Our Story

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 …

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.

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…

eater

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…

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.

Noblesse Magazine - Korea

Flavor starts here, San Francisco