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2011-04-01
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Han Ah Rum is the Korean restaurant with the highest number of smiley faces in Causeway Bay. My last visit to this restaurant was over 4 years ago when it first opened. My memories with this restaurant was quite a fond one as i remembered the kimchi was spicy and sour enough. After all these years, I paid my second visit to this restaurant with my ma, who suddenly was so enthusiastic in eating some Korean food.We arrived at around seven and the place was half full, and the air-con was extremely
Han Ah Rum is the Korean restaurant with the highest number of smiley faces in Causeway Bay. My last visit to this restaurant was over 4 years ago when it first opened. My memories with this restaurant was quite a fond one as i remembered the kimchi was spicy and sour enough. After all these years, I paid my second visit to this restaurant with my ma, who suddenly was so enthusiastic in eating some Korean food.We arrived at around seven and the place was half full, and the air-con was extremely strong. We reflected that to the manager and she apologized, saying that the air con was a centralized one and could not be partially adjusted. i could do nothing but anticipate more customers to come so that the coldness could be adjusted, while holding onto the lukewarm cup of tea.
The menu was quite long and comprehensive, offering Korean BBQ to soups and stews and fried pancakes. After some time of inspection we ended up ordering a plate of beef karubi marinated with salt, a plate of ox tongue, vegetables and beans paste to eat with the BBQ meat, as well as an order of stir-fried korean rice cakes in hot sauce. Not withstanding the coldness in the room, i also ordered a cup of ginger and honey tea to warm myself.
We were then served with small plates of kimchis, many of them being quite different from what's usually seen, like the 'fun si' etc. Some were remarkably tasty for example the egg roll and the cold bean curd with hot paste. There was also a suspicious plate of something similar to seaweed-it tasted funny.
However the cabbage kimchi was not as tasty as it was a few years ago, so i remembered - what i got was not spicy nor sour enough, and i felt like it had been adjusted to suit the taste of local customers.
Soon the raw meat also came. The manager quickly cut the beef rib into smaller pieces with a pair of scissors and leave us to cook our own meal. I like the BBQ system here as it heated up quickly, and within 3 minutes we could start putting pieces of meat onto the frying pan.We liked the meat medium-rare as the meat would be more juicy and tender, however the karubi turned out to be disappointedly bland. i guess its due to the quality of the beef - usually at authentic korean BBQs the lesser the seasonings used to marinate, the more expensive the meat would be as the true taste would not be overshadowed by the seasonings. The same trick did not work on this plate however, which costed us $160. I regretted ordering this instead of the cheaper but bettter seasoned alternative.
The ox tongue was slightly better but i would prefer it in thicker slabs - afterall, what could be more satisfying than biting onto a thick 'block' of juicy, pinkish meat freshly barbecued?
The side order of the vegetables with bean paste was excellent - by wrapping the hot and juicy meat with a big piece of lettuce and topping it with bean sauce, garlic and bell pepper, the 'yit hei' of the BBQ meat was greatly reduced, and the sweetness of the bean paste contrasted and complemented the juiciness and tenderness of the meat - a perfect match indeed.
The plate of Korean rice cake was huge in portion, yet disappointingly bad in taste. I ordered for the medium spiciness and yet the thing was more sweet than spicy. It did not taste very authentic to me and i thought the seasonings could have been stronger.
My ginger and honey tea was great in warming one up. Yet towards the end of the meal, the waitress surprised us with the question of whether we wanted a drink or a dessert, which was a scoop of ice-cream. Had i know the existence of the complimentary drink i would not have ordered the tea in the first place. But oh well, I at last ordered a hot red dates tea and it was great, despite being a little over-sweet.The place got more crowded as it approached the peak dinner time, and the room temperature got better moderated. We quickly left after finishing our meal, not wanting to occupy a table big enough for four people. And comments on this meal? Well, it was just so-so and not very authentic. I would prefer the one opposite to Times Square over this, as what you got there were much more genuinely Korean, despite being more expensive.
Will I come again? I think not.
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