COMME GANGNAM -- Restaurant Review

 

19 Rue de La Fayette

Paris 75009
Website: https://commegangnam.fr/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

3.25 - Stars...................................€€...................................... 2.5- Bell

I don't typically go to Korean restaurants in Paris, but friends from out of town recommended that we try it, and I was more than eager to. I've been taking a break from French food, and if I find any worth mentioning, I will share my experience.

As an aside, I kept wanting to call this restaurant "Gangnam Style: 

I was quite surprised how larger this restaurant is, considering most neighborhood style restaurants are quite small. 

We had a late reservation of 2:00 pm for lunch, but it was still packed.  Each table has their own grill, but the exterior tables do not.. 

We perused the menus, and they had quite the collection. I asked the waiter about the heat level, and he told us that anything pictured with a red sauce, he guarantees will be spicy. I asked if it was Gochujan and he confirmed, but FYI..., other spices were added to give it more heat. 

We ordered two prepared dishes, the two meat dishes to grill. 

SPICY CHICKEN FEET.  This dish is not for everyone, fortunately our friends are very adventurous foodies. The spice level was high, but flavorful. The tendons were delicious. This dish is not so much about the chicken feet, but the sauce that is accompanied with. It's great with white rice, because by default the rice is flavored with it. I loved this dish.

SPICY SQUID: Another spicy dish. The squid was sliced in such a way that it was tender enough that you didn't have to chew it like bubble gum. The spice level wasn't as high as the chicken feet, nonetheless it was a good dish. Lots of flavor. 

Next came our grilled meat dishes. 

WAGYU BEEF. This was the combo wagyu beef.  This was probably the most expensive of the dishes we ordered at 100€, but with four of us it seemed reasonable. The meat was beautifully marbled, but since it's just raw meat, and typically wagyu is not pre-spiced to keep true to is flavor and texture, you needed to add eg, kimchee. We were given a raw egg with soy sauce to dip your beef to give it a slight salted flavor. The raw egg helped bind the sauce, but it was not spicy. 

BEEF TONGUE. Like the wagyu beef, it was not pre-spiced. One of friends had never had tongue, and he seemed to enjoy it. I liked it, but again you needed to add something with it. We were served "Banchan" to add flavor. Along with the banchan you were also served lettuce leafs, so you can make lettuce wraps with the grilled meats.

As mentioned we were served about 6-different "Banchan" as side dishes to our various dishes. Although 6 seems like alot, I've been to Korean restaurants where they served as many as a dozen.

SUMMARY 

Not comparing this restaurant to Korean restaurants in Korea or any large city in eg, NYC, LA or SF, the food was good. We have one in the 15eme which I yet to review, and I will, that is much better, but is not as fancy as this restaurant. 

I asked the waiter about the spice level, and he did say they do have notifications on the menu which dishes are really hot. He did say many of the French do not select those dishes because it is too spicy for them. 

Surprisingly, my favorite dish was the chicken feet. The spices and heat was a nice change from "run-of-the-meal" french meals. The one complaint I have is when they turned the grill on, it never went above low/medium, if that. It should've been much higher so we could've charred our meat. 

The restaurant was a bit expensive, but then again we did order the wagyu beef, which BTW are now locally raised in the south of France. With 2-sodas, 1-San Pellegrino, 1-tea the dishes total came to 181€ or 45.25€ each.  

Will we go back, absolutely, I'd like to try the other dishes, but forego the wagyu beef so we can try the other reasonably priced dishes.