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One of the best meals I enjoyed during my trip to Seoul earlier this year was at Eatanic Garden, where I was briefly introduced to Handsome Chef and also had been tasked with introducing Kutsuyama to him. I was pretty impressed with my experience and a little bummed that Foursheets didn't get to go with me. So I was pretty happy to be able to get a table when Handsome Chef came to cook with Juve Fan at Estro.

I'm usually not a fan of most "four hands" events, but I was happy to discover that the two chefs are having a little fun for this event. Each chef has chosen a set of dishes from the other's repertoire and re-interpreted them. Now THAT is pretty cool, because it requires both chefs to actually put in some real effort for this event, developing new dishes and doing some testing.

So... we started with some aperitivo, some of which were instantly recognizable.

This was described as a 'toast' with fillings of black truffle, Robiola di Bufala, and Mortadella. This was, of course, tasty as one would expect. Pretty classic combo... simple yet satisfying. From Juve Fan.

Crispy tart with japchae (잡채) - it only hit me tonight, when I had this for the second time, that these look like those marbles I used to play with as a little kid. Tonight the center of these tasty, crunchy veggie balls was surprisingly smoky, as there were dried mussels as well as onions and zucchini that had been grilled over charcoal. From Handsome Chef.

Parae seaweed bugak (파래김 부각) - loved the beautiful seaweed crane just as I did in March. The purée was described as red bean but didn't taste like it... as it was a combination of doenjang (된장) and macadamia nuts. From Handsome Chef.

The drink of tomato and watermelon was very savory with no detectable sweetness, so I didn't get the watermelon. Still very nice regardless. From Juve Fan.

Instead of the usual anchovy buffalo milk butter that comes with the bread, tonight the butter was made with seaweed (presumably laver) instead of anchovies.

We also had seaweed crackers which, naturally, went well with the seaweed butter.

Sweet corn | panna cotta, chamwe melon, caviar, from Handsome Chef, re-interpreting red prawn | coral panna cotta, lemon, caviar from Juve Fan - same same but different... From the outside, the only difference was the edible black ring-shaped tuile made of sweet corn. We've still got the caviar on top, but the dots were now gel made with oriental melon (참외).

Looking underneath, the panna cotta was now made with sweet corn, and while we still have raw prawn tartare inside, there were crunchy bits of finely-diced oriental melon. Very nice.

Pine nut | naengchae, from Handsome Chef, re-interpreting squid | almond, capers, caviar from Juve Fan - this variation came with the pine nut dressing that Korean chefs love so much, in lieu of almond sauce, which was a tiny bit sweet on the palate and came with a lovely lemon fragrance.

I still absolutely love the thin ribbons of "squid fettucine"... don't think I'll ever tire of eating this.

In addition to the squid, we also had some delicious king crab, shrimp, very finely diced asparagus, and fatsia shoots (두릅). This was done in the style of Korean naengchae (냉채) and was, in fact, reminiscent of the fatsia shoots dish I had at Eatanic Garden.

Lobster-zucchini | almond sauce, from Juve Fan, re-interpreting fatsia shoot naengchae from Handsome Chef - well, well, well... speak of the devil... In this version the shellfish takes center stage, and we had poached Scottish lobster that was served chilled and topped with thin slices of zucchini confit. The flavor of the almond milk served in place of the pine nut sauce didn't really stand out.

Just like Handsome Chef's version, this reinterpretation was also a chaud-froid. Instead of deep-fried fatsia shoots we have a zucchini flower that has been fried and stuffed with a scallop and lobster mousse. This was warm and fluffy, and really nicely done.

Fiddlehead | galbi jjim, from Handsome Chef, re-interpreting bottoni from Juve Fan - OF COURSE there would be bottoni tonight, and Handsome Chef has decided to serve them with some fiddlehead fern which had been poached, marinated as jangajji (장아찌) in the galbi marinade, then braided together on the side. This was nice and a little sweet.

The bottoni were stuffed with galbi jjim (갈비찜) but came topped with kimchi made with corvina. I loved the sweet and smoky flavors of the galbi, which worked very well with the acidic kimchi.

We got some mulkimchi (물김치) on the side...

Chicken | risotto, from Juve Fan, re-interpreting Samgyetang (삼계탕) from Handsome Chef - no surprise that this would come up for re-interpretation...

The chicken was certainly very tender and cooked with some rosemary. I could taste the saffron in the risotto, and we also had a tiny bit of Taggiasca olives in lieu of ginseng and chestnut. Served with a nice chicken reduction. This was pretty good, but somehow a little predictable.

The chicken consommé was on the sweet side, but as it was made with lavender, I didn't really care for it.

Pigeon-abalone | melanosporum black truffle, from Juve Fan, re-interpreting the taro with beef and abalone millefeuille from Handsome Chef - the Hanwoo has been substituted out and became Bresse pigeon, but the springy abalone was still Korean. The pigeon leg roll was stuffed with chicken mousse, and this was so, sooo delicious. Black truffle showed up instead of taro, and we had it in a millefeuille with celtuce, followed by pickled kohlrabi that was nice and crunchy with a right balance of sweetness and acidity.

Italian melon dduk, from Handsome Chef, re-interpreting melone from Estro - more bottoni!!! A sweet version this time, with dough made of dduk (떡) wrapped around Italian melon and some pecans. Topped with some prosciutto. Nicely done.

Peach | meringue, olive oil, from Juve Fan, re-interpreting 'Perpetual Snow' strawberry from Handsome Chef - on top of a baba soaked in elderflower liquid were slices of Italian peach, peach foam, and a citrus meringue. The olive oil ice cream on the side made sure this dessert wasn't completely sweet. Very nice and refreshing, too.

Sweet endings - this time we had two each from the chefs:

Hazelnut rocher

Lemon and marscapone tart

Ginger yakgwa (약과)

Radish candy - made by braising radish for 3 days. Always interesting to try stuff like this.

Juve Fan very kindly offered us a glass of French bubbly to start:

Pierre Péters Cuvée de Réserve, dégorgée le 31 Octobre 2023 - good depth on the palate here along with a good balance, as it was neither too ripe nor too acidic, with a hint of bitterness and a decently long finish. Nice nose of marmalade.

2018 Valle Reale Vigna del Convento di Capestrano - a little toast with some lemon on the nose at first. The palate was more ripe than I had expected, a little too round and soft compared to what I was looking for. Definitely felt the alcohol on the palate... but there was an elegant fragrance here. Later on when the wine opened up more, the palate became more acidic.

2014 Feyles Barbaresco Riserva Bordini Vigna di Montesommo - smoky, gamey, a little bretty and medical, along with forest and potpourri notes.

This was a fun night, and I was very happy that we got to experience this fun collaboration. Looking forward to take Foursheets up to Seoul to see Handsome Chef's garden...