Tag: Seoul Michelin-starred

French fine dining in Seoul at TocToc

TocToc is a Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul also included in the list of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. This is my experience in July 2019, during the week of their grand opening in a new location in Gangnam.

The meaning of the name is explained on their website: “‘Toc Toc’ is a French expression of ‘knock knock’; demonstrating chef’s determination to open up your taste through fine cuisine”.

The visit

They took my booking by email after a bit of back and forth, but at the end they also asked me to pay a deposit of 50,000 Won with an online system. I hate when restaurants do that, but I obliged. It was not explained to me, but the deposit was to be returned and not deducted from the check.

I went for dinner on a Saturday night. The dining room is very elegant. Everything was brand new. When I arrived I discovered that they had made some changes to the set menu that I had seen on their website (now it is up to date), but fine. I went for their dinner course menu.

The amuse bouche was a slice of cooked ham with a stick of grissini. That’s Italian in my books. But fine.

The welcome dish consisted of three snacks: watermelon, seabass (fermented and deep fried), beef tartare with house sauce.

Then the bread was served with some fanfare. It turns out that TocToc’s executive chef and owner also started a bakery called Sikbugwan and that’s where the bread came from. Time for a cross-promotion. But the bread was very good and best eaten while warm.

The raw dish was brown croacker sashimi with ginger dressing. I am all for sashimi, but the dressing flavor was a bit overwhelming. Something funny happened here. Since the waiter was a bit chatty, I randomly mentioned that I like to eat sashimi with chopsticks. I did not phrase it as a request or a complaint, but the guy did not like my remark and put me to my place saying “We are in French restaurant in Seoul“. You cannot argue with that. Chopsticks or not, it was a forgettable dish.

In addition to the course menu, I ordered a beef tartare with crispy lotus flowers that was excellent. They did not messed up adding too many ingredients and let the beef speak for itself.

The warm dish was a piece of abalone on mash and eggplant.

Exceptionally, because it was their opening week in the new location, they grated some French truffle from Avignone on the abalone. Truffle or not, the abalone was tender and very good.

For main I could choose between lamb, fish, or Hanu beef. It was a simple choice, I went for the local beef – striploin – that did not disappoint. Korea has some incredible beef.

More truffle on the pasta, some pappardelle with pecorino cheese. It was good, but it was a minuscule portion.

Finally I was served the seasonal dessert (a sorbet on a mango puree).

And it was nice that a cup of tea was also included.

The check

The course menu was 110,000 Won that became 120,000 because I opted for the truffle pasta that commanded 10,000 Won extra (the only pasta with no surcharge was kelp pasta… not the most attractive; they also had lobster pasta for a 15,000 won surcharge). The tartare was excellent but also not cheap at 37,000 Won. So, all in all, I spent 157,000 won (or 130 USD).

The overall experience left me unsatisfied. It was not a disappointment because overall the course menu was good, but I was expecting something more. The chef mostly played safe with traditional French high cuisine classics and some Italian dishes. I wish he had brought more of his Seoul’s upbringings into the menu.

Where in Seoul:
3F 41 Hakdong-ro 97-gil, Gangnam-gu.
In Korean: 서울특별시 강남구 학동로97길 41 3층.
Website: www.restauranttoctoc.com.

Feasting on Korean high cuisine at La Yeon in Seoul

In my first trip to Seoul I aimed high and I had a dinner at La Yeon; regarded as one of the best restaurants of the South Korean capital, it has been repeatedly awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide for South Korea and is on the list of the 50 best restaurants in Asia.

I contacted the restaurant through their web form and after a bit of back and forth they accepted to reserve a table for me (but only at 6pm and near the entrance).

The visit

La Yeon (that I am being told means “celebration” in Korean) is located on the 23th floor of the luxurious Shilla Hotel, along with a French restaurant. The venue offers a beautiful view of the surrounding neighborhoods.

I arrived punctually as always and I was seated in one of the seven spacious tables (yes, near the entrance, but that was not an issue actually).

Upon arrival at the table, I was promptly offered some nibbles: dried dates and some sweet potatoes crackers. I found them quite forgettable and hardly touched them during the meal.

I had a further look at the menu, but I already knew what to order. Actually, choosing was remarkably simple since they only had two sets menus for dinner: one called The Feast and one called Shilla that included some richer dishes, a beef dish and their famed royal hotpot. You could add the hotpot and/or the one (or more) of the beef dishes to The Feast menu for an additional cost.

At the last moment, I decided to add both a beef dish and the royal hotpot to my selection and that was kind of stupid because I brought the cost of The Feast menu slightly above the price of their Shilla menu and lost one dish… I should have opted for the more expensive menu directly. The staff well avoided to advise me on this point…

The initial welcome dish was cold bean curd pudding (tofu) and an iced sauce made with soy and green plum (with a sour flavor). The combination of the flavors was very good.

The first dish of the menu was some sweet red shrimps on a base of cabbage and yuzu flavored soy jelly. The shrimps were really sweet and fresh and was an enjoyable, even if not great, dish.

Then there was a chicken porridge dish with ginseng. This is a classic Korean dish and it was served with some kimchi soup. I was advised to alternate the two. Overall a nice dish, but really nothing special (you can easily find this in Seoul).

The third dish was char-grilled eel with soy sauce and a light touch of red pepper paste. I did not like this dish much as the eel flavor was not particularly well balanced by the dressings.

Next I had a beef dish: a few bites of Korean beef ribeye with some vegetables and salad. The beef lived up to the reputation of high-grade Korean beef and was sensational. The beef was super tender and juicy.

Then I was served the famed royal hotpot. This could feed two people. It came beautifully presented in a small hotpot holder. The royal hotpot is basically a glorified soup with rich ingredients. I could recognize abalone, beef cubes, white fish, a couple of ginkgo seeds, but there was more. The dish is called sinseollo in Korean.

Then the main dish arrived with a contour of small side dishes Korean style. The main was mixed rice and vegetables with beef tartare. I love beef tartare and Korean have a reputation for raw beef meat, but this dish was completely disappointing. Apart from the boring side dishes and the unremarkable rice, the tartare came in the shape of cold strips of marinated beef. They were very cold and that killed the flavor.

The dessert was a scoop of corn ice cream on a base of crème brûlée. It was a nice dessert.

The very last dish was two bites of Korean jelly with cold cinnamon and ginger tea.

The check

Total check was 295,000 WON (around 260 USD). The royal hotpot added 60,000 WON (I have noticed that in the new menu this add on is 80,000 at the time of publishing this review). The basic The Feast menu cost 175,000 WON, while the Shilla menu was 270,000 WON and included a beef dish and the royal hotpot.

I need to agree with Andy Hayler that it is very low value for money.

Overall, my reception of the dishes was mixed. Some were really good, like the beef, but there were also many disappointments.

If you go in this restaurant, shoot for the higher priced menu. It does not make sense what I did (taking The Feast and paying for the add-ons). The Shilla menu has more interesting components.

Shame on me that did not plan well enough (but initially I did not consider to take the royal hotpot and the menu). But also shame on the staff that did not advise me (but their English was not great).

Where in Seoul:
Consult the hotel website for address, current menu and inquiries.
Tip: take a taxi to get to the hotel, it is not practical to go on foot as it is perched on a hill. They do have a shuttle bus from the metro station (Dongguk University) to the lobby, if you go this way, budget some extra time.