You are in Seoul a modern, clean and fancy city and are looking for a matching location for dinner? Than you have to try this wonderful place which is one of „Asia’s best Restaurants“. The chef Tae Hwan Ryu connects Japanese, Korean and French cuisine in a wonderful and super delicious way. The restaurant is fixed to use products of the surroundings and to promote the local industry. They try to give the guest a good overview in the Korean traditions and food preparations.

Even the service is a mixture of Asian courtesy and European professionalism with a great knowledge in wine pairing. We started with a wonderful glass of Laurent Perrier 2006.

The dinner started with a selection of amuse bouches. The first was designed like a dragon fly with potato crisps as wings and a kimchi (kimchi is the Korean way of preparing sauerkraut in lactic acid) and a chestnut puree as the body and head. The second amuse was a hidden vegetarian black pudding served with rice noodles and topped with coffee power.
A plate full of hazelnut peels was the third one. You had to find the fake one which was made out of deep-fried potato and the nut was a shaped nougat cream. Such a funny and creative plate with a wonderful and harmonious taste. A new inspired sashimi with wasabi powder and salmon caviar served on ice was the next pleasure.
The last one was a plate with two halved oriental melons topped with mint powder and a mint juice which gave the menu a refreshing kick.

The First starter was a sashimi roll covered in a slice of squid carpaccio which was presented in a bowl with algae and dry ice. This dish was served with a sweet hibiscus jam refined with Japanese herbs.
The next step was a truffle dream which was served on pine needles and wood. On top of the wood was a so called lion’s mane, kind of coleslaw with bacon and truffled mayonnaise and a truffled mushroom cookie. A mushroom espuma mixed with fresh mushrooms and black truffle was served in the glass topped with a cheese balloon, fresh parmesan and herbs. This was my favorite dish of the whole menu ;-)!

A small piece of Yesan pork – yesan is an area in the northern part of South Korea and the pork is specially fed by apples. The pork was topped with flamed apple reddish, and served with apple vinaigrette and thick mushroom ketchup.
Fresh langoustine tartar topped with black caviar and gold leafs was the fish based main course. A frozen mixture of Japanese oil and Belgium beer gave this dish a bitter creamy taste and a cucumber dressing a light touch.

Do you know the most stylish way to eat poultry? I think the chef found a wonderful way to give it a wonderful texture and a new way to unfold its taste. He served a garlic feed quail from the very south of South Korea a country called Uriyeong. The quail was very fatty and luscious. It was topped with olive oil and ten kinds of seeds and served with beetroot and a thick chicken sauce. The chef surprised us with a potato and ginseng formed mini chicken as a saturation supplement. The second part of this dish was the leg of the quail served with this Asian noodles and a fried quail egg poured on a very clear pork consommé.

A very upcoming and healthy trend is fermentation all over the world. We had the chance to try quick fermented John Dory or Saint-Pierre. It’s a very soft fish with a white meat and it was fished near the South Korean island Jeju. The fish was accompanied by Korean seaweed, fermented scallion, cuscus and the sauce was a mixture of Japanese miso Korean vinegar and green oil.

A grapefruit sorbet was between the fish and the last main course.

So after we had crustacean, poultry, pork and fish dishes, now there is just beef left. The last main courses were two types of aged beef. A three weeks aged striploin served as a fillet and a one-and-a-half month aged tenderloin served as bacon. This dish was accompanied by tomato sauce and stinky cheese from France.

After this balanced dinner you think you are already super full? Yes that’s definitely true but the desserts were heavenly and so delicious so you can’t let them on the plate.
The first dessert was a caramelised chocolate ball with nut crumble served with a mandarin ice-cream in black powder.
A burnt rice ice-cream – a kind we never tried bevor but it really had a special and amazing taste – served with passion fruit homemade crumble and topped with rose powder was the next magical creation of the pastry.

The last plate was a selection of small goodies to have with our fresh teas. A strawberry salad, a cookie with vanilla pudding, red wine jelly and a cotton sweet filled with a green tea chip were the heavenly end of an unforgettable evening.