Welcome to the second monthly Taste of Asia! In this month’s Taste of Asia, we will be exploring Korea cuisine with our guide Hee Joo Suh, who was born and raised in Korea. Suh will be in charged of bringing us to an authentic Korean restaurant and enlightening us about the Korean culture. Afterwards I will disclose my experience and rating of the restaurant.
Photo Credit Pixabay
Korea:
According to Suh, Korea is a country that focuses on filial piety, respecting one’s elders and superiors. For example, whenever a group of Korean people go out to eat, the youngest person is expected to take care of everyone. The care-taking involves constantly grabbing food and pouring drinks for everyone. Furthermore, Koreans have strong emphasis on hospitality. One evident example is that Koreans prefer serving food on hot stone bowls or plates, in order to keep the food warm. The Korean’s thoughtfulness is what make Korean culture and its cuisine special.
Hee Joo Suh:
Suh is born and raised in Korea. However, at the age of 8, she moves to the United States. Her move did not diminish her love for Korean food. She continues to practically eat Korean food everyday. Every time Suh eats Koran food; she can feel the abundance amount of love that the preparer uses to craft and prepare her food because majority of the authentic Korean dishes take a long time to prepare. For this article, Suh brings us to Cho Dang Gol, located in Koreantown on 55 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001.
Photo Credit by Angela Pan.
Food:
Upon Suh’s recommendations, we ordered 1 seafood stew ($15.99), 1 Bulgogi stew ($16.99) and 1 bokbunja sangria ($9.00). The food was enough to feed 2 people and the bill turned out to be $53.27, which included tax and tips. For some millennials, this place may be slightly expensive, however the restaurant provided customers with unlimited free condiments, which would ensure its customers to be full from their meals.
Photo Credit by Angela Pan.
My experience:
I really enjoyed coming to this restaurant. The interior was well decorated and designed. Due to the limited space and the vast number of customers, most people had to share a table. The owner was able to creatively set up dividers on the table, in order to give guests some privacy and to give the restaurant an aesthetic interior. Being able to eat at such a location helped built up my appetite.
In addition the food was good. The chefs did not make the food too flavorful, in order to bring out the ingredient’s natural flavors. However, the seafood stew and boiled barley rice was a little bland for my taste.
Photo Credit by Angela Pan
The “Interesting” dish:
The interesting dish that we got that night was not actually a dish; instead it was a drink, bokbunja sangria The waitress claimed the drink was good for one’s skin, given that koreanberry had anti-aging benefits. Her words motivated Suh and I to try it, to see if an alcoholic drink can really provide us with better skin.
At a first glance, the drink looked like grape juice because of its grape-like color. In addition, the drink could easily be mistaken as juice, due to its low volume of alcohol. The drink tasted sweet with a small tint of alcohol. I would recommend the bokbunja sangria to individuals that have low alcohol tolerances and want to have better skins.
Feedback:
Cho Dang Gol is a good place to eat authentic Korean food. The food is good. The restaurant tries to remain authentic and traditional, by not playing any of the trendy k-pop songs. All of songs are very soft and mellow, which makes them the perfect background musics. However, I wish the portions of the food would be bigger and I would want the food to be slightly more flavorful. The overall rating that I will give the restaurant is an 8/10.
