I heard a rumor that fresh olive oil had come in at Duomo in Hyoja-dong, so I made the time to go back before winter was over.
The table
Simple, isn’t it.
Menabrea
An Italian beer I’d had once before at Buzza Pizza. Ordering wine at lunchtime felt like a bit much, so I just got a light glass of this.
Cheers~
Bread and olive oil
The olive oil was hugely impressive. It had a faint bitterness to it and at the same time a bright, fresh quality, like an image of spring. That taste has to come from the oil having been pressed just this past autumn. I liked it a lot.
Salad
Pretty good.
Tender beef stew with button mushrooms and herb rice, “Stracotto”
Apparently it’s the weekend special. Maybe because this is home-style Italian, quite a lot of rice came with it, but the beef stew was salty enough that I ended up finishing the whole thing. The tomato-based beef stew was rich yet clean-tasting and genuinely delicious, though the concept did feel a little muddled. I think it would have worked to season it more lightly and serve just the stew as a main, but since the idea is a weekend lunch, this is probably about right.
Conchiglie pasta with tomato, green peas and a vegetable sauce
Maybe it was all the fresh, light ingredients, but it really whetted my appetite. It makes the trip all the way out here feel worth it. This dish was satisfying too, apart from having way too many carbs. At my age, carbs are starting to feel like a burden.
Tiramisu cake, on the house
It isn’t just the pretty presentation, which makes you feel spring coming — it tastes good too. There are countless cafes serving tiramisu, but there can’t be many that put this much care into it. Duomo’s greatest strength may be that nothing is on the menu just to round out the lineup, so whatever you order you come away happy. The downsides would be the slightly awkward location and the high prices.
Semifreddo, an Italian ice cream cake
It looks plain, but it tastes far better than it looks. There was a bit of a nutty note to it as well. And the portion is generous.
Olive oil
After a good meal, I bought a bottle of the olive oil before heading home. It isn’t cheap, but I was so happy with it that I couldn’t not buy it. At home I’ve been picking up bread from Paul & Paulina and Publique to dip in it, and using it as a salad dressing, and I’m very pleased with it. I’m so glad the number of places in Korea for a real food experience keeps growing. My only regret is that lately I don’t have the time to get around to all of them.