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Korean food helps beat winter
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/12/13 11:06  上海英文星报

  THE inspiration to sample a Korean restaurant came from my fondness for South Korean TV plays and movies. Just as Chinese, who pay a lot of attention to everyday dining, South Koreans have the same, if not more, enthusiasm for food. I heard many references to seemingly delicious food which made my mouth water, especially late at night when my stomach was empty.

  Since South Korean people have become the third largest foreign community in town after Japanese and Americans, it is not difficult to find a Korean restaurant. It's also a good idea to try some grilled meat during the cold season if you are tired of too much hot pot.

  Thinking of Korean cuisine brings to mind images of large selections of kimchee and girls in traditional Korean gowns grilling meat at the table. We cannot overstate how important kimchee (preserved spicy vegetables) is to Koreans. It's not just an appetizer but the soul of a Korean meal - it can go with rice or be made into soup and cakes.

  Since Korean cuisine requires only simplified cooking skills, it's hard to evaluate the quality of a chef. Therefore, the freshness of ingredients, service and ambience are the three elements key to the success of a Korean restaurant.

  The four Korean eateries I often visit (the best one, in the Lujiazui Gourmet City in Pudong, has disappeared in the redevelopment of the area) have the same characteristic: simple decorations, unlike their Japanese counterparts which are exquisite in every detail.

  You can choose to sit on chairs or on the floor, as Korean diners do. My legs soon became numb after crossing them for a little while, and believe it or not, this reduced my appetite.

  All claim to offer traditional Korean food - traditional because South Korean people protect their culinary customs well, and almost no fusion or borrowing from other styles of cooking is found in this cuisine. That's why all restaurants have similar menus.

  Ginseng chicken soup and oxtail soup are among the must-orders. They are plain in taste but healthy and nutritious. The other good choices include spicy and appetizing kimchee or bean paste soup. Only the demolished eatery offered dog's meat soup, which is terrible for me even to imagine.

  The restaurants provide eight or 10 different kinds of kimchee for free. The grills are prepared in the kitchen or cooked by waitresses or yourself. If the waitress is as silent and unhappy as the one who served us at the Korean Grill on the fifth floor of Superbrand Mall, you'd better do the work yourself.

  The charcoal is quite clean without much smoke. First rub the board with a piece of onion and then the beef, half-fat-half-lean pork or ox tongue. Easy enough!

  It's refreshing to wrap the grills with lettuce and the popular seasoning, bean paste. Those who like spicy and strong-flavoured food can also add garlic and red and green peppers in the wraps.

  The Hanpo Garden that I've visited lately has the best cold noodle I've ever tried (well, it may not be the right season to order that). It's contained in a huge bowl and the dark buckwheat noodles are soaked in sour soup together with half an egg, sesame, a piece of stewed beef and apple and pear slices. A waitress uses large scissors to cut the noodles in the bowl. The noodles are smooth and resilient and a little glutinous, so they must be hand-made.

  It's easy to fill up in a Korean restaurant - you need only order a soup, one or two grills, and noodles or rice for two.

  Hanpo Garden

  162 Huayuan Shiqiao Lu, Pudong (close to Jinmao Tower)

  Tel: 5888-9988

  Korean Grill

  5F, Superbrand Mall, 168 Lujiazui Xilu

  Tel: 5047-0841

  Hanfeng Grill

  5F, Grandgate Mall, 1 Hongqiao Lu, Xujiahui

  Tel: 6447-8817

  100 yuan (US$12) per person


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