The wine I collected over the years has finally reached its drinking window. Storage is such a hassle that I have no plans to collect any more; I want to drink through what I already bought and shift to whisky from here on, which means I need to organize a lot of wine gatherings. I am thinking of holding a few wine meetups between this year and next, and the first one kicked off at Seren, an Italian restaurant in Pangyo – the place formerly known as La Bilancia. It is far enough that getting there is not easy, but it is well worth the trip.
The main wine of the day
Mouton ’94, a Bordeaux first growth that is right at its drinking peak. As anyone in the know knows, it became a first growth after a long saga, and it is a wine that makes news for its labels more than its taste. We gave it about three hours of breathing in the bottle that day, and while it was tasty in its own way, it came across as pretty ordinary compared with the other first growths.
Starting with a Sancerre
A safe, easy white, and once again I forgot to take a photo. I remembered enjoying it last time, so I ordered it again.
Bread
Everyone said it was delicious.
Appetizer
Compared with the course we had last time, the composition looks similar, but there were actually a lot of really interesting ingredients in it. The wild strawberries, tiny little strawberries, were adorable, and a tiny vegetable called cucumber melon that tastes like cucumber was unusual too. The edible flowers were pretty as well.
Reading blogs lately, there are a lot more restaurants using interesting ingredients (Table for Four, AND in Hannam-dong and so on), and apparently there is only one farm in Korea growing these unusual crops. They grow experimental crops with no regard for profitability, and that is what lets us taste dishes like this. Someone to be truly grateful for.
Unlike at other restaurants, these unusual edible crops are not officially part of Seren’s menu; we were able to try them because we asked separately. It probably will not happen overnight, but I hope the farming stabilizes so that they can make it onto the regular menus of many restaurants.
Grilled mero (Chilean sea bass) with squid ink
The mero was so good. Just the week before I had an interesting squid-ink dish at Zero Complex, and here at Seren I met another interpretation; both are appealing dishes, but this one is easier to understand.
24-hour sous-vide black pork with oyster leaf
I think this was the highlight of the evening; the pork, vacuum-cooked for hours, melted in the mouth. The oyster leaf is the herb on top, and strangely enough it has an intense oyster flavor. The chef said it was even stronger straight from the field, but it was plenty intense when I ate it. He said it was his Italian reinterpretation of Korean gul-bossam (pork with oysters), and the taste was astonishing. If there is one small regret, it is that I wished there were more oyster leaf, but with sourcing and cost issues that does not seem easy.
Oyster leaf
I was so impressed that I asked the chef for a bit more oyster leaf, and since there was not much left, he cut what remained in half for us. Thanks to that I got to have this curious experience one more time.
Pasta
Seren’s pasta is always reliably good. Today too, it looked like a lot of work went into it.
Lamb and hanwoo tenderloin
They served two kinds of meat for the main. It must take a lot of work, and yet they go this far.. The quality of the meat is top-notch too, of course. Having a restaurant of this caliber in Pangyo is a blessing for Pangyo.
Auchentoshan 20 Year Old from Adelphi Selection
The mains wound down and dessert time arrived. You cannot skip a light glass of whisky to cleanse the palate. At only 46.5% ABV the first impact is soft, but it is an elegant whisky with a light touch of peat. I think I am starting to get the identity of Adelphi Selection, the independent bottler. This is exactly the style I like, so collecting a few of these could be fun.
Pierre Marcolini chocolates
Chocolates I bought on an earlier trip to Japan. Smooth, approachable chocolates that anyone would understand and anyone would be happy to receive as a gift.
Orange sherbet
A sherbet the chef prepared for us, with proper full-on orange flavor. It is not easy to be this good all the way through dessert, but as expected, he is remarkable.
We wrapped up a wonderful gathering, called a taxi and headed back up to Seoul. It did not take as long as I expected, and the fare was only about what it costs to go from Gangnam to Hongdae. With such a great restaurant this close, I should visit more often.
Haejangguk at Yumyeongguk Yangpyeong Haejangguk
For the second round we picked my favorite haejangguk place. It is rare these days to find a place in Gangnam with this much value for money. The problem is that you get caught in the bad cycle of sobering up and then drinking again.
Suyuk (boiled beef)
First time trying the suyuk, and it is as good as expected. The broth is similar to Sari Gomtang instant noodles, and that side of it is addictive too. The more successful a meetup is, the more often the second round turns into a drinking session, and this day followed the same pattern. Everyone here really can drink.
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