FatManSeoul

Fatman and Zen Kimchi recieved a very gracious invitation to dine at the W Hotel  (of X Burger fame) for an evening of contemporary Korean cuisine. Nobody with tastebuds and the sense God gave geese would turn down an invitation like that, so off we skipped for a truly remarkable dinner . . .

The night started off with special cocktails invented for the evening, both based on munbaesul (문배술) ~ this traditional distilled alcohol is said to have a scent remeniscent of pear blossoms. For the record, there is no place in Seoul more swank than the Woo Bar of the W. If you are looking to impress a date, this is the place. We should mention as well the very knowledgeable and charming staff here, all of whom are every bit as lovely as the drinks.

After removing ourselves from the bar to the restaurant, we were treated to a multi-course meal of some of the most elegant food we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. The meal was ambitious in that it sought to present Korean food as high class dining. Can we move beyond 5,000won 됀장찌개 without resorting to the stale cliches of half than 한정식 places in town? What kind of preparation and presentation would work to elevate Korean food into something that can be not just internationalized, but take the world in the same way that haute French cuisine has? Is it even possible?
Ask Fatman. We tasted the future of Korean cuisine that night at the W, and it is delicious!

Fatman’s love of 육회 is well documented, and this rendition was superlative. “Beef tartare” it may be on the menu, but this particular combination of flavors was all Korean. It was paired with Fatman’s favorite tipple of the evening, a sparkling “Opere Brut” from NV Villa Santi. While we never would have thought to pair a spumante with steak tartare, we loved the combination of the silky meat with this wine ~ it was both soft and crisp at the same time, like a tutu.

From there on, the menu turned into a guessing game, matching the W’s version against more traditional renditions of Korean dishes. Any guesses what this was?

Need a closer look? This was one of the most visually stunning dishes of the evening, with a beautiful structural element to the presentation.

Fried ginseng, chestnut, ginko nuts, jujube, wrapped in chicken . . . one dip in the gloriously rich, medicinal broth leaves its provenance as samgyetang in no doubt. Other elements of the traditional meal were brought in, but in exceedingly clever ways, like the black garlic paste on the side of the soup plate that lent the dish a little extra something.

The flavor profile is exactly that of the traditional stuffed spring chicken, but refined and tailored to a much more modern, sophisticated palate.

The next plate brought abalone risotto and chili marinated black cod, for a hot-and-mild combination. On its own, the risotto was creamy and nice, but a little underwhelming and mild. However, paired with the marvelous zing of the chili marinated cod, it worked as great soothing counter. The black cod may well have been the highlight of the evening, with a riveting sweet smokey note underneath the spice of the marinade.


The next course could serve as an object lesson for those who feel that Korean food lacks the potential for sophistication and refinement. It doesn’t get much more refined than this gorgeous seafood soup. It took a few moments to register as a variation on 매운탕, but once made, the connection was unmistakeable.

The broth had a magnificent layered seafood taste, and the seafood itself had a fresh, clean taste that really put the dish into the category of extraordinary. The individual elements all held their own, distinctive, but worked together in a way that trademarks Korean fish stews. Between the fish, the shellfish, the greens, and the little bits of ddeok tucked away underneath, it covered a whole range of textures, as well. It also had the most wonderfully fragrant wine of the evening, a 2006 Daniel Rion & Fils Bourgogne. It was a stronger wine than the bouquet suggested, and stood up to the spice, but we don’t want to drink it so much as bathe in it.

Having turned up the heat with the last few dishes, Hickey and co. cooled things off with a palate refreshing sorbet that took inspiration from sujeonggwa, the ginger, cinnamon, and persimmon punch of yore. With just a hint of rice wine underneath, this did the trick perfectly, bringing the tastebuds back to readiness with the switch in flavors, temperature, and texture. Now that we’d had a bit of a break, it was time to get down to business: Beefy business.

Let the reign of 한우 begin! Bring on the Korean beef!

The hanwoo appeared three different ways on a single plate: As a meltingly soft sirloin, slow cooked short-rib, and a stuffed zucchini. Of the three, the rich sirloin was the most western of the three in taste and presentation, but let that not dissuade you ~ it was like eating beef flavored butter, a hunk of pure meat. Stuffed vegetables of any kind offer a challenge, but the zucchini offered a nice touch of freshness and helped keep things from being to heavily meat-oriented. Finally, the slow cooked short ribs were a decadent, wonderful version of the traditional 갈비찜: soft, tender, and richly flavored.

But on to dessert . . . Chef Hickey and his team really showed their committment to and knowledge of local ingredients here at the end, starting with their pepper poached Naju pears and black sesame ice cream.

The pear was beautiful, offset by just a hint of spice from the peppercorns, but the real star was the glorious black sesame ice cream. Cool, creamy ice cream was the perfect showpiece for the rich nuttiness of the sesame, enhanced by a crisp sesame cookie. Uniting both the ice cream and the pear in a single bite made for a particularly fruitful pearing, with the slightly spicy pear working as an exciting foil for the creamy, nutty ice cream.

The evening concluded with tea, coffee, and some surprising petite fours. While petite four conjurs up images of grandma-esque miniature cakes with bad frosting, these were gorgeous Jeju hallabong jellies, these were like condensed sunshine.

Fatman would like to thank the W Hotel and the staff of the Kitchen and Woo Bar again for an amazing dining experience. Seoul offers many delicious things to eat, but few so comprehensive, so elegant, or so beautifully prepared and served. We very much hope that this evening was a token of things to come, a promissory note of more Korean notes from the W Hotel and Korean food as a whole.

To read a Korean review of the evening, let us point you to the fine food blogging of 김범수 of 팟투바하의 ‘맛있는’ 라이프 스타일. Bon appetite!

For even more pictures of the meal (what?  are you saying you don’t take hundreds of pictures of what you eat?) visit our flickr page.
(we’d also like to apologize for the unforgivable delay in getting this up! mea culpa!)