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

Sushi Chohi. Another amazing Sushi experience in Seoul.

Sushi Chohi is one of the best Sushi restaurants in Seoul, if not the best. The restaurant  is located next to Doosan park in Sinsa-dong. It is a very nice area with many good restaurants and bars.
We had the Omakase menu which was absolutely perfect, every piece in perfect size and temperature.
The best rice i have ever experienced, perfectly cooked and seasoned.
My favourites was the Akami, Red Snapper and Otoro. But everything was amazing.
It is not a small restaurant but i strongly recommend that you book in advance and ask to sit at the counter. That is an experience by it self, when you are served piece by piece in perfect order.
I will try to come back many more times for this, definitely my best lunch in Korea so far.

Sushi Chohi 650-6 Sinsa-dong
02-545-8422

Baby squid with sweet miso

Halibut

Squid

Red Snapper

Ox whelk

Miso soup

Baby prawns

Abalone

Horse Mackerel

Chutoro Tuna

Giant Prawn

Maguro Tuna

Sweet Prawns

Sweet Prawns and Pickled Mackerel

Prawn Tempura

Sea Urchin

Grilled Sea Eel

Futomaki

Akami Tuna

Cold Soba

Amazing Sake

Din tai fung. Taiwanese dim sum, Myong-dong

Every time i am in Meyong-dong i end up eating lunch at the same 3 places. Now i am really happy to have found another one. Din tai fung is a chain of dim sum restaurants from Taiwan. The main focus of the restaurants is the dumplings, and the best one is of course the soup dumpling or Xiao long bao. A dumpling filled with pork and pork jelly and when the dumpling is steamed the jelly melts into a soup, hence soup dumpling. We had a double order of  soup dumplings, pork and shrimp dumpling and a spicy pork and vegetable wonton. Everything was really really good, not as good as Yauatcha in London or the soup dumplings at Joe´s Shanghai in New York. But by far the best dim sum i have had in Korea so far.

Din Tai Fung. 56 Namdaemun-ro, Jung-gu.   www.dintaifung.co.kr

Xiao long bao

Pork and vegetable wontons

Pork and shrimp gyoza