Full of the flavor of seasonal ingredients… The temptation of a sip of wine is a ‘bonus’ [김동기 셰프의 한그릇]

Sangsu-dong Jaewon Mi-kyung

Sangsu-dong, a place where the autumn breeze seems to blow from the nearby Han River. There are many calm restaurants here with a quiet atmosphere. ‘Jaewon Mi-kyung’, which seems to be located in a French alley, greets people at the entrance of Sangsu Street.

◆Sangsu-dong Jaewon Mi-kyung

In 2015, a small restaurant called ‘Trattoria Today’ was opened inside an alley in Hoegi-dong. At the time, Italian restaurants such as trattoria and osteria were not well known, so if there was a trattoria in another neighborhood, I would always go there even if it was far away. Although it is no longer in business, ‘Trattoria Chao’ near Sangsu Station was like a treasure to me. The salad, menu, and noodles were perfect for a trattoria. Although the route was clearly different from mine, I fell in love with the charm of Sangsu-dong thanks to that restaurant, which felt like a seemingly distant destination.

Sangsu-dong is the perfect place for foodies who want to walk in the fall. When you get off at Sangsu Station and walk a bit past the restaurant that was buried in old memories, you will come across a restaurant that looks like it would be in a small French town. This is the recently opened wine dining restaurant ‘Jaewon Mi-kyung’. The warm wood-toned tables and interior, centered around a large table in the center, are impressive. When the weather is nice like these days, the door is wide open, and the smell of delicious food comes out, and the brilliance of the illuminated wine glass makes passers-by turn away.

The name of the restaurant is unique. When I asked the owner, he said that he named her Jaewon Mi-kyung after her parents’ names. My Cub Bangjeong suddenly asked, “What is Jaewon Mi-kyung?” and I apologized, but I couldn’t fake the warm feelings that came up again. The owner and chef here, Okgeon, holds a sommelier license and is diligent enough to have won an award at the World Association of Chef’s Association (WACS) cooking competitions. The menus he prepared humbly without being greedy looked really good.

◆Mushroom pasta with an autumn feel

Sangsu-dong Jaewon Mi-kyung is a wine dining restaurant. Despite its small size of 6 tables, there are over 50 types of wine. Aperitif bread and olive butter containing grains and nuts create anticipation for future menu items from the start. When I spread olive butter on warm bread, the butter seeps into the bread. Fresh bread, butter, and olives seem to dance a happy tango in your mouth. While taking a sip of bread and white wine, I looked out the window at the streets of Sangsu-dong and reminisced about the old days. A pleasant, life-like noise that can only be felt in a clattering open kitchen. The sound of people quietly chatting. The cool autumn breeze coming through the wide open door. How many times can one happily wait for food like this?

It wasn’t long before the first menu item, honey cod, appeared. It is a dish made with sous vide cod, tomato sauce and honey, and brings out the sweetness that is difficult to express in cooked fish on the plate. The fish is very soft. The sweetness of the sauce disappears in your mouth along with the soft cod, and the freshness of the tomatoes comes in at the same time. Lamb sausage came out soon after. The homemade lamb sausage was rich in meat juice and full of the aroma of various spices, and the mashed potatoes that came with it were so delicious that there was no need for another steak dish. Also, the unique flavor of lamb is brought out with spices, so it is a taste that is unlikely to be liked or disliked.

The last dish, the mushroom pasta, was flavored with mushrooms alone and perfectly seasoned. The taste was so good that I thought I could drink a bottle of wine with just one plate of pasta, and the mushrooms grilled until golden brown on the outside had a good texture that seemed to say, ‘I’m not just a garnish on pasta.’ The pasta is made with rigatoni to make it easy to eat as a side dish for multiple people. The homemade mushroom sauce brings out the flavor of fall, and even though it has only recently opened, I can see why there are so many repeat customers who call themselves regulars. I had a strong feeling that Jaewon Mi-kyung’s mushroom pasta would be selected as my best menu item for a while. Although Jaewon Mi-gyeong was a westerner, she did not cook in a stereotypical way. The terrine served had an interesting name, ‘French it? It is ‘terrine’. It is said that the name of the menu was chosen in a fun way for customers who have not yet been familiar with terrine. Finding a newly opened store is truly exciting. Next time I come here again, I want to call myself a regular. Jaewon Mi-kyung is a cozy restaurant where you can enjoy a glass of wine while taking a walk if you are nearby.

◆Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a food ingredient that is truly loved by us. You can easily find mushrooms anywhere in the market or supermarket. There are also a variety of mushroom dishes. There are many dishes you can make with mushrooms, but the best way to enjoy mushrooms is to slow-cook them in butter or fragrant oil and season them with a little salt. Because the juice of the mushrooms remains inside the mushrooms, the flavor of the mushrooms increases even more, especially in this season. The unique flavor has a great impact on cooking, and the umami flavor from dried mushrooms is a representative natural seasoning that can be added to soup.

■Mushroom cream topped with croutons

100g button mushroom, 1 piece of bread, 30g onion, 1 head of garlic, 50ml whipping cream, 100ml milk, 1 egg yolk, 5g grana padano cheese, 20g butter

① Chop the button mushrooms, onions, and garlic and fry them slowly in butter. ② Boil the milk, season, turn off the heat, and add the cream mixed with the yolk while stirring. ③ Add grana padano cheese and adjust the consistency. ④ Cut the bread, bake it in the oven until crispy, and then top it with the sauce.

Kim Dong-gi Dining Starring Owner Chef Paychey@naver.com

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