Kind of Korean Comfort Food
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It would be hard to describe how much I enjoyed the meal I had at Jeju Noodle Bar the other night.
Maybe it's the fact that it was so cold and rainy - one of those nights when your boots leak as you trudge from the subway, the wind blows and your umbrella turns inside out. On a night like that anyplace as bright and welcoming as this modern room would seem like an oasis.
Or maybe it was the fact that the first bite we tasted - what they call black edamame - turned out to be ordinary edamame wrapped in a chile, black garlic embrace - was just so seductive. Literally impossible to stop eating.
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Then the next dish arrived. It's that one above, clean little squares of tuna on a pillow of scrambled eggs with tobiko and rice. Served with sheets of crisp, warm nori to wrap up the luscious mush it was an endless tale of texture and taste.
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We had cucumbers bathed in kimchi
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And kochujang bokum - spicy bits of meat on rice topped with fried garlic.
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We drank a bottle of wine, talked, ate some more; it was all delicious. And when it came time to order the main event - what you're suppose to come here for is the Korean noodle bowl, ramyun - we were already sated. But we gamely ordered a bowl of fish coop - chicken and dashi with confit chicken, noodles, herbs. It was complex, packed with interesting flavors, and I can't wait to go back and try the other varieties.
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Is this Korean food? More like Korean-American - but I was fascinated to note that most of the other people in the restaurant on that rainy night were Asian. We all need comfort.