10th December 2007
Korean and that's different
This place won me over. I wasn't expecting to like Korean food. I'd been to South Korea and was not particularly enamoured by their favourite cuisine, kim chee, which is dozens of sorts of pickled food, mainly pickled vegetable.
Yes, I like gherkins. But if you eat several picked vegetables, you have to drink a lot of water, order lots of fresh acidic juice, and eat lots of dry rice or bread, to tolerate all that salt and vinegar.
However, my friends who live nearby said the restaurant was wonderful and we were outnumbered (four in their family, three in ours) and I am always willing to go somewhere new.
FOOD
I have to compliment the management by saying that, like the British Indian and Chinese restaurants, this restaurant has the knack of making or serving food which is more suited to local tastes than the dishes you are given when ordering in authentic restaurants overseas.
I'm sorry, dear readers, but after taking copious notes on names I could not pronounce, and ingredients I could not spell or recognize, I got to the end of the meal and still haven't a clue what I ate.
Dozens of different coloured bits, rather like sushi or Indonesian rijstaafel. We all ordered different things and shared dishes. I know we ended with something sweet which I liked.
It was beautifully presented in all sorts of different containers.
If you go in a group of seven as I did, that's ideal. Because you have no trouble giving away what you don't want and grabbing something which others are indifferent to.
LOCATION
Kim Chee is near the lights in front of the railway station.
Right opposite the old cinema which is now a supermarket.
The pavement is narrow and you are near traffic stopping at the lights. It's rather disconcerting to look up at the window and see a big red bus towering over you, waiting alongside, with passengers looking down at your dinner.
MENU TRANSLATION
Staff were helpful in explaining, quite baffled by our inability to recognize Korean dishes. Next time I go to Korea or the Far East I'll buy one of those electronic translators with half a dozen languages. The cheaper ones do just English, Korean and Japanese. One with Chinese and Thai too would be handy but more expensive.
The alternative would be to photograph the menu next time and later load the photo onto your computer and translate it on line. Or get a Korean to translate it. Then amaze your friends.
If you don't know Korean food, I recommend you try it just for the novelty.
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