A Flower Blossom on the Rice

What makes a dining experience good? I believe it‘s great expectation management. And this restaurant does it wonderfully. The focus on local, organic, fresh ingredients excelled in all dishes we ordered. If you are looking for "in-your-face" bold flavors, this is not your place of choice. The food here is wonderfully subtle and made to eat with care. We ordered a la carte. Personally, I loved the acorn noodles and the Kombucha was an excellent drink addition. The service was fine - friendly but not overly attentive. The dining room feels authentic though you are seated quite close to other guests. The American women loudly arguing with the waitress about what her kids would be able to eat on the menu, echoed through the room and was rather unpleasant. Though this isn’t really within the restaurant‘s circle of influence. Overall, a delightful place that I would be glad to visit again.

I finally visited Kkot Bap Epida, a place I had been curious about. Since I hadn’t had Korean beef on this trip, I ordered the grass-fed Korean beef steak course. The main dish featured Korean beef aged for four weeks and marinated with shio-koji before being grilled. It had a firm texture, and the flavor deepened with every bite — completely different from Japanese beef. The Korean dishes made with organic ingredients offered a range of unexpected flavors, from delicious to uniquely addictive — it was a refreshing experience. One of the staff members spoke both Japanese and English fluently and kindly explained the menu, which was very helpful. If I get the chance, I’d love to visit again for lunch.

Had the acorn noodles (cold). Served with fried seaweed crisps, cherry tomatoes, kimchi, and a marinated zucchini that was unlike anything I’ve had. The ingredients were uniformly fresh. All flavors were bright. The browned eggplant in the noodles was a nice touch. A very good meal after touring the city during a warm summer day. Four stars for ambience only because the bare lightbulbs were too strong.

Tourists Beware: This Bib Gourmand spot might not be what you expect! Our experience: The entrance was warm and no-nonsense: we were greeted with a smile and guided straight to our table. The vibe? Spot on. A beautiful dining room, gorgeous tableware, and a soft, calm soundtrack in the background. Even the menu felt like it had been crafted with real care: like someone had truly poured their heart and soul into it. We went for the pork menu. The starters included a variety of salads, Korean pancakes, and traditional kimchi. Each and every one of the dishes was delicious. The salad with a seasonal dressing — in our case based on sweet corn — really stood out. Fresh, flavorful, well-balanced. A promising start. You’d think that bodes well for what’s to come. But honestly? I’m still confused. The main course dishes threw us a total curveball. One dish felt stranger than the next. The miso soup smelled sour and complex and tasted… intensely funky. The rice with goatsbeard tasted like absolutely nothing. Same with the vegetable stew in white sauce. The seaweed kimchi? Let’s just say it’s probably to intense for the average European palate (very fishy/umami rich). And the pork tenderloin, the star of the show, was cooked beautifully but really missed a touch of salt. We kept looking at each other mid-bite like, what is happening? And then came dessert. Where you’d expect a sweet finale, we got salty seaweed and mushrooms crackers with orange carrot juice. Honestly? Not bad. But as dessert? Uh… what? Still — we genuinely enjoyed the evening. Every dish felt like a complex puzzle. Confusing, bizarre, but with a bit of effort, oddly rewarding. So yes, we get the Bib Gourmand nod from Michelin. It’s a refined place that dares to push the boundaries of traditional korean food. That said, we would suggest Michelin or the restaurant itself to offer guests a little more context around what to expect here. Judging by the tables around us, quite a few diners left disappointed — not because the food was bad, but because it was just so far off from their expectations

Might be one of the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life. Food wise and service wise. They started decent with a basic salad with a delicious dressing from that moment, it went down the hill. They served me three “Pancakes”. They were below average specially for Korean pancakes. And when the main course arrived, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was the worst main dish I’ve ever had. The flavors were completely off. On the waiter so that I didn’t eat anything. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t ask me what’s going on, he just ignored it. Then they served me the dessert. Again, awful flavor and textures. I got up and went to the Front to pay. The manager who charged me knew that I didn’t eat the food and didn’t ask anything. Didn’t try to solve the problem, but she was more than happy to charge me the full price for the meal. I decided to give them the last chance and voice my opinion in a calm way. She was cold and said she’s sorry but again they made zero effort to solve the problem. Even changing my food or trying to find a way to just make me have a better experience. Do yourself a favor and skip this place. It is expensive. Service is below basic and the food is just awful.

Got the perilla oil acorn noodle, the doenjang (soybean paste) pork bibimbap, and both the carrot juice and carrot tangerine juice. The perilla oil acorn noodle lacked strong flavors and I wish they garnished the dish with fresh perilla leaves to emphasise that flavor but the noodles were very bouncy and the sauce at the bottom was really good with the rice. The bibimbap was delicious, meat was tender and flavor was light and tasty. Both juice were good, but recommend the carrot more

We ordered the vegan lite dinner set and were surprised by how incredibly fresh everything tasted. All of the dishes were seasoned appropriately (disregard negative reviews), and the courses complemented each other nicely. Personally, I thought the main was a bit of a letdown, so take the option to swap out the goatsbeard bulgogi if you decide on the same set.

Google maps says they are open until 9pm. We arrived 8.15pm and they said they won't serve anymore. We went all the way to this referred restaurant (45 min metro) to receive this bad surprise. We asked to get served anything they had, as the other restaurants did not look good. Then it was 8.21pm and they said they close the kitchen at 8.20pm. it easy horrible since we arrived 8.15pm.