...I see food, and I eat it. Especially if it's as good as Joo Bar's rendition of a classic seafood risotto. Their seafood gochujang risotto ($24++) switches the standard seafood broth out for a luscious, thick and creamy red pepper paste cream sauce which is derived from the ubiquitous gochujang paste.

The only downer about this risotto is that the king prawn in it had lost its freshness, resulting in a mushy and pasty texture. Other than that, it was a masterclass in how to take the fusion out of confusion.

The rice itself is cooked to a perfect, astonishingly al dente doneness, resulting in tender little pearls that simply melt under the gentle pressures of your jaw. The stellar cream sauce drenched every single facet of the risotto, from the al dente rice to the pleasantly briny clams. The sauce was charmingly creamy, packed full of marvelous flavor and had the mild, peppery heat of the gochujang looming in the background to keep the sauce from becoming overbearingly rich.

Besides the one errant tiger prawn, the rest of the seafood ensemble was sufficiently fresh, and there was just so much of it! Besides the pleasantly briny clams and mussels, a whole ocean of squid was swimming within the risotto, making the $24 price of admission well worth it.

While it's the least Korean dish on the menu, the seafood gochujang risotto is definitely one of the best.