Living in South Korea and eating dinners with the family can sometimes become a little boring. We normally try to find new restaurants or different locations to eat our food, but this time around it was something quite special and very different. When I first heard about the restaurant of Korean Japanese fusion where it is a course-style dinner, I was a little skeptical as I looked at the images on Naver (Korea's version of Google) and it looked like simple Korean food... Boy, was I wrong! The food blew me away, and in the end we ate way too much and had a ball of a time. So without me boring you too much, let me show you the experience instead!
The table was set like this, and my first instinct was to move my sauces around my dining area. The Korean server quickly corrected me and almost scolded me a little. I kind of liked that since they want you to experience it the way it was designed to. This added a lot to the experience.
Our first dish was a simple Korean egg dish, but with a twist. While I expected the flavor to be pretty much the same, they did add some extra ingredients, such as some ham... I was not impressed; I thought this whole experience would just be Korean dishes with a slight Japanese touch. Then I tasted it, and I was wrong. The texture was softer and denser, and there were more surprises the deeper you dug. There was also some fish, prawn, and a very surprising ginkgo seed that changed the whole taste profile of the dish. Lovely!
Around the same time our food came, we also received the food for the kids; this was theirs. I know they love fried prawns, and these were actually next level; the kids loved them!
While they would normally eat Korean-style pancakes, this was their take on it. Using red beans and pumpkin, I tasted it, and it tasted way too sweet. I kept thinking this would make a great dessert if you added some cinnamon to it. (pumpkin fritters anyone?) Anyway, the kids felt the same and barely touched it. They had their prawns, rice and seaweed soup in the end.
Back to the adult food...
Delicious fresh sashimi. These were great, and I had a piece I never had before where a part of the skin was left on the fish; the texture change was delightful.
The next round came quite quickly, since we barely touched the previous dish. (This was mainly due to one of our toddlers having a temper tantrum and me having to take him out and calm him down. Finally bringing him back and get him to eat his food...)
Some delicious kimchi.
This one blew me away as maybe the best dish of the night, even though it looks so simple. Fresh kimchi and vegetables with a sweet and tangy sauce. Finally, they added some small slices of sashimi to it that captured all the flavors beautifully. This is the kind of meal we need after a very long hike. I can't describe how fresh this tastes, like a chewable piña colada.
As we moved on, they brought some tuna as well. While I like it, it is nothing too special to share.
Next up they gave us some simple fried fish, a very traditional Korean-style dish. I tasted it, but didn't eat much of it as I was just a normal Korean dish normally served up on special holidays.
Oooh, I was excited for these! They looked tasty and the server told me since I am a foreigner, I can get the biggest one, nice!
They also offer to open it up for you and take the majority of the bones out. It was crispy and salty, with a very soft and flavorful inside. This was perhaps one of my favorites.
We also got our own tempura prawns; the kids just got theirs earlier since they have no patience at all. =P
Here is where things got really interesting. It looks simple enough, but trust me, that is not sushi. That is Hongeo-hoe (홍어회), also known as fermented fish. Depending on the quality, the smell can be quite intense. I mean it smells like ammonia, and I remember the first time trying it. It went into my mouth and out again within maybe 2 seconds. Never touched it again. This time around we knew it was of high quality, and there was a special way of eating it. Wrap the fish, pork belly and kimchi together in a leaf and go for it. After smelling it I was surprised that it did not have a very strong ammonia smell like before. So I tried it again. The textures are interesting, and the taste has no ammonia hints at all until the very end, when you swallow it and take a deep breath then it hits hard! My family told me that is the part that makes it fun. I disagree...
We were quite full at this point, but the food kept coming...
We finally got something soupy, and this definitely did not disappoint. It had such a clean and fresh taste with a mild fish aftertaste, loved it!
Before dessert we got some rice that I did not find that appetizing; perhaps I was too full at this point. We also got some extra kimchi that I also couldn't care for much. My stomach was content.
Last, we got some watermelon and pineapple. These I did like, as it was extra cold and juicy.
I would definitely recommend this to a friend and will bring some of my friends here whenever we have the time and budget for it.
Thanks for reading, catch ya in the next one!
