Hwa Yuan Asian Restaurant: Surprisingly Awesome Korean BBQ!

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My mom's co-worker told her that she had to check out an amazing Korean BBQ restaurant that provides diners with thin slices of daikon radish for wrapping cooked BBQ meat.  At first, we had a hard time accepting that Hwa Yuan, a Chinese buffet/sushi bar place, could actually serve good Korean BBQ.  Well, the restaurant is indeed owned by a Korean family and they do serve Korean BBQ even if no one was eating BBQ when we got there.

Condiments and Banchan at the ready!

daikon slices with which to wrap BBQ meats

Sea Salt in Oil; Spicy Bean Paste Sauce

Meat Platter

Grilling

Meat Wrapped in Lettuce and Daikon

Rice Wrappers

Meat and Kimchi in Rice Wrapper

Spicy Seafood Stew

Grilled Mackerel

I highly recommend this restaurant for authentic Korean BBQ.  Their banchan weren't great, but the rest of the meal was awesome.  It's a little out of the way but worth a visit!

Han Yang Korean Market Prepared Foods

Han Yang has been my go-to store for Korean ingredients (usually frozen salted mackerel, kimchee, and sweet potato starch noodles for Japchae).  Every time I go, I can never resist buying a package of prepared food as a way to explore more home-style Korean food.

The colorful Korean mochi always looked appetizing, especially the ones covered in peanut powder.  However, this package of mochi is flavorless.  Mochi is usually super sweet, but these were barely sweet!  And although it looks like there's an assortment of mochi in the package, they all taste the same.  If I remember correctly, the multi-colored cake-like variety in the middle had a different, more cornmeal-like texture, it still tasted similarly bland.  I really can't recommend these sweets.

Korean Mochi

On the other hand, I loved and highly recommend the giant package of cooked pig feet with tiny dried shrimp preserved in brine!  I love the combination of savory, briny, and sweet flavors.  I would've never thought to use the pungent preserved dried shrimp as a condiment to pig feet, but it really makes this humble dish even more delicious and memorable.

Pig Trotters with Fermented Dried Shrimp Condiment

Another prepared food you can find at Han Yang is Gimbap, which is Korean sushi rolls.  It seems to have more of a rice to filling ratio than Japanese sushi rolls, and it usually has cooked ingredients.  It is also never served with soy sauce and wasabi.  Gimbap here is a quick, filling,and inexpensive solution to satisfying sushi roll cravings.

Gimbap

Chi'lantro

I've been following Closet Cooking's creative use of homemade kimchi in omelettes, quesadillas, pizzas, dips, and tacos, and I've been craving anything with kimchi since.  Then I read a timely post by Tasty Touring about the Korean-Mexican tacos served by the moving trailer, Chi'lanro.  Check their website for their location schedule.

I never thought about the possibilities of fusing Korean and Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, but I now realize that they share some common ground--spicy, tangy flavors and grilled marinated meats.  The two came together deliciously at Chi'lantro.  I ordered a spicy chicken taco and a beef taco.  At first I thought that the tacos were going to rely on the kimchi to make the fusion happen, but the beef was actually Korean marinated BBQ and not fajita beef, which made the taco a fusion success.  The chicken was good, but not as memorable. 

Beef Bulgogi Taco and Spicy Chicken Taco with Chi'lantro Salsa, Julienne Lettuce in Korean Chili Soy Vinaigrette, Cilantro, Onion, Green Onions, Sesame Seeds, and Lime Juice

I got a side of spicy fries.  The kimchi aioli was a hit.

Spicy Fries with Kimchi Aioli

Korean Air and Seoul/Incheon Airport: Better the 2nd Time Around

Korean Air

I looked forward to finally tasting the famed Korean Air Bibimbap on the journey back to the U.S. after my failed attempts at ordering it on the way to Shenyang. The in-flight dining experience did not impress me last time, and I was waiting to be underwhelmed again.

It turns out that their food is better heading out of Asia.

The breakfast from Shenyang to Seoul/Incheon was a kind of chow-mien with beef, a carton of chilled tofu with a Korean sauce, pineapple, and coffee. The noodles were not very good and the beef was tough, but the tofu was great but not something I'm used to eating in the mornings.

Noodles with Beef, Tofu, Pineapple, & Coffee; Tofu with a Korean Sauce

When I arrived at Seoul/Incheon airport, I made a mad rush to the line of restaurants upstairs in the international terminal because I missed the chance last time. Boy, was I happy! I ordered cold beef noodle soup and stewed beef short ribs. The buckwheat noodles were very elastic from floating in chunks of iced broth. They were topped with pickled daikon radishes, a hard boiled egg, cucumbers, beef slices, and slivers of Korean pear. I enjoyed slurping the refreshing noodles. The beef short ribs were extremely tasty and tender and the restaurant did not skimp on meat. Usually, it is easy for restaurants to cheat customers out of the pricey meat with a bunch of fat and bones. These were lean and lacked substantial amounts of bones. Delicious and honest food!

Restaurant in Seoul/Incheon Airport; Beef Short Ribs and Cold Beef Noodle Soup

Cold Beef Noodle Soup; Beef Short Ribs

On the plane from Seoul to LAX, I finally satisfied my curiosity by getting my hands on the bibimbap. The tray came with the steamed rice and the bibimbap toppings in separate bowls. You have to dump the rice into the toppings bowl and mix everything together along with a tube of spicy paste and sesame oil. It was a very good meal, but not as exciting as I imagined. It's more like comfort food, something not meant to knock your socks off, but comfortable and homey.

Bibimbap with clear seaweed soup, spicy pickles, and mochi

Bibimbap Before Rice; Bibimbap After Mixing

Breakfast was a dull and safe rice porridge with seto fumi furikake (rice seasoning) and spicey pickled radishes, but still not too bad.

Rice Porridge with Seto Fumi Furikake

百帝圜 (Bai Di Yuan) Korean Restaurant in Shenyang's Koreatown

Bai Di Yuan; Banchan Dishes-Kimchee, Spinach, Nappa Cabbage, Soy Eggs, Basket of Raw Veggies

My friend, BJ, said that the food here is pretty good. However, we encountered ridiculously horrendous service the evening he introduced me to this restaurant.

Exhibit A:

Galbi

The galbi, beef short ribs, came in a teensy weensy portion on what the waitress called "their bigger plate" in an attempt to explain away the unreasonable portion. Ok, well, how about the big-ass bones hiding underneath the 2 tiny slivers of beef and the slices of pumpkin underneath the bones? The couple at the table next to us enjoyed a huge plate of galbi with tiny bones and even had leftovers to spare! We were in an alternate universe, where the customers are always wrong. The manager didn't even apologize! He just said that we just happened to get a "different cut" of the galbi...the part with all the bones?!?!?!?! WTF.

I got over it by thoroughly enjoying our other dishes as BJ humorously continued his galbi battle. It turned out to be an enjoyable evening because of the good company I was in. I could care less about the bad service considering I would likely never come back. But my good friend has great reasons for his continuing fight against bad business practice. He'll be in the city for a longer period, and thus the shadow cast by this restaurant will hang over him that many more days...months... Sorry, BJ!

I ordered the pumpkin soup, fried pumpkin coated in salted egg yolk powder, and seafood pancake. I took great pride in my picks because these dishes rocked! The fried pumpkin was crispy on the outside, and hot, soft, and sweet on the inside. The egg yolk powder was ingenious! It was like magic dust that gave the pumpkin a slight savory flavor. Perfect.

Pumpkin Soup; Fried Pumpkin Coated with Salted Egg Yolk Powder

Seafood Pancake; Grilled Mackerel

Rice Steamed with Ginseng Roots and Beans; Broth for the Rice

Korean Air Food

My journey to Shenyang, China was dotted with a stream of bad plane food. I had such high hopes for Korean Air after reading about their award winning Bibimbap, but being a luckless gal, the stewardess apologized that they just ran out of Bibimbap for my first Korean air meal. I was stuck with a bland pot roast with extremely stinky steamed carrots and brocolli.

Pot Roast

For the next meal on the 14 hour flight from Dallas to Incheon/Seoul, they offered a choice of pasta or chicken. I picked chicken and got utter crap. Why serve fried food when it has to be heated by steam? The batter on the chicken became flour mush on the chicken, which made the entire dish inedible. As odd as this combination is, the side of lox and potato salad was the only tolerable item pictured here.

Fried Chicken with a side of smoked salmon and potato salad

I told myself that I can treat myself to delicious Korean food at the Incheon airport, but of course, my departing terminal was at the farthest end of the airport. I passed by amazing Korean food vendors, none of which allowed to-go orders. I had to make do with a Chicken Bulgogi Burger from KFC. Woe is me.

KFC Chicken Bulgogi and Peach Iced Tea

On my short flight from Incheon to Shenyang, Korean Air decided to torture me with another meal of tasteless porridge and a scary looking shrimp salad. I took one bite of each and stopped. There was no way I could subject myself to this food anymore.

Beef and Dates Porridge with Shrimp Salad

I hope my return flights on KA will be better. Please just let me taste the Bibimbap!!!!!!

A Taste of Seoul: Dishes I Have Never Tried in the U.S.

You know how annoying it is to layover at an airport in a country/city you really want to visit and never visited before? I'm glad to say that I visited Seoul Summer 2007 and won't be kicking myself for only passing through to get to Shenyang, China next week. This will be my first time on Korean Air so naturally I looked up their in-flight service to see what kind of meals I should expect. I was uber happy to see that they serve beef or salmon bibimbap for economy class! Yippee!

Let's back track to Summer 2007. I did not eat any Korean dishes that I've had in the states. I regret that because I can't make a comparison. Perhaps Korean BBQ, bulgogi, galbi all taste better in Korea! I would've really missed out, then! On the other hand, I was able to explore dishes that I wouldn't have otherwise tasted elsewhere.

While exploring the Dongdaemun market, we stopped for a snack at a little mom's and pop's. We couldn't read the menu, and there were no picture aids. The ladies just pointed at what one of the customers was eating, and we nodded in agreement.

One of the ladies promptly went out the front of the restaurant to grind some cornmeal, while the other started coating various veggies and meats in a cornmeal batter.

This wasn't the yummiest dish, but it wasn't bad. We learned to perfect each bite of the fried pieces of leek pancakes, seafood pancakes, Korean sausages, and shrimp with a piece of kimchee. I think kimchee can make almost anything taste good. I've had Korean seafood pancakes before but not in an assortment like this.



Perhaps we should have tried this seafood pancake stall instead, which is more like what I've had in the U.S.

Kwang-Jang Market Seafood Pancake Stall

I made reservations at Korea House for a Korean royal court cuisine dinner. Mum got a glimpse of royal court cuisine from watching a popular Korean soap opera, Dae Jang Geum about a Joseon dynasty court cook turned physician.

Korea House

When we arrived at our table, it was already set with the first course of build-your-own chilled crepes and an array of banchan.

chilled build-your-own-crepe tray, snacks, and banchan

The crepes were refreshing and delicious. The filling choices included rice noodles, beef, a kind of pickled root vegetable, carrots, cucumbers, egg, and a kind of sauce.

Build-Your-Own Chilled Crepes

The courses came in what felt like an endless stream. However, the portions were tiny. We ordered 2 different court dinners for 3 people to share, but each dish was only portioned for 2 bites.

salmon sashimi and raw shellfish

I want to say that everything was delicious, but a lot of the dishes were not up to par with the price and the courtly cuisine they claim to serve. The chilled shrimp was limp and not very fresh, while the shrimp potato salad was dry and bland. I love Korean potato salad when it's served as a banchan in the Korean restaurants in the U.S., and I thought it's a dish that all Korean restaurants excel at. Apparently, I'm wrong in my stereotype.

Chilled Prawn with shellfish; Shrimp and Potato Salad


BBQ Beef; Mushrooms grilled on pine needles

Leek Pancake and Egg Pancake


Root Vegetable Salad; Chilled Pumpkin Soup

Oxtail Stew; Grilled Eel


Hot Pot Soup

Rice and Clear Soup to be combined to eat as porridge

Dessert-sticky rice cake, popped rice, and watermelon

I thought the Korean royal court dinner was definitely worth the overall experience but not worth repeating because of the price-quality disparity.

We went back to plebian food the day after the royal dinner, and it doesn't get more plebian than amusement park outdoor food stalls! The Korean Folk Village isn't exactly an amusement park, but it's an outdoors living museum. The food court was a bit confusing. You have to purchase meal tickets and give the food vendors the corresponding number of tickets for each food item. This was a hassle because you have to research what you want to get, stand in line to purchase tickets, then get back into the different lines at the different vendors to assemble your meal.

I bought chilled noodle soup, which came with kimchee and BBQ pork kabab. This made a simple and scrumptious lunch.

Korean Folk Village Chilled Noodle Soup, Pork Skewer, and Kimchee

I neglected to research restaurants in Seoul and so we blindly stumbled upon a mediocre hot pot restaurant one night. One look at their selection of banchan, and I knew this meal wasn't going to impress. We can get better banchan at restaurant in the U.S.! C'mon! Pickled Garlic?

The seafood hotpot was nothing special. It consisted of chunks of tofu, spinach, which by the way is a terrible combination because you can develop kidney stones from it, octopus, shrimp, and fish.

Banchan

Seafood Hot Pot: the cooking stage and the cooked stage

We explored the Shinsegae department store food court for our last supper in Seoul, and we were pleasantly surprised by how delicious their baozi is! The Korean baozi tastes even better than the Chinese baozi I've had! Dad agrees, and he's from a mianshi (flour-based of Northern Chinese cuisine)-eating family.

Shinsegae Department Store Baozi

Hopefully I'll have time at the Incheon airport next Friday for a quick Korean meal before jumping on the plane again to China!