Alma Foods (CLOSED)

Perhaps contrary to its humble exterior, Alma Foods located on the 3rd floor of a building near Sangsu Station has been making a name for itself. With prior experience working at Itaewon’s Mi Casa, the head chef Manuel creates a traditional Spanish gastronomical experience at his restaurant, with the addition of background Spanish music. The complete experience is made of less than 10 dishes on the menu ranging from tapas and paellas. Some rare ingredients used in the menu, including Jamón ibérico, made from organic black pork that was fed acorns, herbs, and let free to graze in a pasture, are brought straight from Spain.While the jamón itself was indeed of great quality, putting it on top of bread with diced tomatoes (as the serving staff suggested) was not the best of ideas. If you were to rank this restaurant by the type of complimentary bread served, Alma Food’s unfortunately would not score too high. The complimentary bread that comes along the Gambas al Ajillo and jamón had a very strong flavor of flour while the texture was dry and brittle, making it hard to match with the main dishes. The popular Bombeta de Barelona, however, was not as disappointing. Made with Barcelona-style mashed potatoes with meat as the filling, the cute looking croquettes went well with the mayonnaise sauce. The Pancetta al Bacio, made with slow cooked pork, tomatoes and onions was also refreshing and delicious. Overall, Alma Foods is not a recommended venue for ‘real’ Spanish food, but in comparison to some other Spanish restaurants in town, the price and portions are pretty good.