26-course meal at Omakase Su-Ise, Hannam, Seoul

5 comments

1. I had dinner at 스이세한남. (Address: 서울 용산구 대사관로31길 16) Price was 150,000 KRW (~115 USD) per person, not including drinks. I took brief comments on each dish. There were 26 courses total, although reddit only allows 20 images (they are not in order)

   1. Tomato marinated in red wine, some type of seaweed, okra: good. Not sure the seaweed does much for me but the tomato was quite good

   2. Hirame with yuzu: good texture, flavor is otherwise just ok. Yuzu very subtle

   3. Chodang corn dofu: mild, sweet, creamy. Great stuff

   4. Braised octopus and abalone: great texture on the octopus, what I think was yuzukosho complemented it well. Abalone was also great though unsure what the sauce was. I think a sort of roe base, thought it was uni at first but wasn’t

   Speed is a bit fast here. 4 dishes in 15 minutes

   5. Kampachi/summer yellowtail: nice and fatty with a Wasabi sauce and some radish sprouts. Very nice

   6. King crab with crab tomalley and goseong uni: fantastic. Terrific. Uni is really tasty right now

   7. Geoduck (mirugai?) with asparagus and a sesame vinegar sauce: texture of the geoduck was soft yet a bit toothy, sauce relatively light. Asparagus was really good pairing, wish there had been more of it

   8. Shima-aji: buttery but not the best I’ve had. The shari here is really interesting; very savory, color a bit dark. Not excessive, though

   9. Clam suimono: good suimono but I always dislike it when they but yuzu zest in it. Still fine

   10. Chutoro: taste is fine but the chef here really likes fo put in a lot of knifemarks. Very tender but bordering on mushy at points. Matter of preference I think. Otherwise very nice, again intensely savory

   11. Red snapper: good

   12. Nishin: almost like an olive oil fattiness. As good as typical but less fishy than usual. Great stuff, but again bit too tender

   13. Yangyang uni, ikura, amaebi with shari: good! This combination just can’t be bad

   14. Akami: marinated in shoyu. Fine akami, Wasabi bit too strong on this one

   Chef mentioned rice is red grass(? Unsure of the translation) rice, hence darkness

   15. Miso with shimeji: good miso. It has a very slight tang that I like

   16. Hanchi: bit of shiso underneath, also some lime juice on top. Normal hanchi but beautiful knifework. Here the excessive cuts work

   17. Hairtail(cooked): little sloppy and somewhat underwhelming. Taste is fine and it’s a unique choice but probably would have been better suited as a bowl dish

   18. Toyama shrimp: unfortunately not that sweet. Just ok

   19. Horsehead tilefish: pickled onion and onion sauce was very oniony, nearly excessively so but not quite. Fish fried very nicely, love the crisp

   The tsukemono here are really great.

   20. Charcoal aburi otoro: charcoal scent was great. Good fish raw but I think the aburi works. You want this once in a while

   Pace here is really fast. 20 dishes in just over an hour. Bit overwhelming

   21. Isaki: slight aburi to melt the fat. Good, rich. Think more aburi would have been fine but it’s fairly thin

   22. Gilt with shari and nori: powerfully rich. Maybe the fattiest I’ve had, or the charcoal accentuates the savouriness. Really great.

   23. Cold smoked saba: smoke goes well with the richness. Maybe the least fishy mackeral I’ve ever had.

   24. Anago: stellar. Chef claimed it was his best piece and he was right. Nice charcoal scent, fatty but not overwhelming, good bite, tare not cloying like a lot of places. Great finish.

   25. Tamago: really really light, very fluffy. Just barely set too. Basically a souffle instead of being cakey like a typical tamagoyaki. Chef gave me like three extra pieces because I had sake left – felt like a fat fuck but this is what I get for ordering an entire bottle of sake

   26. Tea and housemade grapefruit sorbet: bits of candied peel. Refreshing end

   Then more pieces of the saba because the chef kept giving me more… I am going to burst

   Overall, not a bad experience for the 150 range. Interesting shari, but regular nigiri left a bit to be desired and the excessive knifework on some of the pieces made them a bit mushy. Pace was also a bit too fast – 26 pieces in an hour an half is a bit too quick, I think. Otherwise the aburi pieces were really excellent – every cooked dish was really phenomenal. Anything that touched the charcoal here was quite special stuff. Also one of the best saba I’ve ever had. Chef is an older fellow and quite friendly, and gave a lot of extras at the end. Good overall

2. I don’t think I could eat that much, but I sure would love to try. Thank you for posting!

3. Looks heavenly.

4. That is a huge prawn

5. Where is 21-26?