Our Story

Four chefs preparing food in a professional kitchen, with various kitchen tools and ingredients on the counter.

wine spectator

Best of Award of Excellence winner SSAL combines Korean fine dining with Californian influences. Chef Junsoo Bae opened the restaurant in 2019 with his wife, Hyunyoung, and has garnered acclaim for his menu of thought-provoking but refined flavor …

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A chef lifting a lid from a black and gold bowl containing two oysters topped with herbs, with smoke rising from the dish.

Glug 50

In the 1970s, California became the birthplace of a quiet culinary revolution. A new wave of chefs, led by figures like Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower, rejected the rigidity of French haute cuisine in favour of hyper-seasonal produce, unfussy technique, and a distinct sense of place.

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Small dessert topped with edible flowers, served in a tart shell, placed on a white plate inside a wooden frame

Virginia Miller: Medium

Fine Dining’s Latest Wave in San Francisco: It’s Casual, Playful & Bold

One Michelin Korean Deserves Two Stars: SSAL

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Four people and a chef in a TV studio kitchen, surrounded by fruits, vegetables, and prepared food, discussing the story behind a Michelin-rated restaurant, with TV screens in the background.

Take 2: Getting to know the story behind Michelin-rated restaurant Ssal

Ssal owner and chef shares his family values and recipes with the Mornings on 2 crew.

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A black and white photo of three people sitting at a restaurant table, smiling and having tea. The woman on the left has shoulder-length dark hair, and the man on the right is pouring tea from a teapot. A young boy in the middle is making a peace sign with his fingers.

fine dining lovers

At his fine dining restaurant in San Francisco, Bae bridges generations through heirloom sesame oil, tasting menus, and weekly market trips with his son. When Junsoo Bae first declared at age 14 that he wanted to be a chef, his father immediately rebuked him…

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An article titled "The Best Splurge Restaurants in San Francisco" by Flora Tsapovsky, showing a photo of a flower arrangement on a restaurant table.

Eater SF

San Francisco’s Korean dining scene shouldn’t be slept on, and there’s perhaps no restaurant that better embodies the city’s unique perspective on the cuisine than one-Michelin-starred Ssal. Here, chef Junsoo Bae pulls inspiration from his childhood in Korea but swaps in…

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Chef pouring green sauce over a dish with edible flowers and a slice of cured fish in a clear glass bowl.

SF Mag - 7 Chefs Making Moves


South Korean native Junsoo Bae wanted to be a chef since he was a teenager. Only after years of proving himself did his father allow him to attend culinary school in New York. Today, he’s living his dream…

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A Day at SSAL


Filmmaker Daniele Giacobbe captures an intimate rhythm of the kitchen — precision, restraint, and quiet intensity.


March 2026, Full Version

A creative dish resembling a sushi roll made with charcoaled live eel and Sacramento rice, wrapped in seaweed shaped like grass, served on a white plate against a blue background with text describing the dish and a restaurant in San Francisco.

Vera Magazine

SSAL, in the heart of San Francisco, is a modern Californian restaurant rooted in Korean traditions that offers a single nightly tasting menu in its open-kitchen dining room. The menu develops spontaneously, guided by seasonal market availability.

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A cityscape of San Francisco at dusk with the illuminated San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the foreground and the downtown skyline in the background. The image also shows a restaurant interior with people dining and a well-stocked bar on the top right corner.

Noblesse Magazine - Korea

Flavor starts here, San Francisco

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Close-up of a tiny serving of beef Tartare, topped with grated horseradish or shredded toppings, served in a small gold-colored dish on a red and black bowl.

BestofKorea.com - All the Michelin Star Korean Restaurants in the US

Hyunyoung and Junsoo Bae have ample fine dining experience but were inspired to strike out on their own to fill what they saw as a void in San Francisco’s Korean restaurant scene. The result is this tasting menu that draws upon familiar flavors but sets itself apart with a sense of refined simplicity.

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