Not that I’m some huge fan of Italian food… but somehow this was already the fourth Western restaurant of this trip. I wasn’t that keen on Blooming Garden since their pasta isn’t any good, but it was Lunar New Year and this was the only place open..
The Gangnam branch seems to have opened recently. Come out of Exit 2 at Gangnam Station and it’s in the basement of the building next to the POSCO building. There’s parking, too. We were shown to a private room as soon as we walked in, and as you’d expect from a popular restaurant, the interior and service are excellent for the price.
Water glass
The bus didn’t hit any traffic so we got there a bit early, and the table was neatly set. We ordered the weekend lunch course, about 25,000 won + VAT, and since that day was the last day for the opening-celebration coupon, we got to eat at 20% off. Oh yeah~
Bread
The bread at Boutique Blooming is the fancier one, but Blooming Garden’s is pretty decent too. Probably riding on Outback’s huge success, restaurants all over are serving distinctive bread and getting good reviews for it. From the restaurant’s side, it’s not a bad strategy either: cheap bread that raises customer satisfaction.
Soup
Ordinary..
Salad
The taste is ordinary, but the presentation is done right. That’s how you keep customers happy and keep the business going.
Antipasto
Same concept as the salad.
Gorgonzola pizza
Is copying a menu item that’s popular elsewhere just standard practice in this business? The flavor wasn’t particularly distinctive.
New York steak
At this price, this is pretty competitive.
Rib eye
Drowned in sauce.. can’t tell it apart from Outback or Tony Roma’s..
Pasta 1
The pasta was so-so, so I didn’t even check the names..
Pasta 2
The course lets you choose pasta or pizza, and ordering two pizzas would have been the better call.
Pasta 3
The truth is, pasta ingredients are cheap, but making it properly takes a huge amount of work, which makes it hard to earn back the cost. That’s why good pasta isn’t easy to find in Korea. It isn’t easy in Japan either. The drama Pasta seems to be popular these days, so I hope the boom brings a lot of proper pasta specialists.
Dessert
I think it was wild grape sorbet.. it was good.
Apart from the pasta, nothing here is really lacking. It photographs well, and the prices are reasonable enough to cancel out the minor flaws.. which is probably why it’s become a popular restaurant with new branches popping up one after another. If you’re at Gangnam Station with nowhere in particular to go, this place will do, but as for me, I’m not sure I’ll ever go back…