It’s not marked on the calendar, but in Japan there’s a holiday around August 15 that’s a lot like Korea’s Chuseok. With nowhere in particular to go during that break, I dropped by Korea for a bit. Since it was summer, the original plan was to eat mineo (croaker), but supply fell through, so we gave up on that and I got together with the folks from our foodie group at Spain Club on Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong.
No photo of the entrance, thanks to sheer laziness. It seems to have opened only recently, but it’s already been written up on blogs all over the place. The diligence of Korean bloggers, honestly… I don’t think I need to go into detail as well, so briefly… this is a tapas-focused restaurant, but it isn’t authentic; it has a strong Japanese streak. Apart from the Mediterranean-style names on the dishes, I couldn’t feel much difference from an izakaya. On top of that, the wine list was thin and the service a bit clumsy. Still, the location and atmosphere are good and the menu isn’t all that expensive, which I’d have to call big pluses.
Seafood marinade salad
No need to be intimidated just because it’s tapas ^_^ The portions aren’t stingy. By the way, what I aim for in my photos is realistic information that looks exactly like what you’d see with your own eyes, but this time, maybe thanks to the lighting, they came out better than necessary. Please do keep that in mind when looking at them.
Boquerones
These are supposed to be anchovies cured in vinegar, but they said they were out of anchovies and served mackerel instead. It tastes like vinegar-cured mackerel. At this point it’s completely Japanese-style.
Spanish mushrooms and pork belly sauteed with garlic
Honestly, I don’t really get why they’d use Spanish mushrooms for something like this. Iberico pork feels like overkill too. Unless the Spanish stuff is cheaper, using local ingredients would be far better if you’re thinking about flavor.
Mediterranean-style fried squid
This is a dish you often see at Japanese izakaya too. Though at an izakaya it doesn’t come Mediterranean-style…
Tortilla
They say it’s a Spanish omelette, but it’s just like a Japanese rolled omelette ^_^ A bit like a quiche, too…
Marinated fried anago (conger eel)
This is another one you could easily imagine at a Japanese izakaya.
Sangria
There wasn’t really any wine worth drinking, so we ordered a pitcher of sangria. It felt like a cold drink with just a hint of alcohol, perfect for a muggy summer night.
Fried seasonal small fish
They served fried shishamo. Shishamo usually comes grilled, but frying it and giving it a fancy name somehow makes it look stylish. The taste wasn’t much of an improvement over grilled shishamo… but maybe this kind of style is what separates a Spanish restaurant from an izakaya. If you’re paying the same money, you’d rather be at the place that looks cooler. If you’re thinking about taste… well… you’d just have to go to Spain, I guess…
Baguette
We ordered this ahead of time to dip into the next dish.
Cured ham and mushrooms
Plenty of olive oil, right? Dipping the bread in it was pretty nice. As for the cured ham and mushrooms, they taste like ham and mushrooms.
Galician-style octopus
It just tasted like plain boiled octopus…
Mediterranean-style squid braised in squid ink
I didn’t like the mayonnaise drizzled on top, but it didn’t taste bad. Mixing the squid ink into the saffron rice was especially fantastic. Rice dishes starting to appear usually means the meal is winding down, but apparently in Spain rice counts as a starter and the main course is meat.
Seafood paella
There was a little less seafood than I’d expected, but it tasted fine. Still, it’s rice, so I just had a bit and called it done… I’d already eaten plenty, after all.
The meetup was fun, and afterwards we went on to a skewer place called Waraku for round two, and then had a little wine at an Italian place called Molto for round three. Every time we have one of these meetups I can almost hear myself putting on weight ^_^ It’s a bit of a shame I didn’t get to eat mineo this year, but there’s always next year. I’ll just have to wait for the next chance.