Jung Sik Dang: Seoul Restaurant Review

So far there hasn’t been much for molecular Korean food, but being one of the top 50 best restaurants in Asia, Jung Sik Dang is surely the best in Seoul near Gangnam-gu.

Korean utensils

Demonstrating a hybrid of modern and contemporary Korean dishes, this new Korean fine dining restaurant offers unique and upscale cuisine in both Korean and international dishes.

Taking inspiration from their branch in New York, Jungsik in Seoul certainly didn’t disappoint us for ultra-modern creations.

Korean beef, melted cheese, pickled cabbage, fried rice cake

Savoury sabayon, salmon mousse

The afternoon kicked off with tender grilled beef skewers, clams flavoured with sweet and spicy elements, sabayon and salmon mousse in a crispy wonton cone. The amuse bouche was offered in bite-sized portions that were really tasty.

Sweet soy glazed potato

Korean chilli clam on rice paper

Soy marinated rice with Korean soybean paste

The lunch menu covers several options like 4 and 5 course sets, a tasting menu and a wine list. The appetisers have offerings of land and sea and everything is visually pleasing and enjoyable.

Gujeolpan
Yellow tail

The serve yourself yellowtail tartare was unexpectedly refreshing and reminded me of the scallop sashimi from Ichi Kaikiya in SFO, though the poached egg dish really stood out due to the intense truffle parmesan flavour.

Truffle egg
Parmesan foam

The rice menu is basically a bibimbap dish that has been given high-end presentation. Both the raw beef and sea urchin are very impressive especially when the former one is seasoned with strong perilla oil, with the latter coming with a generous slab of creamy uni and crunchy fried millets.

Yukhoe
Raw beef, perilla oil

Sea urchin
Fried millet

Baby octopus
Clam soup

I would recommend the duck and ok dom for mains. The Duck 2015 is seared perfectly with a crispy skin, a succulent and juicy pinkish interior, not to mention the yuzu sauce that has been enlightened by tasty oils. Likewise, the ok dom is an excellent piece of flaky fish with its skin interestingly filleted.

Croaker
Spicy oil

Duck 2015
Yuzu

The part of the meal that one should most be looking forward to is dessert. The sweets are out-of-this-world good.

Sweet Gujeolpan
Make your own

While the make your own dessert is essentially just two scoops of milk and Nutella ice cream that you can top with your favourite toppings, the green tea mousse is certainly worth trying because it is shaped like a traditional Korean stone grandpa, which symbolises protection and fertility. It is smothered in black sesame butter, garnished with delectable sesame charcoal sponge cake, cookie crumbles and milk sherbet.