant of Mingles’ stature, that consistency is the achievement, and it is the reason her name belongs on a best pastry list.