Seocho Korean fine dining with potato ice cream: MUSEO

MUSEO is Korean fine dining built around seasonal ingredients, where you can have a truly refined dining experience. I was already so happy with the lunch course, but the new dinner tasting course was more than satisfying—it was an absolute feast!

MUSEO Interior and Seating

The beautiful interior was decorated with lovely flowers. The soft lighting, fragrant air, and atmosphere were so nice that it looked perfect for a date, too.

With a reservation, I found neatly set tableware at the bar seats, and there were regular dining-room seats as well.

Today’s Dinner Tasting Course

Hwayo 25

For dinner, ordering alcohol is required, so I chose Hwayo 25. The dinner tasting course presents seasonal Korean food in tapas-style portions, making it so good alongside a drink!

Sinan Scallion Tart

First up was the amuse-bouche scallion tart. Crisp tart pastry, savory cream, and the gentle sweetness of scallion came together beautifully. Sweet and nutty—it really raised my expectations for the course!

Egg

This was another appetizer: steamed egg. Anchovies and seomcho spinach from an island area were placed over the rich, creamy egg.

When I gathered up the egg and sauce in one bite, the nutty, soft egg, the sweetness of the spinach, and the rich anchovies all came together. Such delicious steamed egg. >.<

Seafood Mulhoe and Tteokgalbi

This gorgeous mulhoe (chilled spicy seafood soup) included sweet shrimp and plenty of pickled seaweed. Its sweet-and-tangy broth was refreshing, and I loved the contrast between the crunchy seaweed and tender shrimp.

The tteokgalbi (Korean grilled minced-meat patty) came over a chive salad, to be enjoyed with pine-nut sauce. I dipped it in the sauce and took a big bite… It was so juicy, nutty, and packed with umami. >.<

Wando Kelp Brioche

Beautifully golden-baked brioche. You can enjoy it with the kelp soy-sauce butter served alongside, or pair it with the Spanish mackerel course that follows.

And here is the kelp soy-sauce butter. It was pleasantly salty and full of oceanic kelp fragrance, which went wonderfully with the sweet, nutty brioche.

Goheung Straw-Smoked Spanish Mackerel

This beautiful plate of straw-smoked Spanish mackerel called fine art to mind. Seeing plates this beautiful may be one of the greatest pleasures of fine dining. But what makes me especially love MUSEO is that it goes beyond inventive ideas and beautiful plating—the food tastes amazing, too.

This straw-smoked Spanish mackerel was unbelievably delicious, too. ㅠㅠ The tender, clean-tasting fish worked so well with the white-kimchi beurre blanc. Kimchi powder gave it a distinctly Korean flavor, while the whole dish also felt touched by Western cooking?! I was amazed that a Spanish mackerel kimchi stew had inspired such a beautiful, modern plate—and that it tasted this good on top of that. It was wonderful with the brioche, too. >.<

Gangneung Potato-Shred Ice Cream

This potato-shred ice cream is MUSEO’s signature plate. Truffle sauce was served with it, too.

Although the menu calls it potato-shred ice cream, it actually felt closer to fried shredded potato or a shredded-potato pancake. The texture was unbelievably crisp outside and wonderfully moist inside. The whole exterior had absorbed oil evenly, so it was incredibly nutty… Everyone knows how nutty an oil-rich potato pancake can be… It was reaaally delicious. ㅠㅠㅠ

I wondered why such an ordinary staple crop as potato would be the signature dish, but one taste made it immediately clear. I couldn’t help admiring how a familiar ingredient could produce flavor at this level. >.<

Gim Pesto Buckwheat Noodles and Pear Sherbet

These gim (roasted seaweed) pesto buckwheat noodles were full of ocean flavor. You mash up the uni and mix it through. The noodles themselves were delicious, but the fried buckwheat on top made them so nutty, crispy, and crunchy… and there was that fragrant uni flavor that brought the whole dish together so elegantly… I usually only have a bite or two of noodles, but I ate almost all of these… because they were so good! Haha

The softly melting, sweet-tart pear sherbet worked as a lovely palate cleanser.

Chicken Leg

In a fine-dining course, they change the tableware to suit each plate, too. Haha. A spoon and fork suited to eating the chicken leg arrived.

Then came today’s main dish: chicken leg.

A thick, plump chicken leg. It was cooked in lard, so I expected deep flavor! Pickled scallions and mung-bean porridge came alongside.

I thought this plate seemed inspired by samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and samgye-juk (chicken rice porridge), and the chicken pulled apart with incredible tenderness. The nutty, clean-tasting chicken was so delicious. The sweet pickled scallions went beautifully with it, too. Gather it all with the mung-bean porridge in one bite… >.< It was a delicious chicken dish that felt familiar yet unfamiliar. Haha. To encounter the literary technique of defamiliarization through food—what a joyful and happy dining experience.

Makgeolli Ice Cream

Even the dessert plate was beautiful, right? Haha. This makgeolli (Korean rice wine) ice cream was not overly sweet, with a gentle, nutty flavor that paired well with subtly flavored figs. The salty-sweet pickled Korean melon pieces that appeared throughout were a lovely touch, too.

I truly love fine dining because food can become a medium for an artistic experience. MUSEO is, in my view, a highly accomplished fine-dining restaurant: it focuses on seasonal ingredients and Korean cuisine while continually creating fresh, distinctive, innovative plates. It was such a satisfying time!