The award-winning building of Bamboo House

Despite little media coverage, one restaurant has been the place to be for the famous and the influential. President Lee Myung-bak, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and numerous celebrities enjoyed traditional Korean food here since its opening in 1995.

Bamboo House in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, is considered an ideal place to introduce traditional Korean dishes to foreign business partners in an artistic atmosphere, Park Mi-jong, the restaurant’s general manager, said.

“You can taste here indigenous products of Korea such as small octopus from Muan-gun, abalone from Wando-gun and pine mushroom from Bonghwa-gun. We visit the whole country to get the best ingredients. Famous foreign visitors were often impressed by the traditional taste of Korean cuisine we serve.”She said.

Bamboo House provides cultural experience as well. The building of the restaurant received an architecture award from the Seoul city in 1995 while the interior is decorated with artworks including an illumination lamp by German industrial designer Ingo Maurer.

Guests for business rooms are served with special care. The restaurant has ten business rooms on the first floor and five business rooms as well as an event hall on the second floor. The third floor called “Sky Bamboo” is a garden for a party of customers a day.

The staff of Bamboo House put on exceptional efforts to makes the place special. “Outstanding service is our trademark. After we receive reservations for business meetings, our staff members hold a meeting about the people we are going to serve. Visitors acknowledge they can feel such the efforts in our service. In addition, we all speak English so that foreign guests feel comfortable,” Park said.