W Hotel offers delicacies with local ingredients

By Kim Rahn

Luxury images of top-class hotels make people think foods at hotel restaurants are those made of expensive, imported ingredients such as foie gras, caviar and those with unmemorable foreign names.

It is, however, not true, as Korean-grown ingredients are excellent enough to create gastronomic delights, said a chief chef at W Seoul-Walkerhill.

The hotel has introduced “Farmers Market Menus” made with ingredients that are grown locally and in eco-friendly conditions. The hotel’s two restaurants ― contemporary Japanese restaurant Namu and all-day dining restaurant Kitchen ― show a five-course menu, each.

“What we wanted to do was create a menu that uses only ingredients that are grown here. There’s nothing imported, there’s nothing brought from overseas, basically to show that you can cook and enjoy the meal with whatever is grown here,” cuisine director Ciaran Hickey said in a media dinner held at Namu last Friday.

“It’s not Korean food, it’s just Korean grown ingredients and the quality is just as high as anything from Italy, France or Spain. It’s a lot to do with sustainability, season and locality,” he said.

The special menu started with steamed abalone salad. Fresh abalone, cooked moderately so that it does not get tough, was served with green beans, tomatoes and apples.

It was followed by katsuo bushi-based oxtail soup with daikon and red chili, which was similar to Korean-style, thick soup called “kkori gomtang.” The soup was good to relax and warm the body and probably will also be great to chase hangovers.

Assorted tempura came next, which included vegetable, lotus root, sweet potato and red beet.

The main dish was grilled hanwoo tenderloin steak with garlic and mushroom. The hanwoo beef was from Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, one of Korea’s top beef-producing centers. On the beef was butter made with anchovies, red pepper and other spicy ingredients. It was neither greasy nor spicy, and just enhanced the flavor of the meat, and accompanied by sesame peanut sauce for added sweetness.

The dessert was tofu mochi balls and ice cream made of black rice. The honey soy sauce had a unique flavor, sweet and salty at the same time. Coffee or tea came together.

Hickey said using only home-grown ingredients also help reduce carbon footprints as it doesn’t require conveyance by sea or via air.

At Kitchen, the set menu includes: tea-smoked duck with charred melon, radish sprouts and honey garlic vinaigrette; veloute of spiced sweet potato with langoustine caught in Jeju and scallion foam; roasted black sea bream with steamed clams and oyster mushrooms and leeks; flame grilled hanwoo sirloin with onion confit, green beans, bacon and garlic crisps; and frozen hallabong parfait, sesame cookie and rice tea ice cream.

The prices of the menus start from 130,000 won. For more information, call Namu at 02-2022-0222 or Kitchen at 02-2022-0111.