Sequestered on the basement floor of a building near Posco Center in Seoul’s Daechi-dong, Oga Teahouse is a personal haven for manager Oh Ki-hwan. Oh, who runs this Korean teahouse with his mother, turned to herbal remedies when he found himself burned out from work. Herbal medicine was not unfamiliar to Oh, whose grandfather was a doctor of traditional Asian medicine. “We always had licorice root around,” he said.Oh, 44, recalls sucking on the bark-like root and how sweet it t

Crisp, cool weather invites warmer fare like hot soups exhaling curls of steam, cups of heartwarming coffee laced with creamy milk, and crunchy-edged sandwiches, fresh off the panini grill. That is precisely what one will find at Sunset Swimming Sandwich, a sandwich bar that opened last month in Seoul’s Sinsa-dong. “I felt most confident about sandwiches and coffee,” Sunset Swimming Sandwich founder Lee You-jin explained. Before Lee launched her sandwich bar in September, she f

When Sanok chef Kim Jeong-ho decided to strike out on his own, he zoomed in on the ingredients, turning to the bare bones of cuisine for inspiration. Kim explained how he, as a father cooking for his child, found himself increasingly interested in the provenance and cultivation of ingredients that made their way to his table. This newfound focus influenced his role as chef of the newly-minted bistro, Sanok, which, Kim explained, means “four types of greens” in Korean. “It signi

Korean fried chicken can be easily found most anywhere in Seoul. So when Kim San -- who was racking up experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant at the time -- was offered a chance to take a stab at an already saturated, highly competitive market, one might wonder why he didn’t hesitate. Perhaps it was because he had been waiting for a moment like this, building up experience at prominent restaurants known for their cerebral eats, all the while dreaming of taking his skills and parlaying

“Salt, water, yeast,” Darobe founder and primo pizzaiolo Kang Woo-seok, 39, rattled off -- referring to the ingredients needed to craft his pizza dough. “And flour.” At Darobe, those ingredients, transformed into a multi-textured, flavorful crust, formed the foundation for the artisanal pies Kang started serving when he first opened his pizzeria in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong two years ago. Fast forward to August, Kang is at the second location of Darobe in Seoul’s N

The macarons crafted by chocolatier Ko Eun-su at Macaron Couture showcase palate-teasing flavor combinations like Gorgonzola and honey or truffle and Pecorino. The shells are supremely thin on the outside, folding at the slightest bit of pressure and melting away on the tongue, while the ganache fillings are nuanced, fragrant and oftentimes complex. These bite-sized desserts represent Ko’s desire to experiment with flavors and to continue a sweet-toothed culinary journey that started eight

Still in its pre-opening stage, newly minted tonkatsu restaurant Hoshi Katsu, which soft-opened in early June in Seoul’s Cheongdam-dong, has diners lining up for a taste of its fried pork cutlet. Even if one doesn’t know chef Im Yong-jae only uses Jeju black pork that has been wet-aged for 15 days and uses crumbs made from custom-made bread, one might take notice of these fried-to-order cutlets with their shaggy, golden crusts and incredibly juicy interior. “It has to be f

When the tajarin arrives tableside at the newly minted It’el JAE, it is a decadent, mouthwatering affair -- a sumptuous tangle of handmade pasta bathed in sage-infused butter, strewn with translucent slices of black truffle and showered with pungent Pecorino and Grana Padano cheeses. A barely poached yolk, golden and glossy, is nestled in the center. After politely waiting for diners to document the dish in photos, the servers use a fork and spoon to break the yolk and delicately blend eve

Hyun Udon owner-chef Park Sang-hyun takes noodle making very seriously. To ensure their freshness, Park and his team make the noodles twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. His udon noodles are crafted with flour, sun-dried salt, vinegar and water. The acidic nature of vinegar, according to Park, interacts with the gluten in the dough in a manner that helps him achieve the noodles he wants -- which are incredibly chewy and smooth. After resting the dough twice, once for t

The scent of candied strawberries fills T.o.ch Coffee’s small showroom, emanating from freshly ground beans of Bourbon and Castillo varieties hailing from the El Paraiso association in Colombia. Once extracted as pour-over coffee, this brew unleashes an initial layer of lemon peel, followed by the sugary, dairy-rich scent of strawberries and cream.“This coffee possesses a very clear character,” said T.o.ch Coffee CEO Lee Min-kyu. The 35-year-old seems to view character as

The first time Michelin-starred chef Yim Jung-sik went into casual dining, he zoomed in on Korean cuisine, putting the spotlight on naengmyeon -- cold noodles -- and gomtang -- beef bone soup -- at the much-publicized Pyunghwaok. Over a year has passed since Yim branched off from his multi-starred namesake restaurant with Pyunghwaok, and the chef is generating buzz again with Jungsik Cafe. Situated in the same building as his Michelin-starred restaurant Jungsik, Jungsik Cafe opened in April, rep

When pastry chef and owner Kim Min-jung expanded Happy Happy Cake to Seoul’s Nonhyeon-dong, she wanted to create a new cake for the new location. Kim looked for an ingredient she had not used before and settled on one that would be familiar to everyone. “We eat rice every day,” she explained why she focused one of the most basic and essential staples of the Korean diet. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)Rice, Kim discovered, proved challenging to work with.“It was harder than we thought because ri

On weekdays, there are only 30, and on weekends, there are only 50 shrimp burgers sold daily at Zesty Saloon, a new hangout that opened in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong in March. “We make our patties with just shrimp,” said Zesty Saloon CEO Yang Jun-hwan, 34.  Zesty Saloon sells burgers and tater tots from its perch near Seoul Forest. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)After making the shrimp patties, Yang and his team lightly coat them with bread crumbs before frying them to a golden crisp and topping them

At Goollim -- a tiny, seven-seat shop in Seoul’s Banpo-dong -- owner and pastry chef Lim Kyoung-jin demonstrates a flair for infusing toothsome treats with unconventional ingredients. Lim trumps tradition by filling madeleines with housemade caramel, topping scones with rum glaze and using perilla leaves in her savory pastries. She had studied French pastries and cakes and worked at several bakeries before opening Goollim.  Goollim’s owner and pastry chef Lim Kyoung-jin bakes both savory and swe

Fire fuels the food at Soot -- a newly minted fine casual gastropub near Seoul’s Garosugil that had its soft opening earlier this month. Owner and chef Choi Hyo-ui and creative director Lee Jae-hoon teamed up to open a casual hangout specializing in grilled and roasted fare with a gourmet attitude. Choi, 28, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney and racked up experience at restaurants while there, relies on both a grill and an oven to create flavorful dishes like their crackly crisp pork belly an

Though Sazanka’s kaiseki-style omakase dinner is an affordable 49,000 won per person, chefs Park Jong-ha and Shin Byung-suk do not skimp on effort or flavor to make ends meet. Drawing from over five years of experience in Japanese cuisine, including time spent learning kaiseki-ryori in Japan, the duo pay careful attention to each detail at this new restaurant, which opened in Seoul’s Sinsa-dong in November. Such dedication shines through in dishes like suimono -- a clear soup served as part of a

Hide and Seek, as its name implies, is not easy to find. Located in a half basement of a renovated house in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul, this new bakery-deli has only been open for a few months, steadily building a growing and promising repertoire of baked goods, sandwiches and salads.As the offshoot to Darling Kitchen, a restaurant located on the first and second floors of the same building, Hide and Seek is an organic expansion of Darling Kitchen’s existing baking operations. “We started with Darling

When pastry chef Kim Min-sun came up with the name for her dessert shop, L’Inconnu, she selected a word that best expressed her approach. “The name, ‘L’inconnu,’ comes from the way I see pastry,” said owner Kim, 31. “I don’t want to copy and paste the stuff that I learned in Paris. “I want to take that and somehow make my own interpretation.” Less than two months into business in Sinsa-dong, Seoul, Kim is still experimenting, still exploring, which is why “l’inconnu,” which means “the unknown” i

Chicken, consistently juicy and flavorful, can be found at restaurateur Im Dong-hyuk’s newest Thai hangout -- Soi Yeonnam Mao.“We call it Soi Mao,” said Im, 37, of his latest enterprise, which he described as a “Thai tapas” spot. While Soi Mao’s main focus is Thai drinking food and wine, one cannot ignore the restaurant’s mouthwatering chicken dishes, from their “kai yang” to their “kai ping.” “Kai yang,” which is available for both lunch and dinner, is Soi Mao’s riff off a dish that hails from

For chocolatier Jang Ka-young, chocolate is about many things.Sweetness is a given, but there are other elements as well. “Both aroma and acidity are important to me,” Jang said. “I want the chocolate to have a clean finish and I need to a certain degree of acidity to achieve that,” the 32-year-old explained. Adore Chocolaterie’s signature collection features nine colorful and eye-catching bonbons in flavors like banga, or Korean mint, green citron and caramel ginger and orange confit. (Park Hyu