Back in Korea after a long while, a nice meetup was waiting for me. A Cote is a French restaurant that apparently opened recently. Lots of people had been raving about it, so I was curious whether it would suit my palate too.
When we arrived, the chef himself had come out and was waiting for us right on our reservation time.
I’d have to call the service friendly.
The menu.
It doesn’t seem to change daily, more like once a month.
The table setting
They put some effort into the decoration.
Wine glasses
Artfully cut butter
It doesn’t taste special, but everyone who sees it compliments how prettily it’s cut.
Bread
Pretty good. Unlimited refills, of course.
The dining room
The decor isn’t flashy and the place isn’t big. But the tables are well spaced, so the next table never bothers you. That day ours was the only table, so it was all the more comfortable. The only thing is, I felt the chairs were a bit too big. It made it a little awkward to chat with the person next to me while eating. Formality is nice, but it also feels a bit stiff.
From here on, every time a dish came out the chef stepped out of the kitchen to explain it himself. Students like me who are busy taking photos have to review later with the menu ^_^
Pen shell and caviar
Together with the sauce, the texture is superb. Hmm… but do French restaurants in Korea all have similar menus? I have no complaints about the taste, but regardless of that, it feels too faithful to the trends. I got that feeling from the first course right to the end. It seems hard to expect anything special.
Broccoli soup
I like broccoli, so maybe that’s why the fresh flavor tasted so good to me. Plenty of people dislike broccoli, though, so opinions will be split.
Foie gras
It was cooked perfectly, but personally I found the sauce weak. Foie gras normally goes really well with sweet things, but this came out much lighter than I expected. (Though it feels odd to call a fatty liver dripping with grease “light”…) The chocolate cake on top was just decoration.
Grilled salmon
Cooked to perfection. It pairs well with the sauce, too. I’m partial to spinach, so this is a dish I’d rate even higher.
Grilled Jeju black pork ogyeopsal (skin-on pork belly)
They used great pork. I like their grilling skills too. My only heartache is how small the portion was.
Crab soup
It was a bit awkward to eat. The flavors felt like they were each doing their own thing. That’s not to say it tasted bad, though.
Sorbet
A dessert that’s really hard to scoop up. Not satisfied.
Finally the main: Australian “Kobe wagyu” steak
The cooking was almost perfect, but the lamb was tastier than the beef steak. The texture of this beef just doesn’t seem to suit this kind of dish. With Australian beef, the way to go is to be served about 300 grams and wolf it down. Passing off something that isn’t wagyu as wagyu seems to be another local trend. People who don’t know better will just eat it and take it at face value, but with a table full of gourmets, we couldn’t let it go without a word. From now on, please just call it clean Australian beef. (Or would that hurt sales…?)
Lamb steak
This one is definitely tastier. The sauce is even better than the meat itself. I guess lamb works better than beef for keeping costs in line. Lamb as the main seems to have been the standard for a few years now, and I couldn’t help thinking the style has become too fixed.
A sweet treat I brought along: Unagi Pie V.S.O.P
I brought it out at dessert time. It’s something you can only buy in one particular region even in Japan. But it turned out to be a bit much for a light nibble.
Like this
In the end we ate just a few and I took the rest home.
Today’s dessert
The presentation looks respectable, but it’s far too weak. The crème brûlée had little flavor and was tiny… Dessert is the lifeblood of French cuisine (I weigh dessert and the main at about 50:50), but this place seems to have just neglected it. Do they not have a pâtissier…? The cooking was quite good, but it fell apart at the very end.
Organic yogurt
It looks great, but the taste is meh. The raspberries weren’t good…
Eating all this, I got a little full. The portions aren’t tiny, but not enough to stuff you. Young women would probably love it. Including a bottle of Vincent Girardin Marsannay, it came to a bit under 100,000 won per person. Considering French restaurant prices these days, it’s not that expensive, but even so I’d rate it as a place where you get drunk on the atmosphere rather than the food. Maybe my standards are just too strict…