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2012-10-23
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熟食為主的隱敝韓店友善親切的服務環境光猛及寬敞樓底高空氣清新份量不大但質素高可以一試。Authentic Korean inside a fortressGood quality cooked foodComfy environmentBright and spaciousVery good serviceWorth a try.We've walked past the concrete, fortress-like main entrance of Han Guk Gung many many times. I initially though it's a bar or club or similar types of establishments.It looked really dim inside with high ceiling and hanging lamps.Looked pretty intimidating from the outside... I finally decided to try it out with two of my friends, w
友善親切的服務
環境光猛及寬敞
樓底高空氣清新
份量不大但質素高
可以一試。
Authentic Korean inside a fortress
Good quality cooked food
Comfy environment
Bright and spacious
Very good service
Worth a try.
We've walked past the concrete, fortress-like main entrance of Han Guk Gung many many times. I initially though it's a bar or club or similar types of establishments.
It looked really dim inside with high ceiling and hanging lamps.
Looked pretty intimidating from the outside...
I finally decided to try it out with two of my friends,
who kindly offered to celebrate a belated birthday dinner with me.
Once we pushed opened the door,
it wasn't intimidating at all. The place was bright and clean.
The walls were filled with photographs of happy customers, some of those celebrities, and the Korean boss.
We were greeted by a friendly Korean waitress who let us chose the tables we wanted.
It wasn't too busy at the time (and throughout the night).
Environment:
There were plenty of tables available in the hall-like dining area,
which had about 8 tables for 4 persons and 1 or 2 big tables for 8-10 persons.
All were widely spaced out.
I believe much more spacious that most Korean restaurants around the area.
The ceiling was high so the noise level was low even as the place becomes crowded.
The air ventilation was good too. It wasn't smokey at all.
Food and Drinks:
Without further ado,
Drinks first, of course.We ordered half a dozen of "Hite" (pronounced as "height") and a Makkori
(traditional Korean rice wine which has good effects perhaps similar to Yakult.)
The makkori (rice wine) came in an interesting clay pot and a wooden ladle.
The taste was very different from what we had at Lee Ka HOF nearby (they used a bottled retail version sold in Japan as well). The makkori here was less sweet and had a deeper taste.
The drinks list was fairly comprehensive.
It had all the traditional Korean alcohol, like different types of Korean beer (OB, Cass, Hite*), herbal wines, sochu and even sake.
The menu was pretty all rounded. It contained some (not extremely extensive but you have the standard selections such as beef, pork, lamb, squid, possible prawns..etc) grilled seafood, a lot of traditional Korean soup, meat and cooked food like bibimbap (stone pot rice), fried rice, fried pancakes (chizimi), sashimi, and even prawn tempura !?
It seems to have some of everything, perhaps with more focus on cooked food instead of grilled products. Interestingly, also some elements of Japanese cooking (i.e. grilled fish - saba, hokke, sashimi and tempura and Uni fried rice if I remember correctly).
It also had a number of set dinners for about 3-5 persons and 6-8 persons.
It's about $130-$150 per head I believe.
The waitress suggested the set meal, the price seemed reasonable.
The three of us chose a la carte instead of the set dinner as we weren't interested in the grilled fish and we prefer more flexibility.
First came the standard appetizers.
The quality of those were good. The chilled veggies were flavourful and crisp. The kimchi wasn't too spicy, it had a pretty balanced taste. It's the first time I see pickled lotus roots in a Korean restaurant! Portions were small though, almost just a piece of zucchini per head.
These were what we ordered:
1.Chijimi ($110):
This Korean seafood pancake was not as substantial as I had initially hoped.
Those at Sorobol 新羅寶, Cho Won 草宛, or Apgujeong Tent Bar were much larger at similar price.
However, the ingredients, notably the squid and chives, were really fresh (fresher than those at Sorobol) and flavourful. Despite the chili in the chijimi, it wasn't spicy. More for the colour I suppose. Very crispy outside and chewy inside. Definitely a good quality chijimi.
2. Pork Belly ($1XX)
Since I don't eat beef, I ordered pork belly. This wasn't such a good choice.It looked fresh but wasn't marinated and was very thin cut, easy to overcook it.
Those wasn't as flavourful as I had hoped as I'm used to thick cut grilled buta bara slightly marinated with salt and pepper.
Not recommended.
3. Calubi (marinated beef spare ribs) ($220)
On the other hand, this "Supreme Beef Spare Ribs" was a great hit with my friends who are "beefeaters". They really loved it.
Apparently tender and flavourful. One of the better ones in the area.
Those at "Sam Mok" was similarly good according to my friends.
We ordered a basket of vegetables to wrap the beef in. Again, the vegetables were all very fresh and crisp. I didn't check the bill but this might cost $50(?) for a pretty big basket of mixed veggies.It may seemed pricey, but I suppose it's a case of "in for a penny, in for a pound". It's much more delicious (& healthy) having your grilled meat with fresh veggies.
Recommended.
4. Chili Tofu Soup ($90)
This was pretty hot and flavourful. The texture was a bit more dense than normal, possibly because of a bit more chili powder.
Everyone really enjoyed it. We each had about 1.5 bowl of soup.
Recommended.
5. Octopus fried in chili sauce ($90~ $1XX?)
We weren't too full at this stage so we asked for "something spicy". The Korean waitress double checked whether we can handle spicy food. Well, you never know so we asked for "a bit spicy". She recommended octopus fried in chili sauce.
Quite hot indeed!Not as hot as "李家 Chicken HOF & Sochu" around the corner but hotter than most Korean restaurants, e.g. Sorobol.
The octopuses were cooked just right. Just the right balance between crisp and chewy (it's easy to overcook octopus and turn it into rubber). Fresh and flavourful. It seems to me that the seafood here were generally quite fresh.
Service:
Everyone in the shop, including the Korean boss, served with a genuine smile and weren't pushy at all.
However, they were all alert and would tend to you immediately if you raise your hand.
Good service.
Conclusion:
- Good environment
- Very friendly service
- Good seafood and soup
- Good calubi
- Not cheap but not overpriced.
I'd be tempted to return to try their kimchi fried rice and prawn tempura!
Worth a try.
This concluded a very nice evening. Special thanks to CT and Mr.C.
P.S: 2nd Visit:
I did return with my wife and another female friend of hers. On this occasion, the portions of the starters were significantly increased.
Again, we did not order the set and ordered the calubi, plus a vegetable basket, chap chea (fried vermicelli), seafood pancake, kimchi toufu soup and prawn tempura.
The chichimi this time was thicker but the catch was that it wasn't as crunchy as I'd hoped. Also, it didn't have as much chili this time but had more spring onions, which were fresh. Perhaps because we have two girls on the table ? It was less oily and less spicy. Might wish to tell the manager that you can handle a bit of spiciness!
The fried vermicelli, which I ordered instead of the kimchi fried rice, was chewy but a bit on the sweet side. I think this was just OK;
The prawn tempura was quite interesting:
This was completely not what I had in mind. I might have pointed to a different item ( Please be careful and cross-reference between the Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean descriptions on the items - the English and Japanese one appeared to be more accurate than Chinese). This was egg wrapped with prawns with extra egg wrapped potato and carrots. I've never been a big fan of egg wrapped items. I prefer the crunchy tempura batter instead. The good thing was that the prawns had prawn taste. Still, I prefer the Japanese style one printed on the menu.
The kimchi tofu soup had a lot of kimchi. Our friend liked it. I only realised (as I'm typing) that I've ordered a different soup from the 1st time. The one I'll recommend is "Spicy Tofu Soup (with egg)". This was a bit sour.
The calubi was a complete hit with everyone again. This time the portion was a little bit larger as well; The vegetables were extremely fresh;
Again, service was excellent. The owner of the restaurant went out of the kitchen and greeted everyone, table by table.
We all thought that the decor was good. Nice, quiet and comfortable. Widely spaced out table. You can enjoy your meal slowly.
Despite some hits and misses in food this time, I think having a comfortable place for dinner with good service is worth the extra premium. Just make sure you check the menu properly to order exactly what you wanted order.
The bill came down to about HK$330 per head. This included drinks: Makkori, "Max" beer and a bottle of Bak Se Ju
題外話/補充資料：
* I went to another Korean restaurant around the area last night and made a point to remember the taste of different Korean beers. It seems that OB has a little bit more hop taste thus a bit bitter, Cass is more malty (a bit sweet) and Hite is the blandest of all, somewhat like Asahi.
(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)
張貼
