Education
Joo graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
Joo graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
She is the Chef Patron of Jinjuu Restaurant in London and Hong Kong. She splits her time between New York, London and Asia. She began a career in the banking industry working at Goldman Sachs and then Morgan Stanley as an institutional fixed income derivatives saleswoman.
However, she switched careers and began working as a chef after attending The French Culinary Institute in 2004 and graduating at the top of her class.
She then went to work at Saveur magazine in the test kitchens as well as in editorial. She also worked at Slow Food United States of America, where she founded their first inner city Slow Food in Schools program, "Harvest Time in Harlem".
A move to London led her to restaurants, where she worked at Gordon Ramsay"s restaurants, including Maze, Petrus, Gordon Ramsay Restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s and The Boxwood Café. She has also completed "stages" in the restaurants The French Laundry and The Fat Duck.
In January 2015, she opened up her own restaurant in London called Jinjuu in Soho.
Prior to that she was the executive chef for the Playboy Club London. In December 2015, Jinjuu launched a second location in Hong Kong. Joo was one of the four Iron Chefs on the cooking show Iron Chef United Kingdom and was a resident judge on season four of the Food Network show The Next Iron Chef.
She has also been a regular judge on Iron Chef America and a Challenger in the Iron Chef United Kingdom versus
Iron Chef America battle. She is also the host of Korean Food Made Simple (Cooking Channel in the United States of America, and Food Network United Kingdom), and Season 2 of the same title on Food Network worldwide.
She is also a resident judge on Kitchen Inferno (Food Network). In addition to her Iron Chef roles, Joo has appeared on United Kingdom Food Channel’s Market Kitchen and Food Network"s The Best Thing I Ever Ate and The Best Thing I Ever Made.
She is also a regular judge on Guy Fieri"s Guy"s Grocery Games.
Joo also makes regular guest appearances on various television shows, radio and digital videos in United States of America, United Kingdom and in Asia. Joo has written extensively for numerous publications. She wrote restaurant reviews regularly for Time Out London and was a monthly columnist for Shape Magazine.
Her work has been published in many national papers as well as magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Wall Street Journal, Saveur, Four, The Korean Herald, The of Korea Times, Caterer, British Broadcasting Corporation Good Food, Gourmet, Fine Cooking, Epicurian, Delicious, Olive, Food Network Magazine, among others