Orientalian: Supreme Service and Food

Mom and I found a little gem in Myoungdong that not only serves delicious, healthy food, but also caters to the diner's need and provides great service.

Orientalian offers Asian and Italian fusion food that ranges from hot noodle soup to fried rice to pasta, most of which are cooked in an unconventional, fusion style.

Before we even settled on the menu, the waitress brought us sweetened black rice porridge. The porridge was sticky from the glutinous rice and a bit too sweet, but it was nice to sip on something while deciding from the restaurant's extensive menu.

Shortly after we finished the porridge, the waitress came back with another surprise! The four pieces of california roll was topped with something fried (I'm not quite sure what it was) and scallions. No where on the menu does it indicate that a bowl of porridge and sushi rolls accompany all dish, so these were certainly a nice surprise.

The sushi had a white and a black sauce drizzled on top. The white sauce was probably some kind of mayonnaise-based sauce, while the black sauce tasted like teriyaki sauce.

Inside the roll were ingredients in a typical California roll: sliced cucumber and imitation crab with mayonnaise. It's interesting how the rice has a purplish hue. Perhaps it's from the healthy black grain that they added?

I really loved that the fried thing on top added crunchiness to the sushi roll. The california roll tasted very simple yet delicious. I would be happy to have this as a main dish, even!

Our first main dish was called "Five Grains with Shrimp and Vegetable." When the dish first came to the table, I thought, "What is this? Where is the food? How do I eat this?" Certainly, it was a curious-looking dish!

I took the photos from a different angle, yet the dish was a mystery. I couldn't see anything from the vegetables on top!

Not just green leaves, there were also carrots, shrimp, and thin slices of scallop on top, as well as sliced mini tomatoes on the side.

The greens were so fresh!

Finally, you can sort of see the grains at the bottom. More than 10 different types of grains (according to the menu...I don't know why it's called Five Grains then) were seasoned in soy sauce and made into rice balls about the size of a baby's fist.

It's impossible to eat the whole thing in one bite unless your mouth is huge. The rice ball was seasoned perfectly with soy sauce and sesame seeds. Eating just the rice itself tasted so good! All the different grains added rich flavors. Eating the rice itself was very savory, but eating it with the vegetables on top added a new dimension of freshness.

Next was the dish that we debated on for nearly 15 minutes...the Sweet Pumpkin Pasta!

Normally I would have ordered anything "Squash" or "Pumpkin" at a heartbeat, but I was a bit hesitant about this dish because the waitress told me the sauce was cream-based. I asked if it would be possible to get it without cream, and she said they use the pumpkin puree and cream to get the flavors so she wasn't so sure. But I really didn't want to lose my chance at eating delicious pumpkin/squash. After a while, the waitress came back with great news that the chef would cook it specially for me! But she warned, "We can't guarantee that it will have the same creamy flavor." No problem for me! I don't like creamy stuff anyways.

When the dish came out, I was nervous that it would taste awful. But worry no more! The first bite blew me away. Instead of cream, the chef added honey for the similar sweet, thick flavor. The pumpkin was very sweet by itself, too.

Inside the half-bowl of squash were different types of pasta that was slightly undercooked, which is perfect because the pasta cooks by itself from the heat while it's in the bowl.

There were also mushroom, bell pepper, and other vegetables that were grilled beforehand for the extra savorniess, as well as black olives and fresh greens sprinkled on top.

Taking a bite of this dish was like being in heaven. So flavorful! Because there was no cream added to the dish, I didn't feel nauseous and my stomach didn't growl at me afterwards. Wow, I wish I could eat this dish all the time. I really loved the service at Orientalian, and how the chef was willing to modify his dish to cater to the diner's taste. And the result was very, very successful :)