Seocho fine-dining anniversary dinner with melon scallops: Vinovine

What is Vinovine, the fine-dining restaurant near Seocho Station?

Vinovine (비노바인) is a fine-dining restaurant in the basement of Hyojin Building near Seocho Station. The food quality is really high and the course is generously put together, so I was very satisfied.

All-private-room seating and the wine list

The whole interior of Vinovine is made up of private rooms, so it's a cozy space! >.<

There was also a varied wine list.

Vinovine Dinner Course 6.5: today's menu

That day, the Vinovine dinner course came in this order: amuse-bouche, soup, shrimp, white sea bream, pasta, hanwoo (Korean beef) steak, and dessert.

Starter: scallop with Korean melon and truffle egg mousse

Vinovine's amuse-bouche is a sweet scallop topped with foam, plus

an egg mousse.

The scallop comes with chamoe (Korean melon), which is in season in summer. The fruit and scallop went together surprisingly well! >.< A small dish where the sweetness of the sea meets the sweetness of the land.

The egg dish, with a faint truffle aroma, was slightly sweet, savory and firm. A delicious egg mousse.

Appetizer: sweet corn soup with fried baby corn

The first appetizer is a chodang corn (super-sweet corn) soup. It was packed with the sweet, nutty flavor of chodang corn.

The fried baby corn was sweet and nutty too...!!! Overall it was nutty, fresh and sweet, a soup that really whets the appetite.

Appetizer: shrimp with banana and bisque sauce

The other appetizer is shrimp. It comes with a bisque sauce made from the shrimp heads and innards, and, wait for it, there's banana in it too!

Shrimp and banana is certainly an unusual combination, but it works. The rich, savory shrimp and bisque sauce meet the sweet, soft banana. As a seafood lover, I enjoyed this dish a lot.

Fish: white sea bream sakusaku

What made me feel the Vinovine course was really generous is that it includes both a seafood dish and a steak dish. Next came the white sea bream (baegokdom), with beautiful plating.

The sea bream is fried with its scales left on, hence sakusaku (crispy).

I love the contrast between the soft, savory flesh and the crunchy fried scales, so as one of my favorite fish dishes it was a welcome sight..

Eat it all together with the gentle champagne sauce, sweet zucchini and tomato, and the fragrant flavor doubles. >.<

Primi: funghi pasta loaded with mushrooms

Vinovine's pasta course is a funghi pasta loaded with all kinds of mushrooms. Maybe because of the variety of mushrooms, it smelled great from the start...! I liked how the chewy mushrooms contrasted with the texture of the noodles.

How is the main steak at Vinovine?

The main dish at Vinovine is a striploin steak made with 1++ hanwoo, served with a black garlic dressing.

It was cooked medium rare, my favorite doneness, so I liked that... and maybe because it's top-grade 1++ hanwoo, it was really tender, nutty and delicious! It was the most satisfying of all the dishes.

Dessert: hojicha ice cream and warabi mochi

The finale, dessert, is hojicha (roasted green tea) ice cream, warabi mochi (soft jelly-like rice cake) and a nut biscuit. The hojicha ice cream was nutty, sweet and pleasantly bitter, and the contrast between the soft, bouncy warabi mochi and the nut biscuit was impressive.

The plate itself is pretty, but even in a single dessert, the harmony of so many textures and flavors left me admiring it right to the very end!

Why I recommend Vinovine for an anniversary dinner near Seocho Station

I really love the innovation and harmony you get from the unusual ingredient pairings that often show up in fine-dining courses. Vinovine let me fully enjoy that charm of a fine-dining course, so I was truly satisfied.

The atmosphere is great and the staff are friendly, so it's a really good place to visit for an anniversary! haha