Mint Contemporary Restaurant.Jeju Island , South Korea

My wife and I visited South Korea recently and he first leg of out journey was to Jeju Island located south of the Korean mainland 1 hour by air from Seoul. This volcanic island is affectionately referred to by the South Koreans as the honeymoon island. The island offers many natural wonders eg. Mt.Halla and Sunrise peak and are UNESCO Heritage listed. The climate on the island is much warmer than the mainland. It was -9 C and foggy in Seoul when we landed on transit to Jeju Island and it

was 5 C on Jeju Island.

The Mint Restaurant is located on the southern part of the island close to the main resort hotels Shila and Lotte. We had lunch at this restaurant. The restaurant is on the top floor of a spectacular building designed by a famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando . The building is perched high on a promontory with spectacular sweeping views out to the rugged volcanic coastline and the Heritage listed sunrise peak Seongsan ILLchulbong

The interior of the restaurant have high floor to ceiling windows to offer expansive panoramic views and natural wood floors , wood dining tables and chairs to add warmth to the contemporary space. Modern art works adorn the walls. All in all, a very nice ambience for dining.

We chose one of the 2 set lunch menus. Prices excludes drinks . I am used to menus that are very descriptive and I found the menu lacking in description eg. soup of the day , dessert of the day. A selection of breads with very good balsamic vinegar and olive oil was given but not listed on the menu. Minor quibbles. The main was listed as abalone and prime Australian beef

tenderloin but sea bass which my wife and I picked was an alternative but not listed on the menu ( we picked the fish as we have lots of opportunity to eat Australian beef ).

The food presented is visually attractive and plated well and the food very well cooked and tasted great. Overall I would rate the

food 7.5/10. I would rate it higher if the food is more consistent in presentation ( maybe my expectations have been spoilt watching too may episodes of Masterchef on TV ) eg. I noticed foam on the fried oyster in the kitchen pass but on my plate the foam was on the plate and not on the fried oyster. The browning of the scallops and the Sea Bass varied a bit. Taste wise, colour variations to the browning aside, the scallops and the sea bass was browned to perfection. The scallop seared and still soft inside. The oyster was snapped fried with crunchy crumbs ( I am guessing Panko Japanese style crumbs ) and it had a crunch outside with the oyster still almost au natural with the taste of the sea ( delicious ). This entree is that good I rate this dish 9.5 /10 .Dessert was a chocolate type cake with hazelnut and a miniature macaroon delicately perched on top. Tea or percolated coffee was offered for the lunch set and a again it was not listed on menu.

After lunch, we spent hours walking along the rugged and craggy coastline appreciating the views.

Cheers,dreamer

spectacular Tadao Ando designed building

food pass through kitchen indow

food pass through kitchen window

This message has been edited by DRMW on 2013-02-15 23:30:52

Part B [nt]

By: dreamer8 : February 15th, 2013-22:37

Part B

By: dreamer8 : February 15th, 2013-22:58

interior yam salad ( with ponzu type dressing I think ) sashimi described as Italian Style but with wasabi and soy sauce , I say Japanese e styl fish looked over browned but nice and crisp delicious dessert with miniature macaroon view from restaurant vie...

Part C

By: dreamer8 : February 15th, 2013-23:12

I apologise my food pictures are not in the correct order. My uploader full version is not working and i am using basic uploader. very nice bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil uniformed waitress wine cellar, Opus 1 wine cellar, Chateau Margaux wine ...

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