Memorable Eats: A Journal

Restaurant Name: Woomadam

Notes:

Japanese style steamed egg with a katsuobushi/dashi gelee on top. Softest steamed egg I have ever had.

Bibimmyeon with rice noodles and a not-too spicy, refreshing, fruity sauce. Most memorable in-between dish I had so far. Simple but tasty and a great palate cleanser.

Restaurant Name: Woonique

Notes:

Barley and soybean paste quenelle – I don’t know how they made it but it wasn’t too salty. It was a perfect “sauce” to eat with the meat. Best thing I have seen so far to be served with the meat at an omakase.

A whole abalone – did they make cream with the guts to make the sauce?

Restaurant Name: N/A

Notes:

A whole ankimo. So tender and slightly sweet but savory. Very creamy.

The softest, custard-like tamago I’ve ever had. I asked the chef and they made it with blended up shrimp?

Restaurant Name: Woobulli

Notes:

Spinach curry ragu. Couldn’t really taste the spinach, but the curry was definitely there. Not Indian style but Japanese style curry.

Slider was so simple with patty, tomato, lettuce, and sauce. It was so good I asked the chef what goes in the sauce. He said it’s a basic burger sauce, but with 17 ingredients. I don’t know how to recreate it but if I did, I would need to start with the basic mayo and ketchup and think of whatever goes with those.

Not pictured here, but the last meal was bean sprout rice. VERY good – taking a simple Korean dish and elevating it.

Restaurant Name: Haeoreum

Notes:

The pumpkin, bean porridge. They called it a tarak porridge, with is apparently made with rice and milk.

Salad made with chamnamul, or pimpinella brachycarpa(?). I can’t find a simpler term for it in English. But they mixed it with thinly sliced beef and a sesame dressing with VERY heavy crushed sesame.

Sous-vide octopus that was char-grilled. It has a Korean style chimichurri with citrus (I think orange) and 방품나물 instead of parsley.

Squid-ink fried eel served with a teriyaki-style sauce that was sweet and salty and mixed with green onions and sesame seeds.

Restaurant Name: Woomadam (again)

Notes:

Beef tartare was mixed had onions and soy sauce gelee. Onions provided nice crunch that is needed when serving tartare. Seaweed was multiple layered up and fried.

Same Japanese style steamed egg as before, but with truffle gelee. Had ginko nut, shrimp, and mushroom inside.

Second beef tartare was served with white kimchi, uni cream, and beef that was mixed in a gochujang sauce.

The beef cuts were tenderloin, 부채살, 살치살. The latter one was brushed in a garlic sauce and served with green onion soy sauce mixture. (I would guess soy sauce, honey, and water)

Short rib patty was served with truffle white sauce (I’m thinking bechamel), caramelized onions, and fried onions.

Another thing – ALL beef cuts were sprinkled with crushed black and white pepper. They served salt on the side, but everything had basic pepper seasoning.

Restaurant Name: Jungsikdang (2 Michelin-star)

Notes:

Honestly very disappointing.

Only thing I liked was that they served 3 different desserts and they were all completely different from each other and very special. They had pear sorbet, banana mousse cake, and chestnut dessert with chestnut ice cream. Amazing.

Restaurant Name: Evett (1 Michelin-star)

Notes:

Disappointing as well.

Good part was duck breast, which is usually not served. Most places serve seafood and beef.

Another thing that isn’t pictured was spinach curry that tasted very Indian-style. It wasn’t like palak paneer. It was like a Makhani made with spinach.

Also, they had a lot of vegetable crisps. I don’t know if that is particularly a good thing, but it stood out. I think they pureed vegetables and dehydrated them.

Restaurant Name: N/A

Notes:

Name of restaurant is worth forgetting because this place sucked so much. I am writing notes on what NOT to do.

Everything was French-based sauces, exactly how I learned it in culinary school. It was like they didn’t know how to be creative and utilize the basics they learned in school.

And if you know anything about French sauces and cooking, they are very heavy. Everything was so heavy. Nothing was refreshing and each dish just weighed me down more and more.

Let’s never do this, Jammin.