Seocho Korean fine dining dinner course at MUSEO

MUSEO between Yangjae and Gangnam stations

It had been a while since we’d dressed up a little and worked on nurturing our love, so we visited MUSEO, a Korean fine-dining restaurant~ The course was made up of unusual dishes inspired by familiar Korean food, and we got to discover a new world of Korean cuisine that felt both recognizable and fresh~

Located between Gangnam and Yangjae stations, MUSEO was entered through this side entrance for us~

It seemed that people arriving by car mostly came through the building entrance~ We could look over the menu on the poster, and there was the appeal of a menu that changes with seasonal dishes and ingredient availability~

Inside was MUSEO’s wonderfully stylish dining room, perfectly suited to a Gangnam course-meal date~ There were table seats for small groups to enjoy a pleasant meal, plus seating in the back that would work nicely for company dinners or wedding-invitation gatherings~

We sat at a table in the front, where the kitchen was completely visible.

It was an especially fun seat: we could watch the chef cook and imagine the flavors from the visuals of the dishes soon to come~

We had reserved dinner, and our table had the day’s course lineup and the reservation name waiting for us, which made the anticipation of every coming dish even more enjoyable~

Dinner tasting course and crisp draft beer

Today’s order: Dinner tasting course ₩109,000 × 2.

We each paired the meal with a Heineken draft beer. They poured a proper Heineken into nicely chilled glasses, in perfect condition with bubbles rising away, and it was truly delicious~ I almost hated to see the beer disappear~

Korean variations from the appetizers onward

The crudités arrived. Crudités is a French word meaning raw, referring to a simple appetizer of raw vegetables served with dipping sauce.

Rather than plain doenjang (fermented soybean paste), the seasoning sauce was full of nutty barley grains, chopped anchovies, and sesame oil, making the vegetables even tastier~

Next came a green onion tart with Shinan green onions, gyeranjjim (steamed egg), and fried anchovies in a seomcho spinach-and-dried-anchovy sauce. Topped generously with roasted green onion and cheese, the tart had a wonderful mix of crisp texture, sweet roasted onion, and nutty cheese that whetted the appetite.

The gyeranjjim, topped with seomcho spinach and fried anchovies, had all the stringy bits and impurities cleanly removed and used anchovy stock for a deep savory flavor. The spinach garnish brought sweetness and the pleasure of chewing cooked greens, while the fried anchovies added a crumbly crunch, making even a potentially simple steamed egg enjoyable down to the final spoonful~

Then came seafood mulhoe (chilled raw-fish soup) and tteokgalbi (grilled minced meat patty). The tteokgalbi, skewered on a branch-shaped stick, looked so fun. It was crisp outside and moist within rather than cooked crunchy all the way through, and dipping it in pine-nut sauce let us enjoy its flavor fully.

The seafood mulhoe used sweet shrimp, pickled kkosiraegi seaweed, and dongchimi radish-water-kimchi broth. The shrimp’s sweetness and the seaweed’s texture were delightful, and the small pieces of sea squirt were restrained enough to give a lovely taste of the sea midway through~

Kelp-butter brioche and smoked Spanish mackerel

Next came soy sauce–kelp butter made with Wando kelp and brioche, followed by Goheung Spanish mackerel smoked over rice straw. We were meant to eat the butter, rich with soy sauce and kelp, with the well-toasted brioche.

They recommended tasting the nicely toasted brioche plain first, so we did. Then we spread on plenty of kelp butter, and its rich flavor—salty soy sauce and kelp umami—was so good~

The beautifully plated Goheung Spanish mackerel was said to be inspired by mackerel kimchi-jjim (braised kimchi stew). The red powder on top was freeze-dried kimchi, while the sauce reinterpreted white kimchi as beurre blanc, they explained.

The moistly smoked mackerel flesh gave way with an impressive, gently chewy texture that barely resisted the teeth. The white-kimchi beurre blanc had acidity alongside the flavor of white kimchi, making the pairing of tanginess and richness unusual and enjoyable. Had it ended there, it might have simply felt like tangy white-kimchi braised fish, but additions such as kimchi powder and roasted pistachios transformed it into something different when eaten together, which was even more fun~

Shredded-potato ice cream and seaweed-pesto buckwheat noodles

Shredded-potato ice cream was next… Is this ice cream?! I wondered. Ah, this was it, haha. They fried shredded potatoes like a little potato pancake or hash brown, presented it playfully like ice cream, and topped it with truffle.

When dipped generously in the mayo-like sauce~

The fresh-from-the-kitchen crunch and the potato’s pleasantly starchy chew came together with the sauce’s richness and truffle aroma. So many flavors and textures arrived at once—it was such a fun bite~

Seaweed-pesto buckwheat noodles followed. Beneath them were large pieces of uni (sea urchin roe) and fried buckwheat to create varied texture. Once mixed, the uni’s richness came through overall; as I tried to bite through the noodles, with their savory pesto scattered here and there, the fried buckwheat popped up with a crisp, crisp crunch to refresh the texture. For someone like me who usually just chews through noodles, these buckwheat noodles brought a new kind of fun~

Before the main course, we were served a palate-cleansing pear and lemon sherbet. Its refreshing, gently sweet pear-like flavor, with little grains of lemon powder, really did make the mouth feel fresh, and it was delicious.

Chicken leg main and makgeolli ice cream

A chicken leg dish arrived as the main. They said the chicken leg had been cooked for a long time in pork fat, then finished with pickled scallions, mung-bean porridge, and pepper sauce~

The chewy mung-bean porridge underneath had a texture somewhere between a braise and a porridge. Coated in the salty sauce, it offered a lovely combination of earthy and savory flavors.

The chicken, cooked for a long time, was wonderfully moist and deeply flavored, with lots of richness and a tender texture.

Eating the pickled scallions, mung-bean porridge, and a little of the meat together even felt like having an incredibly delicious rice bowl~

To finish, makgeolli (Korean rice wine) ice cream arrived. Made with makgeolli and accented with soy-sauce crumble and Korean melon, it was delicious. The crumble’s umami and crisp texture, the melon’s crunchy bite, and the makgeolli ice cream’s refined flavor—almost like rum ice cream—made for such a joyful end to the meal~ We ate so well~!!

A date course built on familiar Korean food

Will Korean fine dining feel like an ordinary home-style meal? Or will it be overly cryptic art? MUSEO was an appealing Korean fine-dining restaurant that anyone could enjoy deliciously without those worries. It is rooted in familiar Korean food but full of enjoyable, distinctive ideas and touches. If you want a successful date course at a restaurant that doesn’t compromise on either atmosphere or flavor, visit MUSEO~