Born and Bred

I have eaten in a lot of dining rooms that try this hard. Born and Bred is one of the few that pulls it off without looking like it is trying.

The room is exactly what you want it to be: second-generation butcher's pride. We were seated near the back, given menus we hardly needed, and brought a small bowl of olives without being asked.

We started with Caesar salad assembled tableside, which set the tone — generous, unfussy, and confident enough not to crowd what was coming. With it we ordered a Chianti Classico Riserva I wrote down in my notebook, and were glad of both.

Then the main event: hanwoo selection, the dish that puts Born and Bred on every short list. The crust was the colour of dark mahogany, and the inside was a confident, even pink the whole way through. The signature touch — the tasting flight of three grades — is not a gimmick; it is the reason to come.

For sides we asked for grilled radicchio with anchovy butter and thick-cut onion rings, stacked. Both arrived hot, both arrived early, both were exactly large enough to overdo it. We overdid it.

Dessert was a slab of New York cheesecake, mostly because the waiter raised an eyebrow when we hesitated. He was right to.

I paid the bill, walked out into the Seoul evening, and put the address back into the notebook with a star next to it.