The Korean visited a Chinese lunch buffet nearby, and they were serving "Korean cabbage" -- some unrecognizable steamed cabbage with carrots and mushrooms. Barf.
In Germany its kind of normal that Chinese restaurants offer food from other Asian countries (especially Thailand) and that it tastes nothing like it should. On the other hand, the Chinese food here doesn't even taste Chinese either. Yuck.
I think... you have to cut the Koryo Saram of the Former Soviet Union some slack. They were deported to central Asia by Stalin and nothing that grew there was recognizable to them... so they diced up carrots and added some spice to it to create the closest facsimile of mu kimchi they could make with the ingredients they had on hand.
Last year I found at Budapest a Chinese restaurant under the name of sg like "Korean fast food restaurant". After I wrote an email to some authorities, including Korean Embassy, and a few months later they changed to another name. Too bad that nobody informed the consumers about the reason. But lately I have found a nice and cheap Korean restaurant in my little town!!\^O^/
Phie, you emailed the korean embassy because you didn't like how a restaurant was named? And it actually worked? Hmmnn, maybe I should say something about that restaurant named Mo Pho in Fort Lee, NJ...nah screw it, those people make some good motherf@#$ing Pho.
Is it just me or most Koreans have disdain for Chinese food. I love most Asian foods, but for reasons unknown Chinese food doesn't satisfy my palettes. I find Chinese foods are just a bunch of concoctions to only satisfy hunger, and Chinese food doesn't carry any presentation, thoughts, and flavor. I do love Thai foods. Japanese Sushi is good, but other Japanese cuisines are so-so. Viet soup is good because its cheap and fast and cures hangovers like no other.
It is not just that I didn't like the name. They didn't have ANY Korean food. But they used pictures with people wearing hanbok for decorating, these are a kind of national symbols, so they didn't have the right to use those. Plus it is consumer deception.
The Korean is a Korean American living in Washington D.C. He lived in Seoul until he was 16, then moved to Los Angeles area. The Korean refers to himself in the third person because he thinks it sounds cool.
Maybe they thought it was an appropriate dish for "Black Day." :)
ReplyDeleteThe cabbage itself might be what is called by some Chinese "Koryo cabbage" (高麗菜). Now if they called it kimchi, you should organize a protest.
ReplyDeleteOh hell no. If they called it kimchi the Korean was ready to firebomb that place.
ReplyDeletePeiWei has a dish called "Spicy Korean". It was neither spicy nor Korean.
ReplyDeleteIn Germany its kind of normal that Chinese restaurants offer food from other Asian countries (especially Thailand) and that it tastes nothing like it should. On the other hand, the Chinese food here doesn't even taste Chinese either. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for you to meet with "korean carrot".
ReplyDeletehttp://yulinkacooks.blogspot.com/2008/02/korean-carrot-salad.html
I think... you have to cut the Koryo Saram of the Former Soviet Union some slack. They were deported to central Asia by Stalin and nothing that grew there was recognizable to them... so they diced up carrots and added some spice to it to create the closest facsimile of mu kimchi they could make with the ingredients they had on hand.
ReplyDeleteThat PeiWei "Korean" dish is truly atrocious...
ReplyDeleteLast year I found at Budapest a Chinese restaurant under the name of sg like "Korean fast food restaurant". After I wrote an email to some authorities, including Korean Embassy, and a few months later they changed to another name. Too bad that nobody informed the consumers about the reason. But lately I have found a nice and cheap Korean restaurant in my little town!!\^O^/
ReplyDeletePhie, you emailed the korean embassy because you didn't like how a restaurant was named? And it actually worked? Hmmnn, maybe I should say something about that restaurant named Mo Pho in Fort Lee, NJ...nah screw it, those people make some good motherf@#$ing Pho.
ReplyDeleteDon't ever go to a Chinese buffet in Arizona if you don't want to be charged with arson... :D
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or most Koreans have disdain for Chinese food. I love most Asian foods, but for reasons unknown Chinese food doesn't satisfy my palettes. I find Chinese foods are just a bunch of concoctions to only satisfy hunger, and Chinese food doesn't carry any presentation, thoughts, and flavor. I do love Thai foods. Japanese Sushi is good, but other Japanese cuisines are so-so. Viet soup is good because its cheap and fast and cures hangovers like no other.
ReplyDelete@JW
ReplyDeleteIt is not just that I didn't like the name. They didn't have ANY Korean food. But they used pictures with people wearing hanbok for decorating, these are a kind of national symbols, so they didn't have the right to use those. Plus it is consumer deception.
Quelle surprise though.
ReplyDelete'Seaweed' is really cabbage too with the white veins cut out.
Oddly enough in a place where I now and again work as chef, we use Kimichi out of these foil packets and mark it as Chinese pickled cabbage.
I think the difference is fermenting and addition of chillies.
steamed cabbage and mushrooms sounds amazing.
ReplyDeletei lie. happy 420!