New Korean restaurant Gangnam Grill replaces Ninja Steakhouse & Sushi in downtown Macon
When the owner and head sushi chef of a downtown Macon staple retired, his son realized it was financially impossible to replace him and keep the restaurant open.
So the pair reopened their location as Gangnam Grill, a new fast casual Korean restaurant, is now housed in the same location as Ninja Steakhouse & Sushi at 575 Mulberry St. Lane, which closed after 12 years on Dec. 21.
Ninja’s former head chef and owner 67-year-old Peter Jung, entered “semi-retirement” but didn’t want to leave the kitchen, his son Danny Chung said. Jung is now the head chef at Gangnam Grill, but with fewer hours – and his son owns the place.
A new sushi chef would have cost them around $6,000 to $7,000 a month, Danny Chung said.
“I don’t think that business-wise it would have made sense for us to bring in a sushi chef and continue that way,” Danny Chung said. “In order for us to know that the quality gets delivered, we also have to be able to afford it.”
He decided to sell dishes that felt closer to home.
“Even though (Ninja) was a Japanese restaurant, he is a Korean chef,” Danny Chung said. “The recipes are authentic because my dad researched and created those.”
Both father and son were born in Korea. Danny Chung moved to New York at 5 years old and lived there for 25 years, then moved to Middle Georgia to help his dad at Ninja and eventually opened Gangnam Grill.
Growing up, when his parents would cook doenjang-jjigae, or fermented soybean paste soup, his friends would ask, “‘Why does your house smell like this?’” Danny Chung recalled.
“I’d be embarrassed, but now I’m so grateful that this is the food I grew up eating,” he said. “I’m glad I can be like a messenger of the food.”
His wife, Ciara Chung, is a co-owner of Gangnam Grill, yoga instructor at Sparks Yoga in Macon and teacher at Mary Persons High School in Forsyth.
Ciara Chung used to whip up a mean casserole before realizing her husband was a better cook, she admitted.
“Yours was so much better. Why would I cook?” she said to Danny Chung at the restaurant. “We’d take the cooking classes, eat all the food…” Ciara Chung said, giggling.
Danny Chung could finally quit his job as a training leader at a Milledgeville Panda Express.
The new restaurant boasts authentic Korean food, while also being palatable for Middle Georgia’s taste, Danny Chung said. The restaurant steers away from extremely sour or spicy flavors.
For example, customers find “something very hardcore Korean, (like) pig’s feet, (or) kimchi stew” – a tangy soup with fermented cabbage and pork belly, Danny Chung said.
Instead, some dishes are customizable like bimimbap, which means mixed rice in Korean.
“We have a bed of rice and a little bit of salad, an array of vegetables, bulgogi which is like a marinated ribeye, then fried egg on top of it with some soft cheese,” Danny Chung said.
The menu features burritos, poke bowls, fried chicken, kimchi fried rice and their signature appetizer: crab corn cheese bokki which is made of rice cakes, corn, cheese, shredded crab and savory sauce.
Housemade specialty drinks include dalgona, a whipped coffee with milk and sugar, and rice punch, a sweet fermented rice and malt desert.
A range of bottled drinks include soju, Ramuné, Mexican Coca-Cola; Korean beer and cider; and mango, watermelon, milk and yogurt flavored sodas.
Patrons can seat themselves and scan a QR code to order from their table or order at the counter. There is no serving staff and reservations are not required. Most orders are ready within 10 minutes, according to Danny Chung.
Gangnam Grill is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
“I saw an opportunity for Korean food to be represented,” he said. “I wanted to create this concept where people come in, get their food pretty quickly, but at the same time not sacrifice on the value and quality of food.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 12:12 PM.
