Last Korean Supper at La Grillia Italian Restaurant & Dessert Bar

To wrap up my grandiose “food adventure” in Korea, I decided to visit a relatively fancy Italian restaurant, La Grillia, at the Samsung Coex. My guests of honor were those who made my stay in Korea this winter the most memorable (besides my family, obviously): the WingSharer participants! I really wanted to invite all 77 students, but due to financial and feasible concerns, I contacted four boys who live in Seoul (or at least close to Seoul) and with whom I connected the closest.

La Grilia was an especially opportune place for dinner because this was the very restaurant where my involvement with the WingShaeres began last summer. We had our first WingSharers board meeting at La Grillia with Ms. Shim, a Hanwha employee who served as our primary contact person with Hanwha. I suppose I can say that I began and ended the WingSharers 2012 at La Grillia. Aw nostalgia.

The appetizer bread came our quite a while after we ordered. The focaccia bread was slightly warm, but I wished it had been toasted more. The olive oil and the balsamic vinegar had a very strong, sour flavor, which balanced out the lightly seasoned focaccia bread. Top of the bread was brushed with oil.

The waiter brought out my entrée, grilled spaghetti with scallop. This is one of the signature dishes at the restaurant, and indeed it played up to my expectation. The flavor of the light olive oil sauce was enhanced with abundant pieces of roasted garlic and pepper. The broccoli was cooked perfectly, meaning it wasn’t too mushy or hard.

The texture of the pasta was chewy, as were the clams and the scallop. When I bit in to the scallop, all the juices from the sauce oozed into my mouth. Delectable!

Three boys in my company ordered one of each risotto: the creamy risotto, galbi risotto, and seafood risotto. Based on the fact that they all cleaned up the plates, I am guessing the food was delicious. Even though risotto is a simple dish in its presentation, something about the way the restaurant “decorated” the dish was visually attractive.

La Grillia is also famous for its “dessert bar.” With each entrée, you get a dessert chip that you can exchange for two desserts. I couldn’t take a picture of what I had, but I got a tiramisu and vanilla gelato.

The tiramisu had semi-sweet, bitter cocoa powder on top of soft cake dipped in coffee (?) with cream immediately underneath. It was one of the most moist desserts I have ever had! The tiramisu was sadly “bite-size” and I found myself scraping the bottom of the little bowl for more. The milk/white chocolate straw was really cute.

The vanilla gelato wasn’t too sweet or as rich as ice cream—just the way I like it! It was refreshing to have something cold in my mouth after eating warm food all night. The thin almond cookie on top was too buttery for me so I just took a bite and put it aside.

I am glad I got to share delicious food with good company. A great way to end my Winter 2011-12 food adventure in Korea!

Lotus Flower is Not Only Pretty, But Also Tasty

When I came to Korea last summer, Mom and I went to a unique restaurant in downtown Seoul that served temple food. There, I ate glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf, and it had such unforgettable scent that I had to try it again. I searched for a restaurant that serves the same dish in Andong, and found out about Andong Hwarhyun, or "Andong Lotus Flower."

You don't understand how excited I was to see the sign directing us to the restaurant, which was located in a very secluded area. Even though the actual distance was only about 18km, it took us about 30 minutes to get there because the road was windy and we came out the wrong exit twice on our way haha.

I loved the exterior of the restaurant. It looked like a residential house that I could see myself being the owner in the future ;)

Because we called in a couple hours before to make a reservation, the table was already set by the time we got there. I liked the simple white table cloth with sturdy china. The lotus leaf tea tasted soothing as well.

Mom already chose the "Lotus Flower Course Meal" (~$20/person) for the two of us. I wanted to check out other items on the menu, but it looked like the course meal was pretty much the only menu it offered.

While waiting for the food to come out, I took some pictures of the interior, which looked very homey. There were lots of traditional china and pots stacked together.

The course meal started with black sesame seed soup/porridge.

It was perhaps the richest and one of the thickest porridge ever. There were bits and pieces of lotus root, rice, and pine nuts. The porridge tasted a bit too creamy even without any cream because it was so thick!

Next course was called "Goo Jul Pan," or 9-separate dishes. It was served with sweet vinegar sauce on the side.

Basically you put all eight different vegetables (in this case, two different types of mushroom, carrots, egg whites, egg yolk, cucumber, egg plant, and radish all sliced into beautiful thin pieces) on the thin, chewy flour pancake dyed with all-natural pink dye.

You dab a little bit of the vinegar sauce, wrap the pancake, and put it in your mouth! It tasted so healthy and fresh.

When we were half way through the dish, the waitress brought us our next course. She explained to us what each dish was and how it was made.

Look at those beautiful color! It's bell pepper and other greens wrapped in pickled radish. It tasted a bit bland, to be honest.

This tofu roll was apparently made with chopped chicken breast. I would have never guessed it had any chicken in the dish because it just tasted like regular tofu. I liked the mushy texture.

The never-ending healthy dish course continued with fresh salad in dressing that tasted alcoholic and fried chicken infused with lotus leaf.

Because of my strict diet on no-fried-food, I didn't taste the chicken. Contrary to what it looks like, the sauce wasn't spicy at all.

I loved, loved, loved the fresh salad! I was glad to see that it wasn't made with iceberg lettuce.
I wasn't quite sure what the dressing was, but it seemed to have had some kind of alcohol/fermented drink.

As I mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of the glass noodle. However, the flavor and the seasoning in this japchae was spectacular! Perhaps it was a bit salty, but I loved the diverse combination of the vegetables with the noodle.

Two different kinds of Korean pancakes/jeon. The one on the top was lotus root with eggs on the outside, and the red one is made with diced tofu and kimchi. The lotus root jeon tasted too much like egg, but the kimchi/tofu jeon had strong, spicy flavors from the kimchi with soft, mushy texture of tofu.

The split mackerel steamed in lotus leaf with spicy pepper sauce on top. The mackerel had a very strong fishy taste and the slimy scale on the outside freaked me out a bit.

The white kimchi with apple slices on the outside. It was interesting to get a taste of sweet apple/fruity taste with kimchi, which is always served as a savory dish.

And finally the dish I have all been waiting for...glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf! Unfortunately, I was really full from all the previous dishes. Mom and I decided to share just one of them.

Tada! The rice revealed.

As soon as I sniffed the rice, I could smell the strong scent from the lotus leaf. It had a thinly sliced piece of lotus root on top, as well as some brown beans, almonds, walnuts, and other nuts. The glutinous rice was chewy especially on the surface. The rice tasted great even without other side dishes.

The whole table with vegetables, kimchi, pickled radish, and really spicy bean stew.

The course meal ended with Korean dessert. Clockwise from top are three pieces of grilled glutinous rice cake drizzled with honey, two pieces of apple, and cherries, ginger, and lotus root overly sweetened with sugar.

I really loved the rice cake because it had the perfect combination of chewiness and sweetness.

Bon Appetite: Happy Italian Dining in Andong

A new restaurant opened in Andong. My parents, who eat out quite often and probably have been to every eateries here, insisted that we check it out.

Bon Appetit serves Italian cuisine ranging from pasta and risotto to pizza and steak.

The restaurant is located on top of the newly built Andong Tower that overlooks the Andong Lake created by the Andong Dam. Sorry for so much Andong-ness. The view from the top was incredible!

The two different types of appetizer bread were whole wheat and white. Nothing too special except I like them being served warm and slightly toasty. The balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing didn't go too well with the bread.

The salad was so fresh! I wish there had been more variety in greens because it consisted mostly of iceberg lettuce, especially at the bottom.

At first I wasn't quite sure what the dressing was. It was a mix of oily-ness and sweetness...

And then I discovered a kiwi seed! The kiwi dressing was sort of overwhelming and it would have tasted a lot better if it didn't have too much dressing.

The squid ink risotto I ordered was served on a huge plate! I asked for it to be cooked with less oil, and in deed it was not greasy at all :)

The risotto had squid, clams, and shrimp with a little garnish on top.

Judging from the marks on the squid rings, the squids must have been grilled prior to being added to the risotto. Little attention put into the food like this makes it much more delicious :)

Squid ink risotto or pasta is a dish people say to never order when you are on a date because the blank ink literally dyes your lips/teeth blank. I loved that the risotto was not greasy, creamy, or buttery, but I wished there was more seasoning because it tasted a bit bland. I asked for hot sauce on the side.

The seafood pasta in tomato sauce was quite tasty.

I dislike when restaurants put clam/mussel shells in the dish to make the dish appear bigger, but I suppose it adds to the visual presentation.

The pasta was undercooked, which is just the way I like because the pasta usually cooks in the dish while you eat it.

The tomato sauce was a bit spicy.

I couldn't tell if the pasta was fresh or dried noodle.

The margherita pizza definitely needed more greens and some slices of fresh tomatoes...

Pizza tastes the best when eaten right after being served. Look at that cheese!

I was surprised that the pizza was not greasy at all at the bottom. I, of course, dabbed the top with napkin to get rid of some grease from the cheese.

The crust was very thin and I loved that the pizza had plenty of marinara sauce.