Carol Chan

Review of Danji

3.5 stars - With 2 weeks to go and having over 300...

3.5 stars - With 2 weeks to go and having over 300 booked restaurants left to tackle, my fiance and I decided to give the only Michelin starred Korean restaurant in the city a visit. We arrived around 8PM on a rainy late spring Friday and managed to snatch the last 2 seats.

As soon as we were situated, I look a full look at Danji and was surprised at how tiny this place was - yet somehow every patron was screaming on top of their lung aka chatting with the person directly across from him/her. Honestly, my fiance and I could barely hear each other as we were trying to discuss our menu options. Speaking of menu, our hostess failed to inform us that the menu was already placed in the desk drawer. My fiance and I sat around for a good 10 minutes before we waved down our waiter to learn that the menus were waiting there for us all along. We prob should have asked earlier.

Onto the food - our server took her time in explaining the menu (traditional vs modern Korean tapas) and recommended 2-3 plates per person. My fiance and I weren't particularly hungry so we decided on 3 dishes including 1 which was portioned to 2 servings - Bossam, Poached Sablefish, and Kimchi Fried Rice (for 2).

The bossam was first to arrive - 6 pieces of juicy, fatty braised pork served with steamed lettuce and pickled kimchi. Aside from the fact that the pork was a bit too saucy/salty, I find the pairing with the steamed lettuce (balanced out the saltiness of the braising sauce) and spicy kimchi (added the needed crunch) to be just perfect.

The poached sablefish was next - beautiful, flaky white fish filet - the sauce actually tasted very similar to the Bossam's - perhaps just a tad sweeter but again a bit too salty to my taste - nevertheless, easily my fav dish of the night.

Kimchi fried rice - after seeing pictures after pictures of it on yelp - we decided to give it a try even though my fiance isn't the biggest kimchi fan. Served on a sizzling pan, the fried rice was lightly crusted at the bottom which gave it a nice toasted/crunchy texture. The rice was perfectly seasoned and not oily like the usual kimchi fried rice I find in K-town. However for $20 and with endless glowing reviews/recommendations, we expected far more from this dish - it was still just a regular kimchi fried rice to us.

After blowing through the 3 dishes, my fiance and I realized we had wayyyy under-ordered. Our stomachs were still growling so we asked our server for a dessert menu. To our surprise, they didn't have one - in fact, no desserts! Whoa, a no dessert restaurant - not even ice cream? Instead of going back to the main dishes, we remembered the tubs of ice cream waiting on us at home and decided to just call it a night..

Service was attentive and warm (water glasses never empty). Food was good but fell short for my expectation especially for a Michelin 1 starred restaurant. (again I'm comparing it to restaurants like Bouley). And although each dish was purposely presented one at a time to give guests ample amount of time to enjoy and share, my fiance and I wished they were served all at once so we could have some taste and texture contrasts. It got pretty boring eating a a whole filet of sablefish /spoon after spoon of fried rice.

Price was definitely on the steep side (3 non-filling dishes for $70+ including tax and tip )- Nevertheless,, my fiance and I had a fabulous dinner date even though our bellies didn't quite agree.