I heard that Dining in Space was starting lunch service in February, so I made a reservation. I never really meant to do anything special on a day like the 14th, but somehow that was the day the booking went through. Probably because nobody knew yet that they had started serving lunch.

The view outside

The view over Changgyeonggung Palace is overwhelmingly beautiful. A pity the day was overcast, though. And with the floor-to-ceiling glass windows and the room being on about the fifth floor, the magpies and pigeons that live in the park kept flying right at us. It was a little scary. Surely that does not happen at night?

The table

Clean and neat.

Wine by the glass

A light glass to start. The wine by the glass is at a decent level too.

Bread

Well.. not bad.

Cauliflower soup

It is a soup with squid in it, and it makes a strong impact right from the first dish. The presentation is lovely, but the way the cooking draws out the potential of the ingredients was really impressive too. It felt like proper classic French. It was so good that I ate it far too quickly.

Mullet

I was expecting an appetizer, but out came a fish main. It seemed to be cooked at a low temperature and then lightly seared, and as expected, when classic technique meets fresh ingredients there is no way it can taste bad. It made me think the standard of French cooking in Korea is really high.

The view and some water

They happened to be out of sparkling water that day, so I ordered mineral water. Once again, the view is really lovely, but the birds..

Iberico pork

Again the main came in that low-temperature, seared-on-the-outside style, and it was cooked perfectly. Tasted great too, of course. I could not believe a dish like this could come out on a 50,000 won lunch course. So when I paid and was leaving I asked why there were two mains, and they said they had done it specially because it was Valentine’s Day. Most other restaurants would serve pretty much the usual menu on a day like Valentine’s Day and charge more for it, so I really do not know whether this place is trying to make money or not..

The cross-section

The meat was perfect, but I had no idea grilled yam would go with it so well. I need to buy some yam at the market and try grilling it myself.

Apple tart

A very good tart came out, which was nice.. but this was the day I had a freshly baked chausson aux pommes at Ruelle de Paris, so it overlapped a bit.

Tea

It was fine.

Petits fours

Delicious right through to the end.

Going by the content of the course, this was French cooking so good I would call it possibly the best in Korea. You could really feel that good ingredients were being prepared with care. But..

The view outside

While we were busy enjoying our fine French meal, on the sports field across the way there were middle-aged men playing jokgu with the utmost seriousness. On Valentine’s Day.. hmm.. Between that and the birds, the view from this place is great in the daytime, but maybe the problem is that you can see a bit too well. Next time I should visit in the evening. The service was also a little different from other places.. nothing major, but it did bother me a bit. It is a beautiful restaurant and the food is top level, but I found myself thinking it would be nice if the chef were a little friendlier, that is, if he paid a bit more direct attention to the restaurant and the guests, not just the cooking.

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