The Food Nazi

Back home, Sunday lunches were always Korean--no exceptions. My father, whose palate for Chinese cuisine and dim sum lunches, grudgingly went along with our weekly ritual. At Seoul Garden, lunch specials like seafood handmade noodles, grilled porgy, and soon du bu jigae were inexpensive but satisfying. The whole package was made even sweeter by an assortment of side dishes that came with every meal: garlic anchovies, chop chae, pickled radish, kim chee cucumbers, marinated fish cake, tofu/egg, and, of course, the requisite won bok kim chee. One of my favorite things to do at lunchtime was to mix some of the chili red broth from the tofu stew (jigae) and a few of the seasoned veggies into a bowl of steamed white rice, and give it a little stir to let the flavors marry with one another. The liquids from the soup and the veggies would give the rice a porridge-like consistency and an exquisite flavor of whole garlic and chili peppers. Smelling heavily of garlic and other things one should not eat before going out in public, every Sunday lunch would be followed up, of course, with a much-needed afternoon nap. Repeat as needed.

The week before I made my way to Singapore, I went back to Seoul Garden one last time. It would, I predicted, be the last Korean feast I would have in a long time (at least until the end of summer). You can imagine then how ecstatic I was to discover that, just a few streets down from my office in Chinatown was a wonderful little Korean eatery along Mosque Street (right across the street from one of Singapore's most well-known yong tau fu joints....I'll cover that in another post):

Togi serves up a wonderful selection of Korean dishes and, as with any Korean restaurant worth its weight in gold, the side dishes are delightful. As I waited for the kitchen to prepare my kim chee pancake and soon du bu jigae (tofu stew), I sipped on some warm brown rice cha (tea) which is sweet and so refreshing. To be honest, I actually prefer Korean rice teas over Chinese or Japanese or English teas. (Million Korean Restaurant and Sorabol back home used to give us complimentary glasses of ice cold sweet rice drink after every meal to cleanse the palate - the cool flavors of the drink did a good job of extinguishing the heat of a fiery Korean feast.)

As I waited, the waitress also came out with a tray of side dishes:


Kim chee tofu, won bok kim chee, seasoned anchovies, marinated fish cake, cucumber kim chee, and Asian chives with chilis were a few of the items served with my meal. (The only downside is they'll charge you for second helpings....which you'll pretty much end up BEGGING for after the first helping. But, whatever.)

Posted by J. Lo on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 6:18 PM | Permalink