Fine Italian Food at Jina and Franco Trattoria

Sometimes I am selfish and I don't like to share where I find my good eats. This is a place that I discovered several weeks ago, but I didn't want to share with you, because...well...I like it too much. Chef Franco and his business partner Jina have made an excellent Italian Restaurant over by Seoul National University.
The keyword at this place is fresh. Everything is fresh. The bread that arrives at your table has the perfect foccaccia texture and it is topped with carmelized onions and herbs.
The open kitchen lets you see the chefs at work, so it's a bit of a show and a meal.
Here is the welcome pizza that Franco made for us. The crust is thin, the cheese is crusty with the good brown bits of baked cheese, the prosciutto is salt-porklicious, and the arugula added just the right accent of green. YUM.
Here is the minestrone soup. I LOVE minestrone soup and Franco's is divine. It is full of beans and vegetables in a soft chicken broth.
They have carafes of house wine; perfect for those that just want to have a glass with their meal.
The lasagna is the best that I've had in the city. It was almost as big as the plate it came served on.
The atmosphere is intimate and softly lit, so it's great for a date or a meet up with friends.
The lamb chop was...gone in seconds because it was so...good.
And it came with real mint jam.
Apple Dessert a la mode.
The tiramisu is awful! AWFUL I SAY! Ok. I'll come clean. I only say that because Franco only makes enough for the day and I don't want him to sell out before I can get mine.
The lady fingers sop up the espresso and form a delicate mousse. This is topped with marscapone cheese and then it is topped with chocolate shavings. So...good.
You should go and check it out. Tell them that Dan sent you and they'll treat you right.

Jina and Franco Trattoria
02-887-2825
Go out Seoul National University Exit No. 2 (Be sure not to confuse this stop with 교대: Seoul National University of EDUCATION)
206-7 Daewoo The-Osuperium 1Danji
Nakseongdae-dong, Gwanak-Gu

Popular posts from this blog

5 of the Best Jajangmyeon 짜장면 in the City of Seoul, Korea

Image
The Best Jajamyeon in Seoul by Daniel Gray Jajangmyeon 짜장면: Korea's favorite hand pulled noodles in an black sauce is also a favorite dish of mine. It's so famous they even have a holiday for it. It's filling and hearty like a bowl of spaghetti but with Asian flair. It's one of those dishes that you can get whenever you need a quick meal and it doesn't break the wallet. It's a pretty ubiquitous dish and every Chinese restaurant must have it. If it does it well, the place becomes famous. If it is just alright, it is just a meal and gets classed in with all of the other places in the city. I can't say I have had any seriously terrible jajangmyeons except maybe some delivery places (where the noodles are overcooked and terribly clumped together so it takes like 10 minutes to get the sauce mixed into it) but even then it is still edible. With the noodles, I love to get fried dumplings and a place is good fried dumplings or some other sides like tangsuyok
Read More, See More >>

5 of the Best Gamjatang Restaurants in Seoul: Korean Potato and Pork Stew

Image
Seobu Gamja-guk One of the dishes that came out of necessity is gamja-tang or pork-bone potato stew. This dish has its origins from the Incheon dock area where laborers that were working in the construction wanted to have a cheap and hearty food after a long day of work. The soup consists of pork spine that is slowly cooked with potatoes and topped with sesame leaves. The result is a satisfying dish that goes great with a bowl of hot rice. This was often cooked throughout the day and then eaten at the end of the work day. This dish goes perfectly with a chilled shot of Korean soju. After the first train line was built that would connect the Incheon area with Seoul, one entrepreneur decided that he wanted to make a restaurant focused on this dish. The first restaurant of this type was built near Noryangjin station, which was near the end of the han river railway construction. The dish became a big hit and soon many copycat restaurants started popping up all over Korea. The name gam
Read More, See More >>

Calories in Soju and other things I Know about Korea's Famous Swill

Image
Just in case you were wondering, one bottle of Soju contains 540 calories. That's like 4 beers. So to put it in perspective, you would need to walk about two hours to exercise it off. (Walking two hours with a soju hangover is not an easy task.) Soju originally was made from rice but whenever there were rice shortages, people were forbidden to make Soju. Alcohol producers the started to use sweet potatoes and tapioca to make an ethanol based alcohol. Overtime they doctored up the taste so it has a smooth, crisp taste that goes great with raw seafood and grilled meats. The world drinks a lot of Soju. 61.38 Million cases of soju were produced in 2012 with Korea consuming about 2.75 billion bottles of Soju a year. You would think that everyone would be falling over drunk in Korea, but this is not the case. The alcohol is only about 17-19% so a bottle won't wreck you (but two or more might.) Koreans judge how good of a drinker you are by the number of bottles o
Read More, See More >>