QUAY TO SEOUL
Not two hours have passed since Peter Gilmore landed in Seoul and already he’s experiencing something new; the soft milky flesh of poached cow’s udder bubbling in a bronze eo bog jaeng ban – a hot pot of beef broth stuffed with meat, mushrooms and chrysanthemum leaves. It’s a feast. Quay’s executive chef is quietly thrilled, this is what he came here for.
“I’ve never eaten this cut, but I wanted Pete to try it,” says Paul Lee, spooning broth into our bowls. Lee and his wife Idylle have brought Gilmore here to South Korea to try new things. Not udders in particular but the people, traditions and processes behind the highly artisanal Korean ingredients Gilmore works with at Quay and Bennelong, supplied through the pair’s Sydney-based business, Table 181 (table181australia.moonfruit.com).
Seeking out South Korea and Japan’s most precious edible products is trusted to Idylle and her “impeccable palate”. She travels to Asia 12 (fermented chilli paste) to aged soy, rock laver, sesame oil, anchovy extract, vinegar and kombu, is by far best-in-class, painstakingly made or gathered the way it has been for centuries, with strictly no chemical preservatives or flavour boosters. Lee is adamant, if not slightly pedantic, about this point. The only enhancements these complex ingredients see are time and tradition.
