Korean lunch for Valentine's day

Barbacue meat and Banchan dishes around the pit

Long hiatus.( personal reasons but I think blogging is therapeutic so I'm back in business) Happy Valentine's day everyone. We had a very nice korean barbecue lunch this afternoon at the korean village opposite Ampang Point. The place has had some minor ( but significant changes) since I last came in in broad daylight. There are now two Iranian restaurants at the start of the block before you see the korean restaurants. I'm thinking, perhaps the koreans enjoy Iranian food. After all, the place is where koreans dine frequently. It is their version of "chinatown".

So let's get back to the business of review of lunch. I know some people dislike it ( from the comments on foursquare) but I like the canteen feel to this restaurant. You cant eat korean in a posh set-up it feels too hotel-lish. I had googled and read some blogs. And I think somebody mentioned this blog but when we chose this restaurant I wasn't too sure whether it was the same one. I didn't take down the name of the restaurant.

It has been almost 5 years since I ate in some of the restaurants along this row. The main change is the workers. We were served by Bangladeshi workers. Even the cooking of the meat was done by them. I thought the pork wasn't so nice. I remember having some very nicely marinated pork the last time. It was too die for. Today's version was okay but way below the standard of the last one.

Still, the banchan dishes made up for it. We had a nice selection all of which I enjoyed nibbling and poking through. We had the mandatory Kimchi soup which was very nice. They served us miso soup too I think. Due to the get-fit-motto for 2015, we hardly touched the rice. Yes evil carbs are something we no longer wan to enjoy to the max.

I'm giving lunch an overall 7.5/10. Am docking off marks for the tastiness of the barbecued meat. We will be returning but perhaps not to the same restaurant. Thanks WT for a lovely lunch!!

Five Fingers

Let's deviate from my batch of Indonesian pictures ( in the last few posts) and talk about this brilliant korean drama series which I completed over the weekend. It's called 5 fingers. And it features some rather brilliant piano playing by two brothers; Ji Hoo and In Ha. It's the second drama series I've watched which doesn't have loads of soppy heart wrenching scenes. ( Although discs 5 and 6 made me cry so much I had to drink loads of water to hydrate self) Wiki describes this ( inadequately I must say )as brothers who have difficulties. Understatement! It centers around family feelings most of which are natural and you can identify with these feelings pretty well. Even the unfair feelings and sense of jealousy.

The picture above is of Ji Hoo ( the elder brother ) playing the piano with Da mi ( the common love interest between the brothers but don't worry this is just the side story line, there are other aspects to entertain you.)Hong Da Mi was played by Jin Se Yun. And interestingly, she plays the piano for real in this drama. Apparently she has learnt the instrument for 6 years and still plays at home.  Another interesting fact is, she was not cast originally. Ham Eun Jung was initiallly slotted for the role and appeared in earlier  adverts promoting this drama. Like Hollywood, scandal followed and she was replaced.

* The flu caused lost of shopping time during the weekend. But I can gladly report to be 98% recuperated. Docking off 2% for the nagging cough which comes in bouts with a miniscule amount of phlegm

Korean condiments

We ate at a new joint. But I suspect the management is the same as a previous restaurant based in Ampang. Less Koreans eating.( More to do with the location of the place rather than the quality of food.) How do you judge a korean restaurant? 2 things to consider really. One is the number of patrons who're actually korean. And the other is the quality of the in-house kimchi. It should NOT be watered down to suit the Malaysian tastebuds. Keep the zInG!!! My only complain was that I reeked of barbecued pork on leaving. And the car smelt of it too. When you're pretty full, this may trigger a slight nauseous feeling.

Retrospective entry

I must have been so tired I up-loaded a picture..and nothing else yesterday. Jeepers! A combination of slow-internet connection and a distracted mind. Would it be wrong to say the koreans love these post-its as a way of expressing themselves? I've seen these in two other s places

1)the first is from a scene " Lovers in Prague". Korean drama serial.

2)The second was at the "little korean" place in Ampang. There were simply loads of little messages stuck on the wall.