Seoul’s new Gucci restaurant, Gucci Osteria Seoul, officially opened on March 28 and features a contemporary dining experience that incorporates South Korean flavors into traditional Italian dishes.
Gucci Osteria Seoul is located on the top floor of the Gucci Gaok flagship store in Yongsan and officially opened its doors on March 28.
The Seoul location of Gucci Osteria marks the restaurant brand’s fourth establishment, with the other three locations being in Tokyo, Florence and Los Angeles.
The interior, designed by Korean sculptor Park Seung-mo, takes inspiration from “the original Florence outpost, with references to the Italian Renaissance and the eclectic mix of aesthetics embraced by Gucci.”
The restaurant’s interior includes parquet flooring, green walls, a marble mosaic of the terrace filled with color, a room with antique wall mirrors and a private dining room with stained glass doors.
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The main dining room of the restaurant can hold up to 28 guests while the outdoor terrace can accommodate up to 36 guests. Guests can also be seated next to large window panes that look out into the terrace.
The restaurant’s private dining room, called the “Room of Mirrors” can seat eight guests in a space whose interior emanates luxury.
Along with its opulent interior, Gucci Osteria Seoul features a menu that incorporates a fusion of Korean flavors and traditional Italian dishes. One signature item on the menu, the “Emilia Burger,” was slightly modified into a Korean version that uses a hanwoo (a Korean beef) patty. The burger also includes Italian parmigiano reggiano cheese, gelatin and a salsa verde containing chopped parsley and herbs slathered in balsamic vinegar. The burger’s name comes from the ingredients, which are sourced from the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy.
The dish was adapted by Massimo Bottura, the chef who runs three-Michelin-starred restaurant Osteria Francescana in Italy, which has ranked at the top of various best restaurant lists through the years.
In an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily, Bottura explains that he is now looking for his next “super avant-garde” dish for the restaurant. Lately, he has been experimenting with fermented cauliflower, using a Korean double boiler machine to intensify flavors in his dishes.
“We have this Korean machine [in which we will] put very Italian products like white cabbage and lemon [so that what] comes out is Korean-style Italian products [to show] a very interesting way of doing things,” Bottura told JoongAng Daily. “Food is creative. We are going to start from using quality products and techniques to [make] the ingredients sublime, not the ego of the chef.”
Gucci Osteria Seoul is currently run by South Korean chef Jun Hyung-kyu and Italian-native chef Davide Cardellini. Both were mentored by Bottura and Karime Lopez, the chef at the Florence Gucci Osteria.
