1 Michelin star Korean-inspired course meal at Exquisine, Cheongdamdong, Seoul
1 Michelin star Korean-inspired course meal at Exquisine, Cheongdamdong, Seoul
by lareinemauve
3 Comments
lareinemauve
I went to [Exquisine](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ciFxn91Vq6sPyVhY7), a 1 Michelin starred restaurant in Cheongdamdong with a really stupid name. Overall, a pretty decent meal for the price other than a couple of dishes that I thought fell flat. Brief notes on each dish:
Bream, lemon balsamic, perilla pesto: good, light start. Bream aged well with a good texture, pesto added a nice herbaceous punch. Lemon balsamic was a bit overwhelming
Sourdough cracker with sun dried, fresh, and confit tomato, tomato chutney, tomato aioli, basil: not bad. Cracker was pleasantly wheaty and crisp with a bit of tang, and the various presentations of tomato worked well. Savory but with a tinge of sweetness
Shrimp on pastry: corn pastry, raw dansaewoo, pepper puree, some other stuff: not bad, but the sauce was too sweet. Overwhelmed the natural flavors of the shrimp and the nuttiness of the corn pastry
Chicken toast: chicken terrine, pate, raspberry coulis, chicken skin chip, grated cured egg yolk on brioche: really good! Chicken is smooth and rich and offset by tart bite of raspberry. Skin offers interesting textural contrast
Fried halibut, squid ink and beer batter, fermented pepper aioli: one of the signatures and did not disappoint. Batter was shatteringly crispy yet still quite airy and light, and halibut was moist throughout. Sauce was complex and the piquant bite went well with the fish
First main: peaches; peaches vacuum sealed with a lemon verbena sauce, poached shrimp wirh peaches, buttermilk sauce: pretty excellent use of peaches, although ironically the flavor of the peaches was a bit muted here. Shrimp perfectly poached and went splendidly with the fruit and buttermilk, and lemon verbena worked well with the delicate flavor of peach. I just wish the peaches were better peaches
Softboiled egg, jeju shrimp and calamari in a vinegar sauce, udo peanut espuma, prosciutto chip: kind of a letdown, again because of the sauce. Seafood had a lovely natural sweetness and was cooked well, as was the egg, but the peanut espuma made everything taste like peanut, in a somewhat cloying way. Not bad, but the choice of peanut for the espuma was not the right choice
Spanish mackeral grilled over charcoal, pickled radish with jjangachi, dill and uni cream sauce: stellar. Definitely the best dish so far. Fish is rich and enveloped with a subtle smoky scent, and the sauce is unctuous yet fresh, with the jjangachi and radish serving to capture that bit of richness from the fish and sauce. I think I would have liked to see a lemon component, maybe zest
Barley; roasted abalone, vinegar dressed aehobak, black barley, barley consomme: really good! It helps that barley is one of my favorite ingredients but this was a well composed dish. Abalone was roasted to a perfect doneness, and the plainness of the squash was complemented well by the nuttiness of the barley and the consomme. I think perhaps the vinegar on the aehobak was a bit out of place, and instead omitting it altogether or replacing it with a less sharply acidic ingredient like perilla seed oil or a light fish sauce might have gone better with the barley
Hanwoo wellington, pan fried king trumpets, olive butter, cherry tomato butter sauce: not bad. I’m not really a fan of wellingtons but am a suckered for upsells so I chose this over the pork. Instead of duxelles, the wellington here had a caramelized onion layer which expectedly went well with the beef. Olive butter was nice but not particularly impactful, and the cherry tomato butter sauce was creamy and lightly sweet from the tomato. There was definitely something missing here, though; every component was rich and formed a groaningly heavy dish that really would have been improved by a pickled component of some kind
Omija ice cream, evoo: good, flavors work well together
Melon scoops, melon cream cakes, melon sherbert: fantastic! Melon is quite good right now and this melon sherbert was exceptionally refreshing while still really having a strong melon flavor
3 Comments
I went to [Exquisine](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ciFxn91Vq6sPyVhY7), a 1 Michelin starred restaurant in Cheongdamdong with a really stupid name. Overall, a pretty decent meal for the price other than a couple of dishes that I thought fell flat. Brief notes on each dish:
Bream, lemon balsamic, perilla pesto: good, light start. Bream aged well with a good texture, pesto added a nice herbaceous punch. Lemon balsamic was a bit overwhelming
Sourdough cracker with sun dried, fresh, and confit tomato, tomato chutney, tomato aioli, basil: not bad. Cracker was pleasantly wheaty and crisp with a bit of tang, and the various presentations of tomato worked well. Savory but with a tinge of sweetness
Shrimp on pastry: corn pastry, raw dansaewoo, pepper puree, some other stuff: not bad, but the sauce was too sweet. Overwhelmed the natural flavors of the shrimp and the nuttiness of the corn pastry
Chicken toast: chicken terrine, pate, raspberry coulis, chicken skin chip, grated cured egg yolk on brioche: really good! Chicken is smooth and rich and offset by tart bite of raspberry. Skin offers interesting textural contrast
Fried halibut, squid ink and beer batter, fermented pepper aioli: one of the signatures and did not disappoint. Batter was shatteringly crispy yet still quite airy and light, and halibut was moist throughout. Sauce was complex and the piquant bite went well with the fish
First main: peaches; peaches vacuum sealed with a lemon verbena sauce, poached shrimp wirh peaches, buttermilk sauce: pretty excellent use of peaches, although ironically the flavor of the peaches was a bit muted here. Shrimp perfectly poached and went splendidly with the fruit and buttermilk, and lemon verbena worked well with the delicate flavor of peach. I just wish the peaches were better peaches
Softboiled egg, jeju shrimp and calamari in a vinegar sauce, udo peanut espuma, prosciutto chip: kind of a letdown, again because of the sauce. Seafood had a lovely natural sweetness and was cooked well, as was the egg, but the peanut espuma made everything taste like peanut, in a somewhat cloying way. Not bad, but the choice of peanut for the espuma was not the right choice
Spanish mackeral grilled over charcoal, pickled radish with jjangachi, dill and uni cream sauce: stellar. Definitely the best dish so far. Fish is rich and enveloped with a subtle smoky scent, and the sauce is unctuous yet fresh, with the jjangachi and radish serving to capture that bit of richness from the fish and sauce. I think I would have liked to see a lemon component, maybe zest
Barley; roasted abalone, vinegar dressed aehobak, black barley, barley consomme: really good! It helps that barley is one of my favorite ingredients but this was a well composed dish. Abalone was roasted to a perfect doneness, and the plainness of the squash was complemented well by the nuttiness of the barley and the consomme. I think perhaps the vinegar on the aehobak was a bit out of place, and instead omitting it altogether or replacing it with a less sharply acidic ingredient like perilla seed oil or a light fish sauce might have gone better with the barley
Hanwoo wellington, pan fried king trumpets, olive butter, cherry tomato butter sauce: not bad. I’m not really a fan of wellingtons but am a suckered for upsells so I chose this over the pork. Instead of duxelles, the wellington here had a caramelized onion layer which expectedly went well with the beef. Olive butter was nice but not particularly impactful, and the cherry tomato butter sauce was creamy and lightly sweet from the tomato. There was definitely something missing here, though; every component was rich and formed a groaningly heavy dish that really would have been improved by a pickled component of some kind
Omija ice cream, evoo: good, flavors work well together
Melon scoops, melon cream cakes, melon sherbert: fantastic! Melon is quite good right now and this melon sherbert was exceptionally refreshing while still really having a strong melon flavor
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https://preview.redd.it/rodncs2r81pb1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4148f56b28b671d9ca7b371a05045a571c5b3e5f
Ty for sharing pics & details about this inventive & striking meal
How much was this in USD or won?
Stopped there on the way to Thailand. Food was great but expensive. Curious how much this would cost.