Korean Food Search: Seorae Korean Grill PIK
8:00 PM
Seorae is a brand new Korean chain restaurant owned by seven Indonesians and one Korean. Their cooks are from Indonesia but they learned and trained in Korea. Amongst other Korean restaurants in Jakarta, Seorae is perhaps most similar to Chung Gi Wa, as they both specialize in Korean BBQ. Seorae already has two outlets in Jakarta, the first one is located at Flavor Bliss (Alam Sutera, Tangerang) and the other one, where I dined, is located at Pantai Indah Kapuk.
Seorae itself is the name of a hilltop village in the Banpo neighborhood of Seoul. There are 600 French expats living in this particular corner of the city, thus giving Seorae the nickname 'Montmartre', which literally means the top of the hill in French. However, Seorae the restaurant has nothing to do with Seorae the village, be its food or its interior design. The restaurant simply borrows the village's name. Here's what the restaurant looks like:
First impression? I quite like the interior and the decors! If they're going for a street food feel, it's definitely a success. Having said that, I think the lighting and exhaust system could've been better. There is an exhaust above each briquette-fuelled stove, but in my opinion it's too small. When the room is crowded and everyone is busy grilling, you can see smoke hanging in the air and feel the smell permeating through your pores... In the end, the combination of the smoke and the lighting made me dizzy.
Like other Korean restaurants, Banchan is served as we sit down. Banchan, or panch'an, are small plates of various dishes to accompany the whole meal. Some modifications are usually done to make the food more suitable for Indonesian taste. In this case, Seorae incorporates a sweet dish instead of the usual all-savory options (Japchae, Pajon, etc).
I tried a dish that they deemed as one of their specialties, Galmaegisal (IDR 84.8k), which is said to be a very popular menu in Korea. The protein is a pork skirt meat, the portion between the pig’s liver and midriff. Each pig only has approximately 200 grams of skirt meat in their body.
And then, we tried their Samgyeopsal (IDR 69.8k), our favourite menu in Chung Gi Wa. Samgyeopsal is made of pork belly, which has a high percentage of fat. We opted to ask the staffs to grill the meat for us and not to cook it to the point of drying. Sadly, I'm not sure whether the staffs are well-trained or not, because dry meat was exactly what we got. Even the garlic wasn't properly cooked, they were either undercooked or burnt.
After the meat is cooked, put it on a lettuce leaf with some kimchi, sauce, and a little bit of garlic. Next, roll it up and eat!
Because we weren't full enough, we ordered mixed rice aka Dolsot Bibimbap (IDR 69.8k). Bibimbap is a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced beef meat are added on top of it with dry seaweed. The hot dish must be stirred with the sauce while it's still hot. Legend has it that bibimbap used to be food for common people because when times were rough and people didn't have enough meat, they just mixed leftover meats and vegetables for dinner. Nowadays, bibimbap has become an authentic Korean food.
Out of all the dishes I tried, my favourite is Dolsot Bibimbap- the taste is nice, better than the BBQ. Overall, I think Seorae is quite pricey, especially when compared to the service and the quality of food I got. However, don't discourage yourself to try, maybe I picked the wrong menu (maybe not...).
M.
Seorae Korean Grill
Ruko Garden House, Blok B No. 19,
Bukit Golf Mediterania,
Jl. Raya Pantai Indah Kapuk,
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta
Phone: +6221 29033389
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