Seoul : 가빈의맛있는밥상

25th November 2012.
Seoul, South Korea.

Located slightly off Sinnonhyeon Station is 가빈의맛있는밥상. It is a traditional Korean restaurant that serves all sorts of banchan as well as classic Korean dishes such as Beef Bulgogi. We ordered the 맛있는밥상 (9000 KRW). Bap-sang 밥상 refers to regular Korean table setting whereby the meals consist of a variety of side dishes (banchan). The banchan are arranged according to "recipes, ingredients, colours and temperature of food with emphasis on balance" (refer to KNTO's article).

Within minutes after ordering, our dishes came and filled up the whole table. Despite the looks of it, the portions are actually quite small. The banchan include squid, grilled eggplant, several kindso f kimchi, panjeon, baby anchovies, vegetables and seaweed with soy sauce dip. Also included in the set is  saengseon gui (Grilled Fish), deonjang jjigae (Soybean paste Soup) and japchae (glass noodles)

The dishes were average only having a meat eater around who treats almost every non-meat dish on the table like organic waste really didn’t help. The fish was dry, the seaweed was limp, the eggplant was too soft and the rice was tasteless but other than that I thought the meal wasn’t as bad as my fellow diners described it. I personally enjoyed the japchae and I thought some of the banchan are okay.

I think it was a disappointment in the end because we had high expectations for a meal in a restaurant that was given a rating of 8.42/10 on Korean’s Wingspoon.

가빈의맛있는밥상

서울시 서초구 반포1동 747-1