A beautiful lunch at Yongsusan Biwon

A recent repeat visit to Seoul enabled me to visit some notable restaurants. Yongsusan Biwon - conveniently located near Changdeok Palace is one of them. This korean restaurant is mentioned in the Michelin Guide, although it does not have any stars. The cuisine is North Korean Gaesung-style which is more clean and subtle than Jolla-style cuisine.

Entrance of Yongsusan Biwon

We visited on that day before lunch service to enquire about a table. Luckily, they were able to accommodate us at 1.30pm - perhaps it was because we were all dressed cutely in traditional Korean hanbok! This gave us just enough time to walk around the Palace and take photos.
























 When we got to the restaurant, the dining room was bustling. There were also private rooms. We were seated at a large table in our own private area. There were 3 of us and we all got the San Set Menu which was priced at KRW 35,000 (approx. US$35 per person). This was a steal for a beautiful set lunch in fine surroundings. The set began with a few mouthfuls of abalone porridge, watery kimchi and a side salad for each.

The appetizer of mung bean jelly salad was subtly delicious. There was a side helping of beansprouts with spicy squid. After some vegetable tempura, there was a dish of roast pork slices with napa. Similar to korean barbecue, we wrapped the pork in the napa leaf, adding kimchi for an additional flavor kick.

We then received a beautiful vegetable consommé, with dumplings and rice cakes. It was served in a photogenic dragon tureen.

A dish of bulgogi then arrived on its own. It was a good version, if a little sweet too. It would have been amazing with a little white rice to soak up the flavorful juices.

The set lunch came with a choice of either bibimbap, soup noodles or cold buckwheat noodles. The bibimbap was particularly beautiful - fresh vegetables, mixed grain rice. It also came with a cool radish soup. The cold buckwheat noodles with pork was a generous portion.

Bibimbap components ready to mix

The enjoyable multi-course lunch then finished with some omijia tea and a small cherry-tomato mochi dessert.