Miko (미코)
서울특별시 강남구 도산대로85길 14
(Naver Maps // Google Maps)
Once a year, Hyundai Card holds a 'gourmet week' during which quite a large number of well-establisehd and renowned restaurants in Seoul/Busan offer 50% discount on special menus/dishes for members. Having missed it last year, I made sure it was my one of my top-priority to choose a speical restaurant that is normally not as easily accessible/affordable.
The list was actually quite extensive for Seoul both in terms of locations and cuisine. There's quite a lot of French restaurants and modern Korean cuisines, and if I were a little more sparing with my spending, I would've probably tried a couple more! After researching couple of options, I was torn between Miko and 콩두 (congdu) - Korean modern cuisine overlooking Duksugung palace! Although I'm pretty sure sooner than later, I'll have Lee try out 'fancy korean' in addition to all the grungy back-street versions I get him to try.
Miko is restaraunt run by the renowned chef 신동민, who is knwon for molecular cooking in his previously acclaimed haute-japanese molecular restaurant 슈밍화 (closed now). Miko was opened as a slightly more 'casual' version of 슈밍화, and it's already gaining popularity from either previous fans of 슈밍화 or new diners (such as myself!).
I admitt, I didn't (and still don't) really know enough about molecular cooking. It occupies the same space as 'haute-cuisine' or 'modern' / 'fine dining', which usually means incredibly expensive meals for protions so teasingly small that you finish the meal feeling confused as to whether you've had a full meal or not. Having said that, the dinner we had that night was actually really enjoyable and casual whilst maintaining its 'uniqueness' that it left us thoroughly impressed and actually rather full (although...lee did eat most of my noodles and rice).
The special dinner course for Gourmet week was 120,000 won (60 k each with 50% discount) for a 10 course meal (and fresh king oyster in the start as service :D )
- Appetizer
- Salad
- Sashimi
- Syphon Soup
- Rose King Shrimp
- Beef Tadaki
- Sea Urchin Rice
- Udon
- Dessert A
- Dessert B
Oyster (Service) - Incredibly fresh and lightly seasoned. It was a delight to begin the evening with an oyster!
Appetiser: Chinese Yam Tofu, Abalone with gingko nut, Watermelon Soup, Cherry tomato with balsamic dressing
Salad: Noodle Salad with roe, ginger, tomato and yuzu dressing
Sashimi: Seabass, Salmon and Halibut
Syphon Soup served with Shrimp Wonton and Lotus Root Dumplings
Who knew you could use this besides brewing coffee!!
Rose King Shrimp Tempura: One of my favourite of the night despite the fact that I usually am not the biggest fan of fried food! The shrimp had this unbelievable chewy texture and flavours that went beautifully with the tomato-based sauce. Absolutely divine.
Beef Tadaki - Lee's favourite meal of the night. The steak was incredibly juicy and plus who doesn't like cooking their own steak to their preference? The two types of soy sauce (fruit/ wasabi) were also fun to alternate between.
Udon & Sea Urchin Rice Bowl - After the spectacular dishes before, it paled in comparison but nonetheless excellent quality and freshness (also I should note that both the udon and rice was cooked perfectly) . I was actually quite full by this point, and Lee happily ate most of the 'meals' (although I did scrape off and happily eat every last bit of sea urchin leaving him bits of sauce and whole lot of rice)
Taking a quick photo break
Dessert - Sesame Pudding & Ice-cream with nitrogen-frozen Yuzu-Puff (sadly I ate the pudding before taking the photo - which is a pity because it was I was thoroughly impressed with the subtlety of the flavours!) . Oh but the best part about the nitrogen-frozen puff : if you eat it, you can puff out nitrogen smoke from your nose like you're puff the magic dragon.
They also gave us dark chocolate (which we still ate despite being full) and also had promotion on what they called a 'premium belgian beer' that's made in Japan. I know it's pretty silly but despite in the end was rather delicious (but definitely not worth the $16 they charged).
Overall, it was a great meal and despite it being a splurge we could relax (and even take selfies!) and joke and laugh about the food. If you're looking for a fine-dining experience, I would suggest going else-where but from time to time it's great to be able to eat really excellent food whilst joking around about it with your loved ones :)
