Jun Park finishes dinner service, then walks. For three years the line cook has sketched dumpling shops on a paper map taped above a locker — folds, wrappers, broth habits, and whether the counter sells by the piece or the steamer.
The map began as a private study aid. Friends begged for copies. A local press printed a folded zine that sold out at two bookstores.
Park refuses to rank shops. The point is pattern: where wrappers stay thin, where vinegar is free, where aunties still hand-crimp on Friday nights.
Restaurants now invite Park for staff meals that double as research sessions. Guests leave with a deeper sense of why one alley tastes different from the next.
“Maps are hospitality,” Park says. “They tell you where to be welcome.”