Gangnam wedding hall bride tasting: clam soup, makchang buffet — Arbe

Arbe Wedding Hall, where I'm getting married! It's been getting hotter and hotter lately as one of Seoul's prettiest wedding halls. Even when I signed my contract it was already rising fast among bright, pretty Seoul wedding halls, and thanks to the location itself — especially being in Gangnam — I got contract terms that honestly shouldn't even be possible for a Gangnam wedding hall!!!

Basically a bride who managed to buy in low on a truly high-end wedding hall!? That's me. I think the price I signed at would be impossible to get now, and since then the hall has kept getting upgraded in even better directions, so it's gotten even fancier.

Why a bride who already signed with Arbe visited again before her official tasting

On Arbe's open KakaoTalk chat, every single wedding has reviews saying the food is genuinely delicious. Literally everyone says don't worry about the food, and I was so, so curious — so through a great opportunity I got to visit as part of a campaign group before my official pre-wedding tasting!! Do you know how excited I was for like two weeks after applying for this campaign!?

Seriously, do you know how excited I was just thinking about eating Arbe's food!!! Getting to visit before the official tasting two months out, where I'll bring my parents, is such a huge win! Excited the whole time, I visited Arbe again almost 7 months after signing my contract in February!

Oh..! It had been a while, and so much had changed again in the meantime!! I really agonized over whether to mention I was a contracted bride while there as a campaign guest, or just stay quiet haha... If I said I'd signed, wouldn't it sound like I was being a bit full of myself!? Like I was asking for extra special treatment...? So I just stayed quiet, and the staff who guided me probably had no idea I was actually a contracted bride!!

They gave me a general tour of Arbe, walked me all the way to the banquet hall, and even assigned me a seat! This — the kindness — is honestly one of the biggest reasons I chose Arbe in the first place. Even though they thought I was just a campaign guest, it was a perfect 10 out of 10. Everyone was so sweet, greeted so warmly, and every staff member was seriously professional through and through.

Where tasting guests sit: a separate inner room at Arbe

They guided us to a separate room further inside~ It seems like a whole room set aside just for tasting guests, spacious like that, and just like I'd seen in other reviews — an apron too!!!! Because if we ate among the actual wedding guests, it might be awkward for the bride and groom when they entered the hall! I was so grateful they thought of tasting guests too, seating us so we wouldn't disturb the actual ceremony.

We ended up staying for a while, over an hour..? Well, eating was part of it, but also... because we're contracted, haha... We were curious about the ceremony so we watched it on the screen!! But nobody told us to leave, nobody gave us dirty looks. Genuinely so thankful. To be honest it was because as a contracted couple we were watching the ceremony on screen...

What's on Arbe's autumn buffet menu

Since this is a tasting review, let's start with the tasting photos — they said it's currently the autumn menu~ apparently the menu changes again in winter. The food kept getting refilled right away too,

While I was serving myself, I could hear people next to me saying there was so much food they couldn't decide what to eat, and guests kept going 'wow, they have this too?' It made me so proud, honestly. I really made the right choice signing here.

White wine, sake and conveyor-belt sushi at Arbe

Everyone, the white wine, seriously... you have to try it... it's so good. What kind of wine is this, it tastes kind of like a Moscato!? Ugh, if I didn't have plans after this I could've drunk like 10 glasses.

I tried the sake too — good stuff. And Arbe's signature: conveyor sushi! Signature item number two: gelato!

The hwachae (fruit punch) was seriously delicious and the fruit was all so fresh and tasty!

The desserts were great too, the macarons were delicious! You have to try the macarons!

Why Arbe serves so many drinks: the hangover porridge line

Arbe really, really has such a wide variety of alcohol!!!

The reason Arbe has this much alcohol...

It's because you can cure your hangover right there while you're still drinking...!!!!! Seriously, everyone..? In the porridge line — I didn't manage to get a photo, unfortunately — there's clam soup and doganitang (ox knee cartilage soup), and the clam soup, oh my gosh, you absolutely have to try it. After drinking the clam soup I realized, ahh, that's why there's so much alcohol — because you can sober up right away while you're still drinking haha. It's genuinely amazing, so delicious. You could just set that out as a side dish and go infinite rounds of sake and soju... The porridge selection is varied too, so you soothe your empty stomach with porridge and then just dive right back into the food!

Seafood, the grill station and grilled makchang (beef intestine)

And there was hoe (raw fish), steamed clams, steamed crab and more — the seafood selection was so varied, and the grill station kept cooking and setting fresh items out right away. You might look and think, huh, why so little? But it's not that — they just grill and plate small batches right as people come to eat, so it never sits and goes cold, which I really loved! They had smelt too! There were so many types I couldn't photograph them all, ugh.

The grilled makchang (grilled beef intestine) was such a surprise!!! First time seeing makchang at a buffet — no gamey smell at all and so tasty!!!

What changed at Arbe since the February contract

I mentioned I signed with Arbe back in February and that a lot has changed since then~ First off, there's now a welcome drink station!

Sadly, when I visited it wasn't open for that time slot yet — so disappointing!!!

Ahh, do you see this!? The garden vibe here has gotten so much richer, it's even prettier now!! Since I added a live trio for the pre-ceremony music, I'm so excited imagining how much more house-wedding the atmosphere will feel with them playing right here... Getting that house wedding feeling in Seoul, and in Gangnam no less... that's honestly such a huge selling point!

And there's a new LED screen too! Arbe just keeps improving, love it! The photo booth used to not have those flower decorations, and now it's a lot more elaborate!

And as soon as you go downstairs, there's a photo table that greets you! Near this photo table, the fresh flower scent that made me fall in love when I signed the contract wafts over strongly, and it just puts you in such a good mood.

They decorated it like this for autumn, so pretty!! When I signed in February it had more of a pink-pink vibe, but for autumn they've accented it with red flowers.

And there's also been a change in the bridal waiting room — now there's this little platform. I think it'll look even prettier in photos~

Arbe's resident florist and the size of the hall

Arbe has florists stationed inside the hall, so as soon as one ceremony ends, they're right there tending to the flowers again~ This is honestly hotel-level service... I've been to a lot of wedding halls but I've never seen flowers maintained in real time like this!

I worried a lot after signing whether the hall might feel a bit small, but there are two doors, and the bride and groom enter through the center door!? Afterward that door stays open, and looking through it...

...it's not cramped at all!! Isn't it so pretty..? It feels like getting married in a hidden garden you reach by following a forest trail! Like a fairy wedding!! That's exactly why I signed here haha!!

Arbe tastings: two months before the wedding, up to 6 people

The tasting is held two months before the wedding day, and it's available for up to 6 people! After trying it myself today, I think parents will be so, so satisfied when I bring them along two months before the ceremony! I left feeling completely reassured and satisfied~