The owners of Oriental Blue that use to be at the Capital Markets have now opened a new Restaurant just a few doors down on Willis Street. They have refurbished the old convenience store and tidied it up and added a nice subtle decor of it. The menu has expanded since their Oriental Blue days offering soup as well. However, they have taken away the Koro Dog and the Nori tacos for a more traditional approach.
Bibimbap
Mixed Rice, Various Cook Veggies, 65 Degree Free Range Egg, Gochujang (Spicy) – Bulgogi Beef
This looked so good, with the bean sprouts, finely chopped mushrooms, carrot, spinach, pickle, cucumber, the Bulgogi Beef and the 65 degree cooked egg with the Gochujang sauce on the side. It is not served on a hot stone bowl, so no crispy rice on the bottom. However, was served in a really nice looking bowl instead. Mixing all the ingredients together including the Gochujang sauce and you have a really good winner here. It is packed with flavour and has what we call in Chinese, Wok He. Which means flavour from the wok. I especially loved the Gochujang sauce, which made it nice and spicy.
Kim Chi Fried Rice with Greens
Chicken Karaage
I was surprised at how good this dish looked. I amount of chicken was generous and also loved the Japanese mayonnaise squirted on top of the chicken, salad and some of the rice. The fried rice was really nice and not dry with good seasoning from the wok. However, I would have liked a bit more kimchi spice to it. The salad was nice and besides some of the mayonnaise, it also had some miso dressing on it. The Karaage chicken, which was not deep-fried was nice and moist and packed a lot of different flavours. Overall a really good dish.
Fried Chicken
Korean Style Fried Chicken – Original
Interesting to see that these wings had no sauce mixed with them as I usually associate Korean wings with sauce coated all over them. The wings were nicely cooked and the flavours were really good. The coating was nice and crunchy and the chicken was really nicely cooked with the chicken being juicy inside. The side sauce was really nice and was nice getting some pickles on the side.
Kim Chi Fries
These were just so moreish. I loved the seasoning on the fries, I just which they were just thicked in cut and not shoestring.
Overall a really great eating experience at Seoul Salon. The food comes out fast and the service is overall very good. The decor is simple and clean and it would be cool if they had some outdoor seating as there is room. One disappointing aspect of Seoul Salon was that you don’t get the free side dishes you get from more traditional Korean Restaurants like kimchi, Koreana potatoes and bean sprouts. A great place for lunch and prices are very well priced. Highly recommend!
Address: 145 Willis St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Facebook Page: Seoul Salon
Trencherman's Travels 