Ally wanted to dine in somewhere 'nice' while I was in Korea so we decided to try out 정식당 where they serve "New Korean" cuisine. They have a sister restaurant in NY that just received 2 stars so I had high expectations and was really looking forward to it! Also the fact that I had never been to a white-linen-on-the-table-type restaurant in Korea only fueled the anticipation.
*BTW, all of this written in my personal perspective and how I would do service. It is gonna be VERY pedantic.
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| Table Setting. Sporkisticks to the right. |
Walked in, greeted warmly and we were sat on a 4 top. We both had coats but no one offered to take them....ok, maybe they do things little differently here...
Sat down, got offered variety of waters, great. I guess it's not really a 'thing' in Korea to have an aperitif but I had expected to be asked about it at the restaurant of this caliver. Maybe they do things differently here...
They had either a 5-course pre fixe menu, which reminded me little of EMP's old grid menu or a chef's choice menu. In order to try as many dishes as possible, Ally & I chose the pre fixe menu.
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| Grid menu at EMP |
Amuse Bouche No.1
I can't remember what she said it was inspired by but for me, it reminded me a bit of finger food we would have at an autumn field trip when I was little. From the top, 유부 fried tofu with vegetable, 멸치 고추장 주먹밥 anchovy and chilli paste rice ball, 닭강정 fried chicken.
The chicken was so crispy and delicious!
House made bread. Black olive ciabatta and 청양고추 green chilli baguette. It was really cool to see that they gave a Korean twist to their bread even.
Amuse Bouche No. 2
Clam soup. Yum with little kick from chilli.
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| Mushrooms |
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| Fried Oysters |
1st Course. Mushrooms & Oysters
Orgy of oriental mushrooms (for you WHR kids! lol) were cooked at low temp (which I suspect means sous-vide'd) and served with various garnishes including parmesan, gruyere and aioli. It was well balanced and cheese & mushes go surprisingly well together!
Squid ink crumbed fried oysters w anchovy aioli and pickled vegetables. I wish I could have tasted the oysters little more. Poor little things got buried under all other flavours!
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| Tartar 비빔밥 |
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| Uni 비빔밥 |
Loved the bowls. Ally had the tartar which was super tasty. That dish really felt like New Korean.
I had the uni which was super creamy and delicious. It was served on sea weed risotto and to add texture they put puffed grains (which I don't know the name of in English) which I thought was just so so clever.
Why is Uni or Kina more popular in NZ? They so tasty. Are all the Maori people keeping the good stuff to themselves? Please, do share.
At this point, Ally took a bite of my last piece of bread and found a piece of plastic inside it. As a general rule, I let them know of these things just to let them know so it doesn't happen to the others and never expect anything. I know better than anyone that fuck ups happen all the time so I make an effort to not make a fuss. Unless they really fucked me off some other way of course........
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| Fish |
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| Lobster |
My favourite course of the night. The fish was cooked SCALES ON! Dayum, all the fish should be cooked this way...I've been totally missing out. Crispy skin? Ain't got nothing on this!!
It was served with.....I didn't even care, the fish was AWESOME. Also, I can't remember what Ally's lobster was served with. Soz about it.
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| Gangnam Chicken |
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| Pork Jowl |
Arrrgg I'm struggling to remember the details...Ally's 'Gangnam' chicken. I didn't quite understand the reference. Chicken breast cooked at low temp served with...stuff....and things...and shit....pretty unmemorable dish to be honest.
Pork jowl with with mushrooms, pickled onion shoot and pickle juice. It was an interesting combination of salty, sour and fatty. I did wish the skin was crispier..
Ally asked for a wine recommendation with the chicken dish and I was secretly hoping the sommelier, who recently came no 1 at a competition, would come over and make a suggestion. However, that didn't happen and he waiter recommended a shiraz, which he offered to both of us as an apology for the plastic bread incident. Much appreciated, but shiraz? chicken? I thought to myself perhaps the chicken is served with something that would compliment..but it wasn't and the match just didn't work. Disappointed. It was better with the pork though.
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| 'PacoBingsu' |
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| 'Around this time in Hapchun'
5th Course. Pacobingsu & Around this time in Hapchun
PacoBingsu is a take on Pat Bingsu which is a very popular summer dessert in Korea. It normally looks like this.
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My dessert, at the most basic level, was chocolate mousse with chestnut paste. But the presentation, just awesome. For you white folks, the dish is presents to look like these terracotta vase? pots? that we use in Korea to store various sauces and kimchi in. They normally look like this.
Cool yea? Bask in the glory that is detail. If you hadn't noticed, the flower petals have WATER DROPS! I was impressed. Not only that, this dish changes according to the season. For example for winter,
Very cool. Very clever. Hence the name 'Around this time in Hapchun'. Hapchun is a place in Korea btw.
Petit Four. stuff. and things.
Ahh...cigarette butt...I get the reference here, I think it's clever and all but as a non-smoker this really didn't appeal to me that much. shame.
Overall, to be brutally honest, I was very underwhelmed. Particularly in terms of service I think. It started from the coat, then no apéritif, empty glasses & bread plates left on the table for half of the meal, messy bathroom, napkins not being folded etc etc.
I guess I was just disappointed in the way when a kid meets his hero or idol for the first time and the guy turns out to be a drug addict asshole...you get what I mean. Hopefully the two stared hero in NYC doesn't turn out to be the same drug addict asshole.
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