{"id":512252,"date":"2026-07-06T11:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512252\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:00:21","slug":"dont-become-a-chef-culinary-class-wars-napoli-matfia-on-hong-kong-time-off-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512252\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t become a chef\u2019: Culinary Class Wars\u2019 Napoli Matfia on Hong Kong, time off and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June, chef Kwon Sung-jun \u2013 better known as Napoli Matfia, winner of the first season of Netflix\u2019s hit show Culinary Class Wars<\/a> \u2013 closed Via Toledo Pasta Bar, his famously intimate six-seat restaurant in Seoul.<\/p>\n

There was no massive party, no cakes or balloons to celebrate the end of an era after five years of being booked solid with a waiting list that stretched for months \u2013 and included celebrities from all over the world \u2013 but he did bring a piece of his first restaurant home with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this stray cat at Via Toledo<\/a> that I had been feeding for years,\u201d says the 31-year-old chef. \u201cOn the last night after the last shift ever, I brought her to my house.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is the only legacy of the restaurant,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

That statement is far from the truth. In the coming weeks, he will be setting up his new 3.3 billion won (US$2.1 million) property, also in Seoul, expanding his passion project into a five-storey culinary destination.<\/p>\n

The ground floor, he shares, will be a cafeteria for coffee and bites such as desserts and focaccia sandwiches. A public restaurant will occupy the second floor, with a private dining space above that and a YouTube studio on the remaining levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June, chef Kwon Sung-jun \u2013 better known as Napoli Matfia, winner of the first season of Netflix\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[254822,254824,156,4431,254823,254827,1094,111,139,69,254826,8641,437,254825,51298],"class_list":["post-512252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-cu","tag-culinary-class-wars","tag-entertainment","tag-hong-kong","tag-kwon-sung-jun","tag-napoli-matfia","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pici","tag-seoul","tag-tv","tag-via-toledo-pasta-bar","tag-wing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}