Out of the many restaurants on Michelin Guide Korea, I shortlisted Muoki after seeing a friend share some pictures from his meal back in mid July ‘22. However I didn’t plan ahead enough for this, because Muoki was fully booked out for the date I wanted.

But bless my reservation fairy. A slot opened up just 3 days before. Someone must have cancelled. And reservation is relatively straight forward. It’s done via the reservation website Catch Table. After selecting one’s preferred date and time, a link will be sent to secure the reservation with one’s credit card details.

I arrived at the restaurant on a wet Monday evening. Took the lift up to Level 3 where Muoki was located on. The staff led me to my designated counter seat, and boy was the counter high. There’s a box for me to step, in order to get onto the high chair.

Prior to dinner, the restaurant got further clarity that my dietary restriction of no beef also meant no beef stock. Which meant between the pork and beef, I wasn’t able to choose the former for my main because beef stock was used. As such, they made some adjustments to my course menu. I was told fish was arranged for my main. And instead of having to choose 1 out of the 2 options under the ‘Chef’s Special’, I was given both. And (what I suspect) to maintain the number of courses, the beet dish was removed.

And with that, I commenced my dinner menu, ₩190,000 with:-

1) Welcome snacks (above) – Shrimp and cabbage pie tee, and fruit tart. The apple-pear-grape tart was a replacement for the beef tartare, and was pretty good.

2) Ocean (above) – Pickled fish, hanchi, anchovy. Staff shared this was plated as though one’s standing in front of the beach. Cute! Though I couldn’t help but notice the dressing. The dressing looked heavy for the sashimi at first sight, but was in fact refreshing and turned out really well. So much so I wished the portion was bigger. Hee.

3) Vichyssoise (above) – Leek, truffle, quail egg. Was surprised to know this was actually a cold dish of potato and leek soup. Served with potato chips, summer truffle (chose not to top up for winter truffle), quail egg, and crouton.

4) Lobster – Curry, calamansi, sour cream, brioche. Was expecting a grilled-to-crisp bread, but it was soft instead. All good though. Staff shared I could tear the bread up and enjoy the dish like how I would enjoy Spanish tapas. I started by enjoying the bread on its own and was surprised to realise it was slightly sweet. But that was balanced well when enjoyed with the savoury lobster.

5) Bread (above) – Homemade bread, butter, salt.

6) Scallop [Chef’s Special] (above) – Kaviari caviar, celeriac, pancetta. Seated at the counter meant I had direct view of the open kitchen. And I noticed the staff spritzing liquid onto the plate before the shell was placed. Nice. The attention to details! Even if it’s just for presentation.

7) Muoki egg [Chef’s Special] (above) – Truffle, foie gras, chicken. Was caught by surprise when the staff mentioned chicken breast mousse. Say what! And inside the ball was foie gras, paired with truffle sauce and mushroom.

8) Cleanser (above) – Mini beer. Made with apple, ginger, rosemary, cinnamon and coconut water. And it was very sweet because the staff brought an empty jug just to geonbae (cheers) with me.

9) Fish (above) – A replacement for my main; I was unable to have the beef because of my dietary requirement, and was also unable to opt for the pork because beef broth was used (in the sauce). Was served European seas bass (branzino), leek and sauce made with saffron, mustard and sea mussels. And this was so good. Especially the sauce! If it makes any sense, the flavours were on the bold/bright side.

10) Sorbet (above) – Basil and lime.

11) Popcorn (above) – Caramel, vegan chocolate, corn. A very cute looking dessert. Especially that shade of yellow! Popcorn mousse with hazelnut within, popcorn ice cream on popcorn crumbs, and chocolate cake.

  

12) Coffee or tea (above) – Decided to go with tea, and I chose rose peach (bottom row).

13) Chocolate (above) – Passion fruit flavoured.

It was a very enjoyable meal. Food was great as expected of a Michelin-starred restaurant. But what left a (really) deep impression on me was the hospitable service. It was simply stellar!

My phone was on low power mode. The staff must have noticed the yellow bar when he took my order (for drinks) because he suddenly appeared with a portable battery charger. That totally caught me by surprise. And that simple act from a very observant staff impressed me much. I was in fact a little panicky (inside) because I wasn’t sure if my mobile could last the entire meal and till I reach back my accommodation. And for me, the phone is like so important when overseas since I rely heavily on Google map to find my way around.

During the course of my meal, I got to interact much with the staff. And it’s not just 1, but 3. Though I do have to say being a solo diner in this situation helped. When I first arrived at the restaurant, I noticed a miniature dog placed on the table with the cutlery. Halfway through my meal, the staff brought out a miniature boy to accompany the dog. Cute! And when I was onto my dessert, another staff brought out the entire collection of miniature dogs! Awww! I really appreciate the fun side of the staff. Shared so much laughter.

And the benefit of sitting at counter meant I was able to watch everything unfold in the kitchen too. I suspect head chef James Park Moo-hyun sometimes forgets there’s customer (aka me) at the counter when he gets very engrossed in his work. I witnessed him scolding at least 3 kitchen staff (all at different times). And that included him throwing away cooked/ready ingredients or him sending the sauces back to be cooked longer. But I honestly felt that just meant head chef James wants the best for his staff. I also observed he would find time (in between his dishes’ plating) to talk to his sous chefs individually. That included guiding and showing how the vegetables should be properly better grilled at the stove. Nice! In fact, if one goes into head chef James’ Instagram account, one could see he values team bonding a lot. There are pictures of excursions, etc.

Will I recommend Muoki? Yes!

I didn’t think I would get down to sharing my dining experience at Anju because there’s a lot of reviews of Anju on the internet. But the thing is my friend and I truly enjoyed ourselves. And it’s always experiences at the 2 extreme ends of the spectrum that make me want to write. So yes, here I am… Penning my thoughts of my meal at Anju. Since I also noticed a good handful of the online reviews are from media tasting that Anju hosted. I usually read reviews from media tastings with a pinch of salt. But hey, that’s me. =)

My girlfriend was visiting from Australia in January 2022, and suggested Anju because she saw photographs of their food on her Instagram feed. Power of social media, eh. And surprisingly, I didn’t hear of Anju prior. Shocker, I know. But I am always up for Korean cuisine!

Anju accepts reservation exactly 1 month in advance. So for our mid January dinner, reservation was made in mid December. And we chose to dine during the first seating.

Interior (Picture Credit: Link)

We were assigned to a table right under the skylight, which was lovely! Since we reached at 6.30pm, we got a good amount of natural light before the sun eventually set at 7pm. And from the food menu, my girlfriend and I ordered:-

1) Gyuja salad, $24 (above) – Prawns, squid, kimchi, red dates, mustard dressing. Would definitely recommend ordering this. The tangy sauce cut through the greasiness of the other dishes, which allowed my girlfriend and I to eat more. Keke.

2) Domi carpaccio, $26 (above) – Red snapper, seaweed, chilli, miso, chive oil, yuja. Don’t be fooled by my photographs. The portion is on the smaller side, and is good for just 2 people.

3) Hogam jeon, $26 (above) – Potato, zucchini, prawn, onion pickle. There’s an option to add mozzarella cheese for $3 but we decided not to. And this unfortunately tasted just like any seafood fritters. Barely saved by the dipping sauce. I guess this didn’t live up to expectation because I was expecting some dough since ‘jeon’ is after all a pancake dish. I say give this a miss.

4) Oyster, $28 (above) – Squid ink battered oyster, pickled fennel, flying fish roe. This was so good. Definitely recommend ordering this.

5) Abalone gim pasta, $34 (above) – Fresh abalone, seaweed, pickled shallots, perilla.

6) Bossam, $50 (above) – Pork belly, pickled mushroom, dried squid, dried radish, pickled garlic, baby romaine lettuce. Since bossam is a Korean boiled pork dish, I was surprised to see the pork belly black instead of white. And going by my standard, this would be a fail because I am a traditionalist. I want my white beautifully boiled pork, and paired with well-seasoned crunchy kimchi. Bonus if oyster is included in the kimchi just as how bossam was served when I had it in Korea. But I digress… Nonetheless, the pork belly at Anju was still enjoyable. There’s a good ratio of meat to fats, and was nicely charred.

7) Baek kimchi, $7 (above) – White kimchi, radish, red dates.

8) Sweet potato, $18 (above) – Salted caramel crème, sweet potato ice cream, brown butter crumble, charcoal curd foam, roasted sweet potato skin powder. This was lovely! Looked similar to a tiramisu, if I must say.

9) Black sesame bread, $16 (above) – Korean black sesame bread, black sesame cream, doenjang ice cream, yuzu meringue. Skip this.

So yes, my girlfriend and I had an absolute wonderful time at Anju. Though most of it was contributed by the wonderful service. When the staff came round at 7.30pm to take last orders, I panicked. We had consumed 3 of the 4 (savoury) dishes we ordered, but I was still very hungry. I liked that the staff entertained me and allowed me to go overboard with my orders. Haha. And it was an absolute bonus when the staff said we didn’t have to clear our table for second seating. I couldn’t imagine us wolfing down our additional 3 (savoury) dishes and 2 dishes within an hour.

  

My girlfriend and I also ordered some alcoholic beverages to go with our food. We had to order drinks, especially since it’s read from Anju website that head chef Kim Gi Deok created the food menu to be paired well with all of their drinks. And I would definitely recommend trying their range of makgeolli. We had White Lotus makgeolli (375ml, $30) (above, left) and Champagne makgeolli (940ml, $80) (above, right). Pity we weren’t able to try Ellyeob Pyunjoo makgeolli (750ml, $188). Might pop by just for it cause their alcohol (at least the makgeolli) is reasonably priced.

Would I recommend Anju? Yes.