Essence is one of the few authentic French restaurants left in Korea. These days everyone seems to have moved on to contemporary cuisine.

The place

Nice atmosphere.

Inside

Very tidy. Everybody does the interiors perfectly these days, so there is nothing for an ordinary guy like me to comment on.

The menu

Water glass

Duck terrine stuffed with plum and pistachio

Terrine goes well with wine.

White asparagus

Nice to see a dish built around a seasonal ingredient..

Herb butter, pastry, garlic cream, conchiglie, escargot

An interesting combination. Another one for the wine..

Endive and jambon gratin, baked under bechamel and Gruyere

This was another wine snack. Overall the menu feels designed for drinking wine rather than for a great meal.

Paprika puree, mini paprika, baby potatoes, octopus leg seared in butter

Beautifully plated, but the taste was just so-so..

Wine

Brown rice risotto, fruit, scallop seared in butter

Scallops are good, that goes without saying.

Bread

Time to order some carbs too.

Carrot puree, orange, carrot salad, confit of Bonghwa duck leg

There do not seem to be many places that cook duck well. That is because duck is not an ingredient people are used to handling. I was curious how they would serve it, but it was just so-so.

Paprika puree, mini paprika, french-racked lamb chops

Lamb chops are always a yes.

Dessert

This looked like it was on the house, and it was good.

Endive

Wine

Given the kind of menu it is, you end up drinking a lot of wine.

Macarons

High level.

Valrhona chocolate mousse

This was good too

Pear poached in wine, red wine sorbet

A deep, concentrated flavour.

Tea

The reason I have been moving from wine to whisky lately is that the hangover eventually becomes the problem. Wine feels like a young person’s drink too. It is not easy to keep up with an ageing body, I thought. Anyway, it is a good place, so it would make a nice date spot for a young couple.

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