EATING OUT
Korean food isn't just about grilled meat and pickles, as this excellent restaurant proves
VANNIYA SRIANGURA
The restaurant is brightly lit and casual with private rooms for more privacy. |
The piquant kimchi and noodle casserole. |
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Traditionally, Korean barbecue meat is best enjoyed with fresh lettuce and pickled vegetables. |
Gu jeol pan, a Korean royal-palace style dish. The fillings are wrapped in soft, thin, steamed wheat pancakes. |
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Local restaurant hunters know where to find good Korean food in Bangkok. But when it comes to specifying the best Korean restaurant, most of them seem only to have a vague idea. Admittedly, I am one of those people - the people who cherish the tempting aroma and juicy flavour of grilled bulgogi and galbi but find it hard to differentiate those of one restaurant from those of another.
Thanks to the success of soap operas like Dae Jang Geum and the recent K-pop phenomenon, Korean food has been all the rage on the Bangkok dining scene recently. New and, arguably, flimsy Korean eateries pop up around town like mushrooms after rain. Yet the old and "real" ones - most of them located in the area around Sukhumvit Soi 12 - are still standing strong with their doors continuing to welcome discerning customers.
However, it wasn't at Soi 12 where one of my most impressive Korean meals was experienced. But at So Ra Bol, a Korean eatery only a few steps away from Carrefour Rama IV. Though only open for five years, So Ra Bol is not a new face on the scene. Its Korean owners had run a restaurant in Pattaya for more than 10 years before moving to Bangkok and opening Shinla on Sukhumvit Soi 22 in 1998. The relocation had to be reconsidered due to a lack of parking space and now, with a new name and a much more convenient location, the restaurant is even more popular among Thai and Korean diners.
Being an avid fan of grilled meat, whenever I've dined at a Korean restaurant I've gone straight for the barbecue and largely ignored the rest of the menu. But this time, at So Ra Bol, it seemed like a better idea to get to know more about the cuisine than just the thrill of the grill.
My dinner therefore started off with gu jeol pan (370 baht), pronounced "koo-jol-paan" meaning a plate divided into nine sections, and known in Thai as noppakao.
Considered one of the most colourful and aesthetic Korean dishes, gu jeol pan, with a history dating back as early as the 14th century, was a dish of the Korean Palace and is often featured in period Korean soap series.
So Ra Bol's version of gu jeol pan features eight dainty selections, namely shrimp, imitation crab, finely sliced cucumbers and carrots, shiitake and straw mushrooms and strips of fried egg yolk and egg white, all of which were to be wrapped in thin, soft and clingy steamed wheat pancakes and enjoyed as a DIY spring roll.
Following the scrumptious rolls was dokbokki (250 baht), described on the menu as stir-fried rice cake with hot pepper paste. But do keep in mind that, in Korean cuisine, most stir-fried dishes come with great amount of sauce and look more like stew. Arrived in a big bowl, the rice cakes, which to me looked like rice noodles each as long and podgy as a grown-up's finger, were tossed with fish cake, carrots, onions, leeks, capsicum and Jew's ears mushrooms in a reddish-orange gravy. I loved the chewiness of the rice cakes, which intermingled nicely with the rich, sweet, sour and spicy sauce.
More familiar to Thai diners is bibimbap, or rice with assorted vegetables in a stone casserole dish (200 baht). At So Ra Bol, the dish is served with a bowl of clear broth and presents hot rice topped with a variety of vegetables, cooked and raw, including bean sprouts, spinach, mushrooms, minced pork, carrot, meat and fried egg. To eat, you stir all the ingredients together with spoon and fork and enjoy the combination with or without the red pepper paste which is offered on the side.
Thanks to its pungency, kimchi soup is with no doubt one of the most popular Korean dishes here in Thailand. We ordered kimchi jonkol or kimchi and noodle casserole served bubbling hot on a portable stove (400 baht) and were truly pleased. The large pot of sour and spicy soup presented sardines, Korean instant noodles, three-layer pork and a variety of pickled vegetables.
Another highly recommended dish at So Ra Bol is ojing o bokum, or stir-fried squid with bell peppers, onion, leek and garlic in red pepper sauce (280 baht).
Then it was time for the barbecue. With little space left in our stomachs, out of 20 options of meat we only tried the daeji bulgogi, or marinated pork ribs (250 baht), and galbi, or beef short rib (420 baht). Both of them, thick, juicy and flavourful, offered true satisfaction.
Though we were completely stuffed we couldn't resist ending our meal on a sweet note. The shaved ice topped with red bean paste (100 baht) did its job nicely.
At So Ra Bol, on top of the delicious food, the service was excellent. The owners and their staff were cordial and helpful, a point that's not missed by regulars.
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So Ra Bol
Sukhumvit Soi 26, off Rama IV Road
Tel 02-204-1203/4
Open daily 10:30am-10pm
Credit card: Visa, MasterCard and Amex
Parking: Plenty in front of the premise
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