How to get to where you are going! We made a date with friends to meet at a local Chinese restaurant last week and, when we got there, found that they close every Tuesday (Lesson for the week: Always check!). So four of us drove up Sea Point Main Road in the rain looking for something that none of us had been to before. And we were all in an Asian mood. Suddenly, we saw Seoul Korean restaurant in Regent Road and agreed that we had been meaning to go there for ages, even though none of us has any experience of Korean food, other than second hand recommendations and warnings that the food was HOT and garlicky. Well, we all like a bit of heat and love garlic, so that was no deterrent
Because we all love prawns, we ordered the large portion of the Sweet and Creamy Prawns - Kanpung Saeu. And large it was, with big prawns. They had been fried in a crisp batter and then drizzled with the Sweet and Creamy sauce which was a blend of mayonnaise, sugar and rice vinegar. Doesn't sound great but, actually, it works very well. Again, no heat. So we realise that we have to order those dishes on the menu that have chilli symbols next to them. Next time
We took Perdeberg Courageous Dry Land barrel fermented Chenin Blanc 2017 and Quando Pinot Noir 2014 wines with us and were very happy to pay corkage although, on inspection, we see that they do have quite a good wine list, with some reasonable choices
The menu has some very familiar starters and we were hungry, so we ordered three
On a return visit, we will try some of the unknown, interesting sounding dishes
But, probably, not the spring rolls, we find those rather boring
Very good Chicken sate, nicely glazed with marinade, and succulent. It comes with a classic peanut spicy sauce
We kept it on the table to enjoy with main courses
This was not quite what we were expecting to see when the Tempura vegetables arrived
Large handfuls of mixed veg had been dipped in batter and fried, so it was a bit greasy and gluey in the middle
And the vegetables were quite hard to recognise
Carrots yes, probably onion, but not sure about the others, possibly potato and red cabbage?
10 juicy beef dumplings came with a dipping sauce which had a tiny bite of chilli, but not much
Very familiar and reminded us of Chinese dumplings
Four complimentary dishes come with the main course; clockwise from the top left
Shredded carrot, beansprout salad, kimchi and matchstick boiled potatoes
The Kimchi was very enjoyable; it's like a spicy sauerkraut and adds lots of flavour to other dishes. Not very hot either
We felt that they were being very careful with heat, even though we said we were all happy with medium heat dishes
This is the Korean style Chicken Hot Pot
Very succulent and flavourful chicken with some pickles and mild, very mild slices of green chillies
Definitely worth a revisit
Bulgogi (means fire meat). It is a shredded barbecue beef dish, recommended by our waiter
Rather grey and bland and a little disappointing, we were expecting some good fire!
From the internet, we learned that it "has a blend of soy sauce, brown sugar, Asian pear (or red apple),
garlic, ginger, ground black pepper and sesame oil
This gives a slightly salty, mildly sweet and nutty savoury flavour"
Innocent, our lovely, attentive waiter, was very helpful with our menu choices, explaining everything well
We also spoke to the owner, who said that he came here from Korea 10 years ago. Shame on us for not trying this sooner
and for refreshment at the end of the meal, some orange wedges
The bill
All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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