Yangjae Korean fine dining dinner with Gangneung potato truffle: MUSEO

What is MUSEO, the Korean fine dining restaurant in Yangjae?

MUSEO (무제오) is a fine dining restaurant near Yangjae Station serving Korean courses built on seasonal ingredients. Here is what the writer liked about it:

• Korean course built on seasonal ingredients
• A calm, fine-dining atmosphere
• Neat plating with every course
• A crispy potato dish that stuck in memory

MUSEO is at B1, KGC Building, 20 Gangnam-daero 47-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 572 m from Exit 2 of Yangjae Station (Line 3 and Shinbundang Line). It is open daily 10:00–22:00, with a break from 14:30 to 17:30 and last order at 20:00. For parking, use the Daemyeong Building lot (1340 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul) at ₩1,000 per 10 minutes; they say one car per party gets 1 hour covered when you dine. Corkage (paid), reservations, restrooms and Wi-Fi are all available.

How to find the MUSEO entrance, and what to watch out for

MUSEO is tucked inside the building, so it doesn't jump out at you as you walk past at first. Once you find the entrance and head down to the basement, the restaurant is there. The stairs are pretty steep, so go down carefully!

Is MUSEO good for a date or a group dinner?

Inside, the lighting is soft all over, and the sculpture and flowers you see as soon as you walk in made the mood so good! It felt less like a noisy regular restaurant and more like a place to focus on the food and eat slowly. There was also a faint scent when we walked in, and the fragrance of the space itself made the atmosphere feel even calmer.

The table setting is neat, and it's arranged so the plating shows well when the food arrives, so it was great for photos too.

MUSEO also has group seating, so it seemed like a good fit for gatherings where you sit and talk for a long time, like a wedding invitation meetup, or for small-group meals.

MUSEO dinner menu and prices

MUSEO's menu has courses and à la carte dishes, and most people seem to order the courses. We visited for dinner and ordered like this:

• Dinner tasting course for 2, ₩109,000 each
• Heineken draft beer, 2 glasses, ₩15,000 each

At first I worried a course might be small portions, but it was plenty filling. Every dish was plated differently, so it was fun taking photos each time the next one came out 📸

What order does the MUSEO tasting course come in?

The tasting course is first introduced on a printed sheet showing that day's lineup, with the reservation name at the top! Just seeing the printed paper made me feel so well looked after~

At dinner MUSEO requires one alcoholic drink per person, so we ordered Heineken draft beer. The foam was dense and smooth, and it went well with the food!

Sinan green onion tart and steamed egg

The first dish was Sinan green onion, a seasonal vegetable, and steamed egg. Starting with Korean ingredients right away gave me a sense of how MUSEO unfolds its course.

The Sinan green onion came as a tart you pick up and eat in one bite, and the cheese, green onion and tart shell went together better than I expected!

The egg dish was a steamed egg with king prawn and some kind of prawn floss? mushroom? thing inside. The silky steamed egg, like chawanmushi (Japanese savory egg custard), had a prawn texture added, and it was served so you could try it a bite at a time. A great starter to wake up the appetite.

Dongchimi mulhoe (cold raw fish in radish kimchi broth)

Next in the course was dongchimi mulhoe (cold radish-water kimchi broth with raw fish), and the mood changed completely from the earlier dishes.

The cold, refreshing broth felt like a palate reset in the middle of the course. The mustard jelly in it was especially delicious 🫢 It came with sliced radish and kkosiraegi (a crunchy seaweed), so you got tuna and a chewy crunch together.

Hoengseong Hanwoo tteokgalbi (grilled beef patty)

Next came Hoengseong Hanwoo tteokgalbi (grilled minced beef short rib patty). It sat on a bed of seasoned nutritious chives, and with the meat dish the meal felt a bit heavier.

The tteokgalbi was tender with a nice smoky meat aroma, topped with what I think was pine nut powder?, so it was nutty! It was even better dunked generously in the sauce served with it 👍🏻

Wando kelp brioche and Goheung Spanish mackerel

After that came dishes with fish and bread.

The Goheung Spanish mackerel came with a white kimchi beurre blanc and kimchi powder sauce, with brioche and a Wando kelp spread alongside.

First, the mackerel itself was so tender and moist. Eaten with the white kimchi sauce underneath, the richness didn't pile up in one place and it stayed clean! The sauce was so good I wanted to just spoon it up on its own 🥺

MUSEO's signature dish: crispy Gangneung potato truffle

I heard the Gangneung potato truffle is MUSEO's signature dish! Potato is a familiar ingredient, but it was fun to see it done a little differently, the way a course would.

How can a potato be this crispy? The dish my companion and I made eye contact over the moment we ate it 🤦🏻‍♂️ Sliced truffle on top gives it an insane aroma. The sauce had caviar in it, and was refreshing and slightly sweet.

Gopchang-gim seaweed and buckwheat

Next was a noodle dish with gopchang-gim (thick, crinkly seaweed) and buckwheat. Sea urchin was on top, small but so sweet and rich 🥺

You could really taste the seaweed's nutty aroma, and the bottom was full of fried buckwheat, which was the kicker~ It was my first time eating fried buckwheat and the different texture was fun 😆 Eating one dish after another, the course went by faster than I expected.

Pear sherbet palate cleanser

A sherbet with pear and lemon came out. It was served in a chilled glass bowl, tiny and cute 😊

After eating so many different things, the coolness of the pear and the clean lemon taste reset my mouth.

Main course: chicken leg with mung bean porridge

For the tasting course's main, you can choose between chicken drumstick or Hanwoo striploin 1++ No.9. Choosing the striploin costs extra.

I picked the standard chicken drumstick, and the tender drumstick with the mung bean porridge underneath went together so well! It felt a bit like eating samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup)!?

Several accompaniments came with it, so instead of eating just one flavor you could change the combination bit by bit. That one is pickled scallion, which I'd never had before, and it was sweet, chewy and delicious!

Sindongjin rice ice cream dessert

To finish the meal, dessert was ice cream made with Sindongjin rice. Being a rice dessert, it was nutty, with sesame oil and popcorn added, so it was a fresh dessert that nailed both flavor and texture. Ending with a dessert made from Korean ingredients felt very MUSEO 👍🏻

Is the MUSEO tasting course worth it? Overall verdict

What I liked about MUSEO's tasting course is that it uses fresh seasonal ingredients, from seasonal vegetables to egg, small bites, dongchimi mulhoe, Hanwoo tteokgalbi, fish and potato. Cold and crunchy dishes slotted in along the way, so even though it was a long course it flowed without ever feeling boring.

The plating was neat and pretty throughout, and it was fun taking photos each time a dish came out.

• Would I go back: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Drawbacks: Nothing in particular~
• One-line summary: A Yangjae Korean fine dining course where you can taste a wide range of Korean ingredients, from seasonal vegetables to Hanwoo beef, fish, meat and dessert

Who should book MUSEO in Yangjae?

• Anyone looking for a place to eat slowly on a date
• Anyone looking for a Gangnam venue for a wedding invitation meetup
• Anyone looking for a quiet fine dining restaurant in Yangjae
• Anyone who wants to try a Korean course unlike the usual
• Anyone looking for a small company dinner or group meal