Friday, January 21, 2011

korean lunch



For a while, I've been wanting to try out a Korean restaurant I heard of in the city, Koryo Kwan. I went in only with the recommendation of a couple of friends. Having tried Korean food before going to college, quite a few years back, I wasn't sure what to expect. Because I only sampled one of their dishes, I will not classify this post as a review of the restaurant, but rather a description of the experience.

The restaurant is located in the Carlton Tower Hotel, behind Rakan tower, next door to the building that holds my favourite thai restaurant. Through the antiquated lobby, you see the restaurant's frontage, a mostly wooden door with some characteristic Korean signage, only a glimpse of what's to come.


Walking in, I was greeted by a very friendly waiter and was asked to choose my seat. Only one other table was occupied, as they were about to close for their lunch break. For a moment, I truly felt like I was outside of Kuwait.

I looked through the menu and wasn't sure what to order. So I asked for a recommendation and went with the beef rib dish. Turns out it was a Korean-style barbecue meal, shown in the picture above. A bowl of seaweed and beef soup and rice were in front of me. On the left were the cold vegetables: seaweed, kimchi, potatoes with sesame, a crunchy root vegetable with similar spices to the kimchi, spinach and battered zucchini with pieces of chili; there was also a spicy dipping sauce. Then the rib meat was already cooked, smothered in a tasty garlic/ginger/sweet sauce with some sesame garnish - apparently this is served raw in many places and you control the cooking; it was served with romaine lettuce and a sauce that also tasted a bit like kimchi.

The portion I had could have probably fed two people, but I did my fair share of work and ate all the beef. I sampled everything else. Interesting that this may be where the low-carb, lettuce-wrapped fad emerged from.

Would I try this place again? Yes. There is another Korean restaurant in Kuwait that I will also try at the New Park Hotel in Maidan Hawalli.

6 comments:

  1. looks decent ... would like to try but might have a hard time getting my wife to tag along :-S

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  2. I go there all the time!! You MUST try their korean pancake "chijimi" and their chop suey is great too! My favorite waiter is Kobir, he speaks 7 languages!

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  3. Great, thanks for the advice. I've been meaning to go back and try something else.

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  4. thanks for ur post, I went there and finnaly i tasted what they call kimchi :)

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  5. anyo sayo,do you serve delivery order.i want kinchi,samgyetang,doenjang jjigae,bolgogi,assorted namul,kimbab,kongnamulgok.did i minsion all.

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  6. anonymous, i just blog about this restaurants and others. you should contact them directly if you have questions.

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