DOONG JI Korean Cuisine

Right now, in my opinion, the best Korean import and as it should be for most countries is their art and culture. And for my own own purposes of a food blog, art meaning pop music and culture meaning the food. Let me rephrase that, this entry is just an excuse that I can't put a picture of my favorite pop group at the moment, Girl's Generation (I'd rather call them by their Korean name, the abbreviated SNSD)

Unlike nearly all of western pop artists, most Korean, Indian, Japanese, Hong Kong, pop stars do tons of acting, do silly things on tons of variety shows and can actually look like they can make a fool of themselves by not taking themselves too seriously. Nearly all of the female Korean pop stars are seen to be pure, innocent, fair, homely, respectful, mature, responsible, and all the organic wholesome goodness.

Their food culture on the other hand, is spicy hot, tasty, lots of variety, shocking (in a good way) pickled, and is a wonderful treat to the senses. I have been reading up on Korean restaurants in the area and true enough, there is a Korean restaurant near my place.

DOONG JI along East Coast Road is a small and homely restaurant. The service is decent and the food, and its my first time having Korean food, was actually good. In fact, it was decent but the word decent doesn't do it justice. I grew up with my own sister telling me the wonder of Kimchi but Korean food is more than kimchi. It has alot of variety. Out of my own greed, I ordered several things for me and the wife. I forgot that in Korean culture, they usually have tons of side dishes that are served prior to your meal and I was already full by the time the food I ordered came.

The servers were nice enough to explain to us how to mix the dishes and what was good on the menu. When I went there the 2nd time, I went pretty close to the closing and I was the last customer, and they still let me order my food and I ate my fill. Coincidentally, the last 2 times I went, it was raining. And I would highly recommend Korean food when its cold because the spice and the heat makes it all worthwhile.

All in all, I really liked the restaurant. Its not overly expensive and there is a constant spattering of Korean MTVs or drama series playing on the 42 inch plasmas on the wall. At this price point, the $10 - $20 a plate and casual setting, it makes me want to go to Korea.