I just experienced my first Korean meal! A few of my family members and I went to a Korean restaurant in Denver called Korea House to try out the cuisine. It was interesting, to say the least.
The place wasn't exactly hopping. In fact, we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant . . . a little daunting when you're hoping for a yummy meal in the company of loyal patrons. We sat in a back room that was large enough to fit all of us. We sat in chairs, but the other half of the restaurant required you to sit on the floor on little mats with tables that were about one and a half feet off the ground. Looking at the menu, none of us quite knew what to order. My Uncle David who lived in Japan for a couple years and his wife Julie were giving us the low-down on what was good, bad, and how some of the food was prepared. There were three large bowls that were spread across our table where you could cook your own meet if you ordered the Korean bar-b-que. Most of us opted for dishes that were made with familiar meats - like beef, chicken, and fish - as opposed to the ox tongue or octopus that we also found on the menu. Just before our meals were brought out to us, the waitresses brought out an endless amount of side dishes. There was enough food to serve a small army (I'll upload the picture soon)! There was the traditional kimchi (gross), bean jello (absolutely disgusting), bean sprouts (pretty tasty), broccoli with a spicy red sauce (also very good), tofu (not for me), fish patties (not terrible but not great), an onion/shredded lettuce type salad (delicious), and some sort of soup (can't remember the name). All these dishes took up the entire table! There was hardly any room for our main meals.
Our meals came out in hot bowls that seemed to still be cooking our food - some of the rice on the bottom of the bowl was even burnt by the time we were done eating. We had an array of beef, chicken dishes served over rice, shrimp tempura, my brother got a huge beef and chicken soup, and my cousin Breann and I both ordered seafood bibim bap. There were yummy and repulsive parts to this dish. First of all, the food was served extremely hot and didn't really cool down at all. Secondly, it's pretty spicy but not so hot that you start sweating of that your tongue was left charred. The seafood was served over white rice and on top of the fish was a soft boiled egg. I scooted my egg off to one side and dug in to the rest of my meal. The shrimp was delicious and I think there was some crab in there, too. Some of the side dishes like the bean sprouts (which I ate) and bean jello (also carefully pushed to the side with the egg) were also in the bowl. I should have known, but there was also squid or small octopus tentacles mixed in as well. I was trying to be adventurous during this meal and tried all the side dishes so of course I had to try the squid. It wasn't as bad as I thought but it had such a chewy texture that all I needed was one bite to satisfy my curiosity. The rest of the squid was carefully pushed to my "do not eat" section of the bowl.
I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about what exactly I'll eat out there. Some of what we had was really good, but there were a few things I'm not too thrilled to have again (like kimchi, which I've read is a staple in the Korean diet). It seems that most of their meals include beef or pork, and since I don't eat red meat, I'll have fewer options of seafood, chicken, and veggies. I would like to try to avoid tongue and dog as much as possible, but I need to remind myself to keep an open mind this next year. So if you by chance happen to come across some fermented cabbage, fish patties, or ox tongue . . . just think of me and say a little prayer!
No comments:
Post a Comment