October 14th was Christine's 30th birthday. I thought long and hard about how I should prepare for this special occasion since this was our first birthday celebration since our marriage. Christine and I dated for 4 years before we tied the knot so we've been to pretty much every celebratory restaurant in Korea. So I proposed that we spend her birthday with the most special people in her life - her parents and brother (and of course me too).
Next task was selecting the venue. I don't know why but Mi Piace in Chungdam immediately came into mind. "Mi Piace" in Italian means "I like it" or "It pleases me" so the name of the restaurant was befitting the occasion.
Here's our first post on Mi Piace:
Well known for their colorful china/dinnerware
Welcome Dishes
Cheese Crisps. So good and addicting.
Assorted Olives
I've
read somewhere that Mi Piace recently frowned upon customers taking
pictures of their menu so you can refer to my first post if you want to take a look at the menu.
Let's begin with some appetizers.
Fried Mozzarella Cheese with Tomato-Cream Sauce
(식빵사이에 끼워 튀긴 모짜렐라 치즈튀김)
When
this dish first came out, I thought to myself that this probably isn't
too difficult to make at home myself but what stole the show on this
dish was the AMAZING tomato-cream sauce.
Didn't leave one drop of that tomato-cream sauce on the plate!
A day like today calls for some fine Champagne.
Dom Perignon Vintage 2003
Carpaccio di Manzo
(신선한 루꼴라, 파마산치즈를 곁들이는 이태리식 육회)
Really refreshing dish. Look at the color on each ingredient.
Abalone and Scallop with Anchovy Sauce
(전복, 가리비 엔쵸비소스 그라탕)
Another AMAZING sauce.
Very comparable to an Escargot dish but replaced by Abalone and Scallops.
I
highly recommend appetizers with sauces at Mi Piace. Every sauce was
simply amazing, packed with flavor and the bread serves as a great...
utensil!
After the antipasti (appetizer), you typically would choose a primi (pasta) dish but I've been really wanting to try Mi Piace's Florentine-style T-Bone Steak (1kg). This item has to be requested in advance as they acquire the meat on the day of the serving. It's a stretch to order this for a party of two so Christine and I never had an opportunity to order this dish but today was the perfect occasion.
This doesn't look like much but it's the attention to little details like this that separates Mi Piace from the other Italian restaurants in Seoul. Every person was served this dish to eat with the steak.
The
server advised us to order one temper/doneness below our preference
because the steak continues to cook on the grill even after it's served
to the table. So we asked for rare (for ultimately a medium rare steak).
Hmm.. slightly overcooked. Looks about medium but still pleased so far.
Once it was taken off the hot grill and laid to rest on the plate, the true colors started to show.
Steak didn't require any additional salt nor pepper. Just perfect on its own.
Steak calls for red wine.
Fork and knife will do for this time.
We were pretty full from all the appetizer, bread and the steak so we finished off with two pasta dishes.
Linguine al Riccio di Mare
(신선한 성게알 토마토-크림소스 링귀니)
You
all know that the meat closest to the bone has the most flavor, right?
I really wanted to pick this up with my two hands and start chewing off
the meat.
Fork and knife will do for this time.
We were pretty full from all the appetizer, bread and the steak so we finished off with two pasta dishes.
Linguine al Riccio di Mare
(신선한 성게알 토마토-크림소스 링귀니)
Almost
every Italian restaurant in Seoul has this uni cream pasta dish but
none richer than Mi Piace. The pasta was a perfect al dente as well.
It's
been almost two years since
we last visited Mi Piace and we almost forgot how authentic and genuine
Mi Piace is when it comes to Italian cuisine. Moreover, their service
is amazing all around. Every server was well trained in terms of table
service but the younger servers could and should be a bit more educated
on the menu as well as the wine.
Linguine alle Vongole e Rucola
(신선한 조개와 루꼴라를 넣은 봉골레 링귀니)
It's been a pretty greasy and rich meal so I asked for some heat (spice) on this one but it wasn't too spicy. Still very good.
I asked Mi Piace if they provided any special desserts on the house for birthdays and they unfortunately do not. So bring your own cake!
Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife.
청담동 미 피아체 (Chungdam-dong Mi Piace)
강남구 청담동 97-22 (Gangnam-gu, Chungdam-dong 97-22)
02-516-6317
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