I went to Familia, the buffet restaurant at the Imperial Palace by the Korea Customs Service intersection. I’ve driven past this place plenty of times without ever realising something like this was inside (I’d always assumed it was just a wedding hall…), but once I went in there was a pretty big restaurant waiting.

The entrance

It’s quite a sizeable place.

Peking duck

Oh… there were plenty of dishes that made me think, “they have this too?” It felt like I could eat every good thing in one go.

Fu-yong crab meat

They’ve got all the slightly trendy Chinese dishes covered.

Jajangmyeon as well…

Nice and approachable.

Steak

There’s LA galbi, there’s thick-cut bone-in short rib… a good variety.

Lobster too…

Lovely.

Bread

The quality looked good.

Charcuterie

The nibbles to go with a drink are good too.

Pizza and Italian seafood stew

Honestly I was too full to try the pizza, but having everything laid out like this is impressive.

Sashimi

The freshness wasn’t bad and they even had toro. I came away satisfied.

Sushi

Sushi is carbs… so I’ll save it for when I have room.

Korean dishes such as yukhoe

That was good too.

Salad

Plenty of different kinds.

Häagen-Dazs

Even the ice cream isn’t the ordinary sort.

Dessert

They have butter tteok… and it tastes as good as a specialist shop. Genuinely trendy.

Rice cakes and chocolate

It seems to cover every age group.

Desserts and fruit

Beautifully put together.

Cake

The range of cakes is enormous too. It even made me wonder whether people could possibly get through it all.

Cheongmyeongju rice wine

It’s made its way even here. This one costs extra.

Yanggaeng sweet bean jelly

The Japanese food is at a serious level too.

Eobok-jaengban beef platter

If the Korean side stretches as far as eobok-jaengban, you can assume just about everything is covered.

Snow crab

I love snow crab… and just having it on the menu sends my satisfaction with a buffet way up.

I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be a really good place. It was great that a family can come and eat such a variety. To think a buffet of this level sits right in the middle of Gangnam… no wonder it’s popular.

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