Bium - Review - Cheongdam - Seoul - The Infatuation

"Bium is a quiet Gangnam restaurant that shows how satisfying plant-based Korean cooking can be. Dinner opens with a King’s breakfast spread, with danja rice cakes that set an earthy baseline, vibrant pickled vegetables, and a porridge. That porridge is the moment it clicks, with a seaweed minerality that proves you don’t need meat for richness. The main course revolves around banchan that shows how temple cuisine does flavor without excess. Soy-marinated greens with slow-building depth, and seasonal vegetables tied to the Buddhist elements. It’s also where some of the best bites appear, like a lightly fried vegetable fritter that stays airy and plump mandu with a silky interior of burdock root, mushrooms, carrots, glass noodles, peanuts, and chili peppers." - Eileen Cho