PARK ASIAN FUSION CUISINE

Tel: 02 512 6333 Turn right just before the Apgujeong Galleria, then take the first left and Park's is on the right.

Good atmosphere, OK food, cheapest bottle of wine 65000 won

We went here for a celebration dinner with some friends. This is a two storey restaurant with lots of little corners, private rooms, and spaces cleverly divided by low-hanging candlabras and voile curtains. Spangly cushions, embroidered banks of seating and hand painted dark red walls decorated with butterflies and floral motifs make this place feel opulent and comfortable.Staff are good looking and fashionable, all fitted with ear pieces which must be really annoying for them if the service bells on the tables go straight through to them.

Our friends arrived before us, and managed to survive on herbal tea until we arrived. They hadn't been offered any nibbles which is unusual and didn't want to order before we arrived so they were starving. They were also slightly miffed that they had been put next to the toilet in an upstairs corner and not in the thick of the atmosphere downstairs. Because of the quirky lay out, some tables are better located than others and no table is the same, so make sure you are happy with where you sit.

Since we have been living here for under a month, our Korean ordering skills are pretty non-existent. Hardworking hubby can just about order beers. It took a while to order our dishes and involved a change of wait staff (the first guy couldn't get a handle on our English so they sent Filipino Frank who could understand our English but couldn't read what the previous guy had written down in Korean when we asked to check our order). It really is time to learn Korean....

Finally all the dishes we had asked for arrived.This is Asian fusion cuisine in the sense that they offer many types of Asian dishes, apparently without the need for authenticity in any of them: our Thai beef salad contained pineapple chunks which is VERY weird. It is not fusion in the sense that a creative chef has taken elements from various asian cuisines and made something new out of it.

We ordered crispy garlic prawns, beef and tofu with mushrooms, chicken with peppers and Park's special noodle soup dish. All of them came hot and were attractively presented dishes. But at US$30 per dish I felt they should have been more innovative to really live up to their strapline. The food here looked and tasted more like a good Chinese take away meal from the UK than food from one of Seoul's trendy, expensive "good" restaurants.

CAFE 74

Tel: 02 542 7412 Address: 83-20 Chungdam-dong, Kangnam-Gu - opposite the entrance to Rodeo Drive up the hill on the left oppposite the Gaucho Grill.

This is a big, decadent cafe selling almost anything you could want, from tea and coffee to whisky to ginseng (US$3500) and an equal variety of foods. It is not a cafe in the sense of have cup of tea and a sticky bun - this is a posh cafe in a sort of "expensive restaurant" kind of way.

Walls are mirrored and there is plenty of white wrought iron to give that Frenchy/cafe feel. Lots of plants, flowers and crystal gems hanging from wall lights. Customers are fairly crammed in with masses of tiny tables.

We ordered four local Cass beers and a fruit platter and the bill came to not far off US$100. The fruit platter contained a couple of sorry looking rambutans (they are so exotic but don't travel well, and it looked like these had been on a long stop over on the way to Korea), a slice of pineapple, apple, banana and grapes.

This is a good safe place to take clients and their wives after dinner for coffee or one more drink, but not very fun if you want to eat and drink a lot and have to pay yourself!