The tastes of many nations come together at Union Square
Teriyaki tenderloin
In the fiercely competitive atmosphere of Manhattan cuisine that’s like being regarded as the best tennis player in the world, and the best opera singer, at the same time, for a decade.
The Union Square restaurant in Seoul, at the Fraser Place hotel, is not like its Manhattan namesake.
However, no Seoul restaurant is, not even the ones in the four-star hotels where a main course can cost more than Lindsay Lohan’s rehab budget.
What Seoul’s Union Square has going for it is a great gal called Ryu Suk-hyang, who runs the front of the house, and a chef called Tad or Todd who is American-Japanese, or maybe there are two chefs, one called Tad and one called Todd, one Japanese and one America. Ms. Ryu wasn’t sure and neither I am.
This confusion of identities is part of the Union Square zeitgeist.
An unkind critic might describe the restaurant as an upmarket food court because it serves Italian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine and actually has names for each of these sub-eateries.
For example, Italian food is provided by something called “La Spiga” and largely consists of pizzas and pastas that are fresh and appetizing with good mozzarella and lots of seafood or sausage.
I avoid these Italian offerings. Like most restaurants in Seoul that try to embrace Italian cuisine, Union Square smothers the genre in too much sugar and cream.
For a country that has an abundance of tomatoes that’s a shame.
It’s time somebody from the Italian embassy sent the recipe for authentic bolognese sauce to every restaurant in Seoul that is known to stock pasta of any kind.
As might be expected, sticking to the Asian end of the menu at Union Square is a more reliable option and sometimes the results can be exceptional.
I have eaten at the Union Square restaurant on many occasions.
When I first arrived in Seoul, the Fraser Place was my home as I searched for an apartment.
Being less than 100 meters from the front door of this newspaper it’s also a convenient place to meet people. Maybe because it is a familiar neighbor I have never taken it seriously as a dining destination. This week I realized I had made a mistake. The lunch I enjoyed was one of the best meals I have eaten in Seoul.
The open kitchen at Union Square. By Lee Ho-jeong
At lunch there are four sets available ranging in price from 18,000 won ($19.50) to 20,000 won. Each set has three courses.
At dinner the sets expand to four courses each but the options contract to three, with prices ranging from 25,000 won to 30,000 won.
The lunch sets begin with a mid-Pacific offering that would be at home in San Francisco, Apgujeong or Tokyo.
A shrimp salad with soft-shell crab rolls is accompanied by a teriyaki tenderloin served alongside mashed potatoes in a spicy soy sauce.
My lunch companion ordered this and I chose set menu B, which had a clearer geographical identity being firmly rooted in Japan with the sushi roll of the day, udon with shrimp and vegetable tempura followed by roasted black cod with Japanese miso.
I enjoyed the sushi, but not because it was prepared in the way it is in Osaka.
I feel Japan should apply to register sushi as a national treasure and set strict limits to what counts as an authentic version, rather as the French do with Champagne.
That might stop restaurants in Seoul serving sushi made with sweet glutinous rice slathered in so much mayonnaise that it resembles a horrible synthesis of rice pudding and salad without a hint of fish in sight.
Not that Union Square had committed this neologism.
Their sushi had a nice mix of shrimp, cucumber and avocado. I could have eaten three times as many as the two pieces offered.
The tenderloin and the cod made it to our table and I had the former while my companion enjoyed the latter.
I think I got the better deal; not that I tasted the cod, which I’m told was very good.
No, I’m confident I had the best end of things because the tenderloin was first-class.
At first I thought I was eating tuna tenderloin with mashed potatoes, which happens to be one of the signature dishes served at Danny Meyer’s version of Union Square.
This was not because the steak tasted like fish but rather because it was so tender. I was able to separate the supple flesh with chopsticks and it was served at the perfect temperature, being warm, not hot.
As for the mash, top marks are in order.
Potatoes are a good way to test a restaurant’s true mettle.
In dozens of eateries around the world I have ordered steak fries and insisted that the meat be medium rare and the fries well-done.
In most cases the meat arrives as ordered but the fries are limp and pale or burnt.
Likewise, many restaurants, even those with first-class reputations, can make a good tenderloin but approach mashed potatoes with all the skill of a Boy Scout on his first camping trip away from home.
Union Square has an excellent version, with a smooth texture and a delicious taste that was creamy but not sweet.
The management here has plans to attract a bigger crowd. From next week they will offer a daily evening event, beginning at 6 p.m. and running until 11 p.m. Monday will be a ladies night with all-you-can-drink beer for 5,000 won per lady. Tuesday will be a wine night with a buy-one-get-one-free deal that applies to both sexes and covers bottles or glasses.
These deals are likely to make an already busy restaurant even more popular with the local office crowd. However, the main reason to visit is the food, and one hopes the chefs will continue to remember that.
Union Square
English: Spoken and on the menu
Tel: (02) 2220-8500
Address: Fraser Place Hotel, Soonhwa-dong, Jung-gu
Parking: Available
Hours: 7 a.m. to midnight
Dress: Smart Casual
By Daniel Jeffreys Features Editor
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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