Chef Yoo, who used to work at 2chef in Hongdae, has gone independent and opened his own restaurant in Pangyo. He is one of the few chefs I am close to, so I went along not long after he opened. And that was already three months ago..
Pangyo turned out not to be as far as I had imagined. There was even a bus going straight there from Gangnam Station. I had never paid attention, so I had no idea, but apartment blocks and upmarket residences are going up around West Pangyo, and a cafe street has been growing along with them. It looks like he found a good spot in an area with plenty of room to grow, which is a relief.
The menu
I heard he did a lot of legwork to get the menu exactly right, and it really does catch the eye, just as much as the effort he put in.
Inside
A modern, refined interior. Since it is his own place, he said he put a lot of care into the design. That is also why the opening ended up later than originally planned.
The table
You can tell that every detail has been thought through. With the restaurant sitting on the cafe street I assumed most customers would be coming from outside, but he says locals still make up the larger share. Lucky people, living around here..
Bread
Focaccia to start.
Garlic-infused olive oil
It feels like a slight variation on the 2chef style.
We opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the opening.
It was Pol Roger, and it was lovely.
Appetiser
They piled on plenty of Italian burrata, which really won me over.
Soft shell crab and grilled fish
This is neither a Thai nor a Chinese restaurant, so I was startled when soft shell crab turned up. It goes without saying, but it is nutty and delicious right down to the shell.
Pasta
They may not use expensive ingredients, but there were never many places doing pasta as good as 2chef did. La Bilancia is the same: beautifully al dente, delicious pasta.
Main: steak
The steak being delicious goes without saying. The kitchen has changed, but the taste is just as it was.
Creme brulee
I enjoyed it right through to dessert.
The fundamentals of the food and the service were already very good back in the 2chef days, and now the interior and the cooking have both been upgraded while the prices have come down, making it an even easier restaurant to drop into. My only regret is that it is now so far from my usual haunts that I cannot go often. I really hope he succeeds in Pangyo as well. I will make a point of stopping by whenever I can find the time.