I seem to have caught a cold lately and was not feeling great, so I went to Palsun for something nourishing.
The table
Being a hotel-run restaurant, the service was, needless to say, top-notch.
Side dishes
Simple, but I kept reaching for them.
Seasonal special cold appetizers
The flavors were impressive right from the cold appetizers. What surprised me most was that the texture was perfectly preserved even through the grilling and steaming. I could not think of another restaurant in Korea at this level.
Braised shark’s fin with eight treasures in abalone sauce
It is smooth without being aggressive, gently teasing the palate, enough to bring back an appetite I did not have. I never expected to be this moved at a Chinese restaurant.
Wild pine mushroom and asparagus in lotus leaf
Even the presentation is out of the ordinary.
Unwrapped
The pine mushroom and asparagus arrive with everything intact, from the bite to the aroma. Alternating between the crunchy asparagus and the pine mushroom full of clean, delicate juice makes for a fun comparison too.
Signature sea cucumber
It is slightly spicy, but not enough to get in the way. The sea cucumber has turned soft and gelatinous, yet the texture is still there. This was a taste of what fine dining is really about.
Beef in yuxiang sauce
Finally, the main. You cut the tender, gently cooked beef with your chopsticks as you eat, and it goes wonderfully with the sauce. Compared to Western courses where the main is always steak, I could not help but marvel at how elegant a main course this is.
Jjamppong
For the meal course I ordered jjamppong and jjajangmyeon. Like the other dishes, the jjamppong had almost no harshness, just a rich broth drawn from good ingredients. People who like strong, punchy flavors might actually dislike it, but for me it was exactly the right jjamppong. It will probably stay in my memory as the best jjamppong of my life.
Jjajangmyeon
The jjajangmyeon is top-class as well. It would be perfectly fine to skip the whole course and come just for the jjajangmyeon, jjamppong and tangsuyuk. The prices are of course absurdly high compared to an ordinary Chinese restaurant, but this would be the ultimate luxury Chinese meal.
Dessert
Soft ripe persimmon with something like tapioca in it, and that little accent makes it even better. The dessert was satisfying too.
Palsun is the best Chinese restaurant in Korea and one the country can be proud of on the world stage, and I had always meant to go someday. This time the chance came up, and I was thoroughly satisfied. Buying the 400,000 won Shilla Hotel membership card just to eat Palsun’s food actually seems like a decent idea. I definitely want to try the other dishes too.