Han Kuk Kwat
Hallyu
is not a holy war but the name of the conscious popularizing strategy of
Korean
culture that stared at the beginning of the 1990s, and basically this is why people can get the chance to learn about
Korean
pop-culture and the
kimchi , the country’s not official national food.
Han Kuk Kwat
opened when this cultural wave was the biggest in 1999. and it’s still going just fine. Since lots of
Koreans
go there to ease their hunger, we think it’s okay to call it authentic.
Korean
cuisine is about eating only a few things in many different ways, and every single dish (even a soup) comes with companions in the shape of several smaller dishes called
banchan . Most of the times these contain sprouts, spinach, mushroom, or radish, but the most important one is, of course
kimchi , that is a fermented cabbage dish, with extra vegetables, hot red pepper and seasoning. At home they make about 300 different types of
kimchi
the result of which is a kimchi museum. Most likely
Han Kuk Kwan
is not popular because of its interior decoration but because of the authentic
kimchis
and the built-in personal hot plates, so everyone can make their own food. This is an enjoyable
Korean tradition.
Chopsticks
can also cause a little bit of surprise, since they are not made of wood but metal, so using them may be a tiny bit difficult first. Considering the prices this restaurant is somewhere in the middle: a main course starts around 3000HUF and changes according to what we order.
Address : 1043
Budapest , Ilka Street 22.Soeul House
Many people place
Korean
cuisine somewhere between
Chinese
and
Japanese , since it’s a little bit more spicy that
Japanese , but less spicy than
Chinese
and many times sweet tastes and garlic dominate. Those who want to experience these simple but very characteristic tastes should definitely try
Seoul House , despite that the restaurant is not very attractive; the colors here are not really friendly at all and the design is also a couple of decades late. It’s a good sign though that the staff, the chef and many of the guests seem to be from
Korea , so it may be worth it to trust the menu.
In
Soeul
House , rice (that doesn’t come with everything) is just perfect: it’s white like snow and comes without spices. Besides, they give you quite massive portions, no matter if you order
kimchi , or
bibimbap ; this latter one is basically lots of rice with vegetables, raw beef and eggs, all cooked together; very filling. Since
bibimbap
is one of the most popular meals in lunchtime, most of the guest choose this option.
Here, don’t be surprised when all of a sudden huge piles of food appear on the table, it’s not because you ordered too much by accident but because
Koreans
tend to serve everything at once. This is really different from Hungarian traditions. The prices in
Soeul
House
are about the normal 3000HUF/food, in case of two
hungry
people it’s hard to stop before 10 000HUF.
Address : 1011 Budapest, Fő Street 8.Arirang
Arirang
is one of the most popular
Korean
folk songs, the original version of which has been sung for over 600 years. At home they named many things (streets, mountains)
Arirang
and when they moved here they brought the name along to Istenhegyi út.
Arirang
has traces of
Hungarian
culture due to the building, previously being owned by a
Hungarian restaurant . But everything else is traditionally
Korean . Regarding the menu guest should order a green tea right away, in order to make the bed for good food. The prices here may seem a little bit expensive first, but looking at the portions this preconception fades away; everyone should decide if it’s worth it or not. A soup - that, according to
Korean
traditions, they eat after the main course - is about 3000HUF. These also come in quite big portions and with different, tasty
banchans
on several other little plates. It’s not impossible to get totally filled after one of these, but people are expected to arrive really hungry so there’s space for all the rest.
Address
:
1125
Budapest , Istenhegyi Street 25.Chinese-Orean Restaurant
This place is very smart to have adopted the word “Chinese”, hoping to have more guests. They do have more guests even though it’s a
Korean
restaurant.
Originally aesthetics is a very important feature of
Korean
foods
but it’s not important at all considering the interior design of the
restaurant . The place has way too much unnecessary fancy,
but the food is good so we keep our opinion to ourselves; the food and their prices don’t fail to make up for the eye-torture. Most likely the city’s best
bulgogi
and
gochujang
can be bought here; the first is beef in a garlic-sesame oil soak, and the latter one is an
anchovy-garlic chili sauce. These both are very popular foods in Korea.
Fortunately we have the chance here to cook our own food by stirring them in really hot plates; freshness is really important. Probably
Koreans
like this place because in their homeland, street food restaurants are a part of every day life and the idea in case of this
buffet
is very similar.
In the “Korean” category this restaurant is not only the smallest but also the cheapest, so it’s worth coming here as a first step towards
Korean
cuisine .
Address
:
1066 Budapest, Zichy Jenő Street 9.
