NAE:UM :: 'Episode 3: Seaside Dreams'

Happily went to dinner at NAE:UM for its 'Episode 3: Seaside Dreams'. The menu pretty much offers all seafood. Nice! Stared at the gorgeous seascape of the snacks quartet which set the theme of dinner, and gave the fried shrimp to the man. I dunno how to eat whole shrimps or prawns like that. I loved that steamed egg with ikura. Then there was an appetizer of tuna, cuttlefish, avocado cream and lemon crunch. 

Skipped the appetizer supplement of duck galbi because I wasn't interested in it. Of course I added on the somyeon. This bowl of buckwheat noodles used kimchi (jus I think) striped jack (shima aji) instead of Hokkaido scallop. Still gorgeous. LOVED IT. The scallops came after, wrapped in lettuce and served with gamtae (a Korean seaweed), asparagus, snow peas, green peas, tofu and soybean sauce. I didn't know what to think about this dish. I'm not hot about scallops and I HATE PEAS.   

We had the mains of a pan-seared grouper with parsnip purée and leek confit, and drizzled with jorim sauce. It was a beautiful combination. I loved it. I really wan't enamored with the next dish that combined a protein from the sea, one from the land and kimchi. I didn't like the pork because it was Iberico pork loin — pluma with octopus and white kimchi and potato accompanied by kale and celeriac purée. I forgot to tell them to skip it. It was fatty and left an eeky oily sheen on the tongue. Octopus isn't my favorite thing either. I wouldn't normally eat it. In the same vein, I'm not a fan of calamari.  

I was looking forward to the jeonbok and it didn't disappoint. It was delicious!!! Abalone, king oyster mushroom, lily bulb on rice. Mmmmm. Next time, I'm going to ask for two servings of carbs, or order another bowl of somyeon.

Had two desserts. Yes, I ate them all. There're very few desserts I would eat, and these are sweet and savory altogether and I really love them! Loved the fromage blanc, pomegranate cubes, watermelon ice-cream. Also had to add on the charcoal jujube with multigrains. Red date ice-cream. YUMS. 

The meal ended with traditional Korean dagwa (tea and snacks). To us, this was the biggest letdown of the meal. It was quite eeeky to us. There were jeungpyeon of grilled fermented rice cakes, jooak of a glutinous rice dough coated with citrus, and sipped along with sujungwa, a ginger-cinnamon kombucha. The man didn't like them at all. LOL He's not a fan of rice cakes, sticky food and ginger. He didn't touch them at all. I took sips and a bite, but I'm not fond of them either. 

Still. Dinners like this are really satisfying! I was going to go for a glass of champagne. The man was going to do a full wine-pairing, but he only liked one of the wines, so he didn't want wine either. Hahaha. Alrighty. We opted for sake. That went really well with the food.