Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Kim chi, condiments and the best hangover cure I've ever seen

I have not always enjoyed Korean food - or even knew what it entailed.  As a child, my only dalliance with the cuisine was my Mum's Korean Beef Stir Fry from a bottle which wasn't bad.

This was before I discovered the strange and wonderful Asian restaurants hidden away in Elizabeth Arcade, one of which was Madtongsan.  But today I'm telling you about the bigger and better MADTONGSAN II!!!  Obviously Madtongsan was so good that it needed a sequel! 

To me, the allure of Korean food is in the condiments, and Madtongsan II has them in spades.
Clockwise: kim chi, pasta salad and sweet potato in syrup
I am a real fan of kim chi which is a spicy fermented cabbage that Koreans serve with everything.  They also seem to favour sweet potato and the roasted sweet potato in syrup at Madtongsan II was really tasty.  I managed to gobble most of it up before the mains arrived...

Another cool thing about Madtongsan II is the fact that there are buttons on each table so you can easily get the attention of the waitstaff who I found to be friendly and fast.

The main I chose was a braised beef soup flavoured with kim chi.  It was quite large and spicy and was really cheap - only $15 or so.
But the real hero of my meal at Madtongsan II was this pancake which I think is the Korean version of a pizza.
It was very very greasy, but I think that added to the experience.

It was covered in shiitake mushrooms, spicy and salty beef mince and that essential finishing touch to all things Korean - an egg cracked over the top.  We doused the pizza in the sweet and soy dipping sauce to add to the flavour.  I'm pretty sure this thing would be the best hangover cure ever.

Madtongsan II on Urbanspoon

No comments:

Post a Comment