The restaurant was fairly busy for lunch time. Nothing particularly stood out about the restaurant, except the fact that it was on the 27th floor. It would be a good date night location.
We had the Galbi Gui & Dwenjang Jjigae lunch combo and the Yukgaejang lunch item. The items and the side dishes that came along with the meal were tailored for local tastes. Some ingredients were missing or was used in a lesser amount. The Yukgaejang and Dwenjang Jjigae tasted more bland, less salty, and had less flavour. For example, less bean paste was used for the Dwenjang Jjigae. Jjigaes are meant to be salty as it is a shared dish, but it was more of a bean paste soup in reality (gook as it referred in Korean). This did not mean that they skimped out of the ingredients though. The Yukgaejang seemed to have more mushrooms and all the proper ingredients that would be in it. These adaptations seem to have been made to make the dishes less overwhelming to the Chinese palate. As for the Galbi Gui, it was good and authentic.
The side dishes were also bland. The side dishes reminded me of Chinese home cooked side dishes, which may be more appropriate for the local diners in mind. Missing was a heavy use of garlic in the preparation of the food as it was minimal or omitted in the food. Overall, it was an enjoyable meal and I thought the food was adapted well with the Chinese palate in mind because it: (1) made the flavours less overwhelming; (2) used less garlic to prevent a garlic breath (perhaps to cater to the office workers); and (3) was prepared to be similar to Chinese home made dishes.
While this restaurant is not "authentic" to the usual Korean sense, the menu has been well adapted to the Chinese palate. Of course, there are variations of Korean dishes within Korea itself, so I can't say the variations are too far off to be truly non-authentic, but it definitely is not typical or usual. It's flavours are mild and bland, but such flavours are more familiar and similar to the Chinese dishes. There seems to have been much thought put into the adaptations. I wouldn't mind coming here for lunch with my colleagues, but I wouldn't want to come here if I wanted more authentic Korean soups and side dishes. From the taste of the Galbi Gui, I think the BBQ items would be authentic though. read more