Bucket list ✅ impeccable service, setup, serving utensils, vibes, and food. Starting with the menu, they bring out little cards with a backstory describing each dish as they come out - you get to keep these of course. The flavors of each dish are complex yet complementary - I think the expertise it takes to combine 5-10 ingredients in a cohesive manner (sometimes even creating new flavors as a result) is what you're paying up for. January's menu was extremely seafood centric which I was super excited for. We started with two amuse bouche - a sardine bite that reminds me of the caviar Kim at Jua, and the sea urchin sweet corn bread cake. Both were delish; perfectly fresh with a good salty vs sweet juxtaposition between the two. Next, we dove straight into the bluefin tuna + caviar + pineapple weed jelly(?!!!) + mussel mousse dish; rich, umami, tart because of the jelly, and decadent. Next came the scallop - not my fave since it was cooked but the smoky sauce was divine. The langoustine blew me away - I'm biased towards langoustine but this was just so tender, and came with rich, fermented rice sauce with kimchi bits. The silkie chicken soup with abalone, mandu and squid was SO SURPRISINGLY GOOD; I don't like samgyetang usually but this was just HEALING for the soul. The next two dishes were both fish; very different compared to each other, and held so many flavors. The final savory dish, the wagyu, was just so rich; the rice side dish it came with was also delish - could eat a whole potful by myself I swear. The two desserts were the definition of mastery - I swear the ingredients by themselves taste like one thing and when mixed together, a completely different flavor... the Goguma ice cream was my fave as it tasted like a latte when combined with the cinnamon milk foam thing. ALL IN ALL I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. So glad I finally got to go.
