Something that I should’ve started doing awhile back, is plugging the restaurant reviewers of some of the English versions of Korean media, given that we like to have a restaurant angle consistently in play. Although, we remain partial to Daegu restaurants of late, the stuff that Joongang Ilbo and Korea Times puts out, will help keep an additional focus on Seoul dining.
Here is Joongang’s Park Soo-mee and her take on Il Ponte.
Need a passport to put out perfect ethnic plates?
‘I have high respect for chefs able to do this. But it’s not something just anyone can do.’
Lim Chang-hwan, an assistant Italian chef at Il Ponte at the Millennium Seoul Hilton, one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Seoul, knows all the useful tips to make great pasta.
When he sautes, he slightly tilts his saucepan to extract extra flavor out of his garlic in a pool of olive oil; when a Korean customer orders carbonara, originally a pasta dish with sauteed bacon mixed with fresh eggs, he knows that they are expecting cream sauce instead of fresh eggs and Parmesan cheese.
There’s just one thing that sets him apart from other Italian chefs in town: Lim has never been to Italy.
His training in Italian cuisine was mostly gained through chefs from Italy who worked in the hotel, including Anita Bidni, the current head chef of Il Ponte. The rest was self-taught.
“I think I got a good sense of Italian food working with great chefs from Italy in the hotel,” says Lim, who has been with Hilton’s Western kitchen for 15 years.
“I follow their recipes, and I know what suits the versatile tastes of my customers. That’s my strength.”
Bidni, a chef from the town of Udine, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of Venice, has mixed views about Korean chefs of Italian cuisine who have never worked or studied in Italy.
There are certain elements in traditional cuisine that chefs cannot randomly adjust to, she explains.
“But this man is very good,” she says of her assistant. “He understands the recipes well. He does it the proper way, the way it should taste.”
On the other hand, Bidni is weary about the ways many Italian foods are modified in restaurants around the world.
“Strictly, you should be born and raised in Italy and grow with the culture to be able to really understand Italian food,” says Bidni. “You could still be a good chef without the cultural exposure, but you can’t be a good traditional Italian chef.”
But a significantly growing number of ethnic food restaurants in Seoul with credible reputations are run by chefs trained locally. This could mean that the standard of world cuisine is getting higher for aspiring chefs here. Diners can sample a wide range of authentic food without having to travel abroad.
Or the trend may simply suggest an important lesson learned by many Korean chefs with experience in the restaurant business here: In Korea adapting to local taste is perhaps more important than an ability to maintain the authenticity of the food’s original flavor.
“It could be a huge plus, because on top of the ingredients you will be working with you’ll learn how to incorporate them into your food from the beginning,” says Jang Myeung-sik, a chef who runs L’amitie, a French restaurant in Seoul.
Jang has never studied or worked abroad. After graduating from a hotel school run by the government, he began working at Ninth Gate, a French restaurant in the Westin Chosun.
Then three years ago, he took over a restaurant in Sinsa-dong, a hangout for many local gourmands, run by his friend. He visits France once a year.
The reviews of L’amitie vary. Food connoisseurs and some blogs have raised harsh complaints about the restaurant’s high prices ? a set meal here starts at 150,000 won ($145) ? compared to the quality of its food. But some French patrons to the restaurant seem moderately pleased.
At a recent dinner, Jang had a Korean entrepreneur and his affiliate from France as customers. The group had an 11-course meal that included roast quail breast with caramelized pearl onions and lamb chops with potato gratin, seared foie gras with apple puree and dried fig paste and zucchini mint puree.
At the end of the meal, the French businessman told Jang that he would recommend L’amitie to a Michelin guide if the book series ever launched a Korean edition.
It wasn’t the first time that Jang received compliments from his French customers, but the incident left Jang with a warm memory.
“I have confidence in my food,” Jang says. “Many people still judge chefs by their resume. I learned French cuisine in Korea, but I never just imitate French chefs’ recipes when I develop new dishes. My pride won’t let me. I read constantly and think of what I can do well.”
Seo Hyun-min, an owner of Palais de Gaumont, one of the top French restaurants in Seoul, had locally trained Cha Beom-soo as the restaurant’s head chef for a long time.
Cha has left Gaumont, but gourmands fondly recall “the best French chef in town.”
“If he had gone abroad and worked in a Michelin-star restaurant, I think he would’ve become an exceptional chef,” says Susumu Yonaguni, a Japanese chef/food critic who wrote a rave review of the restaurant in Cook-and, a local food magazine, a few years ago. “It was the best French I had in Korea.”
On a broader scale, most workers at franchise restaurants of world cuisine are Koreans with little or no experience in ethnic cooking.
When Din Tai Fung, one of the few dim sum restaurants in Seoul serving traditional Taiwanese dumplings, launched in 2005, the company sent 15 Korean kitchen employees to Taiwan for six months of training. None had experience in Chinese cuisine.
The chef’s trick there was to learn the restaurant’s style of xiaolongbao, or steamed meat dumplings, which uses five grams of flour dough, 16 grams of meat stuffing and 18 wrinkles.
The company believes the formula creates the most appealing shape for a dumpling.
“A Chinese jury holds a tasting on a regular basis to maintain the same standard of food in Korea,” says Jeong Hye-seon, a publicist for Din Tai Fung in Korea, which is opening a third branch in Bundang in June. “But most chefs manage to get up to speed after three months of training.”
Critics, though, question the compromised authenticity when food leaves home and the chefs are not exposed to the culinary culture they are about to serve.
“A chef must be very confident to open a French restaurant without having lived or studied in France,” says Philippe Bachmann, an executive chef at Le Cordon Bleu-Sookmyung Academy. “I wouldn’t dare open a Korean restaurant in France. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t risk it.”
Most people find schools or chefs abroad to hone their skills, because often that’s the easiest way to become a great chef. But not all great chefs have followed this pattern, experts say.
Yonaguni explains that there are celebrity chefs like Mark Miller and Charlie Trotter who were almost entirely self-taught and managed to supersede the common level of expectation.
“It’s possible,” Yonaguni says. “I have high respect for chefs who are able to do this. But it’s not something just anyone can do.”
By Park Soo-mee Staff Reporter [myfeast@joongang.co.kr]
Long-time Daegu expat, Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson, visits Maya in Kyungdae for some Indian food and sends in this review:
For years, Daeguites have complained about the lack of quality Indian food. However, complain no more. Opened in February 2008, Maya Indian Restaurant is located across from Kyungbuk University’s North Gate. They offer tasty Indian and Nepalese dishes at affordable prices.
Maya’s décor is warm and inviting. There is both floor and chair seating to suit every taste. The walls are covered in pictures of scenic India and colorful tapestries. The staff is friendly and eager to serve. The staff also speaks both English and Korean and the menu is in both these languages as well.
(Image from 타나토스 blog)The best deal is the set menus. There is a chicken curry set, a vegetarian set, and a seafood set. These are offered in Indian or Nepali style. There didn’t seem to be much difference the two cuisines. Indian seems be spicier, while Nepali has a deeper flavor. The sets are between 10,000-12,000 won. Every set comes with a cabbage salad (typical side salad), a samosa, dal, a vegetarian dish, a curry, rice or naan, chai or lassi, and a traditional dessert. However, the vegetarian dish and the curry can change visit to visit depending on available ingredients. The chicken curry was spicy and flavorful, while the dal seemed a little bland. The samosas alone are worth visiting Maya. They are homemade and stuffed with potatoes, carrots, and peas.
(Image from 타나토스 blog)There are also about ten different curries of vegetarian, chicken, beef, or seafood origins on the menu. We tried the chicken tikka masala, chicken breasts in a sumptuous red sauce with homemade Indian cheese. The dish was spicy but not overpowering. It is also the right amount leaving your satisfied but not stretching to finish every bit. The curries range from 8,500-10,000 won.
(Image from Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson)Finally, Maya has chicken tandoori. You can order a ¼, ½, or whole chicken. The tandoori is fiery hot, and served with a tangy mint sauce. You can enjoy your chicken or any other meal with Maya’s array of naan. They have butter, garlic, cheese, or keema naan.
Renaissance in southern Daegu has won a kajillion of culinary awards and local patronage over the years and is a night out not to be missed, if you are hankering for steak, lobster, or simply a western + korean buffet. Not that easy to get to, however. You can either try following the Korean map below or you can get to it from Anjirang Station by following the english directions on our wiki page.
Laviola is a nice little Italian place near Manchon E-mart in east Daegu, which has been generating good buzz among Daegu bloggers in the Korean online foodiverse. I haven’t had a chance to write it up on the wiki, but it’s not too hard to get to from E-mart. If coming out of E-mart, turn right and then take your first right (Not at the BIG intersection, but the smaller street before it.) Walk straight for a few minutes and look for it on the right, once you get closer to Hyomok Library.
(Bruschetta and baguette)
(Cream spaghetti with chicken breast)
(Risotto with beef skewer)
(Tenderloin with veggies)
Great steaks. Great atmosphere for either a quiet, romantic dinner or larger rooms tucked away if you are there with several guests. New York, New York is the place that will make you forget about Outback. The trick is the location. It’s pretty much directly south of Ariana Hotel, past the lake, and then hang a left at the intersection. Then look for it on the right. Taxis know it by name.
Over 50 years ago, an old grandmother on a small street in Dongin-dong, Daegu, started serving galbijjim as anju for patrons drinking alcohol. The establishment was your average hole-in-the-wall, but there was something magical about the old woman’s recipe for the meaty stew. Word spread fast and people from all over the region began to make their way to her little place near Daegu’s city hall. An old rumor has it that the local butchers of that time used axes to cut up the galbi to be used for the stew and in one case, shards of the axe must have made it into someone’s meal, which led them to hastily scurry off to the hospital. Whether it’s true or not, the positive buzz certainly outweighed anything bad, as over time, other entrepreneurs decided to cash in on the craze and began opening up galbijjim restaurants on the same street. The food became less of an anju and started to become the feature entree.
It wasn’t until the early 70′s that the area started becoming renowned as 동인동 찜갈비골목 (Dongin-dong Galbijim Alley) and despite the grandmother’s original location eventually closing, the famous street has now grown to 14 restaurants serving the popular dish, which still regularly attracts young Koreans, chattering ajummas, and local government officials from nearby city hall. With so many establishments jockeying for position on the small stretch of road, you’d expect a heightened atmosphere of competitiveness, with the resident ajummas standing at the door, calling out to passerbys and ensuring everyone knows that their place is the most delicious/the original/the spiciest, etc…But in fact, the proprietors are anything but. In fact, they collectively support each other and their interest to promote their street, so much as they often swap recipe secrets and tips on which local butcher is currently offering the best deals, etc…
Best way to get here is to walk to the northeast corner of Gukchaebosang Park (the corner where the skateboarders tend to congregate) and cross north to the KT Building. Then once across, cross east to the other side of the street. Then go left and walk for a few minutes and look for the small sign on a pole (it’ll be written in English) pointing you the way to the alley.
A ‘must visit’ for any Daegu-ite. Just tell them to go easy with the axe.
Originally borrowing heavily from the Krazy Burger model, Burnham’s Burgers has got a great central location with patio and serves up huge burgers, chili cheese fries, club sandwiches, and all sorts of other heavenly things that can clog one’s arteries.
