Chef Degeimbre's 'man-made' octopus egg shaped out of oven-baked and blended squid, water, and edible additives (Iota, Konjac) needed to achieve the desired texture



Dual illusions...using an egg, that is really anything but a real egg, to represent a volcanic eruption



He uses scientific methods to create food with unexpected tastes and textures. He had trained under Herve This, a French scientist who first coined the term molecular gastronomy. His latest discovery: ultrasounds! To reveal all a product’s abilities, the kitchen team use a mixing machine where the blades are replaced by an ultrasound detector. Ultrasonics is the science of sound waves above the limits of human audibility. It creates the collapse and implosion of myriad cavitation “bubbles”. Ultrasonics are ideal because the microscopic bubbles enter every orifice. The bubbles force movement allowing the introduction of flavour.

Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, who is a Korean Belgian, runs L'Air du Temps, a Michelin-rated two-star restaurant in Belgium. In 1975, when he was 5 years old, he was adopted by a family in Belgium, where he grew up, and in 1997, he opened his own restaurant.

In 2000, it was awarded a one-star rating by Michelin, and in 2006, another star was added, making him a world-class star chef, and renowned as a master of molecular gastronomy. In addition, he was well known as the second-best sommelier in Belgium. In 2009, he was invited by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as part of their public relations efforts to promote the globalization of Korean cuisine.



Chef Degeimbre's representation of Nature, ironically relying on scientific culinary wizadry in addition to old-school Korean fermentation processes - fermented carrots, hazelnut foam turned-to-cake-in-the-microwave, dehydrated black olives and bread to serve as natural 'humus,' a yellow jelly-like drop of kalamanzo gel, dried blue potato chips, beets, and perfectly curled seasonal shoots as garnish



Born in South Korea, he was an orphan who migrated to Belgium at the age of four when he was adopted by a couple there. He started his career as a sommelier at the age of 17. A self-taught chef, he opened his own restaurant, L’Air du Temps, in 1997 on the outskirts of Brussels.

It earned a Michelin star three years later. In 2002, he ventured into molecular gastronomy, which is a school of cooking that uses scientific methods to create food with unexpected tastes and textures. He had trained under Herve This, a French scientist who first coined the term molecular gastronomy.

Sanghoon Degeimbre