Review: Natto and Tuna Odonburi

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Review 2-Stars (Recommended: Good Price point, fresh ingredients, well prepared)

Now, I have a prejudice against restaurants south of the river. Mainly because they tend to be high margin restaurants that overcharge for low quality food.

Now, I was very surprised that when I went into the COEX, the COEX- the place I despise the most for food had a good, low-cost restaurant that had food that I would actually recommend.

Now, I love natto, the sticky pungent bean paste that many find a tad repulsive. I also love tuna sashimi, but then again, who doesn’t. So, I was very happy to find both of these ingredients together in a Odonburi- a rice bowl. I have had this dish before in Japan, but I haven’t seen this combination here in Korea.

The tuna is thawed (in Korea, that’s often a rarity) and perfectly cubed. The natto is sticky and the veggies are fresh with thin slivers of dried laver. There was also a cooked egg yok in the center of the rice, so the creamy, cheesy flavor of the yolk complemented the flavor of the natto and lean protein of the tuna.

Delicious.

You can find Odonburi in the COEX Mall near the Intercontinental Hotel side.

Odonburi
02-551-3351
Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Samseong-dong 159-6
www.odunburi.com

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.