[Michelin 1star] EVETT. Korean Contemporary Dining, by Chef Joseph Lidgerwood in seoul(chapter 2)

this is second of EVETT review. thank you for reading the second one, too.

 

now, Let's start.

 

Before, I introduced until fifth dish.

before serve a main dish, they served a palate cleanser.

Palate Cleanser

yellow one in the bottom is fermented carrot juice,

(carrot again? uh...)

white one is sikhye sorbet. sikhye is sweet rice drink.

sikhye is a popular traditional drink in south korea.

It was fresh that foreign chef use a sikhye making a sorbet.

 

sikhye sorbet was sweet and delicious,

but carrot juice is.....well. I don't want to think about it.

I recommend remove the carrot thing in the course.

 

Fourth Pairing liquor

Fourth pairing liquor, called 'Nokpaju'.

made in Gyeongnam Hamyang-gun. this liquor has a little bit green color,

because the brewery are surround by bamboo, so bamboo's pollen are affect

at spring, that's why Nokpaju has a little bit green color.

taste of liquor is clean and soft.

 

Main dish

they used black pig's sirloin lived in mountain Jiri.

using technique called 'wet aging' by beeswax and brown butter.

paste on the right of pork is soybean paste pastry.

the sauce is made by juice of pork.

 

*what is Wet Aging?

It means to put object in a vacuum package and wet type age it.

they proceed wet aging like this for 3 weeks.

I respect their efforts for the best flavor.

 

back to the point,

they also served two more side dish.

First is Grilled various tied vegetables on the pig's head bone.

this idea is derived from korean culture, eating meat with vegetable called 'ssam'.

Second is croquette made of pig's head meat.

 

now tell about taste about main dish,

this is one of the best dish give me the best experience I mentioned before.

this is the flavor and texture you couldn't know this is pork

when you don't know this is made by pork.

normally, when we think about pork, we think about crispy and oily,

but this one is very juicy, and has a rich flavor.

i'm strongly recommend this dish to guest visit EVETT.

 

talk about side dish.

grilled vegetable was good, but not special.

croquette's outside was crispy, and inside was soft. it was great for me.

but I don't know the pig's head meat taste.

just feel like normal pork meat.

pairing liquor was good for cleanse the greasy feeling.

 

now, move on the next step.

 

Fifth Pairing Liquor

Fifth pairing liquor, called 'Hansan sogokju'

made in Chungnam Hansan-myeon,

this liquor is served in Asiana Airlines business class.

this liquor fermented twice, and when they fermenting the liquor,

they put on the red chili, so this liquor has a piquant and tasty flavor.

 

next, main dish.

grilled duck breast aged in rice straw, 

garnish combined seaweed and pickled kiwi,

ham made of duck legs on the grilled quince.

the sauce in the middle are made of duck's juice.

 

duck's breast was good.

they brought out skin's crispy and meat's flavor well.

but green one's seaweed are too strong to feel the rich flavor,

so I can't feel any kiwi's flavor. i'm not fan of that.

ham on the grilled quince is just a normal.

it was the same taste what you think.

 

this main wasn't interesting for me.

 

Pre-Dessert

Finally main course were ended, then Dessert course were started.

This is Pre-Dessert.

It was Unique that making a Dessert based on plum seed.

they marinated plum in cream, and then made a ice cream by that cream.

The composition of the Pre-dessert was

put the plum seed ice cream on the bottom,

then add on pickled kiwi on the ice cream,

lastly, put on kiwi jelly one the pickled jelly.

this angle shows three layer clearly.

certainly, ice cream had a rich plum flavor,

and pickled kiwi also had a pleasant sour flavor.

kiwi jelly was soft, so these three things made a good combination.

great pre-dessert for me.

 

it's time to meet the last pairing liquor.

 

Sixth Pairing Liquor

 

The last pairing liquor, called 'Chusa'.

made in Yesan, it's a spirits made of apple.

has a herbal flavor because this made with herbal medicine,

they matured in oak cask as least 6 month and at most 2 years,

so it also has a similar flavor with whiskey.

to be honest, this one was the best liquor in this pairing for me.

 

Main Dessert

 

this dessert's main ingredient are pine and apple.

from left, green one is made of pine leaf,

korean apple dessert pickle up by pine syrup,

custard made of pine cone and last one is kelp sorbet.

quite interesting make a dessert using a ingredient normally unused in dessert.

 

these four was all great.

sorbet are tasty, apple one has a rich apple flavor and chewy texture,

two pine based things also had a pleasant sweetness.

 

one defect is pairing.

in my opinion, Chusa is a 40 degree liquor,

so it's not suit for these dessert.

liquor itself was good, but I couldn't guess why they pairing in dessert.

 

next is a final dish.

 

Petit Fours

Oriental raisin tree tea with three tiny dessert.

red one is artichoke ice cream in the caramelized milk skin tart shell.

yellow one is corn tart,

packed like candy one is sesame oil caramel.

 

first one is taste like crunchy ice cream,

and second one is similar to corn pie.

for me, caramel is the best one among these.

i'm surprised that sesame oil and caramel showed a good combination.

 

after course were finished, chef came and told he has a gift for us.

 

This is the drawing about the ingredient used in course.

he drew this picture himself, and print it out another paper.

his intention was remind us the experience about their course.

 

i'm not have a wide knowledge to evaluate it,

just talk about my opinion,

1~2 dish are not satisfied to me.

but the rest of dish are surely enough to give me a satisfaction,

chef's creativity was very interesting,

plating was interesting, a cozy mood to talk with my partner was satisfied.

pairing liquor choice was understandable except the last one.

 

if you asking about do I have a revisit intent, I say yes.

after season changed,

when I want to experience the creative dish based on korean ingredient,

I will visit here again.

I would like to recommend these guests

want to experience interesting korean liquor pairing

want to experience creative chef's dish based on korean ingredient

 

one caution point when you choice the korean liquor pairing,

these 6 glass of liquor a quite strong, you will be drunk

if you don't think about your drinking capacity.

I suggest to adjust amount of drink according to your capacity.

 

so, thank for reading my review,

it would be glad to see you again through my review.

if you are interested in, please subscribe this page.

thank you.