Dreaming in Korean
Authentic eating at Yakiniku Koryowon
There are few foods in Hawaii that have the universal appeal of Korean cuisine. At the Korean take-out eatery across the street from my office, I regularly see the health-conscious eating a plateful of colorful, spicy veggies, while meat lovers fill up on all that is fried and grilled.
I would venture a guess that a very small percentage of these Korean food lovers have eaten at a sit-down restaurant with traditional fare. That’s too bad, because they don’t know what they’re missing.
I’m not much different. Even though I’m half Korean, I rarely visit a “real” Korean restaurant. Outside of the standard yakiniku offerings, I don’t know what to order and often the very brief English translations of the dishes on the menu don’t help much. For instance, I’d like to try “Seasoned Inner Neck Part,” but I just don’t know what I’m getting into.
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When my wife’s friends offered to take us to Yakiniku Koryowon (aka Korea House), a restaurant where people who dream in Korean dine, I jumped at the chance. Our culinary guides that day were Joy Nakashima and Merril Tanimoto, both sales representatives. Joy is a native Korean who immigrated to Hawaii 12 years ago. She doesn’t eat as much Korean food as she’d like, because her Japanese-American husband (who thinks he is Italian) prefers pasta and, subsequently, her two young children have yet to acquire a taste for spicy food. Like myself, Merril is a fourth-generation Korean American. However, unlike me, Merril is very knowledgeable of her Korean roots.
Together the two women gave us a crash course in all things Korean. Among other things that my wife, Cyd, and I learned was that Korea has a literacy rate of nearly 100 percent, thanks to a written language that was designed to be easily accessible. We also learned that on the birth of our son we should have hung a garland of chili peppers outside our door announcing his arrival. Later, on his first birthday, we were supposed to have taken a photo of him dressed in nothing but a hat to show off his, well, “little pepper.”
Anyway, it was a very informative lunch. Joy and Merril did all of the ordering and explaining as our table filled with dishes within minutes of our waitresses’ departure. It was as if we had our own little banquet. Some of the more than a dozen side dishes were familiar, various types of kim chees and prepared vegetables that can be found at many take-out restaurants. Of the unfamiliar items, I especially enjoyed something called water kim chee, which featured turnip tops in a diluted pickling sauce. The vegetable was mellower and crispier than regular kim chee. I also thoroughly enjoyed the mochi in sweet soy sauce, which provided a nice contrast to the largely spicy food.
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Our main entrée was Chitterling Pot Stew ($25.50 for two people), a hearty, spicy brew of tofu, vegetables, man-doo (dumplings) and, of course, pig intestines. The chitterlings are an acquired taste. The texture reminded me of very tender calamari, but there was a liverlike aftertaste. The stew was great over rice.
We also had Bean Paste Pot Stew ($8.50), which was very similar to the chitterling stew in appearance and flavor. A healthy dollop of miso made it fuller bodied. If you are a little squeamish about eating innards, I’d go with the Bean Paste Pot Stew.
Joy and Merril also ordered Kal Bi ($16.95), Grilled Yellow Corvina ($12) and Mahimahi Jun ($9.50). Earlier, I had told my wife that I didn’t want to eat any entrées that I could order at a take-out Korean restaurant. I wanted to go native. I’m glad I forgot to inform Joy and Merril of this, because the Kal Bi, grilled corvina and fish jun, all things I had eaten before, were delicious. I especially enjoyed the Kal Bi, which was tenderized by hand. It nearly melted in my mouth.
Our lunch at Yakiniku Koryowon gave me a deeper appreciation for the diversity of Korean cuisine, and I’m looking forward to dining again with Joy and Merril and learning more about the food and the culture. Whether I dine with my culinary guides or not, on my next visit to a real Korean restaurant I’m going to order that Seasoned Inner Neck Part.
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