They have a warm and cozy setup here with standard and counter tables. Also available is a private dining room on the mezzanine floor where it can host up to 6 guests.
A few words coming from the executive chef himself, describing how they came up with the name, Muoki. It's a word for "oak tree" in African. And where's the connection then? It's under the oak tree that chef Park used to relax after his hardworking days back in South Africa.
Chef Park was seen working very hard inside the open kitchen preparing various dishes himself. I was really looking forward to your work.
At this time, I suddenly spotted an old friend of mine. Mr. Leo Hong, formerly of Soigné.
Very special thanks to my old friend for the free bubbly and more importantly, taking good care of me throughout the afternoon, like he always does.
I found myself getting more and more hungry after watching the team of young chefs preparing dishes right in front of my watchful eyes.
It didn't take long for my first dish to arrive and it's Muoki's signature dish, "Tomato 7 ways" (Start counting).
This is a very colorful dish with different colors of tomato prepared in seven different ways (dehydrated, poached, pickled, tomato oil, tomato chip, sun-dried tomato powder and tomato jelly). In the middle of the dish was a scoop of basil sorbet.
It was a seriously refreshing dish centered around tomato and basil flavors in contrasting textures and temperatures. What a nice way to start the meal!
The second course was salmon tataki made with top notch salmon from New Zealand. It was paired with fresh apple, salmon roes, radish, purple onion and what I thought was poppy seed powder. Another refreshing dish although this came with a bit more acidity than I expected. Fairly decent.
At this time, I was offered some bread along with sea salt butter.
Just when I was still munching away on my bread, my fish course was already waiting on deck. This was a really nice piece of pan fried sea bass but what made it even better was the saffron mussel sauce which was flavorful and rich (was going to say powerful too but let's just say well-seasoned). Interesting idea serving this with a piece of homemade siu mai (pork dumpling).
For my main dish, I decided to go with chef Park's signature roasted duck. I have always been a huge fan of Korean ducks because they tend to be a little leaner than what we got in Hong Kong, and with a bit stronger flavor.
This was a beautifully plated dish with assorted mushrooms, red onion purée and stuffing made with mushrooms and duck liver. The duck breast was roasted to absolute perfection. Love the lovely skin which was crispy but not crunchy. The meat was fabulous (a lot less pink than most places, which was just perfect for me) and I thought the red onion purée really complemented the duck meat superbly. Easily the best dish of the meal.
Following my really impressive main dish, here's a simple palate cleanser in the form of grapefruit sorbet with grapefruit granita and fresh grapefruit on top.
I have to admit, dessert was a little disappointing as I was expecting something more sophisticated than cherry and yuzu sorbet with pistacio and chocolate "soil", and cotton candy. Cute but.....
Before the bill, a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and petite fours to wrap up my culinary journey.
There's a lot to like about Muoki starting with its theoretical setting of the dining room (and open kitchen). It's the perfect way to experience chef Park's nouvelle cuisine that emphasizes a lot on the freshness of ingredients. Then of course, the cuisine. Everything looked nicely presented and the dishes tasted great (well with the exception of the salmon tataki which was good but not great and the dessert). For those who love Soigné, you will definitely fall in love with Muoki too!
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ₩₩₩₩
Address: 12-12 Hakdong-ro 55-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Closest Metro Station: Gangnam-gu Office
Tel: +82 10-2948-4171
Website: www.muoki.kr
Post a Comment
Please tell us what you think