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Central Seoul

July 8, 2011

Where Jesus and Buddha Hang out: Om Restaurant and Bar

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Written by: Daniel
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Buddha, Jesus, and a Peacock at Om Restaurant
Beautiful Interior at Om Restaurant

I was recently invited to Om Restaurant by the owner of the restaurant K.P. Situoula. Apparently, he had been a fan of my blog and wanted to introduce this restaurant to me. He told me that he felt it had excellent Indian food in Seoul for good value.

I am a huge fan of Indian Food, so I was happy to accept his invitation (and the challenge) so I headed there with a friend for dinner. His ornate restaurant is in the posh Samcheongdong area and it is right next to Jubilee Chocolatier and one of my favorite dessert places J’s Cake.
It is on the second floor and once you enter, you’ll instantly be blown away by the interior. The lush, red color and the decorations make you feel like you are in a Harem. I know that in many of these places, I warn that the food often is secondary to the decoration, but I was here so I had to try the food. It is quite impressive though.
I sat down with K.P. for a meal and we each got the dinner course. It started out with a salad with honey dressing (not so great) and a cream of potato soup (also, not very Indian).
I thought that maybe I should have had kimchi and rice for dinner instead until the samosas came.
These were big, crisp balls filled with a mild curry and rich, creamy potatoes and vegetables. The brown sauce it came with had nice heat as well.
This was followed by delicious tandoori chicken that was moist and tender- very good with the lemon it came with.
Next came the curry. My determiner for a restaurant is the palak paneer- spinach and curd cheese curry. This is my favorite dish of all time and I almost always get it. It is not supposed to be a spicy dish, you should be able to taste the curry, the cheese and especially the delicate spinach. At Om, it is great.  It is not too spicy and it is very creamy. The chicken tikka was good here as well especially with the crisp bits of chili in the sauce. The mutton curry that we got was alright. I thought the mutton could have been more tender, but the other two made up for it.
Curry

Mixed Tandoori BBQ

The owner, K.P., has lived in Korea for 15 years and his Korean is almost perfect. He told me that he loves Korean BBQ and he wanted to share with us his version of the dish. His mixed tandoori dish had plain chicken, tandoori chicken and tandoori lamb. It came out sizzling on a Korean plate. It looked like a Korean dish, but tasted totally indian. (Maybe this could be a new trend, Indian/Korean BBQ…). It was a great dish and with it, we had King Fisher Beer.

It was a great meal and we finished it with some lassi. 
Om Restaurant in Samcheongdong is a great date spot. The atmosphere, the food and the location are perfect for those looking for nice spot to relax and talk. Prices are reasonable and they have a full beer and wine menu.
Om Restaurant and Bar
Seoul, Jongno-gu Samcheongdong 125-1 Daehwa Building 2nd Floor
02-730-8848
Located in Samcheongdong
                
 
om restaurant in Samcheongdong

Full Discloser: Daniel Gray was invited to the restaurant by the owners of the restaurant. This is not a review, but more of an introduction to the restaurant. Daniel Gray was not compensated other than for the meal. 



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.




 
 

 
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