Jungsik Michelin Starred Restaurant in Seoul
Recently we went to Jungsik a Michelin starred restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul. I’d been wanting to go for a while as I’d heard good things about it. (There’s also a Jungsik restaurant in New York which now has 2 stars.) See more restaurant suggestions at the Michelin Guide to Seoul.
We went for a weekend lunch. It wasn’t busy and the atmosphere was relaxed. The service was polite and efficient and the waitress was prepared to explain each course to customers in English or Korean – it took a while to explain all the ingredients and cooking methods though, and it began to feel like a memory test! A short written summary in the menu would have been helpful…
Anyway, we had the 5 course lunch which offers a choice of two dishes per course – one meat-based and one seafood. And the dishes had a variety of subtle flavours, creamy textures, and smoky aromas. There were no vegetarian options though, so if you are a veggie, you must call first to check if they can do a special menu.
5 COURSE LUNCH
Appetiser
We got off to an exciting start with a fusion medley appetiser. We were advised to eat each of the 5 bite-size appetisers in the designated order starting with the mysterious roll which looks like it was found nestling on the forest floor. The crunchy biscuit was filled with a tofu and pear jam which had a creamy cheese consistency.
Just the roll itself was edible. And I’m glad I asked as I was about to eat everything – even the bits of wood! (Yes, that’s the kind of girl I am. But actually, I’m not a fan of inedible decoration or garnish. Like a plastic flower garnishing sashimi. It’s just wrong.) But still, this did look interesting…
Next we were directed to the Korean aromatic vegetable (nengi) and radish wrapped in rice paper, followed by the mini ice cream filled with a creamy fish flavour and ikura salmon roe. The kimbap rice roll in seaweed had the familiar kimbap taste although it was made with a twist – salted oyster and apple kimchi. We ended with deep fried burdock with a tomato jam. And this course was served with a rose wine!
course 2
Scallops in butter sauce
Scallops remind me of chef Gordon Ramsey on the TV show Hell’s Kitchen where he’s swearing at the terrified candidates because their scallops are RAW or OVER-COOKED. Of course these scallops were perfectly cooked and beautifully presented on a light buttery sauce. They were served with white kimchi (baek kimchi) and Korean celery pickle. But even with the pickle and kimchi, the flavours were very subtle.
The table was set with chopsticks and knife and fork to reflect, I suppose, the fusion nature of the dishes. We chose the wine pairing menu which meant that the sommelier chose a glass of wine to go with each dish. I had white wines and rosé with my seafood choices while Mr Kim had white and red wines with his meat.
course 3
sea urchin bibimbap
This is one of the signature dishes of the restaurant. A generous portion of sea urchin served on rice and crunchy millet. Once the sea urchin was mixed in with the rice the dish had a rich and creamy consistency, but not fishy. I liked the presentation of this dish. The bowl is raised higher at the back so that you can see the presentation more easily. Like an exhibit at a gallery.
Mr Kim had the beef soup with smoky mushrooms and rice. The broth was very smoky and tasty. He wanted to point out the shape of the unusual spoon he was given to eat this with in the picture below.
course 4
grilled sea bass with mukunji aged kimchi
Since I chose all my dishes from the seafood option, courses 4 and 5 were both fish – sea bass followed by cod. Although they were cooked differently.
The skin of the sea bass smelled good and smokey. The fish was served in a wide dish stacked on top of aged kimchi (묵은지mukunji). And powdered seaweed decorated the plate. This course came with a small dish of clear sesame oil which I was to pour around the edge of the dish so that it would trickle down catching the powdered seaweed on its way to the fish. The sesame oil which the chefs make themselves had a nutty and fresh aroma.
course 5
steamed cod with acorn jelly and radish
Fish again! This time it was cod and it was served on a bed of steamed acorn jelly and radish in soy sauce.
DESSERT
The most visually impressive of the dessert choices has to be this interpretation of the dol hareubang (돌하르방) rock statues which can be seen on Jeju Island. It looks impressive and is sponge with a green tea filling served with ice cream. The dessert was served with a choice of coffee or various teas: chrysanthemum, mint, or mugwart.
We spent a leisurely couple of hours in the restaurant. The service was good, I enjoyed the visual presentation of the dishes and I appreciated the quality of the ingredients and some of the flavours and textures – such as the smoky fish and the crunchy mixture in the bibimbap.
There were hints of Korean flavours as almost every dish included some gentle kimchi. But for me personally, the flavours were TOO Westernised. And what I mean by that is they were subtle flavours and the courses centred around a piece of meat or fish. That is not necessarily bad for everyone. But in a ‘fusion’ setting it seems that the Western flavours may be enhanced but the Korean flavours have to take a hit and become toned down.
I also wonder at the aversion to offering vegetarian dishes. There are lots of vegetables in Korea that have unusual, aromatic, bitter, or earthy flavours which could be added to make exciting food – perilla leaves, mugwort, and ginseng, to name but a few off the top of my head. Not to mention a range of fantastic seaweed.
It was not a cheap experience but definitely worth going if only to satisfy my curiosity.
