[Shanghai Girl Eats] Seoul: IMOK Smoke Dining 이목스모크다이닝
IMOK Smoke Dining 이목스모크다이닝
Address: B1, 6 Apgujeong-ro 2-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul | 서울 강남구 압구정로2길 6 지하1층
Naver Map | Catch Table | Instagram
Date visited: 2024.04
What to get: Iberico bacon and signature beef rib in the set menus ranging from KRW 140,000-220,000
IMOK ranks in the top 3 beef meals we’ve had in Seoul, according to my resident beef snob boyfriend whose diet variety consists of hanwoomakases and tacos. We’ve had some really nice beef meals while living in Seoul and this is his second favorite after Born & Bred. He also says this is the best Texas style beef rib he’s had outside of Terry Black’s in Austin, Texas.
IMOK serves a course menu of everything smoked (even down to the salad), whose signature dishes are the 1. beef rib, reminiscent of Texas style BBQ but made with a Korean glaze and slides right off the bone, and 2. iberico bacon, a cross between the burnt ends of a good char siu and the thick cut bacon you’d get from great NY steakhouses.
Chef Yoo Yong Wook (@yooyongwook), who exercises great patience in stopping by every room to put on a show, explained to us that he started out cooking for his friends who would post it online and gained some traction. He eventually left his corporate job to open a restaurant and here I am, paying good money to post about him. When asked what kind of BBQ he enjoys most (expecting something like Texas BBQ), chef replied “Korean BBQ” – specifically frozen pork belly (naengsam) – which I thought was a great answer.
The restaurant is a beautifully designed space consisting of a general hall dining area with bar and table seating and a handful of private rooms (where we sat). Courses are currently KRW 140,000 per person for hall table or bar; KRW 180,000 lunch and 220,000 dinner per person in a private room. I don’t think there is a huge difference in the menus between the hall and private dining areas – you’re mainly paying a premium on the room for a show and your own space. For my first time there, we booked a private room and it was very exciting every time he swooped in like a messiah with a meat drop! Now that I’ve had the private dining room experience once, I’ll likely book the hall area next time. This place gets booked out super fast on Catch Table as soon as reservations open on the 10th of every month or can try to catch a sporadic last minute cancellation.
Here is what we had in our private dining room for dinner (KRW 220,000).
Smoke scallop with caviar
Button mushroom soup with truffle
Iberico bacon
White asparagus
Mini cos salad (yes, even this had a smokey flavor!)
Halibut and smoked fish broth with ham
Signature beef rib (with burnt edge perfection)
The chef fully committing to the performance with a BBQ grill prop and demonstration of the meat sliding off the bone ha.
Pot rice
Ramen (rib was just decorative; the broth was super spicy!)
Tiramisu
12 out of 10 would return ASAP.
