5.108 Grilled Seabass

Cycle 5 – Item 108

23 (Wed) April 2014

Grilled Seabass

3.5

at Atelier – du Saint-Ex

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Home Visit 4: Break + Housekeeping (Day 8)

Day 1 (5.101 Chicken Inasal with Garlic Rice)
Day 2 (5.102 Potato & Corn Croquettes)
Day 3 (5.103 Mul Naeng Myeon x 2)
Day 4 (5.104 Donggeurang-Ddaeng)
Day 5 (5.105 Haemul Jjim)
Day 6 (5.106 Spicy Taiwanese Crab Stir-Fry)
Day 7 (5.107 Fusilli in Meat Sauce)
Day 8 (5.108 Grilled Seabass)
Day 9 (5.109 MIL’s Typical Korean At-Home Meal)

Concluding my initial 3-month contract with WHO, now extended 5.5 months, I’m back in Korea to take a break (contract break and personal break) and attend to various housekeeping matters – mostly for the (personal) break.

Located in the alley behind Hamilton Hotel.

Atelier – du Saint-Ex is a French restaurant. One of the neighborhood’s landmark institutions, been around as long as I can remember, well before gentrification. Used to be an unassuming bistro but, in keeping up with the Joneses, recently renovated into quite the hipster hangout. Also changed its name, which prior had simply been “Le Saint-Ex.” The menu focuses exclusively on animal-based dishes, such as roast chicken, steak, braised pork shank, sausages, etc.

For no particular reason, I’d never visited the place before this evening.

W and I had quiet evening together, just the two of us, first time in over 8 months.

The food was very good. From the “Today’s Special” menu, we just ordered the first 3 items. The highlight, for me, was the Grilled Seabass, actually pan-seared, accompanied by roasted garlic and sautéed green beans, plus crab sauce. While the fish was expertly cooked, nicely crisped skin, the flesh itself was a bit bland. But the excellent crab sauce – not among the standard sauce offerings, but rather the sauce for the seafood pasta dish – creamy and intensely flavored, made up for the difference. We enjoyed the meal.