Walking in the place smelled as appetizing as any restaurant I’ve ever entered. I don’t know what all the aromas were.
Amuse: thin layer of housemade tofu with a complex sauce, radish kimchi, spicy potato salad. I’ve never had anything like that tofu, really nice starter. Radish was excellent. I’m not a fan of raw or al dente potatoes but my dining companion liked it a lot.
Artisanal soju, best I’ve had. We drank only half, the rest was even better the next night.
Fucking delicious.
Mandu were great. Dipping sauce was perfect.
Pajeon of housemade soondae. I’d been craving blood sausage. So good. Again perfect dipping sauce. Against my better judgment I polished it off.
Chonggak makes one of my favorite seasonal kimchis. This hit the mark. The nappa, pear water, and sesame leaf kimchi (which you can see in one of the big photos in my earlier post) were also excellent.
Egg souffle. The server poured some anchovy broth in the bowl and then added some egg. There was also a seaweed condiment you can see in one of the big pictures above sitting in a little dish on top of the broth pitcher. Best version of this dish I’ve had.
Wraps, herbs, sauces, and scallion salad for the meats. I’ve never seen such big perilla leaves.
Beef neck fillet, new to me, delicious and interesting cut. There’s some very soft cartilage or something running through it.
Rib cartilage, also new to me. Some meat attached. Delicious, great flavor and texture.
Spicy tongue special. Almost at the Raku level.
The galbi is a totally different dish from the usual. They sous-vide the ribs, then marinate them, then grill to finish. Fall off the bone, melt in your mouth.
We had a long, delightful chat with the charming GM who also handles the beverages. He wanted us to taste the desserts, which we were way too full to eat but almost finished anyway.
Like I said, the Bay Area finally has a good restaurant. I’m looking forward to going back very soon to try more things and not over-order.
My dining companion said this was the full-service model.