Eden a hidden gem for Korean fusion

Nestled in an unsuspecting strip mall just inside Pflugerville city limits is Café Eden, a Korean fusion restaurant focusing on fresh ingredients and carefully seasoned meats.

This hidden gem offers a relaxed, family-centric dining area and a mixture of well-executed Korean, Chinese and Japanese favorites.

Misook Kim Lee, a 30-year restaurateur, built the menu around recipes she brought with her from Korea 15 years ago. Her signature dish, beef bulgogi — which means “fire meat” — features slow-cooked, thinly sliced beef in a rich, sweet sauce.

It’s served in a bento box — a traditional Japanese way to serve food — with a creamy crab Rangoon and light, crispy tempura vegetables.

The Asian fusion menu offers less common dishes such as hot stone bibimbap, a bowl filled with rice and marinated meats and vegetables, and comfortable favorites like ramen and sushi.

Lee ties the food together by marinating all the meat herself and using carefully selected ingredients. The menu was borne out of foods she makes for her family at home — and the result is a combination of flavors not available together anywhere else.

“I am Korean. I love all Korean food,” Lee said. “This is what I cook for my family.”

Lee used to run a sushi restaurant in downtown Austin until spiking rent costs and late-night customers coming from the bar scene became too much for her. She said she moved to Pflugerville for its community.

Typically, fusion food conjures the idea of funky flavors of mixing two, unrelated cuisines. But, at Café Eden, it’s a subtle mixture of distinctive Asian flavors, carefully curated to blend together without getting muddled by each other.

Inside, the restaurant is homey and colorful. Behind the bar is an array of tea kettles and cups. To one side, there is a small seating area complete with a coffee table and couch. The other side opens up to the rest of the two-room seating area.

One room is considered the family room and has a wall of crosses and another couch. The second larger room has tables and booths. Painted along the wall are images and quotes from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince.”

The patio and entrance are decorated with carefully nurtured plants, grown from food scraps made from the kitchen.

Lee said she wants other families to feel comfortable coming not just to eat, but to relax and enjoy their time together.

“More than just a restaurant, this is an extension of our home,” said Sam Jeon, Café Eden’s manager and Lee’s nephew.

Café Eden’s slogan is, “food, family, faith.”

“There is more to this than just making money,” Jeon said. The restaurant is closed on Sundays, despite that being a big-money day for restaurants, because Lee spends the day in church.