The Story of Siroo’s Founder
Began the art in Korea. Sharing the love in Australia.
Changhyun is the owner and head chef of Siroo Rice Cake cafe located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2020, Siroo is Sydney’s first ever rice cake cafe with the mission of sharing the love for modernised and traditional Korean rice cakes (‘tteok’) to everyone.
Changhyun has been learning the art of making rice cakes from a very young age under the influence of his parents who operated their own rice cake store, Bangatgan, back in Korea. Throughout his childhood, he would spend a lot of time in the kitchen with his parents and learn through watching. Eventually, he took on a formal apprenticeship with the business and dedicated his entire 20’s developing a mastery in cooking premium traditional rice cakes.
Soon enough, Changhyun began to take a greater responsibility in the broader operations and management of the store, giving him the perfect opportunity to develop an understanding for the end-to-end process from stockpiling raw materials all the way until a warm serving of Korean rice cakes are delivered fresh from the kitchen to the customer.
Later, Changhyun was hired to work at a rice cake store located in Daechi-dong. There, he overlooked the complete production process of rice cakes, staff training and sales growth. In recent years, he relocated to Australia and began to pursue his lifelong dream of continuing his parents legacy and building his own rice cake brand.
Today, he continues to make the best rice cakes to Sydney’s community, adding a modern touch to traditional recipes and pairing it with premium coffee.