Donwoori Korean to Move to Winooski From South Burlington

After less than a year of running Donwoori Korean restaurant in South Burlington, owner Summer Cao is relocating the business to her hometown of Winooski. Cao will close her original 2026 Williston Road location at the end of November. Renovations and inspections permitting, the restaurateur hopes to reopen by mid-December and celebrate Donwoori's first anniversary in its new home at 65 Winooski Falls Way.

The building most recently housed Bamyan Kebab House and stands within a block of a nail salon owned by Cao's mother, Vicky Le.

"I've been eyeing that place from the very beginning," said Cao, 25, adding that her 21-year-old brother, Khoi Cao, will join her as a business partner.

Cao said Winooski has more foot traffic from residents and a community of restaurants, bars and shops that she found lacking on Williston Road.

The much larger restaurant space will have 40 seats for on-site dining and a bigger kitchen. Cao looks forward to expanding her menu, although Korean-style fried chicken "will still be the star of the show," she said.

Originally from Vietnam, Cao moved to Vermont from Australia to join her mother in 2022. She told in January that she saw an opportunity to add Korean food to the local dining scene. "I'm not Korean, obviously," Cao said, "but I worked at a lot of Korean restaurants."

Korean staples on Donwoori's menu include chewy rice cakes called tteokbokki and sweet potato starch noodles called japchae.

Cao originally considered adding Winooski as a second location but said she decided to "just focus on this new adventure."