I was already a fan when they first started at their humble underground property. I could still remember the warm service from the crew, and how chef Kang Min-gu went extra miles to re-design the menu just to accommodate my shellfish allergy. (Duh! Why it has to be me?)

The meal was incredibly delicious, and I regret only writing about it now. Well, it is better late than never! Mine was a quintessential ensemble of Seoul’s unforgettably beautiful spring. Do note that their menu changes according to season, so you won’t get the exact same dishes when you visit them.

Seasonality. First on the table were three cold dishes: flounder fish, veggie wraps, strawberry puree and chives shot. A little bit of everything from the forest to the sea, I love how all the elements work together, so clean and refreshing it wakes my taste buds for the night.

Some other dishes that came right after the Seasonality. I couldn’t quite remember what were those on the jelly, though. The foie gras with the thin caramelised crust was a true delight.

Wine of the night was a 2011 Louis Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon recommended by the sommelier. It comes in a beautiful burgundy shade with a strong aroma of blackberries, cherries and dried herbs. A full bodied drink with a long finish. I liked it.

Lobster & Foie. A brilliant salad made of lobster and foie gras, root vegetables, spring herbs, truffle and black garlic dressing. At first bite, the pungent note of foie gras and truffle jump out at me, alongside with the taste of fresh lobster. The root vegetables create substance to the dish. The earthy notes from the roots and the refreshingly acidic taste from the garlic dressing encourage the whole dish to harmonise. It is jaw-dropping delicious that I almost teared upon finishing the dish. ↓

Up next were two dishes grouped under Eggplant. The eggplant custard, eggplant caviar, shrimp and vanilla dumpling were soul-warmingly good but the eggplant chip was the game changer. Sliced to paper-thin, the eggplants are coated with batter and deep fried, then topped with salmon roe for that extra juiciness and moist that pops in your mouth. The passion fruit sauce adds a pleasing fruity hints and notes of luscious foie gras sauce packs a lot of punch.

Seaweed was a brilliant interpretation of the usage of different kind of seaweeds in one plate. I was pleasantly surprised that even when flounder was the crab substitute in my plate, the chef managed to infuse sweetness in the maesaengi (seaweed fluvescens) broth. White kimchi, kelp and green laver were the ingredients that did the magic!

I had the Lamb as my main. I had never ordered a lamb at any restaurant because I simply hate the gamy smell. The waiter was confident and I thought I could give them a try – and it turned out to be one of the best choices of the night.

The perfectly charred lamb was marinated in doen-jang (bean paste), one of the cooking essentials in a Korean’s kitchen. The bean paste and the celery root were just nice to quell any gamy flavour. The tender meat goes well with the creamy cauliflower mash, makes it the best lamb I’ve ever had.

Korean Beef. Tenderloin beef charred to the slight crisp on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth-inside-state. The truffle sauce adds lusciousness to the meat, make it one of the most popular dish here at Mingles.

My pick for dessert was the Jang Trio – Strange as it may sound, 3 types of the most important condiments in Korean culinary are used in the dessert. Doen-jang (soy bean paste) cream brûlée, topped with vanilla ice-cream, then sprinkled with some Gan-jang (soy sauce) pecan and Gochujang (chilli pepper) grains, and finish off with whisky foam.

I have never imagined these salty condiments would make such good desserts. Chef Kang had extracted the sweetness from each of these sauces and they compliment each other so well. An impressive creation the restaurant should keep on their menu!

K prefers the Coco Winter – a dessert intricately plated with coconut tapioca, passion fruit sorbet, buckwheat cake and caramelised popcorn. I always love tapioca pudding and coconut, they’re like chicken to beer, so perfectly together. Creamy, refreshing with a fruity twist, this is a dish any coconut lover would fall in love the first bite.

Writer’s note: An impressive dinner in Seoul, a place I look forward to my next visit. If you want to splurge on one place during your trip, this is it. Everything was done right you won’t regret a single penny here. However, the reservation was a hindrance, though. I had to book 2 months in advance to secure a dinner on my desired date back then. Now that it is listed as the world’s 50 best restaurants and a Michelin Star restaurant, I expect the waiting list to be longer.

Contact Details:

밍글스 Mingles
Gangnam-gu, Nonhyun-dong 94-9, 1st floor, Seoul, South Korea
서울특별시 강남구 논현동 94-9 더 채플 웨딩홀 1층 레스토랑 밍글스
Tel. 02-515-7306
Reservation: info@restaurant-mingles.com
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat| Lunch 12pm-3pm | Dinner 6pm – 1030pm, Last order 830pm.
*Sat & public holiday dinner 6pm-10pm.

Directions:

Update 2020:

Tutto Bene is permanently closed. Chef Lee Jaehun has started a new restaurant 있을 재 (在) at Sinsa-dong. The new restaurant continues to inject the Korean element into western-style creative cuisine.

The interior of the restaurant is very quaint but slightly cramped  cosy I would say. The vintage interior helps in transiting the atmosphere into a romantic one, suitable for an evening date. The long, narrow corridor. the lace door panels, the antique bookshelf, the ivory canvas lampshade, Indochine armchairs, everything look straight out of a foreign land, emitting a mysterious yet romantic charm.

The chef, Lee Jae Hoon received his training and accumulated experiences in Piedmont and Tuscany before coming back to South Korea. Tutto Bene has another name in traditional characters — “萬事快調” , that means “Everything is fine” – blending unique house music, vintage wine and good fusion Italian cuisine together, I don’t think anything can seriously go wrong here.

We settled down with Black Pork Tagliatelle and Cream Mushroom Risotto with Beef, and it was time to select the wine for the night. They have quite a comprehensive collection of wine, from old to the new world. The cute sommelier suggested Tridente Tempranillo of 2010, a Spanish wine from Bodegas Triton Winery.

Tridente Tempranillo of 2010. The wine comes in a darker shade. As expected,  it was brimming with sweet scents of black berries and dark chocolate (two of my favourite combination when it comes to red wine), with some tinkling spice detected at the back. Thick and dense in texture, this rich drink would make a wonderful pair with red meat. I am not an expert in wine appreciation, but this particular one just captured everything I like for my wine so… a thumbs up!

First dish of the night: Black Pork Tagliatelle. The pasta was cooked to the perfect al dente while the pork was in right tenderness. Tomato was the ingredient that gave that refreshing kick. Topping the tomato-pork gravy was a generous amount of cheese flakes, showered so beautifully on top of the dish, elevate it into a bold dish. A nice start, Delizioso!

Cream Mushroom Risotto with Beef Tenderloin. Cream and mushroom are always the perfect flavour combo. I love how thoroughly the risotto rice are infused in the woodsy mushroom flavour. Tenderloin on top was seared to the perfect crisp, light and juicy. Attention was paid to detail for preparing the dish!

The second bottle for the night was a 2003 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain. The Basic note was my favourite combi again: a heavy black-fruity base with a light touch of mocha. I don’t know if it was only me or did anyone else detected a slight lavender note lingering at the background? Anyway, it was soooooo good that I wanted to store a few bottles home.

Since there were plenty of wine remained, we decided to order another dish to compliment the beautiful wine. And so the third dish was stir fried flat tripes, or some might call it “mountain chain”, basically refers to the rumen (a part of cow’s stomach) which is soft in texture. I forgot to take a picture of the dish so I got the picture above from a Tistory blogger who ordered the same dish. It tasted like a Beef Kway Teow Noodle from zhichar store, I mean, real good zhichar store. Perhaps it was the nice, smokey flavour of wok-hei (breath of the wok that usually make the dish good) that made the dish taste similar to our local dish. I totally did not expect that but well, I liked it.

Last but not least, dessert for the night: the Tutto Bene Tiramisu. Let me give you some background about their Tiramisu here.  It was rated as top five Tiramisu in South Korea on Poing app (a popular South Korean food & lifestyle smartphone application) and scored 4 out of 5 points, the highest among all 5 other Tiramisussss. The serving is generous. I think it is a good portion shared by two. Using mascarpone cheese in their tiramisu, the texture was sensually tantalizing, with the taste of cocoa, coffee and the intoxicating flavour of brandy. Their tiramisu was the best I ever had in Korea thus far, not only noteworthy, but impressive. I am very sorry, but I simply couldn’t find suitable adjectives to tell you how it taste. Maybe you should go down and give it a try and come out an adjective of your own ;p

Writer’s Note: Mains are great, but certain dishes are towards mediocre. Tiramisu was absolutely delectable. The atmosphere was romantic and the service was attentive. Professional sommelier available to help with selecting your kind of wine, which was great. One side note is that I find wine price in Korea quite ridiculous, but that wasn’t the problem with the restaurant anyway. It is a wise location for important date night, or even girls’ night out.

Contact Details:

Tutto Bene 뚜또베네 (Closed Permanently)
118-9, Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
서울시 강남구 청담동 118-9

Lunch Hours: 12pm-3pm
Dinner Hours: 6pm-11pm (Dinner only on Monday)
Tel. 02-546-1489

Directions:

Although the nearest subway station is Apgujung Rodeo Station (압구정로데오역),  the restaurant is still quite a distance from the station. I suggest you to take a taxi down to the restaurant. But if you insist on walking from the nearest station, please exit from Exit No.2, walk all the way down where you’ll pass by Galleria Department Store, SM entertainment, Ferragamo. Before you finally reach Michael Kors, turn into the side lane beside Michael Kors, and you’ll reach Tutto Bene in no time.

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This picture was taken at Buam-dong this spring. It is certainly a place with a nice blend of humanity and tradition. Hidden in the mountain trails are various galleries, cafes and restaurants with different characteristics, certainly a neighborhood worth exploring. One of the more generally known cafes here in Buam-dong is Cafe Sanmootoonge, which I blogged about some time ago.

I believe most Seoulites will keep one or two “secret restaurant lists” in mind, for that impromptu visitor, a loved one’s visit, or that important date that we might eventually encounter during our stay here. One of my secret weapons for entertaining my friends and family to Seoul is this restaurant hidden in the lush greeneries of Buam-dong, the 소소한 풍경 [read: Sosohan Poong-gyeong]. A restaurant located in a cosy mansion in the mountain, this is perhaps where you might want to check out if you are looking for a place to dine in, especially in the daytime at least in my opinion!

To be frank, I wasn’t aware of how beautiful the restaurant would look like in the day. I had always dined in during dinner time! However, I managed to find some nicely taken pictures of the restaurant on these Naver blogs. (Kudos to these Naver bloggers!) The restaurant has a beautiful outdoor terrace for their guests to dine outdoor from spring to autumn.

And so my friends and I visited the place in the early winter. The restaurant offers Fusion Korean dishes and meals are served  plated, and divided into courses. They have 3 lunch course categories, with price ranging from KRW14,000/ 18,000/ 23,000 per person; and 3 Dinner courses ranging from KRW19,000/ 25,000/35,000. A simple decode here: course A for both lunch and dinner are the basics, B and C come with various add-ons. The higher price you pay, the more dishes, and of course the more premium ingredients you get.

We selected Course A, the Basics for our dinner. Two of us had smoked duck as main, and the other opted for the grilled 3-layered pork.

Pumpkin Porridge the Korean way. The porridge was to a very smooth, soup-like texture. Not too sweet, not too bland, bits of almond flakes add a little crumbly texture.

Dinner napkin nicely embroidered with the restaurant name.

The salad with orange dressing sprinkled with assorted nuts. Well, it tastes just like… salad. Nothing special to brag about.

More pictures while waiting for the next dish to arrive.

The assorted pancakes. This gorgeous dish is looking appetising on the table. It comes with 3 rolled pancakes and a few pieces of veggies pancakes. The flour pancake roll with kimchi fillings was good.

Some pickles which go well with the vegetable pancakes.

And then the arrival of the side dishes and the salt grilled shrimp. Frankly speaking, I was very disappointed with the shrimp. Perhaps for its poor size and the tough, rubbery texture. Worse of all, it comes with a very fishy smell.

Other side dishes. In case you are unaware, all side dishes are refillable.

And so here comes our main dishes, the oriental smoked duck and the grilled 3 layered pork. The duck meat was soft and succulent, with a very, very mild medicinal herb aftertaste. An interesting dish and I find it especially palatable if you pair the duck with the pickled chillies or pickled leaves, together with some rice. Grilled 3-layered pork was soft and juicy, with slight crispiness at the skin.

I prefer the pork over the smoked duck. As the marinate of the latter was a tad too salty and overpowering. The pork was, however, a good one. Oozing with succulent fat, it was grilled to a beautiful moist, tender texture. Certainly the best dish of the night.

Brown rice and the complimentary bean paste soup.

Dessert was a cube of Korean-styled jelly,  a little pathetic but no complaint, as we didn’t pay more for a more sumptuous dinner that night.

Nighttime at the restaurant. The atmosphere was slightly different from the daytime. Personally, I prefer to visit the place in the daytime.

If you’re wondering how does the place look like during the day, here are some of the pictures I found online. This series of pictures are from various local online publications, Naver blogs and firstsoju.com.

There is a big private room at the corner of the mansion, adorned with coloured cushions and matchy drawings that were carefully selected by the owner. An inviting space to spend an afternoon with a group of friends.

Level 1 can be converted into a terrace dining area in spring, summer and autumn. The natural sunlight lit up the space, giving off a fresh, warm and homey atmosphere, a tastefully renovated space perfect for a restaurant that provides family-style Korean fusion dining.

Writer’s Note: An interesting place with a good dining atmosphere, but with hits and misses on the food. I think it could be the course that we had opted for. The overall online review for their Lunch Course A (which does not include the shrimp) is good though. I like their main, the 3-layered pork, the pancakes and their side dishes. Since their Caprese salad and spicy eggplant soup received good feedback, if you decided to come here, I’d recommend you to choose Course C, or if you’re really on a budget, get their Course A during Lunchtime. Dinner Course A is a little tricky. I would rather add another KRW 6,000 to upgrade to Course B which comes with a better menu without the shrimp.

Contact Details:

소소한 풍경 Sosohan Poonggyeong 
Jahamun-ro, 70 gil-75, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
Phone: 02-395 5035
Operation Time:  12 noon – 9pm.

Korean Version of address: 서울시 종로구 자하문로 40길 75 (부암동)

Directions:

1. Coming out from Gyeongbok Palace Station (경복궁역) Exit No. 3, walk straight about 100 meters until you reach the 2nd  bus stop. (check the electronic board, it should indicate buses number 1020, 7022, 7212.) 2. Board any of the 3 buses above (1020, 7022, 7212) and alight at Buam-Dong Community Service Centre 부암동주민센터 [read: Bu-am-dong Ju-min Sen-to]. The bus journey is roughly about 10 mins. a total 6 stops (including destination stop) before alighting. 3. After alighting from the bus, try to locate this particular cafe.

4. This particular cafe, Espresso Club is one of my favourite in Seoul. Visit them if you want some serious coffee retreat. Will write about it in future post. To visit Sanmotoonge Cafe, take the route beside Espresso Club, stay left and keep walking.

5. Then you will reach a 3-level tall white building at the road fork (check picture below).  Choose the left hand trail (the blue arrow). You’ll see a mansion right after the 3-level white building. That’s the restaurant.