There’s nothing like a nice, comfortable, tasty brunch to start off your weekend. Brunch has become a much more popular meal these days in South Korea, and I do enjoy a good meal.
One brunch location that I had been interested in trying for a while is Present. While the name is a bit unusual, the food looked really good on the menu, so I went off on Saturday morning to give it a go.
Before going to Present, I stopped by the Songjeong Reservoir. It was a bit chilly, but a nice brisk walk around the lake was a great way to get my appetite ready for my brunch!
Present is in an area of Ulsan that has much newer developments, and the building style is distinctly western.
One thing you notice is that when entering Present, there is a lot of alcohol available, and indeed in the evenings it is more of a dinner and drinks location.
There is also a bit of a retro plus African theme going on in the restaurant, as is evidenced by these giraffes.
I took a look at the brunch menu to see what was available. While I do like the convenience of ordering by tablet, it sure makes it difficult to get good pictures of the menu!
After perusing the two brunch menu screens, I decided to order a Mara flavoured pasta with thinly sliced pork belly, and a steak burger.
I also ordered some coffee, one café latte and one vanilla latte.
The restaurant was empty except for the two staff members, so my order was ready very quickly!
One thing I noticed right away is that the portions are very large, especially the pasta!
Looking at the food, the first thing I tried was the steak burger.
The steak burger comes with a large amount of chips, plus some ketchup on the side.
Cutting the burger was quite difficult, as the meat is actual pieces of steak, and not some fancy ground meat.
The steak burger comes with lettuce, cheese, onions, and a sauce with what looked and tasted like roasted garlic in a cream sauce.
Taking my first bite, I really enjoyed the steak burger! The steak was really well cooked, with a medium rare texture. The meat was both tender and juicy, and it worked perfectly with the other ingredients, which didn’t overwhelm the meat. The bun was firm enough to hold the ingredients but wasn’t stale.
The chips were nicely seasoned and well-cooked and added a nice contrast to the burger.
Next, I tried the mara pasta. For those of you not familiar, maratang is a Chinese based soup that is spicy and quite tasty. Here in Korea it is very popular as you are able to customize the soup to your taste with the wide range of ingredients.
The mara pasta was made to mimic the seasoning of the mara sauce used in the soup, and the chef has done an outstanding job! The creamy sauce had a nice flavour to it, with floral hints to it, and just the right amount of spice, so that it wasn’t overpowering.
The pasta was well cooked, and the noodles were definitely not soggy. There was enough of the thinly sliced pork belly to add some serious meat to the dish, and there were also dried garlic flakes on the top, which was an interesting addition but added some crunch to the meal.
When all the ingredients were mixed together, it was for a really tasty plate of pasta.
I also had the coffee to try.
The café latte was nice. The coffee flavour was not strong, but it had a nice subtle earthy flavour that came through the milk.
The vanilla latte was a bit disappointing, as it was overly sweet and honestly tasted like it was made from an instant package.
I have to say I really enjoyed my brunch at Present. The food was tasty, the staff was very friendly, and as the location wasn’t busy it was a really relaxing way to enjoy my Saturday morning. I can’t wait to visit again to try some of the other items!
