Mmmm...Jjim Dak

A little over a year ago, when we first started thinking about coming to Korea for a year, we read a post on an expat's blog about Jjim Dak. It sounded quite good, with spicy steamed chicken, potatoes, and sweet potato noodles. The first time we went to a Korean restaurant together we tried to find it on the menu but had no luck. We looked for it on menus at every Korean restaurant we tried in the US before leaving, but it just wasn't there. Somehow, when we finally got to Korea, we forgot to find it, or only found it at times that we weren't looking to sit down and have a meal.

Carolyn's school just got a new teacher, and her great co-worker wanted to get together with the two of them and go out for dinner. Our first suggestion was Rama and Bavana, an Indian place nearby, but he doesn't like Indian Curry. Hyemin suggested we try Jjim dak, and we were both excited to give it a whirl, so last night we all met after school, took the subway downtown, and had a nice big platter of Jjimdak.

image courtesy of Hyunwoo Sun on Flickr 

One of the reasons we haven't tried Jjim dak on our own is that the portions are huge, way more than two people can handle, and because of that the price is a little higher than most meals we go out for here. With four of us it was perfect, pretty cheap at about 7,000won each and not too much food (but certainly enough).

The flavor is what the jjim dak is all about. It has a spicy soy flavor, but it seems to me like the sauce has been reduced to a thicker consistency. There are red chilis, carrots, zucchini, and potatos along with the chicken and noodles. Sweet potato noodles are more dense, and I felt like I needed to be sure to bite through each bite of noodles completely or else I wouldn't be able to swallow them without choking. The meal was quite satisfying and certainly kept me nice and full until I woke up this morning.

I'm pretty certain we'll be going back out for jjim dak in the near future, and trying some other local delicacies.