Your Local Brought ‘Culinary Class Wars’ Chefs to Makati for a Limited-Time Pop-Up

Fans of Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars got a rare chance to taste dishes from several of the show’s chefs without flying to South Korea when Your Local staged Mat Nam, a limited-time collaboration at Balmori Suites in Rockwell, Makati. Led by Your Local executive chef Patrick Go, the pop-up ran from April 6 to June 1, 2025 and rotated four Korean guest chefs through a series of roughly two-week “episodes.”


The lineup included Young Sook Lee, Ji-Hyung Choi, Kisu Bang, and Byung Mook Kim, with each chef contributing dishes that reflected their own approach to Korean cuisine. The event marked Your Local’s third Chef’s Table run at Balmori Suites and its first collaboration of this scale with international guest chefs

The first leg featured Young Sook Lee, known for traditional Korean cooking, alongside Ji-Hyung Choi of Lee Buk Bang, whose restaurant is recognized by the Michelin Guide for its modern interpretation of North Korean cuisine. Their dishes included Lee’s classic japchae and mushroom chicken gangjeong, while Choi presented recipes rooted in Korean heritage. Later editions featured Kisu Bang, known for Korean barbecue, followed by Byung Mook Kim of Yakitori Mook, a Michelin Guide-listed Seoul restaurant specializing in charcoal-grilled Korean native chicken. Beyond the guest-chef dishes, Patrick Go and the Your Local team created new plates of their own, including mantou toast with mushroom and gorgonzola, river prawns with mentaiko butter, and a calamansi-yuzu-inspired dessert.

Mat Nam was designed as more than a celebrity-chef appearance. The menu brought Korean traditions together with Your Local’s modern Asian cooking style, allowing diners to try different culinary perspectives throughout the two-month run. Each visiting chef also made a limited personal appearance during their scheduled leg, making the collaboration particularly appealing to viewers who had followed them through Culinary Class Wars. Because the pop-up ended on June 1, 2025, it should now be treated as a past dining event rather than a current reservation opportunity. For diners interested in similar collaborations, the best option is to watch Your Local and Balmori Suites for future Chef’s Table announcements.

Would you line up for another Culinary Class Wars chef collaboration in Manila? Share which chef you would want to see next on LifeNavi.