Mosu - Seoul (Korea)

When you eat a lot at fancy restaurants, you are lucky enough to be treated with excellent dining experiences many times. Less frequently, there are restaurants that somehow are one level above and that leave a mark on you. But then, on very few occasions, you are struck with meals that simply redefine everything you think you know about food, that humbles and amazes to a degree that is hard to explain and impossible to forget.

Such meals do not happen often, but when they do, they change you.

@mosuseoul is in this selective group of places with rarified air. I will keep my writing short as words cannot possibly do Mosu justice, but this was a meal that shook me to my core.

Chef @sungmosu reopened recently in a beautiful new building that makes guests forget the bustling city outside those walls as they are transported to a parallel dimension.

The food is bold and somewhat splashy, but not at all forced. Just like the service, that was amazingly on point, without being intrusive.

Dinner started with a selection of small bites that looked like they just came out of a jewelry box. The abalone wrapped in seaweed was the type of course that I wish I could have a few dozen for takeaway.

Other standout dishes included a delicate sesame tofu filled with uni and morell with dalae soy, moo (radish) prepared in three different ways, the wood fired diamond turbot, an off-menu special conch, sourdough ice cream (!!!) and oven grilled hanwoo.

The sweet section was equally fantastic, led by a very interesting palate cleanser made with a combination of lime and cilantro sorbet.

Each dish was fantastic on their own, but they were somehow elevated when considering the meal as a whole, its flow and progression of flavors. As if they were all in perfect sync and were meant to be eaten one after the other.

I hope to visit Mosu again soon. Until then, I know that thankfully enough I will remember every single thing from my previous dinner. It was that good.

(Versão em Português nos comentários) Less