A STORY

This two story restaurant is on a fashionable little street near the Shinsa intersection in Kangnam. The exterior of the restaurant is painted a vibrant red and the restaurant itself looks like a renovated house. As you walk in, there’s a quaint garden area with wooden chairs and tables. The first floor has two separate areas and both look out onto the garden. There’s a bar along the back wall with a huge gilt mirror behind it which reflects the outside. The walls of the restaurant have several kinds of textures like concrete and exposed brick. Some walls are decorated with series of framed photos. Big tropical plants breathe life into the décor. The entire effect is inviting and lofty with a neo-European touch.
The second floor boasts several semi-private rooms and a terrace. The furniture looks like something that would be in a modern South of France house. There are big rustic wooden tables, bistro chairs and colorful banquettes. Though I found this restaurant’s decor to be very cute and original, my dining partner said that it seemed like hundreds of other places in Seoul. Perhaps, it’s closest cousin would be Anna Bini, an Italian restaurant near the Galleria. Another complaint about the ambience was the sleepy jazz music. Something more hip and upbeat could have spiced up the atmosphere.

The cuisine here is mainly Italian. We started with the beef carpaccio which had slices of beef which were sliced to a medium width (as opposed to thinly sliced). It had a generous portion of tasty rucola and big slices of grated of parmesan, The overall taste was quite satisfactory. We also tried the platter of grilled vegetables which was quite light and refreshing. It had mushrooms, bell peppers, eggplant and zuccinis lightly grilled to bring out the natural flavor. For the main course we had the rucola mozzarella pizza. The pizza crust was thin and crispy without being burned and there was a sufficient amount of cheese. It was also topped with lots of good quality rucola and thick shavings of parmesan. The pizza was comparable to other Italian restaurants which are actually run by Italians.
There are several types of pasta like linguine, spaghettini, fettucine, rigatoni. The pastas come with different sauces like cream sauces, tomato based sauces and olive-oil based sauces. There are also risottos like mushroom cream with grilled chicken, or seafood paella. There are 8 types of pizzas. Alternately you can choose to have salmon, seabass, steaks or lamb.

This restaurant is conveniently located just over the Hannam Bridge so people living in Itaewon won’t have a long trek to get here. Cross the Hannam Bridge, make a left at the Shinsa intersection and two stoplights from the intersection, make a U-turn. There is a bank on the corner of the street that has a big steel sculpture in front of it. The narrow street runs in two directions and has a lot of trendy shops on it. A Story is located right next to a parking structure on that street.

534-5 Shinsa Dong Kangnam-Gu
02) 511-6179

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