Korean restaurant – Wong Eats

Woomi Garden

Korean restaurants are hard to write about for the very fact that most are quite good and they serve basically the same array of traditional dishes. However, my visits to various establishments were generally marred by loud and flashy restaurant environments or food that appeared mass produced without a sense of personal touch. For these very reasons, many Korean restaurants have been visited, but only a couple have made it on my blog site.

I had passed by Woomi Garden for many years from my visits to my favorite Cantonese joint (read blog) located close by in Wheaton, MD. Speaking to some Koreans, they always pointed to this establishment, and I had to get over my bias of the place due its rather rundown look on the exterior. Furthermore, a great coupon offer appeared online, and that sealed the deal for me to make it through its doors. Walking in, you immediately sense that its charm saw its heyday a few years ago with the decor looking very Old School/Old World and the place feeling that it needs a good scrub down from all the barbecue smoke from the last decade. Counteracting my immediate reaction, the sight of expats and a fairly full house were the assurances that I needed to quell some of my trepidations.

A litmus test of Korean restaurants, in my mind, is with the side dishes placed before the arrival of any dish. The seven small bowls were served on both occasions with only a single change on another visit. The Kimchi tasted quite tangy and spicy, with a slightly crunch to indicate its proper breakdown from the spice marination. The beansprouts were slightly salty with a hint of sesame oil and tasting still slightly crunchy. The unwaxed cucumber (Kirby type found in Korean marts) were slightly wilted from a slightly sweet spicy mix. The Chinese spinach was barely wilted and slightly salty and aromatic from sesame oil. The shredded daikon was crunchy, sweet, and tangy. The salad was deceptively tasty from a light vinaigrette. The pressed tofu skins were savory and meaty in texture. The potato was savory from soy sauce and slightly sweet. All these dishes passed the litmus test well, and not a single morsel was left on both visits. The complementary Miso soup was properly made with enough bean paste in the soup, mixed with pieces of tofu, umami-filled Wakame seaweed, and slivers of green onion.

One appetizer that is a favorite of mine is Mandu or Fried Dumplings. The appetizer portion here is quite sizable with six rather large pockets making it to the table. The skin was the thick version made blistered from some good hot frying, but it was not too stodgy to fill one up quickly. One bite into it revealed a fairly savory mixture of minced pork and beef, made a bit fragrant from a good amount of finely chopped green onion. The side sauce was tasting salty from soy sauce, tangy from vinegar, and spicy from slices of jalapeño, making the pockets even more tempting. Despite having eaten three of them, they didn’t fill me up nor prevented me from looking forward to the rest of the meal. Not a bad start.

On one occasion, we ordered two main proteins for the mains. The first was the obligatory Beef Bulgogi. The plate of raw meat arrived looking bright red and very freshly prepared. Our waitress had heated up the grill plate and thankfully the strong vents were working, a common complaint I have about many such eateries. The grilled product was tender pieces of beef, tasting well-seasoned of slightly sweet and quite peppery from white pepper. The lettuce leaves served as wraps for these meaty morsels, but I found the side miso-based sauce too salty with each packet. I have had many versions of this dish, and I must admit that this is a very good rendition here.

The other main was Marinated Pork. Just when I thought that the beef dish was a great hit, this meat cut did not take a secondary role. The pieces of pork were quite tender, tasting quite sweet, and made spicy and slightly smoky from the use of dried chili powder. It was this combination of flavors that made each piece irresistible and especially interesting from that smoky note which reminded me of smoked paprika. I must have had overdosed on meat that night due to the latter two meat dishes and their well-marinated flavors. But with such wonderful flavors and quality meat cuts, one just can’t help himself from doing so.

Jap Chae is a common dish found in most Korean places, and an order was placed here. The large plate arrived with a generous portion. What I appreciated about what I ate was the tapioca noodles that were slightly al dente, the pieces of carrot, sweet onion, red pepper that were quite slightly crunchy to provide a textural counterpoint, pieces of green onion that added the slightly pungency, the wood fungus that added the slippery texture, all topped by egg strands. The seasoning was perfect with its savoriness and the right amount of sesame oil as to not overwhelm the whole mix. This is another must-order here in my books.

Another visit was marked by two other proteins for the grill pan. The first was Large Shrimp. The order was generous with around a dozen of the butterflied large pieces. Our waitress was so busy running around that night, being a full house on the weekend, that I had to attend to the cooking. The pieces were well-marinated tasting slightly sweet with a bite from a good dose of black pepper, which made the seafood more interesting than the usual treatment. Unfortunately, the pieces were slightly overcooked due to my late rescue, but the flavors made up for that flaw. The vegetable sides were sweet red pepper, sweet onion, button mushroom, broccoli, and Shiitake mushroom, the latter being the star among the veggies with its meaty texture and boschy notes. If weren’t for the overcooking, this would have been the perfect dish.

To balance things out, we had to order the Chicken dish which comes in the breast form. The fairly large pieces tasted well-marinated, as in the case of all the above proteins, quite sweet from the caramelization on the grill, and a hint of white pepper. Yes, the poultry was a bit dry due to the lack of attention from our super busy waitress, but I managed to save it from beyond redemption. If chicken breast is your thing, I won’t hesitate ordering it here due to the flavors that each piece carried.

To end the meal, we were served wth a traditional “dessert”. It consisted of a slightly sweet soup made “milky” from grains of rice boiled until it is quite spongy. The soup tasted sweet from the use of rock sugar which has a subtle distinctive taste from granular sugar. This reminded me of my grandmother’s version, but she would let the brew ferment for a few days to produce an amazing boozy elixir. But this meal-ender was refreshing and enough to give me the sugar fix without saturating my taste buds.

Woomi Garden is definitely a great find for Korean fare. Yes, its decor is screaming for a serious update and a heavy scrub down. Putting that aside, what makes this place spectacular is the finesse and flavors in all the dishes that we ordered, starting from the proper Miso soup, to the pretty good dumplings, to the scrumptious side dishes that balanced the meal perfectly, to the proteins that were well-marinated and from good cuts, and to the Jap Chae that had a perfect balance of flavors and textures. Again, never judge a restaurant by its faded front and decor, but by its offerings and the sight of a filled dining room. Now, time for me to get a couple more coupons before the offer is over.

Myong Dong

Food, Restaurants

In the last blog posting on a Ghanaian restaurant serving a good rendition of the West African dish, Fufu, (read blog), I mentioned its location round the corner from a favorite Korean haunt of mine. Myong Dong has been in the same strip mall since I visited it for the first time during my graduate school days 26 years ago (OMG!!). Ever since then, I paid it many visits during lunch time on days when school was out or during the holidays. I never considered writing about this place due to the infrequent stop-in’s, but recently, I realized that it was worth mentioning this eatery on my blog site.

Walking in the space, you are confronted by a neat looking space with simple yet appealing wooden tables and chairs. After placing the order and being served some water or hot barley tea, an array of different side dishes would appear in front of the diner. I must say that I am fond of this aspect of Korean cuisine, and I have had my fair share of these preludes to the meal. What Myong Dong serves up is not the same quantity as some other establishments, but the few, around 3 or 4, are best judged for their quality and flavors. The Kimchi tastes quite fresh and having been given the proper marination, the Napa cabbage is slightly wilted while tasting spicy from some chili and ginger, and slightly sour to balance the flavors. Another dish is pickled Daikon. Cubes of the white root vegetable is still crunchy without tasting raw, exuding some sweet and rice-vinegar sourness, good enough for one to ask for another serving and sip that sweet vinegary liquor. Pickled Cucumber is also another mainstay. Pieces of unwaxed baby cucumber tasting slightly crunchy from its skin and soft on the inside have been marinated with some chili paste and vinegar. Infrequently, Pickled Green Chilies make an appearance, exuding its natural capsaicin heat along with its pickling of soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar. I must say that I would devour these sides before my main course, and I always ask for refills during my meal. If I could, I would make a meal out of them for they are just oh-so-good.

It would be amiss to eat at a Korean restaurant without trying their Mandu or Stuffed Dumplings. For many years, I would order their lunch specials, and the dishes would arrived with a couple of these fried small bites as part of the combination. Each time, I was taken aback by how good they were. So, on one visit, I placed an order from the appetizer section which comes in either 6 or 12 pieces. This separate order only reaffirmed my take on them: the perfectly crispy thin skin encapsulated a meat stuffing that was both fragrant, with a good hit of white pepper, and savory at the same time, making one to savor every morsel of these tasty delights. As if these dumplings were not good enough, there is a side sauce that takes them beyond the stratosphere with the flavors of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and perhaps Mirin, making it a completely sippable elixir. These small fellows do make big strides indeed on the tongue with their awesomeness.

Lunch time is usually the time for my visits to this place in order for me to take advantage of the reasonably priced lunch specials. Most of the offerings are marinated meats served in Bento-styled boxes. One of my favorites is Spicy Pork. What arrives is grilled meat tasting spicy from a good marination with some chili paste and slightly sweet to balance the heat, mixed with some sweet peppers and onions. What I appreciate about the meats here is that they are properly marinated for a length of time before sweating it out on the grill; the same goes for the beef and chicken orders. Accompanying the meat are usually some rice, a simply crispy salad, those irresistible fried dumplings, some pieces of fried tofu in sauce, and a slice of fruit – a true balance of Ying and Yang. With those delectable side dishes to go along with the main dish, what more could I ask for during my lunch time?

Another order from the lunch special menu is Rice Bowl. The bowl arrives with pretty much the elements of the previous dish: grilled marinated meat, salad, and fried dumplings, strands of egg and toasted seaweed sheets, all sitting on a mound of rice. But here, there is an addition of chili paste to be mixed in with all the aforementioned, allowing the diner to control the amount of chili heat to one’s liking. So depending on my mood, I would order this bowl when I want all the parts coming together, or the box if I am in the mood for something deconstructed. Either way, both are winners in my stomach.

Beyond the lunch specials, I found a couple of dishes that are also in my repertoire of favorites, Be Beam Naeng Myun being the first. The bowl arrives with a mound of cold buckwheat noodle topped with some spicy bean sauce, slices of pickled daikon, raw cucumber, slices of cooked brisket, a boiled egg, all sitting on a pool of chilled sauce. A couple of scissor snips of the noodle and a good mix of the elements brought the dish together to its gestalt height. Every element contributed to that effect with the rather firm noodles, the sweet spicy paste, the vinegary daikon, the cool crunchy cucumber, the beefy brisket, the rich egg, all enveloped by the savory chilled sauce laced with fragrant sesame oil. This dish is a definite hit for me, especially while we are still enveloped by the summer heat.

The other dish is like the above, a noodle dish, but in a spicy soup form – Jam Pong. The bowl arrived with some thick noodles swimming in a fiery red soup, with bits of mussels, pork, squid and baby corn accompanying the main starch. The seafood was perfectly cooked, tasting sea sweet and fresh, the vegetables cooked and adding their vegetal sweetness, and the noodles tasting home-made and al dente. But it was the soup that brought the tasty bits together, with its depth in flavor and spiciness that was both searing and alluring. In the last couple of orders, the mussels were overcooked, and I will make it a point to request the kitchen not to overcook them since I truly enjoy this spicy noodle bowl.

On a number of visits, I noticed that some diners were feasting on some Fried Chicken. With that in mind, I decided to try their rendition which comes in half or whole chicken. My order was the half bird chopped up into large pieces, dipped in batter and deep-fried. One bite into a piece revealed its true nature. The batter was not the seasoned flour type, but a barely seasoned rice flour coating. The meat was cooked through, including the pieces of breast meat that were still moist, but again, not as seasoned as I thought. A dip into the side salt mixture was the secret in its eating that provided the necessary seasoning and flavors that “woke” these pieces up. In other words, the pieces of poultry was the canvas to the salt seasoning that was a secret (according to Mrs. Chef) mixture of salt, chili powder, and other ingredients that made it de rigueur for these crunchy bites. Once I could wrap my brain around this distinctive approach of fried chicken, I began to enjoy and appreciate this unique version. However, I would have preferred the poultry cooked a couple of minutes more, and I will request such an order for that extra crispiness.

It has been hard thinking of a Korean eating establishment to write on, but ultimately, I resorted to a place that I have been patronizing all these years since I have been living in Maryland. Yes, it is not a big space nor do they offer a wide variety of dishes usually found in bigger eateries. But I have always enjoyed their marinated meat lunch specials, fried chicken and the noodle dishes, as well as those side dishes that keep calling my name every time I take a seat there. Now with lunch specials offered the whole day on Sundays, I have another reason to indulge in these Korean treats.