La Yeon (Seoul)

June 2018

23rd Floor, The Shilla Seoul, 249 Dongho-ro, Jangchung-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel: +82 2 2230 3367
www.shilla.net/seoul/dining


When the Michelin Guide decided to publish its guide for South Korea, there were questions as to the kind of restaurants it would consider worthy of its highest accolades. Korean cuisine, though popular globally with its iconic kimchi and Korean BBQ, wasn't as visible in the fine-dining scene outside of Korea until quite recently, with the successes in the US by David Chang with his Momofuku chain (though he popularised Korean street food in a gitzy manner in NY, and not imperial fine dining) and more recently Yim Jungsik with his epynomous restaurants in Seoul and NY (though it was his NY restaurant which first got noticed). So it would have been easy for the Michelin Guide to award its three stars to recognised global restauranteurs like Pierre Gagnaire (like what they did when they awarded the only three stars to Joel Robuchon in Singapore - which incidentally is closing this month). Instead, two local Korean restaurants, Gaon and La Yeon, were awarded the inaugural three stars for the Korea Guide, and still retain them to this day.

We visited La Yeon for lunch on a rainy summer day. It is located on the top floor of the chic Shilla Hotel on the hilltop overlooking Seoul. We were hungry that day and opted for the full La Yeon menu with a bottle of Morey St Denis. It turned out to be a long leisurely lunch where we enjoyed probably the finest Korean cuisine we have ever had. La Yeon's food is contemporary Korean, and perfectly executed its dishes in a subtle yet focused manner. It was one of those meals where we would eat every single morsel on the plate, even the pickled sides which sometimes I avoid. In a way, we felt that there were similarities between La Yeon and Lung King Heen in Hong Kong: both are champions of local haute cuisine, both received three starts in the first guide published in their respective cities, both include western fine dining touches, wine list and etiquette without compromising their local cuisine, and both were where we had fantastic meals.

Crisps and dried dates - ridiculously addictive.

Welcome Dish - steamed egg custard with diced shrimp. Though this looked like and had the texture of Japanese chawan mushi, a very intense prawn stock was used instead and the dish had a very strong umami flavour.

Chilled Keen's Gaper Salad with Wild Greens Sauce - cold grilled clams with bamboo shoots

Pan-fried Korean Beef Slices coated with flour and egg - tasted better than it looked

Steamed Red Mullet with Red Pepper Seasoning Juice - a real 'WOW' dish. The soup was a prawn stock which had a peppery and yuzu finish and the fish was cooked perfectly. This is a dish we would come back for.

Chargrilled Korean Beef Sirloin with pickled onion and seasonal vegetables - There were 3 beef choices, and we selected the sirloin and the beef slices below. Both were superb and very memorable, and even the salad was delicious.

Thin chargrilled slices of Korean Beef Marinated in Soy Sauce with pickled onion and seasonal vegetables

Mixed Rice with vegetables and Korean Beef Tartare - of the rice/noodle choices, we took the beef tartare and abalone below. We felt that the tartare dish was better (the beef was actually frozen beef slices) whereas the abalone dish wasn't taste-optimised. The pickled vegetables were fantastic, even the nondescript vegetable soup which I suspect was made using the same intense prawn stock used in the earlier dishes. The extra treat was the pear kimchi which was quite refreshing.

Hot Pot Rice with vegetables and abalone

Seasonal fruit, Iced Treat, Compote, Jelly - Korean orange

Korean tea and refreshments - cinnamon tea and red bean mochi

Soseonjae (Seoul)

April 2012

113-3 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Tel: +82 (2) 730 7002

Soseonjae is a restaurant which name we had come across in the planning of our Seoul trip. It was described as one specializing in Korean home-style traditional dining and had a particular focus on fresh vegetables grown in the chef's backyard or something like that. However, when we were in Seoul, we totally forgot about it and didn't make any effort trying to look for it.

It was then to our surprise that, on the Sunday morning when we made a trip to the touristy and picturesque Bukchon area (where you'd find traditional Korean houses of the royalty of the past and the rich of today), we walked past this restaurant, thought the exterior looked interesting, took a closer look and realised that this was initially one of the restaurants we were intending to eat at. This was a recurring theme during our trip to Seoul. We could never find the places we were looking for but when we stopped looking for it, we almost always stumbled upon it accidentally (such is the complex nature of their address system). For those looking for this restaurant, forget about the address; this restaurant is directly across the road from the Korea Institute of Banking along Samcheong-dong.

The main road leading to the Bukchon area, Samcheong-dong, starts at main palace complex and goes uphill in a narrow 2-way street. Along the street are old and new shops and restaurants. In addition to the traditional eateries, there has been a recent sprouting of hip and interesting cafes and restaurants, making Samchong-dong a popular tourist destination with the locals and foreigners alike. We were there in the morning on a Sunday, when it was still relatively quiet and peaceful, however, after noon, the crowd started coming in and the roads were jam-packed.

Having stumbled upon Soseonjae, we didn't have a reservation but fortunately they were able to seat us on condition that we vacate the table within an hour as they had a booking then. Eating a lot of food in a very short time is kind of a specialty of ours. The interior decor was very wood-dominated and looked very traditionally Korean. The tables and benches were austere and it had the feel of a traditional country inn as opposed to a fine dining restaurant. The service was warm and homely and the food was served at a very brisk pace (possibly in part because they needed us out of there within the hour). We didn't make it easy for ourselves by ordering the recommended 'Rosette Course' (probably the largest set menu), which was ambitious given that we had just finished having waffles (for breakfast) at a cafe next door.

From most accounts, Soseonjae is supposed to be a vegetarian restaurant (even the name of the restaurant means 'vegetarian restaurant' or something like that). However, meat forms a large part of their menu as well, although the restaurant generally keeps to its home-cooked and healthy theme with food which didn't taste too oily or overly salty.

First up was a soup/porridge to start us off.

The sliced duck and salad was very good (in particular the mustard dressing).

We liked the Korean omelette, in particular the one cooked with the vegetables.

Cold glass noodle with squid was savoury and quite delicious.

The sweet potato was served with dates and a honey-based sauce.

This looked like boiled pork. On its own it was quite dry and ordinary, but when wrapped in the leaf and picked cabbage, the flavours were accentuated.

Spicy and picked vegetables, a very Korean dish.

Our favourite dish was the beef patty and grilled mushrooms. Cooked to perfection.

We felt that the grilled cod-fish was overcooked and was dry and hard. We didn't manage to finish it.

Fortunately we were coming to the end of our meal with the clear soup with black fungus.

Red rice with an assortment of kimchi and other side dishes were served as fillers in case we weren't yet stuffed (we were).

Dessert was sweet pear and a kind of barley drink served in a bowl.

Final Thoughts: In all, an enjoyable and reasonably priced meal in a casual and relaxed setting. The food was quite simple yet tasty and made with quality ingredients. There were English menus and the chef/proprietor spoke a little English which was helpful.

Jungsik (Seoul)

April 2012

649-7 Sinsa-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel: +82 (2) 517 4654
jungsik.kr

Said to be one of the newer and hippest dining destinations in Seoul, Jungsik brands itself as a modern Korean restaurant serving Korean food prepared with European cooking techniques. It is named after the chef himself, Jungsik Yim, who trained at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and worked at several New York restaurants before returning to his roots in Korea and opening this restaurant. Ironically, we did not know about this place until we read a review about his second restaurant which he opened in New York, in one of food blogs we follow (Donuts4Dinner). That writeup had marvelous pictures of the food there and a raving review of the meal, so it was a no-brainer that we were to try the original Jungsik while we were in Seoul.

Located in the hip and grungy yet high-end district of Sinsa-Dong just off the Rodeo Drive of Seoul, Apgujeong-dong, it is situated on the third floor of a low rise industrial building with no signs on the outside. In Korea, knowing the road names and unit numbers could be useless unless you know how to decipher them, and it's best to get the taxi driver to put in the address into his GPS to ensure that you get there after all. Suffice to say, even after we were dropped off in front of it, we had to walk around to ask the locals for directions as we didn't know which building this was in.

The interior was quite simple and sat a relatively small number of people (perhaps 30-40 persons) with a few small private dining areas. Its menu concept was not unlike that of Eleven Madison Park in New York, whereby aside from the usual tasting menu, there was also a design tasting menu. Of the five courses of Appetiser, Rice/Noodle, Main, Main and Dessert, you get to choose one of four or five choices from each category. Unlike Eleven Madison Park though, which asks what you would like to eat and what you prefer not to have for each dish (leaving some element of creativity from the chef to prepare something somewhat customized to your tastes), there is no such choice for the dishes you pick at Jungsik.

The amuse bouche was a very impressive start to the meal, both visually and gastronomically. The first was a glass bowl of smoked salmon in yoghurt and korean pickles, which was very nicely balanced.

Then the millefeuille with foie gras cream, which was stunning. The pastry in particular was baked with the high standard expected of a pastry chef trained in the French tradition.

The bulgogi mini burger was a reminder of the Korean roots of this restaurant, although the memorable part of this burger was not the beef (which was very good nonetheless), but the burger bun which was very airy yet firm.

Finally, a spoon full of solidified chicken soup with some croutons and chives, an attempt at molecular gastronomy. This one wasn't that special.

They had a decent enough wine list for a Korean restaurant, although the mark ups were high. We picked out a Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru which turned out to be a very good wine and paired well with our food.

Despite amuse bouche being served, they were to serve another starter dish before they commenced our meal. It was the mung bean jelly with crustacean clear soup, which was very good.

Jungsikdang Mushroom - Poached Egg, Dashi Sauce, Parmesan Chip, Kimchi: We both had the same starter (always a sucker for poached egg). It was a very good dish.

Spicy Kalguksu - Korean Green Pepper, Cream, Clams, Korean Style Noodle: This was quite nice (not spicy enough in my wife's view) but we couldn't help but think that the same noodle by the street side might taste better and more authentic.

Herbal Sujebi - Hand Picked Noodle, Spicy Parsley Clam Broth: My dish was similarly colored (the green was from the basil) and the clam broth was quite nice, but with flat squarish noodle instead. But similar to my wife's noodle dish it didn't seem to belong to a menu of such high-end food.

Pomfret - Sujebi, Korean Radish, Boiled in Spiced Soy Sauce: This was my wife's first meat dish. It was good if not particularly special.

Octopus - Doenjang Sauce, Fried Potato, Korean Herb: This was my first meat dish. It was absolutely delicious. The octopus was grilled to perfection and this reminded me of a similar dish we had at Marea in New York recently (no faint praise for Jungsik, indeed).

Five Senses Pork Belly - Spicy, Crunchy, Sour, Soft and Sweet: This was Jungsik's signature dish (with the goat's cheese foam) and it was every bit as good as was advertised.

Crispy Duck - Duck Breast, Pear Puree, Dried Fig: I was being adventurous in ordering the duck breast. This is usually very risky as only the top restaurants can cook duck breast perfectly without causing it to be too overcooked and chewy. Suffice to say, I was very happy with my dish, and sauce in particular, was something I'd expect in a top French restaurant.

Pre-dessert was a very nice strawberry and yoghurt base and passionfruit and pineapple foam.

Fall in the Chocolate - 72% Dark Chocolate, Korean Angelica Root Ice Cream, Cinnamon Sable: The chocolate fondant was immaculately baked and the herby ice cream and sable crumble were good accompaniments.

Jang Dok - 40% Milk Chocolate Mousse, Chestnut and Jujube Cake, Sugar Straw: Visual pretty dessert (looking like 2 eggs in a bird's nest), this tasted as good as it looked. All in all, we were very impressed with both the desserts.

We were then served coffee and tea and I opted for an interesting Korean herbal tea from one of the leaves in the large test tubes presented to us.

Petit four was a selection of Korean desserts prepared in a western manner and was a great end to the meal.

Final Thoughts: This was a superb meal prepared by a very talented kitchen. Service was also excellent and all the staff members spoke English well (rare in Seoul). Aside from the 2 noodle dishes, the other dishes wouldn't look out of place in the menu of a Michelin star French restaurant. Ironically, though Jungsik professes to be a modern Korean restaurant, if the same food (other than the noodles of course) were served in a restaurant like Astrance or Pierre Gagnaire or any of the other famous French restaurants, this could easily be deemed to be modern European with a Korean touch, such is the classical European techniques employed for the meal.