mary eats

In the last couple of weeks I’ve eaten at a few restaurants that I won’t be reviewing for the Times, and here’s the scoop on one, Indigo. The owners of Haeboncheon’s popular Orange Tree expanded their pervious coffeeshop Good to Go, creating an airy, artsy space many will find that reminds them of a favorite café from home. Having only opened a couple of weeks ago, the restaurant is working out its kinks.

Those kinks include an awkward ordering system, order at the counter from the chalkboard menu for brunch, lunch, or to go items. At dinner, nod to any server, take a seat, and wait. Wait for a menu, wait for the kitchen to open at 7pm, and wait for your drink to arrive well after it was ordered.

While you are waiting take note of the clientele. Here you will find the hipsters that have turned the neighborhood from run of the mill into a colorful place to live and work. At night members of Seoul’s expat music community can be found drifting casually between the above bar and the restaurant, jack and coke in hand (the orange tree features open mic nights at 9pm).

The menu is small, but centers on classic cafe fare. My chicken broquette appetizer was tasty, but the dinner plate it was served on dwarfed the solo skewer, and the garlicky aioli was slopped, ungracefully on the side. A spinach salad, crisp with thinly sliced red onion and cherry tomatoes halves, was graced with a zesty lemon dressing. Funny how a smaller version (sans the spinach) continued to pop up over and over again as a garnish on my main dish and starter.

Main tucker will find fans with a hankering for spaghetti and meatballs. Ours didn’t start off well, cold meatballs, overly cooked spaghetti, but the sauce promising with piquant sliced peppers saved what it could (the plate was polished clean by my garbage disposal of a husband). My fish and chips was plagued by a dry, tough crust that appeared to be no more than a dredge in cornstarch. Accompanying potatoes sat in a pool of oil under the fish. Not appetizing.

Brunch fares better. Plates range from a Garden platter with mixed veggies, a tough and cold slice of French toast covered by blueberry compote and whipped cream, to a skillet burdened with an almost unfinishable amount of eggs, sausages, and bacon. Points deducted for butterless toast. Coffee is blah. A misnamed americano is really just a cup of the day’s brew while ordering an espresso yields a bright americano.

Indigo will do well as they offer the neighborhood a lively hangout within walking distance, my worry is their heavy dependence of prepared foods, the hashbrown in the brunch are the same ones that currently occupy space in my freezer, ravioli are not made on site (maybe the ones from Costco?). When they clearly have the audience, why call it in? One to watch in the coming months.