Korean on the East Coast

I discovered this quaint little restaurant on East Coast Road some one and a half years ago. It took me awhile to find it even with the address, but found it I did. I brought a friend there to celebrate his birthday, and have been going back there frequently since.

It is a small place, seating capacity of about 40 pax, and it is usually quite packed, even for an early lunch on a Saturday. I was there again yesterday with the family and this is what we had.

The side dishes which include kimchi, pickled seaweed and crispy anchovies are replenishable and comes complimentary with our meal. The kimchi is quite good and I love the anchovies with the fried peanuts.

Another of my favourite dishes is the fried eggs with oysters.

The oysters are huge and juicy. Each piece of fried egg wraps its own individual oyster, the size of which is slightly bigger than a human thumb. It comes with a soya sauce dip that has sesame seeds and wasabi included. The combination titillates your taste buds and is absolutely delicious.

The beef bulgogi which comes with fresh lettuce, sliced garlic, green chilli and a choice of sauces is another of my favourites. The beef is tender and fragrant. Wrapped in the lettuce leaves with garlic and the sauces, it tastes heavenly.

Naturally every Korean meal cannot do without the ginseng chicken soup. Here the soup is tasty with just a hint of ginseng taste, not too strong like some others, and the chicken is tender and other ingredients include red dates, chestnuts, leek and glutinous rice.

This time we ordered something we had never tried before, feeling a bit adventurous, and it turned out to be a great choice.

The pig trotters was simply fabulous. Soft, juicy and tender and the sliced pork tasted so good with the spicy pickled radish. The tendons were not tough at all, simply melting away in your mouth, and the skin was easily chewable. My mother loved the dish.

The sticky rice was also well steamed and pearly white. A good accompaniment to the whole meal. Then the ice cold geumgyul drink was very refreshing and washed the meal down splendidly.

This restaurant is called Doong Ji at 222 East Cost Road. I strongly recommend it to anyone who loves Korean food.