Kwonsooksoo Seoul (권숙수) is a famous fine dining restaurant in the posh Gangnam district. It is featured in Catchtable (a leading restaurant reservation service in Korea) as one of the top Seoul Michelin Guide restaurants. It was one of the places on our to-do list and we made a booking for a weekday lunch.
Fine Dining at Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam Seoul
Cheongdam-dong is described in Wikipedia as an area “..best known in South Korea as an affluent neighborhood populated by a disproportionately high number of high-income individuals and for having some of the most expensive real estate in the country.” It also seems to be a place where many of the Seoul Michelin guide restaurants are situated.
Kwonsooksoo Seoul is located on level 4 of this plain looking building.
Helmed by Chef Kwon Woo-joong, the restaurant is spacious and simply furnished. The main luxury here is the amount of space in between tables.
It is the only Seoul restaurant we encountered on this trip that uses a mini-table on top of the usual table. I think it provides a unique classy appearance to the table setting. To fit this style of dining, the base table-top is set at a slightly lower height than usual.
Kwonsooksoo Seoul Menu
Only one Kwonsooksoo lunch course menu was available – a KRW 215,000 menu with some extra add-on options.
Korean Lunch Course
Like the amuse bouche snacks that begin at Western restaurants, the first course of the Kwonsooksoo Seoul lunch menu was a welcome drink and small appetisers. This was a fun way to begin lunch. You can see that one item had been eaten before we remembered to take a photograph. The snacks were very enjoyable.
Starters
It seems to be the trend these days for restaurants to display some of the raw produce that are used in the food served. In this case the plants used in the small but very delightful starter of snow crab and Korean beef (picture below) were introduced to us.
Next was a delicate piece of seafood combination using fish, clam and sea squirt in a light broth.
Zucchini and Sea Cucumber
From this stage onwards, the dishes became more substantial. These two dishes were our favourites. The zucchini flower stuffed with shrimp was expertly fried to be crisp and light with no oiliness.
Korean dried sea cucumbers are a precious delicacy. The raw product was introduced to us before the next dish was served.
The sea cucumber in mung bean porridge looked a bit weird. The spikes looked fearsome but it was actually cooked till soft and slightly chewy. An uncommon and exotic dish.
Another light dish made of white kimchi, abalone, beef and shrimp was served before the main course.
Lunch at Kwonsooksoo Seoul Restaurant – Main Course and Desserts
The main course options at our Kwonsooksoo Seoul lunch were Korean mountain vegetables pot rice, lamb or aged Korean beef (which had a KRW 20,000 surcharge). We opted for the lamb (picture above) and the beef (picture below). We thought that the lamb was rather gamey. The beef was ok, but not memorable.
The main course was not our favourite part of the meal. Things looked brighter at the sweet end of the meal. A light dessert made with three types of rice ice-cream was a light and refreshing dish.
Next up was a petite fours trolley. We were served one of each type.
The bite sized desserts went well with the coffee which was served as part of the lunch.
Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs 
Address: 4F, IES Building, 37, Apgujeong-ro 80-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Opening Hours : 12:00 ~ 22:00 (Closed on Sundays)
Break time : 15:00 ~ 18:00
Kwonsooksoo CatchTable Reservation
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