Sunday 13 February, 2005

Korean food

Went to town today and while we were at it we wanted to try a restaurant for lunch that had been recommended to us. Unfortunately although the door was open the restaurant was not, and the faces of the chefs kind of told us that we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, so we had to choose something else. So we chose one of the numerous Korean restaurants on Robson, Ap Gu Jung that was open all day, from 11:30 to "lately".

We were the only western people there, which I consider to be a good sign - and this was the first time I've eaten in a Korean restaurant so we weren't quite sure what to expect. The decor of the place was weird mix of British pub and eastern European decor, and the menu was in Korean and bad English. I chose one of the easiest looking foods, skewered prawns and scallops - which they called "souvlaki" with "garlic and chill sauce", and Dragon went for some deep fried chicken (always a winner for him).

So what arrived for me was three skewers, yes, but also five little plates of other stuff that apparently was so obvious that it wasn't worth mentioning in the menu. So from the left upper corner, this is what I think it was: sauerkraut in chili sauce (weird but I think I could develop a taste for it), seaweed of some sort (not a big fan of this), cold sweetish mashed potatoes (very nice although it doesn't sound like it), iceberg lettuce with coleslaw on top (don't like coleslaw so this was a no-no) and in the second row beansprouts in a smoky sauce (very nice, would have been even better warm).

Dragon got his chicken which was apparently quite good but most of all aplenty - he couldn't even finish all of it which is fairly uncommon. Nice food, interesting experience. Need to try Korean again sometime.

Posted by kolibri at 13 February 20:19, 2005
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# 1 - Yoe (on February 14, 2005 12:03 AM):

The 'sauerkraut in chili sauce' most likely was kimchi, or 'killer cabbage' as I lovingly call it - a fundamental part of korean food and a complete craze in Japan. Fermented 'chinese cabbage' (kiinankaali) with chili and apparently some sea-originating creatures (someone told me that a variety of it is fermented with prawns being stuffed inside). The koreans, or the official propaganda I met in Seoul, claims that kimchi is one of the main reasons why not a single korean fell for SARS. Apparently it is so damn spicy that it kills all bacteria. Dunno, but whenever I feel like I'm falling into a flu, I buy some 200 g of it and fight it down. Usually it helps, makes your nose run like hell and leaves you unable to taste anything for some time :)

Korean food is delightfully colorful, spicy and plentiful - after getting used to japanese dishes which you need to order at least five to get an average person satisfied, the custom of serving those side dishes with the main course is absolutely great:)


# 2 - kolibri [TypeKey Profile Page] (on February 14, 2005 08:18 AM):

Ah, so that's kimchi. I knew it was some kind of food item, as it's advertised in almost every Korean restaurant - "we sell kimchi" signs are always out. As I said, I thought it was weird but I could easily see myself addicted to it :)


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