SG Dinehill recently opened "Osteria Cotto" in the Gran Seoul building located in Jongro. Osteria Cotto is led by Chef Song Hoon who once served as Sous Chef at Eleven Madison Park and aims to provide Italian home-style cooking at this restaurant. I found the menu to be very similar to Blooming Garden, another restaurant under SG Dinehill, but Blooming Garden focuses more on their pastas where as Osteria Cotto focuses more on their main, or secondi, dishes like the Tomahawk Ribeye and Maialino (Suckling Pig). I was excited to hear about the Maialino dish. Vongo, another SG Dinehill restaurant in Itaewon, serves an entire suckling pig (Cochinillo) for 350,000 won ($350) but Osteria Cotto offers this dish in one or two servings which is more practical. The Cochinillo requires a party of 6-8 to order and I haven't found anyone willing to dig into a whole suckling pig yet. (Let me know if there are any takers in Seoul)
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What's also exciting is that it was Dinehill Week - an annual event held by SG Dinehill which offers a 50% discount at select restaurants on a specific day. We went to Two Plus on April 22nd (I'll post this later) and to Osteria Cotto on April 24th. We planned on going to Vongo on Friday as well but our caloric intake for the week reached a max after our meal at Two Plus and Osteria Cotto.
We arrived around 5:40pm thinking we'd be one of the first to arrive but there was already a long wait for tables. We got seated around 7pm.
Open kitchen. Look behind the staff and at the kitchen appliance. Impeccable.
Lots of goodies here. Went with Crostini with Headcheese, Sea Urchin, and Shrimp Pate.
Couldn't decide between the Maialino and the Tomahawk Ribeye so ordered both.
Bread wasn't as good as Blooming Garden.
Call me cheap but I take a bottle of wine most of the time and pay the corkage fee. Corkage fee is 20,000 won here but they didn't charge us.
Crostini with Headcheese, Sea Urchin and Shrimp Pate. WOW.
12,000 won for this dish is a steal. Not one ingredient overpowered another. One of the best appetizers I've ever had.
Maialino (Whole Suckling Pig). One serving.
I was really disappointed by this dish. The crust was like eating pork rinds. The actual meat was juicy and flavorful but not at all what I expected. Here's what I saw on their blog on what this dish is supposed to look like:
Borderline fraud...
Still ate it all....
Let's get ready for the next dish.
Didn't plan on ordering any pasta but we had to make it up for that last disappointing dish.
Vongole with Spicy Clam Sauce.
Pasta was perfect - al dente.
Tomahawk Ribeye - their signature dish. You'll see this dish on 90% of the tables.
Asked for medium rare. Seems like the meat cooked itself while it was sitting together.
The fat packs on so much flavor. Never throw it away.
The herbs roasting over the wood charcoal created a unique yet pleasant scent. Pretty ingenious.
The steak comes with two sides of your choice. We went with Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary.
And Four types of Sauteed Mushrooms.
The rosemary overpowered the potatoes so I made a comment about that to our waiter and he was kind enough to bring us another side dish - Mascarpone Polenta.
The fatty ends can be a bit greasy to consume. Here's the solution...
Sprinkle some lemon juice.
Threw in the white towel at this point.
I think everything was on par based on the price of each dish. The appetizers probably give you the best bang for your buck. I expressed my disappointment on the Maialino dish to the manager as I was taking care of the bill and he told me that they definitely didn't take care of each customer with enough attention due to Dinehill Week. He told me to come back and gave us a free coupon for a Caesar Salad. Kind of funny that his business card also serves as a coupon but I'll take it.
Really can't complain because we got a 50% discount on the entire meal thanks to Dinehill Week (a little more than 50% with the free side and free corkage fee).
The Apgujeong branch of Blooming Garden and Boutique Blooming is going through a renovation and it will turn into the second Osteria Cotto branch. I'm a bit saddened by this news because I never got to experience Boutique Blooming - SG Dinehill's upscale Italian restaurant - but I'll look forward to more restaurants and more unique dishes provided by SG Dinehill in the future.
종로 오스테리아 꼬또 (Jongro Osteria Cotto)
http://www.dinehill.co.kr/new/src/osteriaCotto_about.asp
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