No Macaroni at the Macroni Market!

The second restaurant chosen was conveniently situated right across from Thai Orchid. "The Macaroni Market." I'm not exactly sure what we were expecting when Camera chose this particular restaurant, but it is definately not the kind of restaurant the 4 of us would venture into everyday.

We should have clued in when they offered valet parking outside the restaurant - however we were not thrown off by that, if we did have a car in Korea, i'm sure we would have valet parked it. And besides, we wanted macaroni! We proceeded upstairs where we should have spotted the second clue. There were in fact 2 parts to the restaurant. The one side was a "deli" and "cafe" area, and the other side was the "restaurant." We obviously opted for the restaurant, all cocky thinking we were too good for the deli. As they lead us through the hallway into the restaurant section the mood changed immediately. Dim lighting, music with no lyrics playing softly in the background, and waiters. Lots of waiters, dressed in black and white complete with vests and ties.

Awkwardly enough, we were their first customers of the night. Dressed in jeans, converse and big puffy winter jackets. Needless to say we felt very very very out of place, but not out of place enough to leave. As we sat down we quietly whispered amongst each other about the restaurant and how awkward we all really felt. This was probably one of the only times we consciously tried to keep our voices down to a minimum.

The menu was quite pretentious, especially if it was written by a Korean. As the four of us quietly glanced over the menu we all came to the same conclusion. "I'll get the spatchcock." This was simply because it was the cheapest thing on the menu, at 27 dollars. However after much debate we decided that we can't all get the same thing, and we don't even know what spatchcock is! Finaly we decided on 2 appetizers to share, Camera got the duck, Gerald got the pork, I got the sea bass, and Chien was the lucky one who ended up with the spatchcock.

As we waited for our appetizers to come we snacked on the bread. Boy were we impressed with the service, as soon as our bread basket was down to just 2 pieces the waiters rushed over to refill it immediately! We know this for a fact since they came over to our table 4 times before any food arrived at our table. Thankfully our appetizers came, and they were small, but quite good. We chose a buffalo mozzeralla salad and a goat cheese onion tart. Our main courses came and they looked nice, really nice! However i think we were a little disappointed with the size of our dishes...maybe all except for Chien (who got the spatchcock..remember?)

And so the ratings for The Macaroni Market were as follows:

---- I lost the napkin ----
but if i can remember correctly - i believe the restaurant as a whole got a B

Our meals were a little on the pricey side - and mainly we felt really out of place. Maybe things would have been different if we dressed up a little and were prepared for what we would have to spend on dinner.

A quick tip for future diners, keep the bread count above 2. It gets quite embarassing when the waiters must come over so often. And maybe make a night out of the Macaroni Market, get dressed up, go see an orchestra beforehand, or go to propose to your girlfriend, you know, be classy.


World Peace,
Dinner Club

Oh and P.S. if anyone is wondering. Spatchock is hoity toity for "roast chicken."