Today, July 17th, is one of the four big national holidays in Korea. It is the day Korea for the first time had the constitution. Yet unlike the 3.1 day, the day many students stood up for independence of Korea under Japanese imperialism, it provokes less emotion; people are happier that it is a red day you get to have a day off, and Mirae and I were one of them.Yet this restaurant is in one of the small corners that may be a little tricky to find. Under a simple grey building, peaking out is a green little flowershop, which turns out to be a small restaurant with maybe fourty seatings or less (It recently opened second floor named Vino, mainly for group wine&dine events).
The restaurants in Korea usually don't have a different price for lunch and dinner. That is for the single dish, but often times they have a course menu, and lunch courses are usually short and relatively cheap for the people who have tight budget; that would me!
Appetizers are 15,000~25,000 and primo(pasta) 19,000~28,000 secondo 32,000~70,000. The lunch courses are 27,000(A) 33,000(B) and 35,000(C) + 10% VAT. Course A includes a small appetizer platter-today's soup-your choice of pasta among three daily specials-dessert. B and C include a small appetizer platter-today's soup or today's pasta-main dish among three choices (B is fish and C is meat).Originally aiming for a seafood risotto, I was tempted by the C course and ended up ordering lamb chops for my meal. Among the three choices were tenderloin steak, Osso Bucco, lamb chops. Unfortunately, no sirloin steak today!
The bread was very warm, almost hot, and the texture was nearly perfect.
The small appetizer platter included a small portion of salad with italian dressing, caprese and fried sea bass with tartar sauce. The salad was simple with good dressing, and fresh mozzarella had a nice texture. My favorite was the sea bass with a nice crispy coating and very fine tartar sauce.
For the lunch course I ordered, I could choose between soup of the day or small portion of gnocchi with rose sauce (tomato cream sauce). I am not a big fan of gnocchi, but did not try to ask for a substitute with an extra charge because I wanted to try the sauce. And actually, while the gnocci was a disappointment, the other stuff such as broccoli, peppers and mushroom went very well with the nice sauce. I even dipped the remainder of my bread and asked for some more.
The only thing that made me unpleased today was that when I asked for some more bread, they were pretty late. I don't blame them because judging by the warmth of the bread, they got some new ones or at least was heating them up. Yet what made me a little upset was that they took the remainder of my love, nicely made tomato cream sauce and also a dip for me, before the bread arrived pretty late. It defeated the whole purpose of asking for extra bread! Nah, I should have told them, maybe. But I was talking passionately to my friend that I couldn't do anything else at the time.
My lamb chop, ordered medium, was cooked nicely. Though I like my steaks medium rare, lamb may be the only exception. For garnish, there were garlic, asparagus, zukini, eggplant, mushroom, a cherry tomato and a tiny potato. On the side are mint jelly and seedy mustard to go along.
Well, I must say that I was quite upset with the small amount that was served, despite its pretty look! Yet the meat itself was charming, and so were the garnish. Though many Koreans like mint jelly to cover the unique taste of lamb, for me it was rather sweet. Mustard was better, but I enjoyed it best with the seasoning already on the meat.
Here is the genovese pasta Mirae ordered. With olive oil, basil, parmesan cheese and pinenuts, it had a pretty nice taste. The spaghetti was cooked nicely and the flavor was good as well. The portion was pretty generous; maybe not by American standards! Mirae had a hard time finishing her dish after having bits of dish from my course, so my fourth demension stomach helped her not having any leftovers.
Taking back leftovers are not a common concept in Korea, and therefore you usually don't have them in the first place. Personally I like the American way, though I do not advocate huge portions from some restaurants. Still you may order some various dish just for the sake of it!
The dessert was a cheesecake tart style, mango sorvet and pieces of... probably plum, if I remember correctly. The cheesecake, though not my favorite, was above average and the sorvet, though a little rich mangoness for my taste, was okay as well.Yes, I wanted to order a chocolate cake with extra charge, but was out of budget. I was going to have a seafood risotto, not a course meal! Ah, but Mirae's selfish temptation got me at its first try. I actually wanted sirloin steak, which was not on the menu today.
The bill was 38,500KRW(approx 42USD) for me including 10% VAT, and 22,000 (24USD) for the Genovese pasta Mirae ordered. This was the biggest amount of money I ever paid for a single meal by myself, since I am a student who is not allowed to work and live upon allowance.
So? I would say it was a nice experience, though I regret a little about how I ordered a lunch course instead of a simple pasta dish. After all, I was not happy with my gnocchi and would have been much happier with risotto. Yet the lamb chop was nice and I was satisfied, except for the fact that I spent twice my expected budget for the day. I guess I would lament a little less if the small pasta included in my course was something else, especially because the spaghetti Mirae ordered was tasty.
The service was very nice, not too stiff but kind, just like the flowershop or houselike interior. The bread story was a little upsetting but acceptable, and in general I was pleased. I would definitely like to visit again, next time when I am again charged with what I call my 'gourmet buget'.
