[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] Kamar brings Southeast Asian aptitude north of Itaewon-ro

By Audrey Tay

Nestled above the bustling alleys of central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon is Kamar, a newly opened fusion restaurant and eating bar providing flavors paying homage to Southeast Asia.

Strolling into Kamar seems like getting into someone’s room. Not like the everyday Instagram-friendly spots with their fastidiously curated aesthetics, Kamar (which fittingly interprets to ‘room’ in Malay) is an eclectic combine of various parts. Amid the beautiful night time view, cozy inside, nostalgic music and aromatic aroma of meals… sits a DJ sales space. Very like its location, Kamar’s id is thematically ambiguous — exhausting to pin down. Nobody is aware of what it’s precisely, but someway every little thing falls into place, and being in its presence may be very comforting.

To begin we ordered a steamed tom yam seafood dish (29,000 received) to share. For sure, they weren’t joking in regards to the seafood. In one of the best ways attainable, it tasted the best way it seemed, with recent mussels, clams and shrimp including a pleasant perfume to the already-tangy broth.

Steamed tom yam seafood at Kamar / Korea Instances photograph by Audrey Tay

After which got here the spotlight of my day: the chopped pork rice bowl (15,000 received). We devoured this unsuspecting dish at first chunk, so good that we practically forgot the chef’s directions to combine within the chili sauce on the aspect. The sauce added an beautiful trace of acidity and — to our nice shock — additional elevated the savory flavors of the minced pork and sunny-side-up egg. Anybody can prepare dinner, however who else can actually make a chopped pork rice bowl this good?

Chopped pork rice bowl at Kamar / Korea Instances photograph by Audrey Tay

Subsequent, we had the mee goreng basah (18,000 received), or “moist fried noodles” in English. Now, I do know — the visuals of the dish might sound slightly overwhelming to somebody unfamiliar with Southeast Asian or Southern Chinese language delicacies. Nonetheless, as a Southeast Asian, I discovered it supplied a well-recognized style of heat gravy, fish cake, bok choy, shrimp and deliberately barely burnt fried noodles. Whereas this was not my favourite dish again residence, the sudden range in delicacies felt reassuring.

Mee goreng basah / Korea Instances photograph by Audrey Tay

In regard to drinks, Kamar affords a various collection of wines and cocktails. We solely had the gin and tonic, which did change into fairly good.

Kamar is the place to be when you’re on the lookout for a smooth but cozy eating setting … or just a extremely good bowl of chopped pork rice.

The bar at Kamar / Korea Instances photograph by Audrey Tay

Kamar is open from 5 p.m. to three a.m. day-after-day of the week besides Monday. Go to @kamar_seoul on Instagram for extra data.

Audrey Tay is an intern at The Korea Instances. After coming right here from Singapore, she graduated from Hanyang College, the place she majored in movie and worldwide research.