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57 facebook.com/betweenitaewon MON-THU FRI SAT SUN LUNCH (MON-FRI) BRUNCH (SAT-SUN) BREAK TIME (02) 795-6164 Seoul, Yongsan-gu, Itaewon 1-dong 124-7 1F-3F BETWEEN DINING & TAPAS LOUNGE 11:30 a.m. - 2 a.m. 11:30 a.m. - 4 a.m. 11:00 a.m. - 4 a.m. 11:00 a.m. - 2 a.m. 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. 11:00 a.m. - 5 p.m. 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Is this from what you learned in school, or from your mother? From my mother I learned how to give taste to the food. I like tasty food; I don’t like bland flavors, so my palate, when I eat by myself, I like intense flavors. Here in Korea you have to be careful because what could be tasty for me could be salty for Koreans. I’ve done this many times, changing countries, so I’ve learned how to mod- ify and control my taste. What’s your biggest challenge cooking for a Korean clientele? The biggest challenge is understanding more or less what the people like. Whenever I’m doing something in the kitchen I always like the staff to judge what I’m doing and then we get two or three opinions and we share this. Because in the end, it’s not for me, it’s for them. So we always have to find the borderline between me and their palate. I think it’s a very democratic way to do the job because at the end of the day, 90-95 percent of the guests are Korean. In the end, you have to make the guest happy. What’s the focus of Between? The main point of this place is the ambience, the visibility. It’s a trendy place where young Koreans like to mix together, especially on the weekend, and they like to be seen and they like to drink. It’s quite expensive, and I believe our drinks are on the same level as a four- or five- star hotel. The food is not that expensive and we have music all day long and at night. On Fri- day and Saturday there’s a DJ playing, so it’s a trendy place. It’s mainly for Koreans (which doesn’t mean foreigners can’t come), but it’s not focused on the foreign market. How often do the dishes change? We have a dinner menu which is small. We change it every four months. Every week we have ten different specials. Three appetizers, three pastas, two meat, one fish and one des- sert. You never see the same thing. So it’s very interesting for the guests. We wanted it to be seasonal, but most vegetables can be found year-round. Right now, fresh figs, peaches and cherries can only be found in the summer. So in these two or three months I do a dessert with peaches or figs. Is there anything you want the readers to know about you? I believe that cooking is a feeling, and the day that we, as cooks, no longer tests ourselves and we don’t love our job anymore, it’s better that we quit. It’s better that we change jobs.