Cycle 17 – Item 10
Post 5,854
15 (Thu) January 2026
Signature (Lunch)
4.0
at Jungsik
-Cheongdam, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-
with W and DJ
LUNCH
To bid a fond farewell to DJ, who goes back to Berkeley tomorrow, W and I took him to lunch at Jungsik.
Almost a year to the day, W and I ate lunch here last year (see generally 16.011 Signature (Lunch)), that time as a belated birthday gift to me.
For 2026, Jungsik retains its 2 Michelin stars (see Jungsik).
Quoting myself from the last visit:
From start to finish, I was thoroughly entertained. Every dish was revelatory, in one way or another. No meal is worth 200,000 won, but this gastronomic experience was well worth it – first time that I’ve been impressed by a Michelin-starred restaurant (see for comparison 7.357 La Langoustine de Jéju). Even better, we were both full by the end.
As before, my favorite dish was the final one. A fancy Korean meal typically ends with “siksa,” usually a rice or noodle dish, though it’s often quite simple, sort of an afterthought, just something to fill up any remaining space, but the siksa here feels like the highlight, the grand finale. Unlike the naeng myeon from last time, however, the gamte guksu wasn’t a dramatic reinterpretation but rather a perfection of the dish in its most traditional form. The noodles were perfect. The sauce was perfect. The radish was perfect. The gamte was perfect. I could finish off every meal every day with this dish.
DID YOU KNOW: The Korean word “siksa (식사),” meaning “meal,” derives from the Japanese “shokuji (しょくじ),” from the Chinese/Kanji characters “食 (rice)” + “事 (issue/matter)” (though not used as such in China).
While interning at a Korean law firm (1999, the year before I started law school), I attended a dinner for overseas VIPs (lawyers from Brazil). The venue was a high-end Chinese restaurant with a lavish banquet meal featuring countless dishes served one by one – each dramatically announced by the server, in English: “And now, Beijing Duck!” For the final dish, the siksa, the server announced: “And now, the main course!” To which the guests looked at each other in disbelief (“WTF?!”) and started groaning in protest (“No more, please!”). The Koreans in the room, including the server, didn’t understand the problem, so I had to intervene, first explaining to them that “main course” made it sound like everything else had merely been appetizers, and now the real eating would begin, then explaining to the Brazilians that “main course” was just a small bowl of fried rice to round out the meal.
Incidentally, the restaurant’s name – which I’d explained in the prior post is a play on “jeongsik (formal dining)” and the the chef’s name Im Jeongsik – derives from the Chinese characters “定 (formal/fixed)”+ “食 (rice),” which can refer to formal dining (i.e., haute cuisine), or a set meal (e.g., table d’hôte), or a proper meal (as opposed to a snack).
Later, when we got home and told IZ, he was very very unhappy to have been excluded, much more than I would’ve imagined. We hadn’t intentionally left him out, but the reservation had been made at the last minute, and the only slot was on a weekday, when IZ is in school. So I guess we’re coming back next year – on a weekend, or dinner on a weekday.
DINNER
For final dinner, we went to Cheonnyeon Galbi.
(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)
(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See HANSIK)
(See BOOZE)