Saturday 22 March 2014

#1 Coreanos Kitchen

As Seoulites who live and work north of the river we rarely go Gangnam Style... there has to be a pretty good reason to make us drop our prejudices and get on the orange line...

After sampling the delights of (almost) all the Mexican options in the Itaewon / Hongdae / Jongno areas we finally took the plunge and headed 'south of the river'  - had we been in London a cabbie would have refused our fare...

So we headed for the bright lights of Gangnam in search of a new Mexican 'experience' and the question is... could Coreanos deliver?

After a little walk from the mysteriously named Apgujeong Rodeo station we managed to find the place tucked away downstairs on a busy street filled with a mix of shops, eateries and a strange glass-panelled photo studio.


We arrived a little later than usual 'Korean lunch time' so the super-friendly waiter (SFW) was all ours and explained the menu and the lunch specials. They had a typical range of burritos, tacos and quesadillas with some fusion-y options such as kimcheese, galbi pork and red pepper paste (ssamjang). JGirl enquired about fishy options and we were thrilled to be informed that they could do ANYTHING with no meat. This opened up the menu for us in a way that doesn't normally happen in Seoul.

So far so good.


Having skipped the most important meal of the day JBoy decided to ask about the Breakfast Burrito. Once SFW informed him that it included a hash brown JBoy was sold. 

JGirl went to her go-to Mexican dish of shrimp tacos and to take advantage of the meat-removal wide open menu we decided to share some pork kimcheese fries, minus the pork.

During the very short break we admired the plethora (OK, six) reviews framed on the wall. Apparently that Coreanos began life as a food truck in Austin, Texas before migrating to Seoul. It seems that any restaurant worth its salt these days began life as a food truck, but no matter.

The Breakfast Burrito was... weird, but in a good way: a squidy, cheesy omelette hugging a rasher or two of crispy American-style bacon and that greasy, crunchy delightful hash brown. Coriander (SFW called it 'cilantro' making JGirl rage silently) and tomato topped it off and left an overall healthy-unhealthy feeling of balance.



JGirl was more than happy with the shrimp tacos: "just the right amount of fillings and PROPER grilled shrimps not the frozen, soggy-after-defrosting bleurgh which you often get".



The fries were crispy and thin - just how JBoy likes them - although the vast amount of toppings caused them to quickly become a squidgy (but delicious) mess.



The beers on offer were many and varied, JGirl sampled the pale ale upon SFW's recommendation but wasn't wowed.

Finally, stuffed, we were hoping to bring you news of the margaritas (always a good way to round off a Mexican) but SFW informed us that the restaurant closes each day after the 'lunch service' - we were quite surprised because this was certainly no Michelin-starred white tableclothed restaurant. Denied our margaritas, we headed out.

THE VERDICT (all marks are out of ten)

FOOD
Originality: 7.5
Taste: 9
Quality Of Ingredients: 8

SERVICE: 9 (minus one point for not warning us about closing time)
Ability to cater for pescatarians: 10
Ability to split a card payment: 10

VALUE FOR MONEY: 8.5

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