Seoul Garden - authentic Korean food

This is a fantastic restaurant nestled in one of the lanes in Karama. I hadn't quite heard about it before; it isn't all that popular among food bloggers for some reason. One day a friend and I was just thinking what to have and we thought of having Korean food. I searched online and this one popped up near us. I never knew there was an authentic Korean restaurant in Karama. Yes, it's authentic. 

As soon as we stepped in, it didn't feel like a restaurant at all. It felt somewhat like a lobby / waiting area of an hotel. We went to the counter and said we'd like a table for two. He told us to wait while he said he'll go and check which room is available. We waited. Wait, a "room"?! 
There was a room available and he showed us to one. There was a table and four chairs in there. Wow. This was something really interesting. Usually restaurants just have partitions / shacks, but this place has proper doors. 
The waiter gave us the menu and told us to ring the bell once we were ready to order. Saying so he went outside the room. 

We were looking through the menu. It was in Korean (with English translation). The dishes weren't something I had seen before; just heard about a few from my Korean friends. Usually i love to try out new things, but somehow I wanted to play it safe this day and wanted to order chicken. But my friend wanted to be adventurous, and suggested we order something out of the ordinary. 
Let the adventure begin.

We ordered a golbaengi. What's that you may ask. Well, this is a snail salad. 
This one is served cold with some noodles (which are cold too). It has got apples, and some vegetables, and is topped with Korean sauces. The sauce is sweet and spicy. The snail, after being cut was looking somewhat like a mushroom. It was a bit harder though. It didn't have much flavor by itself, but tasted well in the salad. 

For the mains, we ordered jangeo gui. And this is? Grilled eel. When I think of eel, I think of that long and slimy creature that can also give you an electric shock. Scary!
But no, I don't think these are the electric ones. These are dead (duh!); and weren't all that slimy when served. It was served as more like a fillet. It was sizzling when served. They gave us a pair of scissors to cut it. You could easily manage with a fork and spoon, but since we were eating with chopsticks, may be that's why they give a scissor. 
This one tasted really delicious. Just like a normal fish, but better. It is made in a brown sauce; not too spicy. I would definitely recommend trying this one. 
It is served along with a few accompaniments that include kimchi (free refills), a small piece of omlette, some pickle and a few more. 
The eel tasted really good as it is and we didn't quite need these with it. 


We ordered some drinks too. I don't exactly remember the names, but it was available in a pomegranate flavor and a berry one. We ordered both the flavors. They were good too. 

I liked the overall concept of the room, and the privacy that you get. Just ring the bell if you want something. This place is very calm and quiet. This would be a good place for a date - if you don't mind being a bit adventurous with the food. 

Soul satisfying, for the sole purpose of trying out something new - Seoul Garden.