This was my first time at Biwon, Samwon Garden’s fine-dining restaurant, and it turned out to be a place that distills the essence of everything Samwon Garden stands for: its history, its tradition, its heritage of flavor. The entrance is separate and so is the space, and once you step inside you can feel that this is somewhere special.
The table setting
Clean and simple.
The flowers too..
A formal, refined space.. the whole thing looks great.
The menu
Even the menu looked so good I had to take a photo.. The order of things is a course meal first, then it finishes with grilled Hanwoo beef and a Korean meal.
Inside
The cooking is done live, right there in the room.
Inside
Completely private, and yet cozy.
Starting with champagne
The sommelier was friendly and explained everything well.
The day’s ingredients
Nothing more to say, really. Stunning.
Lobster and a truffle dumpling
Both were top-notch.
The day’s champagne
They held it up so I could take a photo..
Nourishing soup
Shark fin, I think.. warm and very good.
Barley bread baked with makgeolli yeast
This was surprisingly good.. I never expected even a modest little bread like this to be so tasty.
Caviar gujeolpan
It is fun wrapping them up and eating them one by one.
Seasonal juansang, a spread of dishes to go with drinks
This was truly a work of art, with care poured into every single dish. Rolled dureup (aralia shoots), yukhoe, jjukkumi (webfoot octopus), seasonal seafood, blue-crab noodles.. not a single miss, and even the noodles were delicious. The chef must be seriously talented.
Wine
I do not know much about wine.. but anyway, this was good too..
As you would expect from Samwon Garden, there are three kinds of grilled Hanwoo.
Sirloin
Chinese yam, goat’s beard greens
Hanger steak
White asparagus, Hamyang onion, beef-foot extract
Chuck flap
Black garlic puree, fermented pear, deodeok
I was surprised to get three cuts, but apparently they used to serve even bigger portions. They say the amount has gone down a bit since the changeover, but even this much felt like it would burst my stomach; eating more than this would not be easy.
Banchan
Every single side dish is on a high level.
Stir-fried live nakji octopus
When I first saw it, I could not tell whether it was nakji or a full-size octopus. Serving one this big is impressive enough, but the sauce on this stir-fried nakji is seriously delicious. Not too spicy, not too sweet, just the right kick, and it goes so well with the fresh octopus. A flavor that outdoes fine dining, honestly. They say you can order it at Samwon Garden itself too, so if I ever want it as a drinking snack later, I can just go to Samwon Garden.
Ganjang gejang (soy-marinated raw crab)
This ganjang gejang is good enough to give the famous gejang restaurants in town a run for their money. It seems they source only the very best ingredients.
Yangnyeom gejang (spicy marinated raw crab)
This seasoning ties in with the seasoning on the stir-fried nakji, and it seems to be some kind of magic sauce. Even I, who do not usually go for yangnyeom gejang, was sucking every last bit off the shells.
Bori gulbi (barley-aged dried yellow croaker)
I mean, come on.. after all this wonderful food, I did not expect bori gulbi to come out as well. It tasted excellent, but I was already so full that I could not finish it. It felt a bit of a waste to leave some, and if they do takeout it might have been nice to bring it home..
Sotbap, pot rice
It really does come out in an actual pot..
Ahh..
The best-tasting rice..
Rice like this
Fine, the dishes being delicious is one thing, but even the rice being this good.. that beat my expectations.
Crab ramyeon
On top of everything, out comes a ramyeon cooked with Hanwoo and crab, and it is so packed with rich essence that no matter how full I was, I had no choice but to finish it..
The noodles
It had been a long time since I ate until I was this stuffed.
Dessert
A clean finish.
They say they used to serve even more than this, and I honestly cannot imagine how that worked.. Anyway, if you want the best Korean course meal in the country, I think Biwon at Samwon Garden is just about top-level. It would be hard to do better than this.. Above all, among restaurants that serve real Korean food, not just Korean ingredients, I cannot think of anywhere that matches it. It seems like the perfect place to spend a special day with good company; just be warned that the portions are big, so you will want to loosen your belt before you eat..
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