Chef helps Conrad Seoul's grill become city's best

Tomahawk, one of the most popular items on the menu at 37 Grill & Bar, is a rib fillet attached to a 30-centimeter-long rib bone. / Courtesy of Conrad Seoul

By Kim Se-jeong

Conrad Seoul’s 37 Grill & Bar was having an identity crisis. Despite its name, the restaurant had very few grilled items on the menu, and the management decided to address this issue by finding a new head chef.

After a long search, they found David Mitford.

Mitford said “master griller” was too big of a title for him, but his rich culinary experience in grilling and cooking at hotel restaurant begs to differ.

The England native has been a chef since 1988 and a grilling expert for more than a decade. He said he learned about grilling meats in the early 2000 in the United States. “I really began to understand grilling there.”

Between 1999 and 2003, he worked for the Little Nell Hotel in Aspen, Colo, and the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Avon, Colo, where he did a lot of grilling with different kinds of meats, including elk, deer and home-made sausages.

“I also ate a lot of good grilled meats while I was in the U.S.,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times on Monday.

37 Grill & Bar’s head chef David Mitford

In Bahrain, he cooked a lot of meats in skewers. In China, where he worked for more than six years, most of his customers were from the rising middle class, who preferred their grilled meat steak plain, without any sauce, unlike in other parts of the world.

“We are going back to the grill now. We’ve got to drive this to work as a grill house,” Mitford said, indicating high pressures on his shoulders to make the restaurant as a popular grill restaurant.

Four months with Mitford, 37 Grill & Bar is on its way to becoming the best grill place in the city.

Last month, the chef revamped the entire menu, introducing a range of steaks. So far, the new menu is getting positive feedback.

Tomahawk, one of the most popular items on the menu, is a rib fillet attached to a 30-centimeter-long rib bone. The bone resembles a single-handed axe used by Native Americans in the 17th century, hence, the dish’s name.

Crispy outside and tender and juicy inside, the meat is served with different sauces, including mustard and barbecue sauce. Mitford’s very own sauces ― balsamic and espresso mustard, green peppercorn mustard and orange and apricot mustard ― will be served soon, he said. The dish is big enough for two to three people.

Other popular items on the menu are the grilled meat and fish platters. The meat platter consists of lamb chop, beef tenderloin, chicken breast and thigh and bacon rolls, while the seafood platter includes half-grilled Canadian lobster, king prawns, black cod, salmon and tuna. Grilled salmon, duck, lamb, sea bass and cod are alternative menu items for those who don’t like beef.

Mitford developed these popular dishes such that they can be shared.

“I’ve learnt in Beijing that a big thing in Asia is that it is important to share. Dining is a family experience. People can order a couple of dishes and put them on the table. They can experiment and taste. I am trying to get people involved so that they can share the experience and dishes among themselves,” the chef said.

The restaurant’s other steak choices are the U.S. T-bone steak, black angus tenderloin, and 21-day aged rib eye. Australian “wagyu” ― a Japanese word for special breeds of cattle known for their marbling ― tenderloin; wagyu strip loin and veal tenderloin; and local tenderloin, Jeju port chop and chicken breast and thigh.

Mitford believes both the quality of the meat and the grilling techniques are important in cooking flavorful, juicy steak. At 37 Grill & Bar, he uses a gas-fired grill.

This greater variety of steaks comes as good news for Seoul and Korea in general where eating meat daily is no longer reserved for the very wealthy. He says he does not own a real grill at home but he and his family “go to many Korean barbeque places.”

He offered tips for home grillers.

“If you throw wood chips on top of your barbeque, it adds dimension to your meat.” In particular, he recommends using apple wood chips when grilling salmon.