Not only did bubbly Takahashi-san remember our names, she even remembered what we ordered and what we wore the last time we sat at the counter sipping takejochu (Korean shochu, ¥750).

We were a little disappointed that the menu had changed—gone are the hormone-and-liver sashimi dishes—and Takahashi-san confided that the reason we'd been able to get a table over the weekend at short notice was partly due to the current BSE scare. Even gourmet Korean still suffers from the public's notion that all that's on offer is kimchee and yakiniku. A visit to Linamha will dispel any such preconceptions.

Here the kimchee comes in refreshingly sophisticated forms. The possam kimchee (¥1,300) is a delicious ball of cabbage filled with assorted seafood, pine kernels, sesame, kukonomi (Chinese nuts) and cashew nuts covered in a delicious hot sauce, or order the seven kinds of kimchee (¥1,300) served in an oversize basket for a spicy overview of the Korean classic. Likewise, the yakiniku is equally sophisticated—slices of your choice of cut cooked on a diminutive charcoal burner. The bibimbap (¥1,200), another staple from across the Sea of Japan, was also a cut above the usual. Served in a hot stone bowl, the mixture of rice, egg, kimchee, bean sprouts and numerous vegetables was the hearty center to our meal.

A little more recherche was the scallop and persimmon salad (¥1,200). Not only did the thin slices of fish and fruit crowned with shredded carrot and a scallop liver look mouthwatering, the eccentric combination of flavors worked perfectly. The crab tempura wrapped in a spinach crepe (¥1,600) was another creative presence on the menu that combined tastes and textures to produce a complex tasting dish. Fortunately simpler items such as the ground meat in batter baked on a variety of vegetables more than held their own in the taste department.

To finish, we were coerced into ordering two desserts—the milk pudding (¥800) because it's a good Korean staple and an eggy Castella with black sesame ice cream (¥850) because it's a new addition. Both provide that little bit of sweetness needed to offset the bite of the kimchee.