Seoul's W-Hotel is one of the most luxurious hotels in Seoul. The great thing about the restaurant is how modern and contemporary it is. It doesn't have a stodgy, "old money" feel- instead it feels hip and cool. The open kitchen in the restaurant, "Kitchen" let's you see the chefs at work. Here are my friends Jia and Anna. They are two foodies that know good food. On this night, Chef Ciarian Hickey prepared his contemporary Korean menu. Here is his Yukhwae (Korean beef tartare topped with a quail egg and pear). The meat was so tender it simply evaporated on the tongue. Here is his truffle mandu stuffed with foie gras. I love the taste of truffles. The scent of truffles burrows deep into my subconscious and meanders around. Truffles have a taste that is deep and earthy. I know that it's supposed to be luxurious, but I think the taste is primordial. Here is the chef. He explained all the dishes and told us why the W wanted to do a contemporary Kor...

A hat tip to my foodie partner in crime Zenkimchi Pierre Gagnaire will be  among four international chefs coming to prepare Korea-inspired food  at the end of October for a festival called “Amazing Korean Table,” sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and whatever else they want to minister. They’ll also be teaching cooking classes for 60,000 won each.  I want to reserve a spot for any Pierre Gagnaire class, but alas, the “Reservation” page currently says, “The Detail information will be noticed” on the English version.  The Korean version has classes and reservations, but it looks like I’ll be at work when Gagnaire’s classes occur. I’ve noticed this about Korean festivals like this.  They mostly occur during the week, and the big events are over with by the time most people have time off work to go to them. [ Amazing Korean Table official site ]

New Yorkers and Los Angeles'ers, The Institute for Traditional Korean Foods is having a food tasting for Americans on September 24th, at 4pm. This event is a publicity event to launch contemporary Korean cuisine. The Institute is over by the Sejong Center and they are looking for people specifically from NYC to taste the dishes and give their impressions on the dishes. They are looking for 15 people from LA and 15 people from NYC to come eat lots of free Korean food and talk about it. The one stipulation is that- since this will be filmed- they are looking for people that don't look ethnically Asian. I apologize for this, but don't kill the messenger. If you are interested in participating please contact me at seouleats (at) gmail (dot) com Dan

Braised short ribs with autumn nuts. Royal Salad with Jelly Fish Noodles, Shrimp, and beef. Abalone with jujube and ginko nuts Flower wine Royal noodles Japchae Contemporary Korean Food: all dressed up. Woor-ga across from Doosan Park in Apgujeong. 02 3442 2288 A write up is coming soon.