Saturday, April 16, 2011

Seoul Tookbegi Korean Restaurant

This restaurant is one that my friends and I have wanted to try for a long time. It is known to us as the Korean restaurant beside Little Lamb. Today, we found out that it was called "Seoul Tookbegi".

Horrible picture, I know.
At first we wanted to go for the Korean BBQ buffet for AUD 26 per person, which is rather reasonable considering the amount of meat I can consume. However, there were two girls with us and they were not up for the challenge so we decided to order dishes. At least we thought we were.

Some of the dishes and side dishes.
This is called "brisket point end deckle off" on the menu.
"Cow tongue".
Due to the rather badly written menu, we thought that the "brisket point end deckle off" and the "cow tongue" were cooked. Instead we were given two plates of raw beef and a hot plate. Cherry, being her usual helpful self, cooked the briskets and ox tongue while I was taking more photos of the food.

Nothing like beef cooking on a hot plate.
The beef briskets and the ox tongue were decent, just like any other you would find in other Korean restaurants. The beef was not marinated but had an intense taste of beef in it, just like a bloody porterhouse steak. No sauce is needed to enhance the flavour of the beef other than a simple sauce mix of sesame oil and salt. The eater is however required to exercise caution when dipping the beef into the sauce lest too much salt gets on the meat and overpowers the flavour with sheer saltiness.

Black pepper spare ribs.
Keith ordered something which resembles black pepper spare ribs. For me, the ribs were rather poorly seasoned as they were more sweet than savoury. The flavour of the sauce was not as intense as could be but this could be my problem since the salty sesame oil probably screwed up my taste buds for the night.

After everyone was done with their dinner, Edwin was still awaiting his ginseng chicken soup. It was a painfully long wait, more so as the four of us kept making jokes that the workers have yet to pluck the ginseng or caught a chicken. Eventually, after visiting the kitchen a few times, Edwin got his soup.

Ginseng chicken soup.
Seoul Tookbegi definitely saved the best for last for today's meal. The ginseng chicken soup was delicious. The chicken itself was cooked to perfection, with the meat just turning pink but with no raw bits. Taste wise, the chicken was infused with a strong ginseng flavour but it was not bitter. Unlike other chicken soups, this had a savoury, rightly seasoned chicken instead of a bland chunk of meat sitting in broth. The soup itself was also packed with the goodness of ginseng, although being a tad under salted.

The verdict? Seoul Tookbegi serves good but not great food. For its price, it definitely does not look the part like other posh Korean restaurants with a similar price range. Service is excruciatingly slow due to the limited number of workers. 

One question remains. Will I return? Well, probably for the ginseng chicken soup.

260, Russell Street, 
Melbourne, VIC 3000, 
Australia.


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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Going Through the Motions

I am staring again, into blank space, just before the white wall illuminated by a strong fluorescent light. Muddled thoughts fill my head but there is no direction in my contemplation. Another sign that I am in the middle of an uneventful stretch in life, devoid of any interest or enthusiasm, just going through the motions.

I am not bored, per se. In fact I have too much on my hands that I have trouble finding the starting point. Whether I should start by drafting the 5000 word Organisational Behaviour essay, to study French and to plan the debate cum speaking test that is happening in two weeks, or to revise for the Business Finance mid-semester test on Thursday or to attempt to understand Econometrics which seems to be drifting into obscurity. While struggling to decide, I usually end up watching an episode of Family Guy or random covers of songs on Youtube.

I just feel an overwhelming sense of laziness, and any willpower to change is quickly extinguished by the strong resistance to change, and before you know it I am lulled into the succour in being static. Time is just slipping away surreptitiously. Ask me how much time I have spent studying and I would fail badly at accounting for that time. However, I would like to think that the time I have actually spent studying was efficacious. In reverse, ask me what I have done other than studying and I will also have problems coming up with a straight answer. I have not spent much time on games, not more than an hour a week on photography and hardly any time on my blog. It is rather amazing how time just gets sucked away while one is doing nothing.

My health is probably going downhill too. Half the time when I wonder what to eat I end up taking away a brown bag from Hungry Jacks. I do not feel like cooking and even if I do I would probably cook and eat the same thing day in day out.

I need a shot of excitement up my veins. I just hope something pops up sometime soon. While waiting I shall resume my blank stare.

Charming Spice Sichuan Restaurant

Sichuan food, one of my earlier discoveries in Melbourne and still an all-time favourite. I remembered the first time sinking my teeth into an ominous naval mine lookalike, the peppercorn, and the resulting explosion was certainly a sensation to remember. Soon after the first taste, I found myself craving for the spicy dishes from time to time. That is also probably why Sichuan restaurants are those I have frequented the most in the past two years.

Of all the restaurants I have tried so far, my favourite is still this inconspicuous restaurant on the first floor of the shops on Lonsdale Street, Charming Spice.

Charming Spice looks like the typical Sichuan place in Melbourne, with chilli themed decor, such as soft toys and sometimes even real dried chilli, and housing rather distasteful furniture. Service with a friendly smile is also something you will almost never find in a Chinese restaurant, including Charming Spice, a fact which I am rather used to by now. However, one thing that sets Charming Spice apart from the others is kitchen hygiene. So far, it is the only Sichuan restaurant I have eaten at with a full view of the kitchen from the dining area.

As for the food.

四川棒棒雞

I suppose this dish would be called 'Sichuan rod rod chicken' in a restaurant with a badly translated menu. I will just call it Sichuan spicy chicken. This is a cold dish with chicken drenched in chilli oil. I have tasted this dish at many restaurants and so far Charming Spice's version of it seems best. The flavourful chilli oil works wonders on the mildly seasoned chicken. What is interesting is the effect of the refrigeration on the texture of the meat, which makes it slightly harder than a chicken served hot, but the cold certainly makes the skin chewy but still retaining the silky smoothness, which is how I like it.

四川水煮魚

Literally translated as Sichuan water-cooked fish, it certainly sounds mild and bland, but a glance at the layer of floating dried chilli and peppercorn would convince you otherwise. This dish definitely packs a wallop and is not for those with sensitive tongues. A signature Sichuan dish, it consists of fish fillets drenched in chilli oil and given its flavour by the dried chilli and peppercorn.

Every Sichuan restaurant recommends this dish, but not all of them get it done right. This dish is not only about being spicy, but also about being tasty. Many restaurants load the chilli oil with too much spices which kills the flavour of the fish. Some overcook the fish which makes them rubbery and dry. Charming Spice is one of the rare restaurants that can work this dish to near perfection. The fish is just sliced into the right size, not too thin as to disintegrate once bitten and not too thick as to make it torturous for one to chew while trying to withstand the spiciness. They are also cooked for the right amount of time, which results in a silky smooth texture, such that they can slide down your throat like noodles. The chilli oil strikes a perfect balance between spiciness and tastiness, allowing the fish to retain its natural flavour while still managing to leave the eaters in tears. Absolutely heavenly, in a masochistic way.

干鍋雞

The last dish for today is the "dried wok chicken". Personally, I am not a fan of this dish. It was more cauliflower, various fungi, lotus root than chicken. I had a hard time finding pieces of chicken in that pot. Other than that, the dish was too wet for it's name. There was at least an inch of sauce in the pot which made the fried chicken soggy. Taste wise, there is nothing much to complain about but for that price, I would rather order another dish.

Overall, the quality of the food was above average, although the 干鍋雞 was a major let-down, the 棒棒雞 and 水煮魚 definitely make up for it. A meal at Charming Spice is also good value for money due to their large portions. Most main dishes with meat cost around 25, appetisers and vegetables usually cost somewhere in the teens. Do not expect to be treated like a king or queen, or rather emperor or empress here, as with any other Chinese restaurant, the cheap food comes with bad service. Does that stop me from going back? Hell no!

Be warned though, diarrhoea is almost inevitable after having Sichuan.

1/276 Lonsdale Street, 
Melbourne, VIC 3000, 
Australia.
(03) 9663 9898