Seoul Dining - Five Days, Five Dinners

[yflyer]

stirred up memories for me yflyer - wife and i stayed at IC Grand Parnas last year, when we abandoned the kids for a break. Great location with the train station just in front. And they upgraded us for the reno inconvenience. thks for sharing

Thanks, jammed! I am also all for abandoning the kids for a vacation once in a while!

[yflyer]

After the excesses of the previous evening, and to give our stomachs the opportunity to regain normal shape, we decided that for dinner on day four we would count on the restorative powers of samgyetang, or Korean ginseng chicken soup.

I brought mrs yflyer to a small restaurant close to COEX that specialized in this classic dish.



It is in an area lined with eateries. I've never been told what the name of the restaurant was in English, but whenever I've gone there, whether at lunch time or dinner, it has been quite busy.



Apart from ginseng chicken soup, they also do a great spicy chicken dish, and several variations on this theme, but I have always come back to this place for the samgyetang.

We stepped inside the warm, almost steamy dining room. A nice change from the cold weather outside, and were quickly shown to our seats.

This restaurant is a casual affair, with close-packed, mostly communal tables in a very striking shade of green.

[yflyer]

Our dinner began with two small cups of ginseng wine...this comes with every order of samgyetang.

This warm spirit, with the distinctive bitterness of ginseng, was a strangely comforting prelude to the meal.



I resisted the urge to ask for a second cup...

[yflyer]

The samgyetang arrived a few minutes later, with the cloudy broth still bubbling away in the earthen bowl.



This was a whole spring chicken, stuffed with sticky rice and ginseng.



We tucked in while it was still hot...



The broth was rich and natural tasting without being salty, the chicken was tender and not stringy or powdery.

Best of all, the glutinous rice had the perfect texture, almost risotto-like, infused with the taste of ginseng and chicken.



This was a near-perfect one dish meal.

The day before, we had 19 courses. Today, just one, but this one dish felt just as satisfying...

A very nice way to end to Day Four.

[Kyo]

Wouldn't there be Five Lunches also?

[yflyer]

Wouldn't there be Five Lunches also?

Right now, the mods are probably thinking: "oh no, that's all yflyer will need as an excuse to spam our forum with even more food pictures. Doesn't yflyer know that this is an aviation forum, not an F&B forum?"

[Kyo]

On the contrary, I think - this is, after all, a Trip Report

[CarbonMan]

Right now, the mods are probably thinking: "oh no, that's all yflyer will need as an excuse to spam our forum with even more food pictures. Doesn't yflyer know that this is an aviation forum, not an F&B forum?"

I travel a fair bit but I'm not one of those diehard plane warriors here, so I'll be happy to read something apart from the champagne served, access to another lounge and the width of a seat.

[stargold]

Right now, the mods are probably thinking: "oh no, that's all yflyer will need as an excuse to spam our forum with even more food pictures. Doesn't yflyer know that this is an aviation forum, not an F&B forum?"

Enjoying all of these restaurants that I have never been to myself, despite being a(t least by origin a) Seoul resident! Thank you and keep'em coming - I might even try some of them on my next trip home

[jbflyer]

Great report, yflyer!

[yflyer]

Kyo, CarbonMan, stargold, Thanks! it was meant to be a cheeky comment anyway...of course I'll continue to post about food.

Speaking of spam, there is a lot more of it in Korea than I expected.

Great report, yflyer!

Thanks, jbflyer!

[yflyer]

Our fifth and last dinner in Seoul was at a restaurant named Gae Hwa Oak, a restaurant very highly regarded for the freshness of their ingredients and their adherence and respect for Korean culinary traditions.

This was in a very busy part of Gangnam-gu, with lively, narrow streets full of eateries and other retail outlets.

Our taxi driver, armed with a GPS, had some difficulty finding the exact location, and spent some time navigating the narrow lanes, mumbling and muttering to himself, before dropping us off at what he insisted was a location very nearby. We got off and entrusted our fate to Google Maps on our iPhone, literally navigating on foot to the restaurant following the directions and arrows on my iPhone.

We walked past the place twice before finally realizing we were there -- there wasn't much by way of English signage, and it was just one among many restaurants along the street.



We stepped, in still unsure if we were in the right place. Yes! They had our reservations, made earlier in the week by the superb concierges at the Grand Intercontinental.

The decor in this restaurant has been described in reviews as minimalist, and I would have to agree. In this intimate restaurant, tables and chairs were set in a room with bare concrete walls adorned with works of art.

[yflyer]

After we placed our order, some vegetable starters/snacks were placed on the table.



Corn, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, green chilli...all presented in a very simple and natural way, and all very fresh.

There was a whole clove of garlic which had been baked, so that the cloves of garlic were slightly soft, as well as a miso dip.

[yflyer]

The restaurant is also well known for its wine list of international red and white wines, however they did not serve wine by the glass, only by the bottle, so we asked our waiter to recommend a Korean beverage.

He suggested baekseju, which we had never tried before. This is a clear, fermented rice wine, the colour of tea, with a unique, slightly sweet flavour.



Mrs yflyer found it wonderful to drink and described it as "mellow, well-rounded, complex".

[yflyer]

Our order was also preceded by the usual selection of Korean side dishes...



We began with Korean-style beef tartar...served in much larger cubes than usual, with pine nuts.



This was a heavenly dish, and to my tastebuds superior to the usual Korean beef tartar.



I was getting the sense that while the chef(s) here were well grounded in Korean culinary traditions and techniques, there was a modern, fusion element to their preparations as well...