Since I was in Seoul for my birthday trip, decided to visit a restaurant for a good meal. 7th Door, ranked 18th on Asia’s 50 best restaurants and has many accolades under its belt focuses on fermentation and ageing on traditional Korean cuisines with a modern touch. One will be led down the hallway, the length of the six doors symbolically and finally reaching the dining area at the end. I was there on the earlier seating and soon realised most of the diners are tourists, with many Singaporeans as well. lol. The staffs told us – oh! We have many Singaporeans lately. Yes, we could tell from our Singaporean accent. Ha

We were shown the various ingredients that would be used in our menu today with most of the fermentation and aging between 3 and 10 years

We started with their version of amuse bouche which was presented really beautifully. A for Visual

Korean Congee w Spring Vegetables

And this really warmed the stomach and the soul. The consistency of the congee, texture, flavours were remarkable. I was joking with my Singaporean neighbour – this definitely tasted better than the Myeongdong porridge. It made me wanna recreate such texture and flavour at home (cos I love congee)

Welcoming Fermentation and Ripening Small Bites

Also, another beautifully presented dish. In my opinion, the prawn chip and rice chip with seaweed left the most impression. The chip was so thin but yet the flavour was strong on its own, leaving a lingering aftertaste on your palate. I liked the cracker with snow crab/soy crab as well. The slight crisp with the umami of the crabs was satisfying. I thought the mini taco with salad was decent too

Homemade Bread made from yeast of 5 years, served with Green Plum Sauce w Perilla and Sesame Oil

I always looked forward to homemade bread from a restaurant just cos you know how wonderful it will taste. And I’m proud to say this doesn’t disappoint. I thought the bread was good on its own – the texture of the outer layer and so warm and soft inside. You could taste the very slight acidity of the yeast but when you dip it into the sauce, the acidity amplified. So I thought the bread could just be eaten on its own. Else, the flavour was too much for me

Soy Bean Tofu w Spring Vegetables Broth

First bite, this was so Japanese. I felt like I’ve eaten this in many Japanese restaurants. Not that I don’t like it, I liked my tofu with the vegetables consume and this was done well as well. The thick density of the consume with light and sweet flavours wrapped up the soft soy bean tofu really nicely

Today’s Fish – Grouper aged 2 Days, Served with Garlic Stem & Soy Sauce

I really liked this. The sweetest of the fish paired really well with the garlic stem and soy sauce to give it different flavours

Today’s Snack Food

When it came, I was like 7-11? Ha. The funniest was they brought out such a big basket for such a tiny paper bag. I was fairly amused

Korean Hotdog w Abalone & Pickle Sauce

I thought the texture was really good but my Singaporean neighbour begged to differ. She somehow wasn’t that impressed with this dish. lol. I liked the abalone at the end too, though albeit small but it was sweet with a nice chewy texture

Roasted Lobster and Citrus Cheong Sauce

Cooked using charcoal, served with dill, potato puree & citrus sauce. We were asked to choose our dining knife before this dish came out. The neighbour asked if the knife made any difference to this dish. I shook my head and said nope. lol. Honestly, I thought the dish was normal and also, too much truffles for me

Korean Short Ribs (right) and Chuck Flap (left)

With Hairtail Fish Extract Sauce

So we get to try 2 versions of the beef, marinated 2 different ways. I preferred the chuck flap (surprisingly) cos I thought the ribs were too rare for me. I usually go for medium-rare but somehow, I really wasn’t impressed with the hanwoo. Served with gochujang sauce, carrot puree, chilli pickle, garlic pickle and grilled cabbage as accompaniment for your proteins, this dish as a whole was pretty forgettable for me

Daechun Kim

I really enjoyed a good marinated crab so I was excited about this dish

Served 2 ways, first with caviar

One word – Salty

Wah, it was really salty and memorable for all the wrong reasons. Even my neighbour concurred this was a little overkill

Then with the soy crabs. Wah, equally salty

I’m someone that can take salty food, but this was… really too much for me

Noodle Soup w Dallae Jang Sauce

Down to the last mains! I really enjoyed the noodle soup very much. Somehow similar to mee sua soup, even the broth was very comforting. The noodles were cooked nicely, had a nice chewy texture to it and as you slurp the broth down, it felt like a refreshing bowl of noodle soup on a hot summer day

Aged Cheongdo Persimmon w Red Bean

Frasier w Lemon Ginger Icecream

Petite Four

Too much desserts. I gave up at the end. I liked they incorporated traditional Korean desserts and modern pastry as selections so you get to enjoy best of both worlds

I thought 7th Door was an interesting experience. I liked that they focus on incorporating fermentation and aging in their food so one is able to appreciate the marriage of such ingredients. There’s definitely hits and misses in the meal but if you had asked me some time down the road, there probably ain’t any dish that left a really lasting impression on me. You could still give this a try, for I think is an interesting concept

7th Door

Gangnam-gu, Hakdong-ro 97-gil, 41 4층

Seoul, South Korea