Newly Opened Jeju is the Hottest Seat in Town

With as many restaurants as a food editor has to eat at (poor us, I know), it is rare to eat someplace that makes a lasting impact. A place that is so captivating, you barely want to speak to your dining companion lest it ruin the experience. A place that cooks up the best ingredients, in a creative manner, for a reasonable price. Well, we have found that kind of place and it is called Jeju. They only have eight seats, with two seatings per evening and it is already so hard to secure a table at this Korean izakaya that you need to book nearly a month in advance.

The blink and you might miss it entrance on Yuyuan Lu

Open the sliding door to Jeju Izakaya to find yourself immediately immersed in the hustle and bustle of the small space. While the kitchen is busy, there is a comforting sense of calm coming off the five man (for eight diners) team that can only be accomplished by people who love their jobs. The owner of Jeju Izakaya, as well as Belloco and Professor Lee, Chan will warmly greet you and set you up with a welcome treat and drink.  

The welcome beverage is a glass of house wine, which rotates weekly

On our visit the welcome dish was steamed whitefish and creamy potato

Once you sit down, you can choose to order a la carte or omakase. If you have never been before it is a good idea to put yourself into the hands of the chefs. They will choose a mix of the daily specials and a la carte menu, while taking your personal preferences into account. Since Jeju Island is famous for both pork and seafood, expect to eat a lot of those proteins. 

Stir-fried clams with spinach and butter sauce (RMB 78)

All of the seafood is live and purchased daily at the Shanghai seafood market. The clams are cooked with a buttery and very garlicky sauce, and then the spinach is wilted on top. The freshness of the clams is evident. The next dish we had was a very intriguing take on beef Carpaccio dotted with fresh pairs and topped with a spicy frisée salad. The heavily peppered, thinly sliced beef brings to mind pastrami. 

Black pepper beef Carpaccio (RMB 88)

We jump at the chance to eat uni on anything, so their aglio olio with sea urchin roe (RMB 108) is a must order. It is pasta so rich and tasty that it rivals many Italian restaurants. The portion is of pasta is small, but the sea urchin serving is quite generous. 

A simple aglio olio made decadent with the addition of sea urchin roe

Cheddar cheese volcano steamed egg (RMB 78) is a bubbling showstopper dish

In addition to pork and seafood, Jeju is an island famous for volcanos, which inspires their Siracha topped eruption of cheddar cheese and steamed egg. The spicy sauce and melted cheese are  great match and we had to control ourselves to keep from scraping up every last bit of cheese stuck to the edge of the scorching dolsot clay bowl. We were told that the pork neck with anchovy sauce and fresh wasabi (RMB 128) is one of their most popular dishes. We really liked the crispy end bits. 

Jeju style pork next with anchovy sauce and fresh wasabi

Sundobu stew (left) and stir-fried octopus (right)

A traditional sundobu, soft tofu, stew (RMB 68) is perfect for winter and the stir-fried octopus (RMB 108) one of our favorite dishes of the night. It is served dramatically with the whole baby octopus before it is chopped up on top of cabbage. There is a rich, smoky flavor from the high temperature of the wok. It makes it more fun that you had a front row seat to the flames. For RMB 20 they will take your remaining octopus and make you delicious fried rice. 

A close up of the stir-fried octopus

Even though we were exhausted, because we had the 9:30pm booking, we were fully captivated by what was going on in the kitchen. The cooking team moves like the inside of a clock. They barely speak during service, but everyone knows when to step in and add their touch to a dish. After service is complete, when the kitchen closes at midnight, they are all ready to have a few drinks and chat up the last hangers on of the night. We see ourselves in that position as often as they will let us in the door. 

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