L´Espoir du Hibou. Cheongdam-dong

My last visit to a French restaurant in Seoul was a complete disaster, so i have been looking for a place to make me forget about that dinner.
Luckily there is L´Espoir, a hidden gem in Cheongdam, the restaurants shares a little yard with 2 other restaurants. If you don´t know it is there you will never find it.
The food was excellent, the wine list was very good and the service was great. There is 3 different menus with 3, 4 or 5 courses. And there is also an a´la carte menu. We went for the 4 course menu and it was a great meal over all. The soup was amazing, i have not had a better onion soup in years, the salad was as good as the soup, the poached egg was perfect i just wished it would be more.

The duck breast was really good, the sweet apricots together with the mushrooms was spot on.

Main courses were excellent. The lamb was cooked perfectly and the whole dish was very well balanced.
Cassoulet could have had more beans and more fat, but it was also very good.

Desserts was amazing, it was the best cremé bruleé i didn't make myself, lemon tarte was perfect as well, instead of meringue they used mini marshmallows that was a fun take on a classic dessert.
The Chef used to work for Daniel Boulud in New York and that must have been helpful, because i think this is as close you can get to France in Korea.  

L´Espoir du Hibou, 90-20 Cheongdam-dong
02-517 6034

Tapenade, Foie gras butter and truffle oil.

Freshly baked baguettes

French onion soup

Salad Lyonaisse

Duck breast with Shitake mushrooms and apricots

Cassoulet, Pork belly, Lamb chop, duck breast, sausage

Lamb chop au Crepinette with Cous Cous and chick peas

Lemon tarte

Cremé bruleé

Petit fours

Lotus 연화방, Sichuan restaurant.

Lotus is a new Chinese restaurant in Itaewon, the food is  from the Sichuan province in western China. The thing that stands out about food from the Sichuan region is the spices, Sichuan pepper is a very aromatic and spicy butit is not a pepper, the plant that it comes from is more close to citrus then pepper. But it is very spicy, trust me.

The food was great, we had a course lunch for 55000 krw. And it was a very good price for the quality of the food.
The first serving was a trio of cold dishes, a really nice cold Burdock salad, a fresh and acidic raw unripe pumpkin salad, it felt like a chinese version of Som tam green Papaya salad. The third cold dish was probably the spiciest thing i have had in Korea. It was a cold chicken salad, were the chicken was fried with the Sichuan pepper and the dressing was pure chili oil. But it was absolutly amazing.

Second was the soup, we had the choice between mushroom and sweet and spicy soup. I had the sweet and spicy, it was probably not the best soup i have had, mostly becuase of the thickness, but the flavor was good.

Third serving, crispy pork belly with Broccoli and braised Sea cucumber, it tasted great but Sea cucumber is probably not for everyone, But it was really rich in flavor and the pork was perfect.

Fourth came the best dish of the day, Stir fry of green spicy peppers and thin slices of pork belly, heavily seasoned with the Sichuan pepper. One of the best dishes i have had in Korea o far.

Fifh serving was Dandan Men, noodles with chili oil, ground pork and cucumber. I really love this dish, everytime i see it on a menu i order it. This was the best one i ever tried.

Sixt was Stir fried eggplant, it was nice with sweet, spicy and sour flavors, but texture wise, a little to soft for my taste.

Last it was a chilled mango soup with tapioca, a nice ending to a great lunch.

I can´t wait to go back for dinner, and have a bigger  menu. The roumor says that the duck is to die for.

Lotus 연화방, 239-4 Itaewon-dong. 02-790 8966