A: Almost everyone has their camera out.
I prefer friendly Mom & Pop Korean restaurants when eating out but I hardly take any photos when eating at one. Traditional Korean cuisine, with the exception of royal cuisine, usually presents the meal in one setting; rice, soup, kimchi, meat dishes and various banchan (side dishes) all together. I find it pretty difficult to capture all that abundance with casual clicks of the camera so I hardly ever bother.
On the other hand, quite a lot of non-Korean cuisine comes in courses. There is a break in between - perfect camera opp and I usually take advantage.
It was a muggy day and someone wanted Chinese, so for dinner Chinese it was.
Chinese cuisine in Korea is very Koreanized. I usually compare it to Italian in the States. Unless you go to a traditional Chinese restaurant that blatantly advertises as such, you won't find certain Chinese dishes that are available in Chinese restaurants in other countries. There are also dishes that are unique to Korea; dishes you usually won't find in a true Chinese restaurant, jajangmyeon and jjampong are main examples.
Baljae Banjum is a Chinese Bistro in Cheongdam-dong, famous for its fried dumplings and jjampong. It has a solid reputation so we went to check it out.
I liked the high ceilinged entrance, the lanterns were welcoming. (I was suffering from shaky-hands-when-trying-to-capture-lights-with-point and shoot syndrome, so please excuse the quality.)
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The dumplings were quite savory on their own, so after trying out the sauces I just ignored them.
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I haven't yet met anyone who shares this opinion, though. Even people who don't like seafood seem to like shrimp. Knowing this, and knowing that hot chili shrimp is one of the most popular dishes in a Korean Chinese restaurant I knew that this would be ordered.
The shrimp was fresh and well cooked, the sauce not too heavy. (Yes, I ate my share. "Not too fond" doesn't necessarily mean "I won't eat it, ever.")
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The broth isn't that dark, don't know why my camera went wonky.
If you're not at a western cuisine restaurant where the dessert has to be baked, dessert in Korean restaurants - which is mostly fruit - usually isn't charged. We got frozen watermelon. A perfect natural sherbet.
I think I'd go again. After tasting the naengmyeon I would like to try their jjampong and the dumplings are definitely worth another try.
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2 comments:
this post left me hungry!
Thannks for writing
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