Tora Sikdang: Great Izakaya for Soju in Seongsu, Seoul
The interior was dark, so the photo quality isn't the best~
Lately, I've been watching "Paik's Spirit," a Netflix food show hosted by my beloved Baek Jong-won. It's a captivating show that not only makes the food and drinks look incredibly appetizing but also shares interesting facts about alcohol while highlighting the charm of the guests. In the first episode, Baek Jong-won kept saying not to judge Jay Park just by his looks. After watching it to the end, I didn't see the Jay Park who used to criticize Korea, but rather someone with free thoughts and disciplined actions. Thanks to that first episode, I was craving soju so badly.
Unable to hold back, I called up a friend for a drink. After asking around, we got a recommendation for a place called "Tora Sikdang" in Seongsu (a trendy neighborhood in Seoul). Since it was recommended by a buddy in the restaurant business, I figured it was trustworthy, so we met up there.
I don't usually like restaurants in semi-basements, but this place is so well-maintained that it doesn't have that typical basement smell. If you look it up on blogs, most people talk about their lunch tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet), but since we were planning to drink soju, we ordered the Sashimi Moriawase (assorted sashimi) for two and grilled geumtae (blackthroat seaperch).
The grilled geumtae came out first. No matter where you go, when you order grilled fish, the head always looks dramatically close to its final moments, and I think geumtae is the most extreme case. It looks like it died a truly agonizing death, but one bite and the flavor makes you completely forget about its face.
As a red fish, geumtae is very fatty, so when it's grilled, you just can't put your chopsticks down. Especially with soju, it has the power to make the drinks go down incredibly smooth. Looking at the outside, I was a bit worried thinking, "Did they burn it?" but the meat inside was perfectly golden and cooked just right. My friend must have been starving because he kept picking at it while talking, and after trying a bite myself, I completely understood why.
Just as we were finishing the geumtae, our main dish, the assorted sashimi, arrived. It was served as sukseonghoe (aged sashimi) rather than live fish, and everything, even the hanchi (cuttlefish), was aged perfectly to be tender and easy to chew. The chefs were all young and looked like part-timers, so I honestly expected something mediocre, but I couldn't help but marvel at how well-aged the sashimi was.
Since it's sashimi from an izakaya, the portion is naturally small. Still, there were just under 10 different types, and every single one tasted great. I'm curious to see how they'll serve oysters once it gets a bit colder. I usually avoid eating them in Seoul because even slightly spoiled ones instantly mess up my stomach, but I'm actually looking forward to trying them here.
Our original plan was to eat light here and move somewhere else for beers for round two, but the food was so good we decided to stay put. So, we ordered Sukiyaki Nabe (Japanese hot pot) and tonkatsu. Maybe because we were already full, the sukiyaki tasted pretty average. However, they did serve it properly with a raw egg to crack and dip the meat into, just like a specialty sukiyaki restaurant would. It didn't have a ton of ingredients, but it definitely looked the part.
Maybe because we were drinking soju, we didn't reach for the tonkatsu much either. But if you were eating it for lunch with rice, it would probably be quite good. It's a tasty tonkatsu—the meat isn't fried poorly or smelly, and the breading isn't soggy. However, without sauce, it felt a bit dry. Because of that, it didn't pair well with soju and would probably go much better with beer.
Whenever I go to Seongsu, I usually find places to be surprisingly overpriced without being that great, but I got a really good recommendation this time. I heard there are a lot of good restaurants around this place, so I'll have to explore the area more with this spot as my base. Of course, my number one choice is now Tora Sikdang.
Strangely enough, when I looked it up on Google Maps, the main branch had closed down and only the second branch remains. I'm not sure what the reason is, but it's a bit unusual.