Gangnam jazz bar with a coworker: summer dinner course, Flat Nine

What kind of jazz bar is Flat Nine in Gangnam?

Flat Nine (FLATNINE) is a jazz and dining bar between Sinnonhyeon Station and Gangnam Station where you can have a dinner course with a live show. My days have been pretty uneventful lately, so I was looking for something special, and for a change of pace I visited Flat Nine with a coworker. The location is convenient and easy to find, and you get live music and a dinner course in one place, so I picked it.

Flat Nine (FLATNINE): a perfect harmony of food and music

• Address: 5F, 10 Gangnam-daero 65-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Mon–Thu 18:00–23:00 / Sat–Sun 15:00–24:00

I liked that this jazz bar is on the 5th floor. It felt like it would be airier and less stuffy or gloomy.

The July–August show lineup was posted at the entrance. You can also check the lineup on Flat Nine's Instagram. Looks like there's a special show on August 22. Hmm, curious!

Flat Nine's interior and stage

Inside, it was spacious and clean, with a classy, pleasant atmosphere. I love it!!

Oh.. I had looked up this stage a lot before visiting, but seeing it in person made it feel even more impressive. A proper performance stage, you could say? It felt fairly large in scale, so I was really looking forward to it.

I had reserved ahead, so our seats were ready. The show starts at 8, and we arrived a little after 7, so we planned to eat first and then focus on the music.

How much is Flat Nine's Classic Course, and what's included?

The Classic Course is ₩78,000 for two, and the show fee is an extra ₩15,000 per person. So the show plus the course for two came to ₩108,000. We ordered the Classic Course for two.

The course includes an aperitif, bread and a seasonal salad, lasagna (your choice of white truffle or basil tomato), black pork steak and tiramisu. You can also add pasta for an extra charge.

Aperitif: non-alcoholic berry sparkling drink

The aperitif can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, and I chose non-alcoholic! It's a drink of cranberry, raspberry, mint and lemon topped with sparkling water. The red color is pretty and makes you hungry. One sip gave me a sweet and sour berry taste. It wasn't too sweet and the lemon stayed fresh, so it was a great way to whet the appetite at the start of the course.

Bread: warm focaccia

The bread was focaccia, and it was warm. Crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside. Being warm, it was just so good.. dipping it in olive oil and balsamic is fragrant and nice, but it was really delicious plain too.

Amuse-bouche: crispy dauphinoise

The amuse-bouche was a crispy dauphinoise, which felt a little fresh and new. I was told it's thinly sliced potato layered up and fried crispy, topped with lemon butter, shiso and chervil. It was my first time seeing and eating it, so, oh~

Is it meant to be eaten cold? It's a fried dish but it was cold. Maybe it was made ahead and served that way, whatever. Before eating I thought, it's just potato, but the layers gave it a texture and taste that wasn't ordinary, and the sauce on top matched it with a fresh brightness, so it was tasty. It felt like a real dish, which was fresh.

What does the summer Korean melon and squid carpaccio taste like?

The seasonal salad (SEASONAL SALAD) in the Classic Course was a carpaccio of smoked squid and chamoe (Korean melon) with pickled radish and a charred paprika sauce. The moment I saw it: oh~~ looks great!!

First, Korean melon gives such a summery feel, and of course it's a great fruit to eat in summer. I was curious about melon with seafood, and after one bite my coworker and I both went, oh~ it's different and delicious. The crisp sweetness of the melon goes well with the chewy squid, and the grilled? sauce balances it out. And eating all the ingredients together as the complete package? instead of one by one was fresh and so good.. It's light and cool, and it tidies up your mouth before moving on.

Flat Nine's mille-feuille basil tomato lasagna

Flat Nine's mille-feuille lasagna is ragù, béchamel and cheese stacked between layers of fresh pasta, cooked twice, in a pan and in the oven. We chose basil tomato, which has no extra charge, and the basil aroma filled the air as soon as it arrived, making my mouth water.

It was bigger and heftier than I expected. Not just heavy in weight, but fairly rich in taste too? There were more layers than I thought, plenty of ragù between them and loads of cheese, and it wasn't an ordinary dish, so I was happy.

I wasn't sure how to cut it, and a fork alone was enough, so that's how I ate it. The fresh pasta was good, the fragrant basil tomato sauce, cheese and ragù were full of flavor, the combination worked, and the aroma and taste blended really well, so I enjoyed it a lot.

How was the Jeju black pork tenderloin steak main?

The main dish (STEAK) in the Classic Course is a dry-aged Jeju black pork tenderloin steak grilled over binchotan (white charcoal), served with grilled mushrooms and sauce. I wondered what a pork tenderloin steak would taste like. Cutting it with a knife, it felt fairly tender and springy.

The black pork tenderloin steak seems to be a signature item at Flat Nine? It held its juices moistly, like sous vide, and the texture was tender yet chewy?, you could say. I noticed a lot of faint charcoal and smoky aroma. Maybe because it's tenderloin, the taste was clean and mild, but with the smoky scent it felt a little like ham.

Dessert: chocolate tiramisu

The last dessert in the Classic Course is a chocolate tiramisu cake. It was bigger than I expected and felt like a proper? dessert, which surprised me. It was soft and creamy with a rich flavor. Rich from real ingredients, not imitated with scent? The nuts added a nutty taste and a nice chew. It was a little sweet and made me think of coffee, but it was night.. so I nibbled at it little by little during the show.

Live jazz at Flat Nine: the LAZYKUMA Quartet

That day's lineup at Flat Nine was the LAZYKUMA Quartet. It had been a while since I'd seen a show, so my expectations were high. It's a quartet with piano, bass and drums around a saxophonist, reinterpreting famous jazz pieces such as John Coltrane's in LAZYKUMA's own style, so it had quite a character. The course was finished except for the dessert, so I could focus fully on the show, which was nice.

It seemed like modern jazz, and it felt a bit unique among shows I've experienced (there are many kinds of jazz and I can't tell them apart). Between songs they explained that some people find LAZYKUMA's shows a bit difficult, and at first it felt kind of abstruse, but as I listened it felt both familiar and new, and I liked it. I stayed through the second set and left happy to have seen a show after so long.

Who is Flat Nine best for?

Flat Nine is a place to eat good food in a stylish space while watching live music. If you like dates, special occasions or live shows, I recommend Flat Nine as a place you'll be happy with!