Authentic Food Of Korea

Besides their authentic food, something you must try and it perhaps will give you a full Korean traditional dining experience is consuming their traditional liquors and wines. So today I want to introduce to you common wines and liquors served in Korean Restaurants.

The most popular traditional Korean liquor has to be Soju which is brewed from grains. This liquor is comparable to vodka but less strong. Besides that there’s also Makgeolli and Dongdongju which is a milky liquor with low alcohol content.

Other than those mention above, are wines and liquor that are known to be healthy such as Darae-ju and Mogwa-ju. These are a fruit wine that enhances stamina, relieves exhaustion, and has analgesic and diuretic effects.

However knowing what liquor and wines served in Korean Restaurant isn’t enough! You must now know the etiquette of drinking Korean liquor. Koreans offer glasses of liquor to each other as a gesture of camaraderie. When someone offers you an empty liquor glass, you are expected to hold it and receive a fill-up, drink it empty, and in likewise fashion return it to the person who offered it to you. This drinking tradition helps promote close ties around a drinking table. It is a rule of courtesy for juniors to pour liquor for their seniors. The juniors have to keep paying attention not to leave a senior’s glass empty. When a senior offers a junior a glass, the junior should receive it with two hands and drink with head turned aside, not facing the senior.

What do you think about all these Korean traditional liquor and wines? Do you think that their drinking etiquettes are too much to handle?

Malaysia has a multiracial heritage that defines the country. Every foreign cuisine that enters this country will eventually have a Malaysian twist to it. The probable reason to this is because restaurants want to cater and meet the Malaysians taste bud. Wouldn’t that just damage the authenticity of Korean cuisine? Would you want to eat something that some what claims to be “Authentic”?  

This also goes for the dining experience. A traditional Korean dining style is by sitting on the floor on individual seating mats with their legs crossed. Most Korean restaurant in Malaysian doesn’t offer this Korean dining experience. How can customers experience Korean culture then? Or probably Malaysian is having a hard time embracing other culture! Tell me what you think.  

The most popular Korean style of cooking is definitely the Korean BBQ. The Korean BBQ business is booming in popular place such as Hartamas and Ampang. What is so unique about Korean BBQ is that it focuses on the “five flavour” concepts which are -salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter!

Let me take you through the experience of a true Korean BBQ. First, the server fires up the gas grill and brings a platter of raw meat, marinated in red pepper sauce and teamed with onions, garlic and hot chilies. All you need to do is to cut the meat into smaller pieces with scissors, then toss everything on the grill and show off your tongs skill!

When your meat is cooked according to your preference of meat textures, grab a leaf of lettuce and dap on red bean chili paste and add a bit of rice. Then add up with favourite kimchi and seasonings. Finally, add the grilled meat, onions, garlic and chilies and munch happily away.

For those of you who love to try Korean BBQ, I recommend you to go to Seoul Bulgogi. This restaurant is one of the pioneers in Malaysia offering a Buffet Korean BBQ and Steamboat restaurant. In addition, Seoul Bulgogi Restaurant is pork-free allowing Muslim patrons to dine in without hesitation and is located at Plaza Pantai, Off Jalan Pantai Baru, which is midway between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

Opening a Restaurant isnt easy particularly a Korean Restaurant. This is a known fact to me because i do have many friends in this business. Some of them succeeded and some of them failed in this business. Location of the restaurant does play an important element in towards the sucess and failure of the business.

Most Korean Restaurants in Malaysia is located in Hartamas and Ampang. Why there u say? because most this places are filled with the main customers- Koreans! However, this does indicate strong competition within the industry. Imagine, 5 Korean restaurants located at on the same row of shoplots! The Korean restaurants that suceeded, i believe, must have had a a competitive edge which i will eventually explore in my future posts. But the question here is whether it is adviseble for new Korean Restaurant owners to set up their business in Hartamas and Ampang knowing there is major competition within the area?