Spring is here and the sun is officially out, giving me a very sharp reminder that it shan’t be long before I will be wearing a lot less clothes and a lot more of my flesh will be out on display. The bikini diet definitely starts now! So when looking for somewhere to go for lunch I was in the mood for something a bit healthier than normal. We were down in Hannam-dong so after and passed by La Ferme and thought we would give it a try.
The restaurant has an uber fresh and earthy style vibe. The whole place was festooned with mismatched wooden tables and and vegetation. The place is actually deceptively large, with three different rooms of seating and a counter in the middle where you can place your order. While the place is large, the menu is reasonably small with just a handful of salads, and some detox juices and teas. It being a hot day we were very thirsty so we ordered a Detox Booster Smoothie (7,800), and Detox Tea (6,000). The smoothie was a mix of apple, kale, celery, lemon, ginger and coconut water. It was quite tasty but rather thick and small. I make a lot of smoothies myself at home, so I doubt I would pay the price to get one again, but there are a lot of different varieties available. The tea was also quite weak tasting and we both wanted a bit more flavour from it.
The menu has a list of breads and spreads as a side dish. My girl Lizzy had ordered the Beet Hummus version (5,000). It comes with a very generous portion of sliced brown bread and a small tub of beet hummus. My god was this hummus orgasmic. It was just beyond. I have been making beet hummus for years, in fact I used to sell it at one point, and this one blew mine out of the water. It was so flavourful. It had a beautiful vibrant pink colour and a very sweet earthy beet flavour. I was very sorry I hadn’t ordered my own of these, and thought very seriously about getting one to go.
After perusing the main course options I opted for the Chickpea Salad (14,500), which is a mix of chickpeas, hummus, mint, ricotta, spinach, tomato, grapefruit & lemon vinaigrette. It also came with another slice of that amazing bread and beet hummus. I was blown away by the size of this. The plate was gigantic, which helped justify the larger prices. I loved the medley of items in this salad, and especially enjoyed that it came on a bed of hummus, which was just as good if not better than the beetroot version. I would have liked a touch more dressing but overall it was bang tidy, and I felt very virtuous eating it for my lunch.
My date for the day Lizzy ordered the Green Avocado Salad (15,800). This came with avocado, salmon, quinoa, cucumber, tomato, green beans & yogurt and almond dressing. Again the portion was humongous and there were not chintzy on the avocado or the salmon. I liked this salad a lot too, and found the creamy dressing to be flavourful without being heavy. If you like salmon and avocado then you will adore it I am sure. This one came with an avocado spread on bread. The avocado was mixed with grapefruit juice giving it such a refreshing flavour. I really can’t speak highly enough if it. If they sold their hummus spreads on their website, I would be ordering them on a weekly basis.
Overall I was very happy with my salad, the hummus in my opinion really elevated it into something special. The drinks I would probably give a miss next time, but overall it’s a very cute spot and the perfect place for a healthy summer lunch. There are quite a few of these salad style places around and this is certainly one of the better ones.
La Ferme is located at 32 Itaewon-ro 54-gil, Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Hangangjin Station (line 6) and come out of exit 3. Walk straight and take the third road on you left. Walk straight and take the the third road on your right. Walk a little way down this street and you will see see La Ferme a little way on the right hand side on the second floor. For more information you can call them on 02-790-6685 or check out their instagram page. They are open everyday from 11:30am-9pm.