Samsung Station Italian restaurant: gim pesto risotto at Mano di Chef

So I ended up not getting Odyssey tickets for the giant screen and had to settle for the Coex Dolby theater instead,, three hours of Odyssey later I was starving, so I looked up good restaurants nearby and lo and behold, Mano di Chef was right there,, I'd always wanted to go, so I took it as a sign from the heavens and went straight there,, and yep,, whatever I ordered turned out to be amazing ㅠㅠ

Where is Mano di Chef Samsung Branch, and when is it open?

Mano di Chef Samsung Branch is located at B1F, Dongsung Building, 21 Teheran-ro 87-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. It's within walking distance from Coex, so I headed straight there right after the movie.

• Hours: Daily 11:00 AM–9:30 PM (break time 3:30 PM–5:00 PM / last order 2:00 PM, 8:30 PM)
• Parking available
• Zero Pay accepted

Inside Mano di Chef: private rooms and table seating

The interior of Mano di Chef Samsung Branch was quite spacious. Toward the back there were several rooms that could each fit 6 to 8 people, and out front there was seating for 4 to 6 for friends or family. The space felt modern and classic, and I thought it would make a great date spot for couples too!

Mano di Chef menu: à la carte dishes and set courses

Mano di Chef Samsung Branch offers set course menus alongside à la carte dishes. Prices run a bit on the higher side, so it seems like a good pick for anniversaries or treating your parents. I ordered the red shrimp bisque linguine and the gim (seaweed) pesto & seafood barley risotto.

Red shrimp bisque linguine, ₩33,900: how rich is the sauce?

The red shrimp bisque linguine (₩33,900) is the signature pasta, topped with wild red shrimp and octopus in a deep, rich bisque sauce simmered from red shrimp. Maybe because it's simmered from actual red shrimp, the bisque flavor was quite deep and pleasantly salty.

The octopus came topped in bite-sized pieces, and the red shrimp were generously sized and cooked just right. The dish paired so well with the plate itself that I kept eating and wondering, what kind of plate even is this?

Cutting the octopus and shrimp on top into bite-sized pieces and eating them together with the pasta wrapped the salty sauce flavor in a nutty richness that made every bite even better.

Gim pesto & seafood barley risotto, ₩32,900: thick scallops on top

The gim pesto & seafood barley risotto (₩32,900) is a signature seafood barley risotto made with gim (seaweed) pesto, topped with tender scallops and loaded with shrimp and octopus.

On top of the gim risotto sit beautifully seared scallops! They were thick enough that it was easier to cut them with a knife before eating.

Inside the risotto, all kinds of seafood were finely diced into bite-sized pieces, giving it an interesting crunchy, chewy texture.

Final verdict: who should eat at Mano di Chef near Samsung Station?

I think this is the first time a bisque pasta made my eyes go wide. The sauce was so intense it felt like putting whole red shrimp straight into your mouth. And you absolutely have to order the gim risotto too,, my friend and I ate it saying everything we'd eaten before wasn't real risotto,, by the end we were scraping the bowl loud enough to hear, trying to get every last bit of sauce ㅠ that's how incredible it was,,

The atmosphere inside is really nice too, so it'd make couples happy on a date,, plenty of families come too, and it's a good spot to keep it simple with one pasta and one risotto to share. Recommending a visit to Mano di Chef Samsung Branch, the bisque pasta spot near Coex!