Situated on quiet Dosan-daero 25-gil right on the edge of Sinsa-dong, L’Inconnu is a relatively new French patisserie in town that I had plans to visit during this trip but had trouble fitting into our super packed schedule so far. This was the perfect time to do so.
Young owner-chef Kim Min-sun of L’Inconnu (means “the unknown” in French) spent time in France honing her skills before moving back to Seoul to open her own pastry shop in 2018.
I like the hanok-inspired interior which uses a lot of wooden panels and furniture to evoke a sense of warmth, comfort and harmony.
L’Inconnu is not your traditional French patisserie. Chef Kim challenges herself to go above and beyond in mixing local ingredients into her pastries. Take her popular pumpkin seed Paris-Brest as an example, she replaced the usual hazelnuts with roasted and caramelized pumpkin seeds to give it more of a Korean twist.
At this late hour, I didn't expect a lot to be left and I was right. Only three pieces of Chef Kim's exquisite pastries were left including these three.
The third one was a slightly different version of her popular pumpkin seed Paris-Brest, replacing the pumpkin seed with buckwheat.
The choux pastry made with buckwheat was nicely decorated with crispy buckwheat toppings.
What I love most about this Paris-Brest was the almond praline cream in the middle, which was soft, light and tasted almost like butternut squash.
It's definitely more healthy than any Paris-Brest found on the streets in Paris.
It's a shame that I came so late into L’Inconnu that I wasn't able to truly experience what they were all about. I'll most definitely make sure that I come back for a return visit in August.
L’Inconnu opens from noon to 9 pm daily except Mondays.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ₩₩₩
Address: 556-27 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea
Closest Metro Station: Sinsa
Tel: +82 02-512-6767
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