Yeonnam-dong date restaurant, yolk risotto 3 ways: Hôtel de Couture

A day off, a Seoul trip, and a date at Hôtel de Couture in Yeonnam-dong

Work has been so busy lately that life was a blur, but I finally put in for a day of annual leave and came to Seoul for a trip. My boyfriend and I came to Yeonnam-dong for a date.

We're a couple who loves pasta and eat it often, and I mostly care about a restaurant's atmosphere. But Hôtel de Couture (오뗄드꾸뜨) has both a great mood and really great pasta, so it's a place I think of every time I come to Yeonnam-dong.

Hôtel de Couture wait times: when is it quiet?

At peak hours a wait is the norm at Hôtel de Couture, but there's no break time, so you can pick a relatively quiet time to come, which I liked. It's good for talking quietly and the pasta quality is guaranteed, so if anyone asks me for a Yeonnam-dong date spot, it's Hôtel de Couture, no question~

QR ordering and a pasta-and-risotto combo from the new menu

You order simply by QR code at Hôtel de Couture. Maybe because it had been a while, the menu had changed a lot. I'd wanted the pasta I had last time, but I also wanted to try the new dishes, so it actually worked out well.

We ordered the carrot aglio e olio and the jambon (cured ham) truffle cream risotto. Last time I came for brunch and had the French toast, which was really good too. Today I wanted a proper meal, so we went with a pasta and risotto combo.

ABC juice and Coke Zero

For drinks, there was ABC juice, which is unusual, and I thought something cold would go well with pasta, so I ordered it, plus a Coke.

The cold Coke Zero and ABC juice came out first, so we had a refreshing sip before the pasta. The ABC juice isn't very sweet, a pleasant, healthy sweetness that doesn't overpower the pasta, and it was exactly to my taste.

Carrot aglio e olio and jambon truffle cream risotto: how do they arrive?

The carrot aglio e olio came out first. It's piled with shredded carrot and topped with duck steak, so the whole dish smells wonderfully of duck.

Then the jambon truffle cream risotto appeared. The arugula and tomato garnish is so pretty, and it's loaded with jambon.

A perfect lunch order! If it's your first time at Hôtel de Couture and you can't decide, I recommend ordering exactly what I did.

Eating pretty food in the sunlight, in a pretty restaurant, made the date feel the best. When I posted it on Instagram, of course people flooded in asking where in Seoul it was, hahaha.

Let me try a bite. The interior at Hôtel de Couture is warm, and the food has warm colors too, so even casual photos came out looking pretty.

Jambon truffle cream risotto: three ways to enjoy the yolk

With the jambon truffle cream risotto, you can enjoy three flavors: break the yolk first and scoop it up with the yolk alone without mixing it into the risotto, then try the plain risotto, and then mix everything. It's full of oats, so the texture is great and it goes well with the cream.

What does the carrot aglio e olio taste like? Noodles soaked in duck fat

The carrot aglio e olio at Hôtel de Couture was much more delicious than I expected. I already like oil pasta, but after eating this, my idea of aglio e olio changed 180 degrees.

I thought only a little shredded carrot was on top, but the strands are long enough to twirl around a fork, and there's a huge amount..

I took a bite, and the carrot's natural sweetness comes through as is, and the noodles have soaked up lots of duck fat, so it's so good..? It's a flavor I definitely want to recreate at home by adding duck to my own aglio e olio.

Truffle cream risotto with jambon

The jambon truffle cream risotto is delicious on its own, but the jambon is soft and not salty, adding texture and aroma, which made the risotto feel more upscale.

With jalapeños and pickled radish to cut the richness, it was the kind of dish where you want to finish a whole bowl by yourself.

Mixing the two dishes: our variations

I only ordered Hôtel de Couture's signature dishes and enjoyed them so much. The carrot goes well with the aglio e olio, the yolk-coated risotto is delicious, and the cream isn't heavy and has plenty of pepper, so it was tasty.

For the variations, we ate the carrot together with the risotto, and put jambon on the aglio e olio pasta, which was fun and delicious.

The duck is wonderfully chewy and goes so well with the pasta, so the signature dishes are a total pass. For anyone looking for tasty, pretty pasta in Yeonnam-dong with a boyfriend, I confidently recommend ordering exactly what I had at Hôtel de Couture!