Hanok Korean Restaurant 韓屋

BF heard Hanok is a really good Korean restaurant and we gave them a try tonight. The only dishes I can eat at a Korean restaurant are their BBQ meat and sweet potatoes. We came tonight around 9:00pm and the restaurant was quite empty with only two seated tables. For an empty restaurant, I was surprised that they gave us the worst seat (by the kitchen) when there were other tables available.

BANCHAN, KOREAN SIDE DISHES. 

The selection of banchan includes seaweed, kimchi, sweet potato, buckwheat noodles, bean sprouts and salad. Beginning with the potatoes, the cubes taste hard, barely cooked and not sweet.  As for the bean sprouts, there is a generic sesame oil flavour and tastes average. The last item I tried was the kimchi which barely tastes spicy.

OX TAIL SOUP ($14.99).

The soup tastes bland, has a slight but barley there oxtail flavour, and some salt may have brought out the flavour from the bones. Most Korean restaurants serve this type of soup "bland" and provide salt for people to adjust the sodium level to their own preference, but we did not get any salt. As for the ingredients, there are five small pieces of oxtail which is a pretty fair amount but the meat tastes very chewy and not slow cooked.

SPICY PORK RIB HOT POT WITH POTATOES ($29.99).

The pot is a lot smaller than Jang Mo Jib's and the presentation does not look as fancy. There is a medium level of spiciness in the broth but there is no rich pork flavour. Furthermore, Hanok does not use perilla seeds in the broth so the soup base lacks that nice extra flavour. As for the pork neck, the meat tastes tender but not flavourful when compared to other Korean restaurants'.

MARINATED AND GRILLED BEEF SHORT RIBS ($25.99).

Galbi is my favourite item to order at a Korean restaurant. However, the meat tastes very dry, chewy and tough here. The marinade also lacks that "typical" Korean sweetness.

POSITIVES

- Banchan is served

NEGATIVES

- Service can improve

- Food is below average

- Did not receive tea or water

- Galbi tastes dry and tough (that is a first… literally)

- Owner's wife was 100% firm on not moving us to a bigger table. We wanted to order a few more dishes but had to pass since she would not let us change to a larger table. Errr… when the restaurant had only two to three other seated tables too?

LITTLE THINGS

- I feel like I took Jang Mo Jib for granted. Their gamjatang and galbi taste pretty good, it is just that the service sucks

Food: 1.5/5

Service: 1/5