 Peninsula's Filetto con Crosta dello Chef |
Opening or renovating an Italian restaurant in Seoul is nothing new. There are hundreds of tratorrias claiming to deliver authentic Italian cuisine in the capital.
More and more people have become aware of its delicacies, too: They know the difference between tagliatelle, linguini and penne just by listening to their names.
Peninsula, the trattoria renovated at the Lotte Hotel Seoul, is not a new restaurant. The eatery located at the west end of the hotel has relocated to the central part and been rejuvenated as a casual Italian diner.
While some people may be perturbed to look at pasta under artificial lighting — rather than the natural sunlight at its previous location — they may soon catch on that the quality of the dishes has improved in certain ways.
Under the orchestration of newly appointed chef Marco Torregrossa the dishes are filled with various aromas, and are of different temperatures and colors.
I followed Torregrossa’s recommendations and found some of them quite amusing.
Torregrossa seemed to put much weight on his lobster pasta, Tagliatelle della casa con Astice — homemade tagliatelle with lobster and cherry tomato. Though I have a very sensitive radar toward saltiness these days, the dish was quite mild and comfortable without too much saltiness. The pasta was boiled just enough to feel the strength of the noodle. I was later informed that all the noodles and dough are made in the hotel kitchen, which isn’t the case for many other diners, as far as I know of.
What the restaurant put forward is the pie with steak filling, Filetto con Crosta dello Chef — baked local fillet of beef with ham “San Daniele” cheese and mushroom en croute. The crispy pastry was layered with mushroom, prosciutto ham, lots of parmasan cheese and beef.
The intensity of the flavor — the juice of the beef and mushrooms reached the eardrums while the crispiness of the pastry and the texture of the well-cooked yet soft beef made a great harmony inside the mouth. It was a bit salty — I am a bit stingy about the saltiness — but the explosive and rich flavor is truly recommendable.
After all, Torregrossa later explained that the saltiness came from the ham and that he hadn’t used a sprinkle of salt there.
But what I really loved was the dessert. Italian desserts are heart-warming. They may not match the words such as “epicurean” or “gastronomy” as their French counterparts but as their name tells, they bring “dolce,” (happiness) to the eater.
The Sfogliatina alla “Dello Chef,” where a puffy pastry was presented with custard cream, was truly delightful. It is sweet and creamy but not rich. I pleasantly indulged myself to the last bit.
Chef Torregrossa is a firm spokesman for of Tuscan cuisine and has worked at various restaurants around the world introducing his hometown cuisine.
It remains to be seen whether his determination to penetrate the Korean market with his experience in Hong Kong, Las Vegas and others will pull off — Koreans are quite unique and unpredictable in perceiving foreign cuisine. But with the steak-pastry and the sweet, creamy desserts, I wouldn’t be pessimistic.
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