Exquisine

Is Exquisine worth booking in Seoul?

Yes, and sooner rather than later. Exquisine holds a Michelin one star (2024) and operates a single changing course menu at lunch and dinner, seven days a week. At ₩₩₩ pricing, it sits a tier below several Gangnam contemporaries, which makes the value case compelling provided you are willing to commit to the format. If you want à la carte flexibility, this is not your table. If you want a tightly controlled tasting experience built around seasonal Korean ingredients at a price that does not reach ₩₩₩₩ territory, book it.

About Exquisine

Exquisine is a small contemporary restaurant in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam District, on Samseong-ro 140-gil. The space is described as small in the Michelin citation, which is a practical fact worth absorbing before you go: this is not a restaurant where you can walk in, scan the room, and negotiate a corner table. The layout is intimate, seating is limited, and that compression is part of what makes the experience work. You are there to eat, not to see and be seen across a large dining room.

The physical scale creates a specific kind of atmosphere. Intimate rooms at this level either feel attentive or crowded; at Exquisine, the Michelin assessors noted the kitchen's precision and the chef's ability to balance flavours, which suggests the service-to-space ratio is managed well. That matters when you are evaluating whether the price point is justified, and at ₩₩₩ it broadly is, provided the room does not feel like an afterthought. The sensory experience here starts with the room itself: small tables, deliberate arrangement, a proximity to the kitchen that reinforces the idea that the food is the event.

Fresh herbs come from the restaurant's own garden, which is a meaningful operational detail rather than a marketing claim. It signals that the kitchen exerts control over ingredient quality at the source, and that the menu's frequent changes are driven by real availability rather than seasonal theatre. Chef Jang Kyung-won has built a reputation around local ingredients and compositional balance, producing dishes that read as genuinely invented rather than recombined from a global contemporary template. What that means practically: the menu you ate on a previous visit is likely different from the one you will find on return, which is a strong reason to go back.

Service and what it buys you at this price

The service philosophy at Exquisine is directly connected to the format. A single course menu, served at lunch and dinner, means the kitchen controls the pace entirely. There is no negotiating between starters and mains, no asking for dishes to be held back. What the room gives you in return is focus: the team knows exactly what every table is eating and when. For a restaurant at ₩₩₩ with Michelin recognition, that is the correct trade-off. You are not paying for the theatrical tableside service of a ₩₩₩₩ room; you are paying for technical precision in a format that makes it achievable. Google reviewers rate the experience at 4.5 across 163 reviews, a score that holds up well for a small-capacity restaurant where a few negative experiences would shift the average faster than they would at a larger venue.

If you have been once and are considering a return, the changing menu structure gives you a genuine reason to come back rather than a marketing reason. The question is whether the core experience, the room, the pacing, the service approach, delivered enough to warrant a repeat at the same price. At ₩₩₩ in Cheongdam-dong, the honest answer for most diners will be yes.

When to go

Exquisine opens every day of the week, running lunch seatings from 12 PM to 3 PM and dinner from 6 PM to 10 PM. That daily schedule is rarer than it looks among Seoul's Michelin-starred contemporary restaurants, some of which close two days a week. For visitors with limited days in the city, a Tuesday or Wednesday dinner is your leading option for a table that does not require weeks of advance planning, though given the small capacity, do not assume midweek availability is guaranteed. Weekend dinner is the hardest slot to secure and should be treated as a separate booking challenge entirely.

The menu changes with ingredient availability, so there is no single leading season to visit from a dish perspective. What matters more is avoiding the high-demand periods around Korean national holidays, when restaurant bookings across Gangnam tighten significantly. If you are visiting Seoul for a concentrated food trip and Exquisine is on your list alongside venues like Jungsik or Eatanic Garden, plan Exquisine first given the smaller seat count and harder booking logistics.

Booking and practical details

Booking is hard. The Michelin citation explicitly states that you should call ahead to reserve a table, which is the understated way of saying walk-ins are not a realistic option. The combination of small capacity and Michelin recognition means slots go quickly, particularly for dinner. Call well in advance; a minimum of two to three weeks is a reasonable baseline for a weeknight dinner, and longer for weekends. No phone number is currently listed in Pearl's database, so confirm contact details directly through current search results or the restaurant's own channels before attempting to book.

Address: 6 Samseong-ro 140-gil, Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul. Open daily, lunch 12 PM to 3 PM, dinner 6 PM to 10 PM. Price range: ₩₩₩.

For more options in the area, see our full Seoul restaurants guide, or explore Solbam, Restaurant Allen, and Goryori Ken as alternatives. If you are planning a wider South Korea itinerary, Pearl also covers Mori in Busan, Double T Dining in Gangneung, and Doosoogobang in Suwon. For Seoul beyond restaurants, see our guides to hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.

For contemporary tasting menus at a comparable price point internationally, César in New York City and Smoked Room in Dubai offer useful reference points for what the format delivers elsewhere.

Quick reference: Michelin 1 Star (2024) | ₩₩₩ | Daily lunch 12–3 PM, dinner 6–10 PM | Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam | Call ahead to book | Small room, reservation required.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Exquisine good for a special occasion? Yes, provided the tasting menu format suits your group. The small, intimate room, Michelin recognition, and a menu that changes regularly make it a strong choice for a dinner where the food is the event. It is better suited to two diners than a large group, given the small capacity. At ₩₩₩ pricing, the spend per head is meaningful but not at the level of the ₩₩₩₩ special-occasion rooms in the same district.
• Is the tasting menu worth it at Exquisine? At ₩₩₩, yes. Chef Jang Kyung-won's Michelin-starred menu built around local seasonal ingredients and garden-fresh herbs delivers technical precision at a price point that undercuts most of its Gangnam peers. The single-menu format means you are committing entirely to the kitchen's choices, which is the right call here. If you want to select dishes individually, look elsewhere.
• Can Exquisine accommodate groups? The restaurant is small, and the Michelin citation explicitly notes limited capacity. Large groups are unlikely to be accommodated easily. If you are a party of more than four, contact the restaurant directly and well in advance. For group dining in Seoul's contemporary fine-dining tier, a larger-capacity venue will give you fewer logistical headaches.
• How far ahead should I book Exquisine? At minimum two to three weeks for a weeknight dinner; longer for weekends. The combination of small seating capacity and Michelin one-star status in 2024 puts real pressure on availability. Treat it like a hard booking: assume it is nearly full, contact them as early as your schedule allows, and have a fallback option ready. Injegol and Pool House in Incheon are worth knowing if your Seoul itinerary needs a contingency.
• What should a first-timer know about Exquisine? The format is a single course menu only; there is no à la carte option. The room is small, so the experience is quiet and close-up rather than grand. The menu changes frequently based on ingredient availability, meaning repeat visits deliver a different experience each time. Book by phone well in advance, dress appropriately for a Michelin-starred Gangnam restaurant, and arrive with no expectation of a walk-in.