Relax - Korean eats

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Unlike neighbouring capital cities such as Tokyo or Beijing, Seoul is not known for gourmet offerings.

But the South Korean capital is trying to change that.

Last month, the South Korean Tourism Organisation organised for the first time a festival called The Amazing Korean Table to promote its food culture internationally.

Four celebrity chefs were invited to the city during that period to create menus using Korean ingredients and offer them in restaurants in the Lotte hotel.

Among them was three-Michelin-starred French chef Pierre Gagnaire, who owns the posh Pierre Gagnaire, a Seoul restaurant on the 35th floor of the hotel.

The others were Massimo Bottura from Italy, Corey Lee from the United States and Luke Dale Roberts from South Africa.

They came up with dishes such as Gagnaire's toast of foie gras with kimchi, Lee's soft shell turtle consomme with pine mushrooms, gingko nuts and perilla, as well as Bottura's risotto with crispy ginseng, sugar beet and black cream.

The organisers invited a group of food journalists, including this writer, to experience the dining scene in Seoul.

We were taken to both high-end and mid-priced restaurants, some of which were very good and others not so.

But I, along with a few other journalists, also checked out restaurants on our own that were not in the itinerary, and they turned out to be among the most exciting places we visited.

Here are some places where you can find a good meal the next time you visit Seoul.

ahyoke@sph.com.sg

The trip was sponsored by The Amazing Korean Table.

Barbecue at snowy party

BULGOGI BROTHERS

Various outlets including at 2F, Taeheung B/D, 7-1 Myeong-dong 1ga, Jung-gu. tel: +82-2-319-3351

Open: 11am to 10pm (weekdays), 11.30am to 10pm (weekends)

Bulgogi (barbecued marinated beef) can be dipped into ice-cold soya sauce (centre).

Good food in Seoul is found not only in fine dining restaurants.

A chain of mid-priced eateries called Bulgogi Brothers turned out to be surprisingly good. Started only three years ago, the bulgogi (barbecued marinated beef) chain now boasts 16 outlets all over South Korea.

And no wonder. The beef here, well marbled and deliciously tender, is excellent for the price.

There is a selection of cuts such as short ribs and ribeye as well as different styles of marinade, with prices ranging from S$21 to S$30.

Each order comes with side dishes of kimchi and salad vegetables.

The beef here is barbecued in a style called seol-ya-myeok, which means 'barbecue party at a snowy party'.

When the beef is half-cooked, it is dipped into an ice-cold soya sauce mixed with fruit and vegetable juices before being put on the grill again to finish cooking. This apparently makes the meat more tender.

Besides barbecue, the menu also offers dishes such as seafood dumplings and bibimbap, rice mixed with vegetables, pine mushroom and a spicy paste.

Be won over

POOM SEOUL

4F Daewon-jeongsa B/D 358-17 Huam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, tel: +82-2-777-9007

Open: Noon to 3pm, 6 to 10pm (Tuesdays to Sundays). Closed on Mondays

Char-grilled first grade Korean sirlion topped with deep-fried
garliec and seasoned with mustard soy sauce dressing.

When we asked around for the most exciting restaurant in Seoul, one name kept coming up: Poom. So we had to dine there even though it was not in our itinerary.

And it was worth getting lost on a mountain road on a cold, rainy night to get there. Our guide rang the restaurant for directions and when we finally got there, chef Sin Yong-il was waiting at the road with umbrellas.

The year-old restaurant is built on a mountain slope overlooking the city, and a floor-to-ceiling glass front offered a panoramic view of twinkling lights in the distance despite the rain.

The food is modern Korean, with chef Sin giving his take on traditional dishes eaten by the aristocracy in ancient times. The flavours have not changed much but the presentation and setting are Western.

Only set menus are offered and you have to book at least a day ahead. For lunch, you can choose between S$60 and S$85 menus whereas three menus, at S$120, S$180 and S$240, are offered at dinner. The menus change every month.

We went for the S$120 set and were delighted with eight courses of delicacies such as pine mushrooms tossed with pine nut powder and pine pollen, and a lovely char-grilled first grade Korean sirloin topped with deep-fried garlic and seasoned with mustard soy sauce dressing.

The S$300 menu has 11 courses and includes more expensive dishes such as blanched fresh abalone served with An-dong yam and steamed sea cucumber stuffed with prawn meat.

Dine like royalty

SAMCHEONGGAK

330-115 Seongbuk-2dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, tel: +82-2-765-3700

Open: Noon to 3pm, 6 to 10pm daily

The restaurant (top) serves grilled ribeye roll with pine mushrooms (below) and
stir-fried abalone with sesame oil (bottom).

This high-end Korean restaurant is housed in a large cultural complex built in the style of a traditional Korean mansion on the slopes of the Bugaksan mountain.

Although it is smack in the city, the place feels like a resort as it is in a park and secluded from urban noise.

It was built in 1972 for the private use of the South Korean president to entertain government officials. His official residence, the Blue House, is nearby.

But since 1979, it has been open to the public and the royal cuisine served at the restaurant is definitely worth the trip.

The cooking by chef Park Kyoungsik is very refined and the presentation simple yet elegant. We had a lovely mushroom shrimpball soup that had an intense flavour of sweet, fresh shrimp, and a course of stir-fried fresh abalone with sesame oil that was as delicious as it was simple.

There are a number of set menus to choose from, ranging from S$46 for the six-course set to S$120 for one featuring the prized matsutake or pine mushroom, which is in season towards the end of the year.

Service is excellent and there are English-speaking staff. We were put in a rather plain-looking private room but the main dining hall is much nicer with its chic, contemporary decor and water feature.

Finesse in every detail

PIERRE GAGNAIRE A SEOUL

Lotte Hotel Seoul, 35F New Wing, Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, tel: +82-2-3177-1812

Open: Noon to 3pm (Mondays to Fridays), 6 to 10pm (Mondays to Saturdays). Closed on Sundays

The classic and classy interior of the restaurant on the 35th floor of Lotte Hotel.

This is definitely the best Western restaurant in Seoul.

Opened a year ago, it boasts an opulent interior that is both classic and classy. The view from the 35th floor of the Lotte hotel in downtown Seoul is stunning and service is impeccable.

Prices are high by Seoul standards, with a four-course lunch going for S$144 and a nine-course degustation dinner at S$360 without wine.

Dessert from Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul

I was not scheduled to dine there either but managed to get a table on my last evening in Seoul. However, I was booked for dinner at Poom as well and had only an hour to eat before rushing off for the second meal.

That posed no problem at all for restaurant manager Lionel Fauvet, a true professional who swiftly planned a quick dinner comprising 10 amuses-bouches, a main course and three desserts.

The Pierre Gagnaire style is to have an array of dishes for each course.

For example, my main course - called simply The Beef - comprised roasted fillet of beef with smoked oysters and Sarawak black pepper on one plate, accompanied by side plates of potato galette with stalk garlic, red beetroot syrup with horseradish, squid with French kimchi and foie gras, and cold stewed beef and sea cucumber.

The star of the dish was the tender and juicy fillet which yielded like butter to the knife.

Desserts were a varied palette of flavours in the form of a sesame parfait with preserved red pepper, a lemon jelly with mini macarons and a chocolate mousse with yuzu.

Original creations

MIN'S KITCHEN

Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, tel: +82-2544-1007

Open: Noon to 3pm, 6 to 10pm (Mondays to Saturdays). Closed on Sundays

The exterior of Min's Kitchen, a Korean restaurant located in Seoul.

This two-year-old modern Korean restaurant is opened by former cooking teacher Min-Ji Kim.

Located in the posh Cheongdam-dong area where there are many chic restaurants, this second-floor eatery is rather hidden away and accessible through a narrow staircase that leads past a florist. Look out for the signboard at the side of the building.

On offer here is modern Korean cuisine where the chef creates original dishes based on traditional styles of cooking and ingredients. Prices range from S$21 to S$48 a dish.

Beansprout salad from Min's Kitchen.

Served during our 12-course lunch was a beansprout salad where parboiled soyabean sprouts were tossed with steamed shrimp and octopus as well as various vegetables. It boasted different textures and flavours lifted by a slightly spicy dressing.

There was also the equally healthy soft tofu wrapped in rice paper where the tofu is mashed and mixed with diced carrot, onion and pickled radish and wrapped like a dumpling.

But the most memorable dishes were the meats: grilled rib-eye steak with balsamic salad where the well-marbled beef was a stunner, and the boiled Jeju pork meat with accompaniments such as pickled bean leaves, salted prawn and soya sauce with chilli.

Like everything else about this restaurant, they were unpretentious but tasted amazing.

Korean eats

By Wong Ah Yoke, The Straits Times | Thu, Dec 10 2009

Seoul kitchens unveil exciting dishes to excite the palates of gourmands.