Four Seasons Seoul: Seafood Night Buffet and Breakfast at Market Kitchen (Honest Review)

We already covered the room, lounge, and hotel overview in our Four Seasons Seoul hotel review. But the dining here deserves its own post entirely because we filmed both the Friday seafood night buffet and the breakfast at Market Kitchen, and honestly the food blew us away more than we expected.

This is coming from someone who usually does not like buffets. I always think they are never worth the price. Market Kitchen at Four Seasons Seoul made me change my mind.

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Seafood Night at Market Kitchen (Friday Only)

If you are a seafood lover visiting Seoul, you have to plan your trip around a Friday. That is when Market Kitchen does seafood night, and the spread is genuinely one of the most impressive we have seen at any hotel buffet anywhere.

Pricing (as of our visit, October 2025):

• We paid 195,000 KRW per person
• Current pricing on the website: 199,100 KRW for adults, 99,500 KRW for children

Was it the most we had ever spent on a buffet? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely yes.

The Tuna Cutting Show

The highlight of the whole evening is the live tuna cutting show. It starts at 6:30 PM sharp and runs for about 30 minutes. The chefs break down a whole fresh tuna right in front of everyone, and once they are done, they serve the pieces immediately.

Neither of us had ever seen anything like this before. When they brought out the toro (fatty tuna belly), it was only a few pieces per person. We happened to get some, and it was unlike anything we had eaten before. Buttery, silky, melts in your mouth. There is literally a tingle when you eat it. We could not stop talking about it.

If you visit on a Friday, get there early and position yourself close to the station before the show starts. The belly pieces go fast.

What We Ate

The full spread was overwhelming in the best way. A few standouts:

Seafood stations:

• King crab, freshly prepared upon request by the chefs
• Lobster claw, tiger shrimp, snow crab, mussels, and abalone
• Steamed crab and steamed sea bass
• Singapore chili crab

Sashimi and sushi:

• The quality here was restaurant level, not buffet level. We kept saying it out loud
• Sea urchin, toro, yellow tail, red drum, steamed abalone with sake
• Salmon maki, squid with soy wasabi
• Fresh wasabi (possibly real wasabi, we were not sure)

Other highlights:

• Salmon Wellington (very fancy for a buffet, he loved it)
• Kabi (wagyu beef), subtle sweet and savory, very soft
• Miso cod fish, shumai, fried rice with sambal
• Korean banchan: potato, kimchi side dishes

Desserts:

• Grand chocolate fondue station with almond financier, marshmallow, and toppings
• Korean traditional sweets: sikhye (sweet rice punch) and sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch). Most hotels we have visited do not carry both. Four Seasons had all three including a fruit punch version. Worth trying all of them.
• Korean honey selection: chestnut honey, pampas honey, and more. Something you do not normally see at a buffet.
• Ice cream made fresh to order with toppings
• Korean hodo-gwaja (walnut cake)

The dessert selection alone was better than most standalone dessert spots.

Our honest take on the seafood night:

Vincent does not like buffets and always says they are never worth it. By the end of this meal, he was fully converted. We were both shocked at the quality. Everything tasted like it came from a proper restaurant kitchen, not a buffet line. The fresh seafood especially was at a level we were not expecting.

Even with the price tag, we genuinely think you should experience this at least once.

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Breakfast at Market Kitchen

Breakfast is included if you book through Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR). If you are paying out of pocket, it is 83,610 KRW for adults and 41,800 KRW for children. Either way, it is worth making time for.

The breakfast spread is massive and covers Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Western options all at a very high standard.

Korean section

This is where Market Kitchen really stands out compared to other hotel breakfasts we have had.

• Dakgangjeong (Korean fried chicken). This was so good, try it if you have never had it before.
• Tteokbokki and Korean street toast
• Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew with pork). We tried the hotel version to compare. Good sourness, good fermentation, not watered down.
• Doenjang guk (Korean miso soup) and potato banchan
• Kimbap (not sushi, it is kimbap, the veggie version)
• Bellflower root namul and bracken namul. These are Korean wild vegetables you can find dried in the US but rarely fresh. Here they had the fresh versions. If you are not familiar with Korean cuisine, this is a good place to try them.
• Korean pumpkin soup. Very good, try it.

Japanese section

• Smoked salmon, smoked yellowtail, tempura roll, and sashimi in the morning. An actual fish selection at breakfast.
• Soy marinated shrimp

Western section

• Homemade bacon. Soft, high quality, melts in your mouth.
• Hash browns, roasted potatoes, boiled eggs
• Full salad bar with pumpkin kale brassica salad among others

Pastry and dessert section

• French toast made to order. This deserves special mention. It was the best French toast we have eaten in our lives. Fluffy, not overly sweet, juicy, and it just melts. I usually skip French toast because I find it too sweet. I went back for seconds here.
• Garlic butter bread, raspberry green tea Danish muffin, maple pecan Danish, bacon onion quiche
• Korean Oreo (Oreo O). Different from the US version. Comes with marshmallow inside. If you see it in Korea, try it.
• Korean chestnut honey and other local honey varieties
• Chocolate pandu still available from the night before
• Fresh juice options: apple, grapefruit, orange, beet apple, ginger carrot orange

The breakfast felt like a proper restaurant spread, not a hotel breakfast line. We were already full from looking at everything.

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Our Verdict on Dining at Market Kitchen

Seafood Night (Friday): Go. It is expensive but it is a proper experience. The tuna cutting show alone is worth planning your visit around. The quality across the board is at restaurant level. If you are on a budget, skip the lounge access room upgrade and use that money here instead.

Breakfast: If you are booking through FHR, you are getting this for free, which is an incredible value. Even if you are paying out of pocket, the spread is so extensive and the quality is high enough that it is worth it. The French toast alone is worth coming for.

We have stayed at several luxury hotels in Korea including Grand Hyatt and Signiel. The dining here at Market Kitchen is the best hotel food we have had.

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And if you missed our full hotel review, check that out here as well:

👉 Four Seasons Seoul Full Hotel Review