Hankook Korean Restaurant

Abu Dhabi is one place that never ceases to surprise me. I've lived almost my whole life in this city, which is small enough to make it possible to walk from one end of the city to the other. A perennial complaint in such a small place is that after exploring the all of 4-something malls in the city, there is nothing else to do!
I beg to differ.
If you turn your hobby to food, I guarantee you will find much to occupy yourself with here. Keep your options open and don't shy away from those small corner restaurants and you will find even more to discover.

One such discovery was Hankook Korean Restaurant. Tucked away in a corner of the city, minutes away from a big distracting shopping mall and its massive foodcourt, you would never find it unless someone in the know suggested it first!
More surprises await you as you enter. At first glance, I wondered if this was a takeaway-only place for all I noticed was the front desk and no tables. But, soon you're ushered through a corridor with a number of sliding doors on either side, each housing a very private dining area. It almosts feels like your entering a private home as you're requested to take your shoes off at the door to your room!
The lack of chairs is the first thing you notice, and then your eyes fall upon a pile of green cushions in the corner as the implications dawn on you slowly and you start to wonder if your body still retains enough flexibility to sit cross-legged on the floor for a prolonged period of time.
If you can bear the uncomfortable sitting position, don't mind taking off your shoes at dinner and are open to try something new, then Hankook will impress.

Korean food can be spicy however, so if you're averse to spice, you should inquire as to your options.

For starters, the table is laid with little bowls that you can ask to be refilled. These contain two types of kimchi (pickled cabbage and pickled radish), dried shrimp (not in the picture) and a spicy and non-spicy version of sauteed radish leaves. On a previous visit we had sweet marinated potatoes that were absolutely brilliant, but this time we got the shrimp instead.
The kimchi was absolutely fabulous - tangy, salty, spicy and crunchy - it definitely gets your digestive juices flowing and in the mood for food. It is also supposed to be among the world's top 5 healthiest foods, so chomp away guilt free!

Our steaming hot stone bowls of dolsot bibim bap came first, accompanied by a clear vegetable soup and a red chilli sauce which is to be mixed into your bowl. At the botton of the bowl is sticky rice covered with thinly sliced vegetables, minced meat and a raw egg drizzled with sesame seeds. The recommended way to eat this is to mix everything thoroughly first - including the raw egg  as it cooks through the heat of the other ingredients in the bowl. The individual tastes are barely distinguishable but the combination is harmoniously scrumptious. The stone bowl retains heat to keep your meal at just the right temperature while you take your time and polish off the huge mound of rice and veggies.

Next on the menu is another popular Korean dish - bulgogi beef. Thin strips of marinated beef (possibly soy sauce as a base, with garlic and some other spices) that are brought raw to your table and meant to be bar-b-qued on the round platters set in the middle of the table.

The only reason I was mildly disappointed was that I had hoped to enjoy a more elaborate korean bbq, with more than just beef. Past experiences with the korean bbq system involved an entire buffet table of raw ingredients to bring to your table and cook, so at the very least I expected chicken and some type of seafood to be on the menu. Instead, all that was available was beef and duck.

Having said that, the bulgogi beef goes extremely well with the bibim bap and rather than struggling to finish both, we found that the two complimented each other and helped us to clean our plates :)

The final order was kim bap. Quite simply it is Korean sushi, but doesn't come with all the usual trappings of Japanese sushi - there's no pickled ginger or wasabi. Instead, it is accompanied by a simple sesame and soy sauce dip.

From what I could see, it had a filling of cucumber,red peppers, surimi (processed crab meat) and some kind of luncheon meat. Very simple yet extremely delicious. In sushi terms, it also is pretty cheap - a plate of this costs AED 35.

In addition to the top notch food quality, it was a fun communal meal and the measure of privacy offered by a sealed room was unbeatable - the staff didn't bother us unless we rang (bell provided on the table).

I definitely have a return visit for this one on my agenda soon....

Location:  Muroor Rd Opposite the Bus station, Abu Dhabi

Price: ~AED 200-250 (for four)

Till next time folks!

Exploring the wonderful world of salads - Chicken and Coriander

My family's decided to change our dinner plan slightly and move into the fairly unexplored territory of salads. Coming from an indian background, that's not easy - rice and curry is easy - salads mean really moving out of our comfort zone in terms of food preparation.
Not that we've never made salads at home, but we're usually stumped on variety. My salads almost always have some combination of the same basic ingredients - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, parsley, olives, feta, croutons, mushrooms; and the same dressing - olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. On the odd occasion we deviate and cut up bite sized pieces of carrots, cucumber, lettuce or celery and serve it with a ranch dressing on the side. More commonly, we have indian raitha (yoghurt based salad with onions, cucumber and/or tomatoes).

So I was only too happy to oblige when mum asked me to go shopping for ingredients that had to go into a new chicken salad recipe she found. The recipe called for baby spinach, which sadly was not available in the market, so I substituted with a combination of lettuce and normal spinach (lightly stir-fried first). Other ingredients included snow peas, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, spring onions, cucumbers and finally coriander. Now coriander is a staple in indian cooking and somehow didn't fit in my mind as the right accompaniment to such definitely-not-indian ingredients like sweet red peppers, snow peas and lettuce! I could think of parsley or basil but coriander? Coriander is for curries right? I could extend its use to Thai cooking too, but this? Pushing my doubts aside however, I co-operated with this experiment expecting an interesting though not entirely harmonious result. Adding to my doubts was the dressing - sesame oil, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, vinegar - intense tastes on their own but how would they work with the already confused salad?

The result surprised me and reminded me somewhat of an Indian fusion dance. The sauteed chicken in garlic and olive oil absorbed some of the vinegar tang and soy sauce and turned into soft bursts of flavour through the salad. The sweetness of the snow peas and red peppers blended perfectly with the sweet and spicy chilli sauce and danced around with the strongly pungent citrusy flavour of the coriander. To be honest, I've never quite enjoyed the taste of coriander quite as much - it always seems to lose some flavour when sprinkled on hot cooked food. The raw, fresh, intense coriander taste was a real treat to my taste buds and while they didn't overpower they definitely complimented every ingredient in the salad! The spring onions lent their own element of surprise as they appeared now and then to provide that little extra pungent/sweet onion taste. The cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes served no other purpose but to freshen the palate in among all the strong flavours fighting for prominence and thus they were highly appreciated! The mildly nutty, smoky sesame oil lent a strong appetite-arousing aroma to the dressing as it was being warmed but its taste seemed to get a bit lost in among all the tang, zing and salty/sweet of the salad. I felt it was there like the lighting on stage - to provide the atmosphere; that little bit extra that you wouldn't notice unless you really paid attention.

If salad is to be had as a main course for dinner, then I believe there needs to be soup or garlic bread as a starter or a side. Ciabatta was on my shopping list already and so it didn't take much imagination to decide on garlic bread - with a twist. I usually make garlic bread by stone-grinding butter, olive oil, garlic and a herb (usually fresh parsley or basil depending on what the main course is), spreading the mix on bread and always adding plenty of grated mozarella on top. This time I used the sesame oil instead of olive oil and coriander as my herb and ground some parmesan along with everything else. The sesame oil and parmesan really did their job in giving the garlic bread the 'twist' I desired. However, I had forgotten one important principle when it comes to coriander - the leaves lose their flavour when cooked and are best used as a garnish after taking off the heat! The coriander didn't give the bread the punch I expected, but I learn - next time use coriander as a garnish!

All said and done, it was an immensely satisfying and filling meal and I look forward to the next salad expedition!

Till next time folks!

Food Quest In Dubai Part II - Johnny Carino's

So on to lunch! The choice of the day was Johnny Carino's - reputed as a Texan Italian joint, so don't expect a classic Italian experience - I was told. It didn't disappoint - the portion sizes were fit for a Texan and and yet there was plenty of pasta to choose from. Not a bad combination, if I do say so myself!

I had the rare opportunity to sample quite a few of their offerings as we went in a large group consisting of a good mix of taste-preferences and most items lived up to the mark while a few exceeded expectations.

I was very impresed by the complimentary starter of soft, warm, herby bread with an olive oil and garlic dip - it tasted divine, although I feel the garlic could have been toasted a little less to give it a more pronounced flavour. Nevertheless, warm bread contending with an empty stomach is nothing short of a battle, and I had to struggle to make sure I didn't over-indulge and leave no place for the main meal.

We started with a shared caesar salad, which was good but a tad heavy on the dressing and I was very glad that it was shared - it would be quite a feat to finish it on one's own!

The three best mains were the Chicken Parmigiana, Black Angus Italian Sirloin (substituted with rib-eye) and my finally my favourite - the Cedar Planked Salmon.

The chicken parmigiana was total comfort food - breaded chicken and spaghetti covered in a rich tomato sauce and mozarella. As if it didn't already have an intensely strong taste, our waiter offered to rain freshly grated parmesan on to the dish - nobody complained - there is no such thing as too much cheese :)

I choose to completely ignore the calorie count of this particular dish when I say that it was an absolutely delicious concoction. The breaded cover of the chicken (perfectly cooked, not too dry) held it's own distinct herby taste against almost impossible odds, being drowned so completely with the tomato sauce and cheese - this in itself was what made it stand out. Once again, I was glad I was only nibbling on a shared dish for the portion was massive!

The steak was a bit of a disappointment for a number of reasons. First, we asked for it to be well-done and it arrived medium rare. That led to us having to send it back and wait for it to be redone - it arrived as everyone else was almost finishing - not good! The mushroom sauce it came with was fairly bland and didn't add much to the flavour of the steak and finally the pasta was too smooth and slippery and danced around in the sauce making it almost impossible to catch it in a fork. In hindsight - that could have been easily resolved by ordering penne instead of the default fettucine (why is fettucine default anyway? it's the most annoying of all pastas to eat - pet peeve!) The steak itself was good but not great (probably because I only tasted it after I already finished my main and I was too full to enjoy any new tastes) although the green beans that came along with it were divine - lightly steamed, just the right amount of crunch and sweet...mmmm....

Leaving the best for the last - the Cedar Planked Salmon. Definitely not Italian, but done very very well. The salmon was cooked to perfection - soft and moist yet firm and easily flaked with a fork. At the top was a black glazed look that at first glance appeared as if the salmon might have been burnt. But the glaze was of balsamic vinegar and lent a most intense taste explosion as I took the first bite - the sweet familiar tang of balsamic vinegar coupled with an orange zestiness and blending seamlessly with the smoky smooth taste of the salmon simply made me lean back in my chair, close my eyes and chew slowly - savouring every scrumptious bite. The wilted spinach had a very mild garlic flavour and was incredibly flavoursome with a bit of freshly squeezed lemon. Added some of it on to my fork with another bite of salmon and there I was leaning back and chewing slowly again - it just made the salmon taste that much better! My best decision was to choose the mashed potatoes over the angel-hair pasta. The mashed potatoes were smooth, yet still had real potato chunks in it and had fresh herbs sprinkled all over the top - nothing needed to be added to this one and it was a real palate-soother after all the zesty tang of the salmon and the spinach. There was nothing that could have made this one better (except maybe a stronger garlic flavour to the spinach - but that might be a case of personal preference!) 

Nobody could handle dessert after all that - the mains were too heavy and completely satisfying on their own. This one is definitely a hangout for the very hungry only!

Location: Dubai Festival City (I got a bit disoriented and don't remember exact location anymore!)

Till next time folks!

Food Quest in Dubai Part I - Red Mango Frozen Yoghurt

Dubai isn't my favourite place for a weekend getaway. The traffic coupled with the ever-changing roads ensures we get lost everytime. Driving in the UAE is stressful as it is; not knowing where to go while fighting to stay out of a crash amidst crazed drivers is more than my blood pressure can handle!
So my recent expedition to Dubai was one of a few rare times, and was only made possible by a good friend who offered to drive. We live just a couple of hours away from this world-famous city, and yet we are very much tourists when we go there. This time on the sightseeing agenda was the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall - both rocking world records and both unexplored territories thus far.
The trip was made thankfully with friends who knew Dubai well - a fellow foodie included - and thus turned into quite a gastronomically exciting adventure.
So as not to turn this series into a meal-by-meal narrative I shall focus on two highlights of the trip - Red Mango Frozen Yoghurt and Johnny Carino's Italian - both located @ Festival City.

Red mango doesn't benefit from having the best location - it's pretty hard to find actually, but effort is most certainly rewarded. Typical ice-cream parlour ambience with red seats and tables ( I heard somewhere that the colour red makes you hungry) and staff that's only too ready and willing to give you free samples makes for a good first impression. The yoghurts come in a fairly limited number of flavours - the ones I recall are chocolate (really bad - and this is coming from a chocolate-or-nothing flavour person!), pomegranate (unexpected - but pretty good nonetheless), citrus (too tangy, but nice if you like tang), berry (i don't recall which kind, just that I didn't like it) and finally the one that caught my fancy - the original.
I absolutely love yoghurt and can find a way to turn it into an accompaniment to most foods, sweet or savoury - so the original flavour with its luxuriously smooth, light, creamy - almost airy texture and slightly sweet tint just hit the spot. Having tasted the fruit flavours got me craving fruit though and I was delighted to find that my host allowed me a choice of four toppings on my yoghurt - I chose strawberry, blueberry, kiwifruit and mango - and I fell in love at first bite!
Getting fresh fruit on unflavoured yoghurt sure beat the flavoured yoghurts by a mile! And although I'm sure chocolate bits or cookie on yoghurt is appealing to some, I found the fruits lent a freshness and intensity of taste to the yoghurt that complimented it beautifully and left me happy, satisfied and totally guilt-free! Who could complain against natural, fat-free yoghurt and fresh fruits?
An immensely satisfying dessert - but ironically we went there as a tide-over before lunch, which left me worried that, come lunch-time I would suffer from a lack of appetite (a foodie's worst nightmare!)
I needn't have worried at all, for within a few hours I was absolutely starving (makes me wonder if it had anything to do with the supposedly good-for-your-digestive-system 'probiotics' that the yoghurt claims to contain...)

Which brings me to our lunch @ Johnny Carino's - more to follow on this one in part II of the 'Food Quest in Dubai' series so stay tuned!


Location: Festival City Dubai, Festival Marina Pavilion, Level 1

The picture of my frozen yoghurt came out blurry, so here's something unrelated taken @ Wafi Gourmet - I could spend all day in that store.....sigh! :)

Till next time folks!

What makes sandwiches so universally popular?

...was the question on my mind this morning as I munched on my mid-day sandwich. Crisp on the outside, soft and spongy on the inside - olive and herb ciabatta with strong cheddar cheese and freshly sliced cucumbers with a touch of zingy, tangy nando's sauce - a simple yet exquisite taste experience...
I've hated bread and sandwiches all my life (unless toasted, or drowned in hot fillings till the bread taste vanished) and I still remember the fuss I made over sandwiches in my lunchbox everyday. I discovered a hidden fondness for bread when I moved to New Zealand for a few years. I'm not sure if it was the fact that they were the easiest lunches to prepare when you live alone, or if the bread there was just that good.
I believe it was a combination of both. Nonetheless, it was there that I discovered the truly mind-boggling variety of flavours and textures and aromas that the common bread loaf could come in. Bürgen I have to say was my all time favourite - their soy n linseed loaf was to die for. Ahh...and the fruit bread made an amazingly quick and satisfying breakfast-on-the-run, two slices in the toaster, drizzled with a bit of butter and I was off. Sweet and salty, fruity yet hot and crispy - mmm...it was good.
I haven't been able to find bread like that since moving back to Abu Dhabi and thus I quickly regained my distaste for sandwiches in general. Even the subway here offers a plain white, slightly-sweet, flattens-when-you-touch it bread when you ask for italian. I miss the italian herbs and cheese oh so much!

My bread this morning was ciabatta - originally invented by the italians but discovered fairly recently at the bakery section of a local hypermarket. This is one of a very small list of breads I actually enjoy (and is available in Abu Dhabi), mainly because the bread doesn't flatten and is salty instead of sweet with a nice crisp crust that toasts beautifully. I thoroughly recommend it for any fellow pining-for-good-bread-in-Abu-Dhabi folks around.

I'm welcome to other bread findings that people may have come across in Abu Dhabi, so let me sign off here and leave the rest up to my readers!

Till next time folks!