Yangjae Korean omakase with sea urchin buckwheat noodles: MUSEO

Hi everyone~ Today I'm introducing a Gangnam-area course dining restaurant that's great for a date

How to get to MUSEO in Yangjae: parking and hours

The location is 10 minutes from Yangjae Station Exit 2! MUSEO is on the basement level :) For parking, the space on the right side of the building is free, and the Daemyung Building lot on the left supports 1 hour.

Hours are 10:00–22:00, break time is 14:30–17:30, last order is 20:00, and there are no closed days.

How's the vibe? So good~

What's in the MUSEO dinner course?

MUSEO's dinner course is made up of a welcome bite, seasonal seafood, jeon and grilled dishes as mains, noodles, and dessert and tea. It's a course that dials the intensity of flavor from light to umami, then oily fish, then savory rich noodles and meat, ending with dessert.

(My boyfriend all excited, dying to eat) So cute, haha

Dinner requires an alcoholic drink order, so I had a draft beer and my boyfriend ordered a non-alcoholic wine. *MUSEO's dinner course isn't a typical Korean course — it's closer to Korean ingredients reinterpreted with Western cooking methods and plating.

Sinan green onion tart and sesame oil steamed egg

Before the course properly begins, a one-bite dish to whet the appetite: Sinan green onion — green onion tart / sesame oil steamed egg. First… the green onion tart? Insane.

The tart shell was crisp and the green onion turned sweeter once cooked, so much umami! The combination with cream cheese and cheese was delicious. The steamed egg was full of sesame oil aroma too, and had fried anchovies on top for great texture.

Dongchimi mulhoe with seafood and mustard jelly

Not the usual red mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) — this uses a clear broth based on dongchimi (watery radish kimchi)

A cold, refreshing mulhoe with sweet shrimp, cucumber, mustard jelly, and sea squirt..♥ I couldn't leave a drop of the broth, drank it all.

Hoengseong hanwoo tteokgalbi in doenjang pine nut sauce

Next up, Hoengseong hanwoo tteokgalbi (Korean beef patty) — doenjang (soybean paste) pine nut sauce. The honeycomb-smoked tteokgalbi was delicious, but the chives and sauce underneath were the real kicker.

Seared hard and savory on the outside, moist inside, full of smoky flavor. A warm, rich dish that contrasted nicely with the cold mulhoe before it!

A quick shot midway through

The best dish of the night: Wando kelp with Goheung mackerel

This is the one I picked as the tastiest: Wando kelp — Goheung mackerel

Oh, that brioche and kelp soy butter? I wanted to pack it up separately... A Western-style brioche spread with butter infused with Korean kelp flavor. So this is how good salty butter can be.

The Goheung mackerel was practically a main-level dish. Smoked mackerel paired with baek-kimchi (white kimchi) beurre blanc and kimchi powder!

Mackerel is naturally fatty and can be a bit heavy, but the rice-straw smoking gave it a smoky flavor that cut the richness, and paired with the tartness of the baek-kimchi it was so good I hated to see it disappear.

And as the staff suggested, putting the mackerel on the brioche and eating it together is next-level.

Gangneung potato truffle and sea urchin gopchang gim buckwheat noodles

The star of this cute plating is the Gangneung potato truffle. It comes shaped like ice cream.

It comes with a white truffle mayonnaise sauce

Potatoes sliced paper-thin and fried crisp — fried food = never disappoints

Gopchang gim (seaweed) buckwheat noodles piled high with sea urchin roe. Made with gim pesto from Wando gopchang gim mixed into buckwheat noodles, topped with fried buckwheat bits and sea urchin roe. Instead of the usual basil pesto, it's a gim pesto — totally my type. I never knew seaweed and uni went so well together.

Before the main, a pear sherbet to reset the palate~ My mouth was full of fat and all sorts of aromas, and the cool sweetness of pear with the tartness of lemon cleared it all out.

The chicken leg main and makgeolli ice cream dessert

The main of the dinner — chicken thigh! Cooked low and slow for a long time, so the chicken was incredibly tender, and the combination with a peppery doenjang-based sauce was the best.

With doenjang, pepper, and broth flavors, it felt quite Korean. The meat was so tender it fell apart with just a fork.

Lastly, the dessert my boyfriend and I raved about..! Makgeolli (rice wine) ice cream

Topped with Korean melon, blueberries, and a crisp soy sauce crumble! The subtle rice fermentation aroma of makgeolli paired beautifully with the fresh sweetness of the fruit. More please.

Is the MUSEO dinner course worth it?

And that's how the roughly 90-minute dinner course went, and that's every dish I tried! A Korean course using fresh seasonal ingredients that change every month.

+ With its private atmosphere, it's a great spot for a date, a pre-wedding gathering, or an anniversary! If you're looking for polished Korean fine dining, make sure to visit MUSEO :)