8 Steps. In search of home-cooked European food?

If there is a restaurant that I go back again and again, it would be 8 Steps in Samcheongdong. I love having lunch there on a sunny day, maybe outside on the porch or inside the restaurant, looking over the people walking by.

This restaurant is run by a lady who used to teach my mom Italian cooking, and 15 years later, me. She made herself name by introducing Italian home cooking when no one else was doing it, and also by sharing her Scandinavian-influenced interior design in various magazines. She is married to a Swedish, so it is easy to see where she got her inspiration from. Her Swedish-inspired style permeates the restaurant, too, from simple wood tables and chairs to lighting.

The building itself is traditional Korean as you can see from the ceiling. She seems to have retained as much as she could. The building itself is shaped ㄷ, which is a common style. The kitchen is in the middle and one wing is used for guets, and another wing works as her studio where she teaches people how to cook.

(ok, not really how to cook. Rather, a very delightful cooking show, where guests are given recipes afterwards)

A view from where I sat.

Across the garden is the wing where the cooking show is held.

Home-made lemonade topped with tonic water

I ordered a tapas platter and a beetroot salad, as the weather was warm and I did not want to feel bloated afterwards.

The tapas platter changes daily. Today's were melon topped with parma ham, grilled aubergine and octopus.

My favourite part of tapas platter...

Grilled aubergine is always there because, in my opinion, aubergine is available all the time. Besides, it is so simple but delicious. It is grilled till it becomes caramelized, and it topped with reduced balsamic vinegar.

Octopus...boiled and dressed in lemon juice and maybe some oil...

lemon zest added some nice kick, and shiso (I think it was shiso) was very refreshing.

Beetroot salad-rocket, beetroot leaves, beetroot, cheese and parma ham.

Isn't it so pretty?




I ordered an Americano to finish off, but I was given a complimentary chocolate mousse. It was a dense mousse, but not as dense as chocolate pots. The portion was small so I did not feel so guilty. A nice contrast to the bitterness of coffee.

Would you like a bite? =)

Tapas: 13,000KRW(￡6.5)

Coffee: 4000KRW (￡2)

Lemonade: 8000KRW(￡4)

Beetroot salad: 18000KRW (￡9)

You have to walk up 10 or 11 stairs to get to the restaurant, not 8 steps. The lady said in a magazine that the name of her restaurant reflects her desire to step forward to the top. You might ask why not 9 steps? Because 9 steps seem a bit too complete as it is near 10 but 8, it is nearly there, but you still have to work for it.

One of the reason I come here often is that many items on the menu are hard to find elsewhere. Not necessarily fancy, but not many Western restaurants here offer them. All the food are home-cooked style which I like. I feel very at home here.

Although pastas are on the menu, it is not an Italian restaurant. I don't know how to categorize the place. -0-

8 Steps
02-738-5838
Samcheongdong, opposite Woori Bank

8Steps
02-738-5838
삼청동, 우리은행 건너편