Young Kyung: Old School Korean Chinese Classics like Jjajangmyun and Tangsuyook

I think watching one too many Korean soaps had given me a hankering for jjajangmyun, the classic Korean Chinese dish of slippery noodles in a greasy and delicious black bean sauce. That's because of all the many eating scenes on Korean TV, there's always a requisite scene of a delivery man bringing a bunch of glistening noodles that people subsequently wolf down in exactly two minutes. So I went to Young Kyung (also spelled Young King, although in Korean, it's 연경 and therefore should be romanized as Yeon Kyung. Whatever.) in Koreatown, probably one of the most old-school establishments serving the dish.

It's not the most photogenic dish. It doesn't score any points for food porn. Once you mix the noodles up with the black bean sauce, forget about it. It's even less appealing to the eye. But take a bite and you won't be able to stop. The pork and onion pieces in the sauce coat the noodles evenly. Key is to mix it up before the noodles get too dry and start sticking to each other. The noodles were not too soft although they could have been a bit less cooked and the sauce was not too sweet and just salty enough. Some places put too much caramel or corn syrup and ruin the sauce by making it taste like candy.

While the dish is good by itself, it wouldn't be hitting the spot completely without the accompaniment of 1) tangsuyook, sweet and sour pork/beef and 2) Korean Chinese kimchi made with green cabbage instead of the traditional napa. I liked the way Young Kyung served it -- the deep fried morsels of beef separate from the delightfully gooey, sweet and sour sauce dotted with slices of carrots, cucumber, mushrooms and green onions. This way, you only need to add sauce to parts of the beef pieces so the rest stays crunchy sans sauce. And crunchy they were. That's another aspect of the tangsuyook I liked -- the beef pieces were extremely crispy, likely coated in sticky rice flour that make them extra crispy.

Then the kimchi was not bad, although it wasn't great. It was a bit watered down but maybe they didn't want the spiciness to overtake the flavor of the noodles. Gotta love a place that takes their food so seriously that when asked to box the leftover tangsuyook, the server brings two separate boxes, one for the meat and another for the sauce. When I commented on it, she emphatically said, "of course they should be separate!" The quality of the meat wasn't all that great but I was impressed with the care they put into making it crispy and the sauce wasn't too gooey-thick or overly sweet like many other places.

It also serves raw sliced onions with concentrated black bean sauce as a dip and that's only for the brave who don't have to worry about having onion breath afterwards. Pour some vinegar over the onions to reduce the spiciness if you're diving into them. Pickled radishes are usually offered in Korean Chinese restaurants but for some reason, not this one.

For a bit of history, Korean Chinese dishes like jjajangmyun were brought into Korea by Chinese immigrants in late 19th century and is said to have originated from Shandong province in China. The modern-day version is a modified version of the original, which didn't have meat or vegetables and was lighter in color. Many ethnic Chinese in Korea used to run restaurants serving this dish although that has changed in Korea.

At Young Kyung, however, the servers spoke to the Korean customers in Korean and to each other in Mandarin, indicating their ethnic Chinese heritage.

Korea Roundup 2011: Attention Spice Lovers, These Noodles are for You

If you asked me whether I was a jjajangmyun or jjamppong-kind of person, I'd say jjajangmyun in a heartbeat. But it's rare that you find a restaurant that only serves the latter so I got curious. Both are staple noodle dishes served in Korean Chinese establishments. This place called itself Hong Kong Ban Jeom 0410, and proclaimed itself famous for this seafood noodle dish, usually served in a red hot broth reflecting its heat level.

I had the regular jjamppong that was a panoply of pork strips, mussels, squid, kimchi and zucchini, brought together by an intensely spicy broth that tasted like the sea. The noodles were done just right and helped to balance out the spiciness.

What was interesting was that this joint served variations on the classic jjamppong, namely broth-less stir-fried jjamppong and jjamppong fried rice. Hard to believe no one's thought of that so far, right? The stir-fried jjamppong was basically the same ingredients (except shrimp, carrots, mushrooms and green onions added) as my noodle soup except they were stir-fried and not as spicy. It was excellent and gave jjamppong another dimension I hadn't appreciated before.

No outing to a Korean Chinese restaurant is complete without a taste of its tangsuyook -- deep fried pieces of pork or beef smothered in a salty and sweet sauce (not sweet and sour, mind you). The beef morsels were tender, unlike many joints that skimp on the quality of the meat and mask it with dough and globs of disgusting sauce. The sauce was just gooey enough and had the right amount of sweetness.

Despite it being a lot of food, we diligently finished it off, especially me with my spicy noodle soup, although I think it isn't for the weak of stomachs. It's potent so beware.

It was an amazing deal at less than $4 for my noodles... I predict a rant pending about the quality of jjamppongs in LA.

Korea Roundup 2011: Kalguksu Pairings at Andong Gukshi Cheongwajeong

There's nothing like a nice, hot bowl of kalguksu on a cold, overcast day. That's exactly what we got at Andong Gukshi Cheongwajeong (안동국시 청화정) that's known for that very noodle dish, located in the suburban town of Suji .

I must say, the broth is key for any self-respecting bowl of kalguksu, literally translated as "knife noodles" for the way the noodles are hand-made and cut. And I wasn't too impressed with the strength of the broth of this one.

But what compensated for the weak broth was the banchan, or side dishes.

The Korean green onion kimchi above (thinner and more flavorful than the western variety) is a breath killer but a fantastic match for the mild broth.

The second side dish that did it was perilla leaves pickled with red pepper flakes and green onions. This also paired extremely well with the noodles. Usually, this side dish is consumed with rice as a way to wrap the rice (like with dried seaweed) but in this instance, it was used to wrap white noodles. Starch is starch but it was an unusual but delicious way to consume it.

And of course, how could I forget the venerable kimchi? I actually liked the perilla and green onions with the noodles and broth better but the kimchi was good too.

Also, I remember kalguksu joints used to give you a pickled green pepper relish that you could add to the noodles but this place replaced that with these strongly flavored side dishes that played that role of accents.

Check out the bowl of kalguksu by itself -- it looks lonely for sure. That's why it has these three side dishes to complement its milder flavor with punch.

Noodles + perilla leaves

Noodles + Korean green onion kimchi

Noodles + kimchi