Seoul, South Korea >> Aliens descending on Hawaii and sampling Korean cuisine would sum it up as a rather simplistic experience. Save for the fresh, innovative flavors offered at tiny takeout spot O’Kim’s in downtown Honolulu, you’ll mainly find an abundance of kochujang- or yakiniku-happy restaurants. More recently you could add fried-chicken specialists as well.

None of this suggests enough variety for a robust, world-class cuisine. But that’s Hawaii’s take on Korean. This year the motherland has joined the ranks of its compadres in Asia — Japan, Singapore and China — in earning its own Michelin Guide, in which a three-star ranking hails exceptional cuisine “elevated to an art form.”

The inaugural Michelin Guide to Seoul 2017 names 146 restaurants worthy of mention. Of these, two — Gaon in Gangnam and La Yeon in The Shilla Hotel — are awarded the vaunted Michelin three stars.

Three — Gotgan, Kwon Sook Soo and Pierre Gagnaire — hold two stars, and 19 hold one.

During a trip to Seoul, I was fortunate to dine at three-star Gaon and two-star Kwon Sook Soo. With two such memorable experiences, I look forward to returning to Seoul to try some of the other top-ranked restaurants on the Michelin list.

Given its emphasis on artistry and the health benefits of fermented food and condiments, I have no doubt that this ages-old cuisine holds many ideas for our food future.

Gaon

Tasting menus here run about $200 to $260 per person, and I had to pay an approximately $90 nonrefundable deposit upon making the reservation while still in Hawaii, plus fill out a detailed allergy checklist for 59 ingredients, from anchovy to bellflower root.

Executive chef Byung Jin Kim is committed to promoting Korean food and food culture globally, taking a contemporary farm-to-table and seasonal approach to royal cuisine of the Joseon era (1392-1910). Meticulous detail goes into both preparation and presentation, and the pride is palpable as your personal waiter — in your own private, shoji-enclosed room — talks about the dishes and what goes into them.

After a drink of artichoke tea and watercress juice with a touch of apple, the meal started with Five Flavors of Nature, small bites culled from earth and ocean, including a small tube of crisp rice cake filled with raw Korean beef from Umsong/Eumseong province and tentacles of grilled baby octopus lightly coated with a house kochujang.

This was followed by a chilled bean curd soup with uni, a refreshing cold plate of white conch salad with slivers of crisp Naju pear (what we’d call a Korean pear), then a grilled specialty of strip loin and grilled Jeju Island black cod, which has a firmer texture than the butterfish served here.

Kim chee made its first appearance stuffed into a Naju pear that had been brewed more than 48 hours with chestnut honey and eight medicinal herbs. The kim chee had been aged for a month.

Meat lovers could appreciate ginger-soy braised black pork belly and grilled steak seasoned with 16-year-aged rock salt and 12-year-aged shoyu.

My favorite dishes were a kelp-steamed abalone, layered with a heap of grated shiitake; and two-day fermented blue crab and roe, which had a silky, gel-like consistency that oozed into fresh-milled Kimpo Rice from Japan.

We finished with flounder soup and four miniature desserts, from a soy milk panna cotta to sweetened sticky rice, and black bean tea.

At Holim Art Center, 317 Dosan-daero, M floor, Gangnam-gu; Gaonkr.com

Kwon Sook Soo

Where Gaon is a temple to artistry, Kwon Sook Soo delivers a more approachable though no less detailed and refined menu of Korean fare.

The name of the restaurant is derived from an archaic Korean word, “sooksoo,” a humble reference to a professional cook. In this case, chef Kwon Woo Joong also brings a creative, farm-to-table approach to the cuisine using varied, seasonal ingredients, with all cooking oils, preserved seafood, fermented condiments and vinegar made in-house.

There is a mix of regular tables, private rooms and counter seating that allows diners to watch the chefs in action.

Tasting menus run about $100 to $140 per person.

Starting the pricier Chef Tasting Course was an eye-catching array of appetizers that hinted at the painstaking labor that is a hallmark of Michelin restaurants. There was a sweet beef jerky, a slice of bottarga (cured fish roe) served with pine nuts, dried persimmon with walnuts, and chestnut soup.

A more upscale version of yukhoe was presented next, the raw beef topped with Korean Osetra caviar instead of the usual chicken or quail egg.

An Everyman dish followed, sending us into a swoon with a juicy Korean-style pancake of cabbage and plentiful sweet snow crab meat, accompanied by tofu sauce and arugula flowers.

Next, cold tofu was topped with a salad of fried burdock, celery and pun namul (grassy, chivelike Korean greens for which there is no English equivalent) tossed with banana vinegar and perilla oil.

An approximately $10 add-on dish of charcoal-grilled sea eel with salted sea squirt gave me pause because I’d never tried sea squirt before. I imagined they’d be like sea cucumbers, but these invertebrates grow like plants, attached to seabeds. They are plentiful at Korean markets, where their appearance is intriguing — they’re called sea pineapples for a reason, and I couldn’t figure out whether they were plants or animals. I was pleasantly surprised to find they have the taste and texture of uni.

Chinese mitten crab dumplings were delicious in a soy broth accented with a slice of Chinese yam, heralding the arrival of main courses. Diners had options of a pot of rice with octopus and six vegetable side dishes; 40-day wet-aged Korean beef strip loin with black sesame-tofu sauce; tteokgalbi (minced kalbi patties); or charcoal-grilled Korean beef tenderloin.

The meal was wonderful beginning to end, with a memorable dessert of a Thank You Berry frozen pop of white chocolate filled with blueberry, cranberry and red currant sorbet, served with cinnamon and cheese foam.

At 27 Eonju-ro 170-gil, second floor, Gangnam-gu; Kwonsooksoo.com

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.