Private-room Korean omakase in Dongtan for a birthday: Gise Dongtan

Hey everyone! There's a hint of autumn wind starting to blow and as a total autumn lover, I'm so excited haha.

September 4th was my partner's birthday, and as the self-proclaimed (and other-proclaimed?) event queen, I spent days thinking about how to plan the perfect birthday date. We've been together over 4 years, and while my birthday always gets celebrated on the actual day, my partner's birthday timing never worked out — we'd celebrate early, or if it was on the day, just a short dinner. Never a full day of celebration on the actual birthday.

So since this was our first-ever full-day date on my partner's actual birthday, I decided to finally go to a Korean omakase fine-dining place I'd had my eye on for a while. This is the story of Gise Dongtan (기세 동탄), a Korean-style tasting menu fine-dining restaurant in Dongtan that's great for birthdays and anniversaries.

Where is Gise Dongtan? Hours and parking

Gise Dongtan is located in the Alicevill commercial building on Dongtan-yeokro in Hwaseong. It's open daily from 12:00 to 22:00, with a break time from 15:30 to 17:30, and last order at 21:10.

• Hours: Daily 12:00–22:00
• Break time: 15:30–17:30
• Last order: 21:10

For parking, you can park at the Alicevill commercial building lot. In case you're wondering where to go after parking, I took some photos of the route too. After parking, take the elevator at Gate 7 up to the 1st floor, or the escalator at Gate 8, and look for Paris Baguette — Gise Dongtan is right next to it! When you leave, write your license plate number on the receipt and they'll register it for parking.

My partner had no idea where we were going (even the navigation was set to the parking lot) and the second they spotted it, they were like 'wait, what!?' haha.

All private rooms: why Gise Dongtan suits birthdays and anniversaries

After they checked our reservation, we were shown to our room. Every single seat at Gise Dongtan is set up as a private room, so you get to eat in such a comfortable, private atmosphere haha. That makes it absolutely perfect for a birthday or anniversary visit.

How does the reservation deposit work?

When you book through Naver Reservations, you select your course and pay a deposit at the same time. This deposit isn't deducted from your final bill — it's more like a security deposit that gets fully refunded after the meal, while you pay the actual bill separately. On the table, today's course was presented in a beautiful envelope, which felt very clean and upscale.

Here's Gise Dongtan's menu. We reserved and visited for the lunch tasting course that day.

• Lunch tasting course ₩99,000 × 2

The 99,000 won lunch tasting course starts with one-bite dishes

They gave us water first — but honestly, what happened to my memory,,,, it's only been 2 days since I went and I can't remember what kind of water it was, amazing haha. Anyway, it smelled lovely and was delicious.

First up was the amuse-bouche bite. They also gave us a little energy tonic made from deer antler, red ginseng, and mixed fruits, meant to be sipped along with the foam on top. It had a sweet fruity taste with zero bitterness, which I loved haha. Whenever I go to an omakase or fine-dining place, seeing these little bite-sized dishes is always the most fun part. It makes me think, how did they even come up with this? haha♥︎

Two bites served in a sinseollo (traditional hot pot) dish. In the gif, what my partner is showing off is a bite made with raw beef tartare mixed with plum, served on a brown rice chip. The nice thing about bite-sized dishes is that, for someone like me with gastritis who has to be careful with food, these small, manageable bites let me enjoy things without worry. The combo of brown rice chip and beef tartare was surprisingly great.

And this one was stir-fried black pork ham with a young radish green pesto and perilla-seed mayo, topped with a food-safety-approved herb, which they told us to eat together for the best flavor. Every time I eat these bite-sized dishes, I'm reminded again how endlessly fascinating food can be,,,★

Then there was a scallop and cream cheese ice cream — I passed this one to my partner since it was ice cream. According to my partner, the ice cream had a surprisingly salty flavor that made it quite unique and enjoyable. They thought the cream cheese might make it heavy, but it wasn't — just really pleasant to eat, they said haha.

Aged sashimi in vinegar dressing and Korean beef carpaccio

Next was an aged raw fish salad that I only photographed — aged flounder sashimi tossed with a black raspberry sauce, topped with watermelon radish and caviar, as they explained. My partner ate mine too and said the texture of the fish was so chewy and fresh, they loved it. They also raved about the sauce pairing, wondering how it was even made haha.

Next was thinly sliced raw beef, i.e. Korean beef carpaccio — an Italian-style beef sashimi made with a kimchi-based sauce and topped with red frill mustard leaf, meant to be rolled up and eaten, as they explained.

Raw beef sashimi... worried it might be too much for my stomach, I passed this one to my partner too. They tried it and raved that it was really soft and delicious. Seeing them enjoy it so much made me proud I'd picked the right restaurant haha.

Abalone and crepe mille-feuille

Next was abalone with a Western-style crepe — and finally something I could actually eat, so exciting! It was an abalone and crepe mille-feuille, with abalone steamed for a long time in makgeolli lees, topped with a Western crepe (palmier), meant to be dipped in a sauce made from abalone innards and another made from makgeolli and sesame.

Personally, I really dislike the fishy taste of abalone innards, but wow, I couldn't believe how not-fishy and delicious this was. The abalone was so chewy and warm, and the palmier was crisp — the whole combination worked so well haha.

Straw-fire grilled eel with the hot pot rice table setting

The main dish of Gise Dongtan's lunch tasting course is straw-fire grilled eel with a hot pot rice set. A full kilogram of eel is smoked over straw fire to remove excess fat, then topped with grilled garlic scapes, grilled garlic, and a grilled one-year-old sprout ginseng — they explained the ginseng isn't very potent so it's best eaten whole. Oh, interesting! I passed it to my partner, who avoids most vegetables. And yes, I didn't eat the grilled garlic scapes or garlic either, not a secret haha. My partner said it was delicious and ate it together with the eel.

You could swap for grilled native chicken for an extra charge, but that's meat, right? I went with eel so I could actually eat it too haha. My mouth is extremely sensitive and I usually dislike the rough, prickly texture of eel — it feels like it's poking the inside of my mouth. So as a test(?), I had my partner try it first, and asked if it felt prickly. They said no, it was fine, go ahead and try it.

Even with my sensitive mouth, I ate it without any discomfort at all — zero prickly texture, and the eel wasn't heavy or greasy in the slightest, it was genuinely delicious. My partner thought it might be greasy enough to get sick of, but there was none of that, which they loved.

For the hot pot rice set, there was a spicy seafood soup made with mussels and live octopus, with cordyceps mushroom and nutrition chives, and rice cooked with Suhyangmi rice from Hwaseong along with ginkgo nuts and corn. Side dishes included wild ginseng root pickles, ginseng namul, and chosukjam (Chinese artichoke) pickles — my personal favorite♥︎ that crunchy texture is really something. I tried the wild ginseng root pickles out of curiosity — very much an 'older-generation' flavor haha, the kind your parents would love. I happily handed my ginkgo nuts (which I dislike) over to my partner.

As for the sauces, from top to bottom there was one made from grilled eel bones, wasabi, and black raspberry salt — they recommended trying the black raspberry salt first, so I did. Both the salt and the sauce combos were great,,, but honestly, the seafood soup was the real star. How could it be brewed so refreshing and delicious,,,, it wasn't spicy either, so it was perfect even for me with gastritis. I only ate half my rice and gave the rest to my partner (too full).

Birthday seaweed soup and the lettered cheesecake

Gise Dongtan prepares seaweed soup if you note a birthday in your reservation request. I received one too♥︎ they explained it's the soup they give to the birthday person. My partner, even though it was technically their soup, moved it over to my side so I could eat it easier,,, so I got to try the seaweed soup too, and it was delicious★

After the meal, dessert came out. The dishes never came out too fast — they paced everything to match how quickly we were eating, which I really appreciated. There's a birthday/anniversary lettering coupon, which we used when booking, and you can customize the lettering with up to 10 characters.

So after thinking it over, I decided on 'Next year's birthday is mine too♥︎' haha. The cake itself was a cheesecake.

Then came a rice castella with peach and plum, a dongdongju (rice wine) panna cotta topped with edible herb crumble, and a healthy juice made with raspberry and hibiscus petals haha. Not a single thing here that wasn't delicious,,, this place is just too perfect,,,,,★

And there were even little snacks made from Chinese yam mastic, nutty and with a great texture haha.

When I finally pulled out the gift I'd prepared, my partner went 'wait, why did you prepare so much?' with a huge grin, clearly having a great time. They kept working on a puzzle, saying 'this is so cool, how did you even think of this,' complimenting me over and over haha. Watching them excitedly solve the puzzle just to get to the letter inside was so funny haha.

In the meantime, they brought the receipt, which also had a little note for writing your license plate number — write it down and they'll register your parking for you♥︎

Is Gise Dongtan worth booking for a celebration in Dongtan?

My partner kept asking how I even found a place like this, showering me with compliments haha. I'd wanted to visit for a long time and kept putting it off, so finally going right on my partner's actual birthday made it even better haha.

If you're looking for Korean omakase in Dongtan, or a great spot for a birthday or anniversary, I gently recommend Gise Dongtan♥︎