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| American-Italian restaurant Melting Shop near Dosan Park, Seoul, has decorated interior design under the theme of retro delicatessen. / Courtesy of Melting Shop |
By Kim Jae-heun
The new American-Italian restaurant Melting Shop sits in front of Dosan Park, Seoul, attracting average 300 customers a day with 12 to 20 types of retro-style homemade dishes.
"Melting Shop has gained popularity quicker than I thought," said the CEO Kim Ju-young, who also owns famous Italian café named Tasting Room that recently opened its 6th franchise in Seoul.
"Tasting Room was sensation six years ago, but now they are no longer new. My husband and I had prepared something more innovative and trendy and came back with Melting Shop."
"It is our goal to invent recipes that we have never come across before," said Kim.
Customers' all-time favorite "soft shell crab" uses appetizer-bread as a base to put in the soft-shell crab with wasabi sauce to reduce the greasiness of fried seafood.
The restaurant also recommends "steamed oxtail risotto" for foreign visitors. The menu is inspired from the Korean traditional dish of braised short ribs, but uses wine as a base-flavor to go with the risotto instead of soy sauce with a bowl of rice.
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| Soft-shell crab |
Apart from the menu's originality, Melting Shop shares new experiences in the space.
"I hope people enjoy the uniqueness and fun we have tried to melt into the space," said Kim. "This is why we have named the restaurant ‘Melting Shop.' Lights provide cozy atmosphere that harmonizes with the music we've selected. This is what makes our shop different from others in Seoul."
Kim never learned cooking professionally. When she lived in New York 10 years ago, she met her boyfriend who is now her husband and a co-founder of the American-Italian restaurant.
Kim's husband is an architect and she is a light designer.
"My husband had always wanted to open his restaurant and one day when he was working on one of this client's restaurant's interior design, he finally decided to turn his dream into reality. Now, he is in charge of inventing menus and many ideas come from old memories in New York when we went to our favorite restaurants together," said Kim.
"In the future, we plan to challenge diverse genre. We're thinking of Asian food business such as traditional Korean and Japanese," said Kim.
Restaurant Profile
Melting Shop
Address: 55, Apgujeong-ro 46-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Open Hours: 11:00 24:00
Contact Number: 02. 544. 4256
Valet Parking: Available
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