I grew up in South Korea, a country which already has wide range of food. It was easy to find restaurants that offered exotic cuisine like Italian, French, American, etc. As a kid, I enjoyed eating exotic food. I can say with certainty that I preferred exotic food over Korean food since for the most part, I grew up eating them. I’ve never thought I would miss eating the same kind of food that I ate over and over again for twelve years of my life. However, when I left Korea I’ve come to appreciate the food of my culture and found myself looking for that food.
As the fall break was closing in, I thought about what would be a good place to write a review about. But then, as I was thinking about the restaurants, my mom called. As we got talking, my mom told me that she has found a Chinese restaurant that makes a great spicy noodle called Jjam-Bbong. After I got off the phone, I hesitated a little bit because since I left Korea, I never had a single good Jjam-Bbong. I highly doubted that the restaurant my mom talked about was any good. However, my mom and little sister insisted that we go, so I decided to give it a try.
Jjam-Bbong is one of the most popular food in Korea that was developed by Chinese who lived in Korea at around 20th century. It was first introduced by the Chinese. They changed it to fit the Koreans’ taste. Since it has been introduced, it spread around the country in a short amount of time and gained much popularity among Koreans. Jjam-Bbong is a mix of meat and seafood. The soup is usually a pork broth, but sometimes people sometimes use chicken broth. Solid ingredients in the soup consist of many different kinds of vegetables, seafood and meat fried together in a pan. People usually use pork and chicken. Seafood used mainly consists of clam, shellfish and scallop, but you can add more to it. To the broth, peppers are added to create a spicy flavor. The noodle is made out of hand-made dough that is stretch repeatedly to make the noodle durable.
After three days I arrived in Chicago, on Monday noon, we hopped on to our car. The restaurant was almost half an hour away from our house. By the time we got there, I was literally starving.
When we arrived and got out of the car, I immediately came across the big sign that said “Yu’s Mandarin.” As I stepped into the restaurant, I was “welcomed” by a Chinese lady host who greeted us with aloof tone, “Welcome. How many people?” From the get go, I thought to myself, ‘Here we go again.’ Judging by how the host greeted us, I already told myself that I was going to get a bad service. As we were walking toward the table, I noticed that the kitchen was visible. They placed a glass window between the dining hall and the kitchen which added a sense of trust and professionalism as people were able to the chef and the staff making the food.
As we were seated to our table, the waitress brought us a hot tea. She greeted us with a big smile and a lively tone. There was a stark contrast between the host and the waitress who made everyone feel better. Already feeling better from the service I was getting, I started to look through the menu. When the waitress came to take the order, without any hesitation, I ordered Jjam-Bbong. For the rest of the meal, she came over regularly to check how we were doing which we appreciated. Not once did she lose her smile when she came over.
As I was waiting for my order, I noticed that the restaurant was half-filled with workers out for lunch. Little small talks here and there and laughter made the place lively, and the simple decoration around the dining hall made the place more comforting. Coming to have a simple meal, the overall outlook of the restaurant helps to feel like being in a right place.
Sitting on the table with my family, it was less boring to wait for the food rather than sitting by myself staring at the people talking and waiters and waitresses moving around. The food came out, as it seemed, faster than I thought. The sweet-spicy smell of Jjam-Bbong reached its way into my nostril and made my mouth water. When I took a sip of the soup, I could taste the pure taste of both the seafood and the meat. Also, the soup was very hot which ran down the throat, bringing warmth to the body. The soup tasted spicy with a hint of sweetness. The abundance of pan fried vegetables, meat and fresh seafood that shined off the light made the Jjam-Bbong look more appetizing. Judging by how the ingredients pan fried and the soup is made out of meat broth, it’s easy to think that the soup would be greasy. However, the soup was very light and it had more of a seafood flavor. I then grabbed the vegetables, which tasted surprisingly fresh and I had hard time detecting any grease off of the vegetables. The squid was very chewy, but the meat of it was very tender. It was hard to swallow them at once, and I had to give them a little more time until I was able to swallow. However, after each bit into the squid, I could taste the soup and the squid at the same time which was very pleasing. Also, the juice of the squid burst in my mouth which had a unique seafood taste. The clams tasted pretty good, but in some of them, I chewed on the sand, which was a bit unpleasant. Even though they were small, I could still taste them pretty well which indicate that their quality was good. The pork in the soup was very thin and long, which made it easy to chew on. The meat was very tender but it tasted greasy as I started bite into them. The noodle was hard to get a good grip on and every time I tried to grab them, they just slipped out of my chopsticks. When I did manage to put them in my mouth, they were al dente. They weren’t so hard, but still firm. In Italian cuisine, the chefs want their noodles to be al dente when they are cooking spaghetti or pasta. When the noodle is al dente, you can chew the noodles very easily
At the end of the meal, I was both very satisfied with the service and the taste of the food. Yu’s Mandarin did a good job of not only offering a great food, but also a great place to enjoy your time with your company. Over the years, I have tasted many different kinds of food, including American food. I can say with certainty that Yu’s Mandarin offers food that everybody can enjoy and you will delighted by the service that it offers.
As the fall break was closing in, I thought about what would be a good place to write a review about. But then, as I was thinking about the restaurants, my mom called. As we got talking, my mom told me that she has found a Chinese restaurant that makes a great spicy noodle called Jjam-Bbong. After I got off the phone, I hesitated a little bit because since I left Korea, I never had a single good Jjam-Bbong. I highly doubted that the restaurant my mom talked about was any good. However, my mom and little sister insisted that we go, so I decided to give it a try.
Jjam-Bbong is one of the most popular food in Korea that was developed by Chinese who lived in Korea at around 20th century. It was first introduced by the Chinese. They changed it to fit the Koreans’ taste. Since it has been introduced, it spread around the country in a short amount of time and gained much popularity among Koreans. Jjam-Bbong is a mix of meat and seafood. The soup is usually a pork broth, but sometimes people sometimes use chicken broth. Solid ingredients in the soup consist of many different kinds of vegetables, seafood and meat fried together in a pan. People usually use pork and chicken. Seafood used mainly consists of clam, shellfish and scallop, but you can add more to it. To the broth, peppers are added to create a spicy flavor. The noodle is made out of hand-made dough that is stretch repeatedly to make the noodle durable.
After three days I arrived in Chicago, on Monday noon, we hopped on to our car. The restaurant was almost half an hour away from our house. By the time we got there, I was literally starving.
When we arrived and got out of the car, I immediately came across the big sign that said “Yu’s Mandarin.” As I stepped into the restaurant, I was “welcomed” by a Chinese lady host who greeted us with aloof tone, “Welcome. How many people?” From the get go, I thought to myself, ‘Here we go again.’ Judging by how the host greeted us, I already told myself that I was going to get a bad service. As we were walking toward the table, I noticed that the kitchen was visible. They placed a glass window between the dining hall and the kitchen which added a sense of trust and professionalism as people were able to the chef and the staff making the food.
As we were seated to our table, the waitress brought us a hot tea. She greeted us with a big smile and a lively tone. There was a stark contrast between the host and the waitress who made everyone feel better. Already feeling better from the service I was getting, I started to look through the menu. When the waitress came to take the order, without any hesitation, I ordered Jjam-Bbong. For the rest of the meal, she came over regularly to check how we were doing which we appreciated. Not once did she lose her smile when she came over.
As I was waiting for my order, I noticed that the restaurant was half-filled with workers out for lunch. Little small talks here and there and laughter made the place lively, and the simple decoration around the dining hall made the place more comforting. Coming to have a simple meal, the overall outlook of the restaurant helps to feel like being in a right place.
Sitting on the table with my family, it was less boring to wait for the food rather than sitting by myself staring at the people talking and waiters and waitresses moving around. The food came out, as it seemed, faster than I thought. The sweet-spicy smell of Jjam-Bbong reached its way into my nostril and made my mouth water. When I took a sip of the soup, I could taste the pure taste of both the seafood and the meat. Also, the soup was very hot which ran down the throat, bringing warmth to the body. The soup tasted spicy with a hint of sweetness. The abundance of pan fried vegetables, meat and fresh seafood that shined off the light made the Jjam-Bbong look more appetizing. Judging by how the ingredients pan fried and the soup is made out of meat broth, it’s easy to think that the soup would be greasy. However, the soup was very light and it had more of a seafood flavor. I then grabbed the vegetables, which tasted surprisingly fresh and I had hard time detecting any grease off of the vegetables. The squid was very chewy, but the meat of it was very tender. It was hard to swallow them at once, and I had to give them a little more time until I was able to swallow. However, after each bit into the squid, I could taste the soup and the squid at the same time which was very pleasing. Also, the juice of the squid burst in my mouth which had a unique seafood taste. The clams tasted pretty good, but in some of them, I chewed on the sand, which was a bit unpleasant. Even though they were small, I could still taste them pretty well which indicate that their quality was good. The pork in the soup was very thin and long, which made it easy to chew on. The meat was very tender but it tasted greasy as I started bite into them. The noodle was hard to get a good grip on and every time I tried to grab them, they just slipped out of my chopsticks. When I did manage to put them in my mouth, they were al dente. They weren’t so hard, but still firm. In Italian cuisine, the chefs want their noodles to be al dente when they are cooking spaghetti or pasta. When the noodle is al dente, you can chew the noodles very easily
At the end of the meal, I was both very satisfied with the service and the taste of the food. Yu’s Mandarin did a good job of not only offering a great food, but also a great place to enjoy your time with your company. Over the years, I have tasted many different kinds of food, including American food. I can say with certainty that Yu’s Mandarin offers food that everybody can enjoy and you will delighted by the service that it offers.
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