Going into the meal I was super excited as many people said it was the best value out of any Michelin starred restaurant as well as tasting menu in the city. I left disappointed, this was part of my DC & NYC food tour with my cousin who I hadn’t seen since my father’s funeral earlier in February this year. Keep in mind I hadn’t been to a Michelin starred restaurant until four days before this meal. But in a week I managed to go to 7 Michelin stars and I had a wide variety of experiences.
The service was… weird.
The first bite was the Caviar Kim. Tuna on top of seasoned crispy rice mixed with avocado and seaweed flakes wrapped in a crispy seaweed shell and topped with caviar. The rich, fatty tuna with the seasoned rice contrasted well with the brininess of the caviar. A tasty bite to start with.
Though we were reminded that our course should be enjoyed with one or two bites multiple times within a minute, even after we picked it up. The service here was noticeably cold and sloppy (I’ll give another example) compared to the other starred restaurants that I went to. (Torrisi, Albi, Jônt, Cote, Sushi Nakazawa)
Our second course was the Mulhoe, a ceviche with tomato. It was okay, I wasn’t wowed but I appreciated how it cleansed our palates after the heavy first course.
The third course was our Jook, a Korean rice porridge. I added the abalone for $20. This dish was right up my alley, hearty, filling, super savory and it was just pleasant overall.
For our fourth course we had the Dover Sole. Grilled and finished with a velvety sauce that I can’t remember the name of 😭. The skin was crisp and the fish was super tender, nothing to complain about, it was a decent dish.
Next came the Galbi and Banchan. The galbi was delicious like all galbi but it was even fattier since the meat was wagyu. The assorted banchan were interesting, I liked a couple, but it seemed a bit like mediocre attempts to elevate versions of their traditional counterparts.
For our first dessert course, “Strawberry” came to the table. The tart and sweet flavors were great. The crispy shell on top with the creamy sorbet on the bottom were nice together.
Our dishes had been cleared together up until this point in our meal. But the service seemed to be extremely rushed after the first dessert course. When they cleared our dishes to make room for our last course the servers left a dish there until the end of the meal. I wouldn’t really care if I was eating anywhere else but up until this point Jua just didn’t seem like it fit with the Michelin standards that I experienced at the other restaurants.
We ended our meal with the Goguma Juak. A sweet potato donut with brown butter ice cream. The donut was cold which muted the flavor of the sweet potato. The brown butter ice cream was nice and rich though and it made the donut better when eaten together.
After our meal I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and I was surprised to see a vent making loud noises akin to an airplane toilet flush. It was honestly hilarious to me. Before we left we learned that one of our waitresses was a student at a nearby college and that she just started her fall quarter. It’s surprising to see a staff that’s not made up of full time workers but I honestly wasn’t surprised anymore as Jua had kept me on my toes for the whole meal with its multitude of surprises.
The day after when I ate at Cote, I had a talk with my server and he told me that many of the staff including himself at eaten at Jua and had been surprised by how lackluster the meal turned out to be. For $140, there’s plenty of other places that would be worth your time and money in the city. I left feeling a bit confused on how loved this restaurant was by all the influencers that I watched and followed.
by Limp_Argument4650