Soigne
Since Mosu, the only 3-star Michelin starred restaurant in Seoul this year, was closed for renovation we decided to check out one of the 2-stars that we hadn’t visited on our last trip to South Korea. Soigné recently moved locations but has been open for about a decade now. The chef trained in the USA in kitchens like Per Se, then came back to Seoul to bring those influences to Korean cuisine.
iPad at the table for the menu and for details about the wine pairings
I’ve experienced iPad menus before - mostly with wine menus - but dinner at Soigné was my first time having an iPad fixture at the table. The tablet served not only as a menu, but also provided additional details about the wine pairings. There were also a couple of courses that had their own video showing the preparation and plating of the courses. This was an interesting and modern touch to the dining experience at Soigné.
My apologies for the photos on this post. The lighting in the restaurant did not play nicely with the shutterless camera setup I now have and, despite my best efforts, I could not get the shutter speed adjusted to avoid the black banding you see in the photos below.
Here is the menu we had for dinner on March 19, 2024:
Snacks - Lotus root, mussel and green garlic, sweet shrimp
Herbs “bibim”
Pen shell "Doenjang Mul-hoe"
Namul & Deodeok
Potato & Burdock
Seasonal fish & "Ssukgat"
Seorae Escargot
Pork tenderloin & Parmesan
Hanwoo beef
Hallabong & Dang-gui
Soybean & Camembert
Truffle & Potato
We found most of the courses to be delicious and well executed. The signature escargot - a supplemental course - was perhaps the most flavorful. I thoroughly enjoyed the burdock “pasta” dish, as it had a deep and intense flavor despite being largely vegetarian. The pork and parmesan course was perhaps the only miss, as I found myself a bit confused and left with an impression that the elements of the dish lacked cohesion. The supplemental dessert course of truffle and potato was a surprise (I actually got confused and didn’t realize it was a dessert until the very end of the meal) as those are ingredients I don’t typically see in a sweet course.
As with our other South Korean Michelin starred meals, I enjoyed seeing an elevated taken a cuisine that I otherwise only encounter in a very casual sense. The service at Soigné was excellent and we found the wine pairings to work better than most we’ve experienced in the past.
Soigne
Sinsa-dong, SINSA SQUARE, 2F
South Korea, Seoul, Gangnam-gu
www.soignerestaurantgroup.com
