The first thing that came to mind when we arrived at the hotel was the poor condition of the hotel's external walls. Looked like it's not doing well against all the wear-and-tear.
We took the elevator up, walked past a bar area onto the dining room and were escorted to our table by the window. Disappointingly, there wasn't much of a view looking out the window, other than a few caterpillars in a nearby construction site.
There were all together 3 lunch sets (A, B, C) available, all of which looked very similar with extremely minor difference (perhaps one or two more choices here and there).
Roasted big prawn, tomato concassé, bisque essence, semolina biscuit, 4/10
My starter was a roasted prawn with a clam affixed atop a piece of crispy pastry. Too bad it wasn't the big prawn promised in the menu (See photo - it's not much bigger than the small clam!) and there was no sign of any bisque essence.
Escargots in Burgundy sauce, foie gras-garlic royal, herbs salad, 5/10
The other starter was a couple of escargots on egg pudding served with a small salad. The escargots marinated in burgundy sauce were decent but not spectacular.
Black truffle and vermicelli soup, 4/10
The soup was a bit watery and the taste of black truffle could have been stronger.
Up to this point, one thing really stood out and it's not the delicacy of food but rather the attitude of indifference in service. Throughout the meal up to now, service was utterly lacking. For example, some servers elected to drop off our dishes without saying a word while others would murmur a few words, possibly the name of the dish and then rushed out of the scene. That was really frustrating considering that it came from a five-star hotel of this caliber.
"Meli-melo" of seafood: grouper, oysters and scallops, bourride sauce, 5/10
The oysters and scallops were very small. As a matter of fact, I actually did not remember having oysters at all (Can anyone find the oysters from the picture? If yes, please tell me where). If it's any consolation, the bourride foam was actually okay.
Grilled lamb rack, tian of Mediterranean vegetables, thyme sauce, 3.5/10
Not particularly good.
Raspberry crème brulée, infused anise ice cream, 5/10
I thought dessert was actually better, starting off with my raspberry-flavored crème brulée.
Poached pear "belle Helene", vanilla chantilly, hot chocolate sauce, nougat ice-cream, 6.5/10
The poached pear "belle Helene" managed to top my previous dessert. Our server slowly poured a hot chocolate lava onto the poached pear with thin chocolate coating. With the coating starting to melt, we began adding nougat ice-cream to the mix and it was indeed quite refreshing.
This was an overall sub-standard experience. I am hoping for a slightly better fate tonight at Elbon The Table. Pray for us please.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: ₩₩₩₩
Address: Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas, Seoul, South Korea
Closest Metro Station: Samseong
Tel: +82 2-559-7631
Tel: +82 2-559-7631
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