At first I didn’t like Korean food. I thought that there was nothing special in Korean food, just food like: kimchi, spicy noodles, and barbecue things. But when my friend suggested to have lunch in Myoung Ga, she said that Myoung Ga serves the best Korean food in Surabaya, so I said yes. Since my first experience eat Korean food in Myoung Ga, now I become regular costumer in there, so does my hubby. Here, I will tell you why Korean food in Myoung Ga successfully make me an addict.

The Banchan

Myoung Ga serves various kind of Korean dish, and also they have many kind of meat option to grill. One thing I love in Myoung Ga is their Banchan. Banchan is small side dishes and have many kind of type. For detail you can read it at Wikipedia. The Banchan is for share and we can ask for more like in buffet. The Banchan in Myoung Ga is so delicious. I love the kimchi. The namul also great. Namul is steamed or marinated or stir fried vegetables. I can eat various kind of vegetables and also fermentation food in Banchan which is good for my diet program, that’s why I am in love with Korean food.

Ox Tongue BBQ

For the barbecue, I have tried some kind of meat part. The best so far I ever had is the ox tongue. I enjoy eating the meat with the vegetables and the dipping sauce. First I take one meat, wrap them in vegetable leaf, and then dip it in the seasoning sauce. The combination between barbecue meat, the fresh and crisp lettuce, and the seasoning sauce, really make an awesome Korean style sandwich.

Jajangmyeon

I ordered Jajangmyeon noodles for my main course. Jajangmyeon is a Korean version noodles from Zha Jiang Mian (Northern Chinese noodles dish). The noodles is made from wheat and topped with a thick sauce which made from black soybean paste, and then served with diced meat and vegetables. Although the Jajangmyeon appearance looks quite disgusting but it tastes tasty. If you usually like to eat soybean and then you must be enjoy eating this noodles. It taste sweet but not sweet like sugar, and the wheat noodles texture is great.

Dolsot Bibimbap

My hubby always orders Dolsot Bibimbap for his main course when he eats in Myoung Ga. He has a crush with raw and runny egg yolk, that’s why he keeps choosing this again and again. The Dolsot Bibimbap is served in a hot stone bowl of warm rice and topped with namul, gochujang (chili pepper paste), sliced beef meat, mushrooms, and raw egg yolk.

After stirred together

The Bibimbap tastes terrific. The combination between namul, mushrooms, chili pepper taste, and not forget the sliced beef meat which add a sweet flavor balance. The rice texture is great. I love the crisp part rice. And the raw egg yolk is the most important thing in this dish, it makes the dish taste terrific. For the dessert, we got four slices of watermelon, two pieces of chocolate, and sujeonggwa. The bad thing about Myoung Ga is their service. The service is a little bit slow but I must patient because the food is so worth it to wait.

Another new franchise Chinese restaurant just opened in my city. After Crystal Jade restaurant, and now is Paradise Dynasty restaurant. First opened in Singapore, and then Jakarta, and last in my city in Surabaya. In my country, Paradise Dynasty restaurant is brought by the same group company as the owner of Bakerzin and Sushi Tei restaurant. First, I was skeptical with it’s taste. I always judge that the quality and the taste of the franchise restaurant in my city will not be the same as in Singapore. But my friend, who had try eat there, told me that the La Mian was really good. I can’t resist to try the La Mian since I saw the food photos that she showed me. So, I make a date with my friend to have dinner there. It was not practical to bring DSLR to casual dinner with my friend, so I decided to bring my pocket camera that night.

Paradise Dynasty

The Paradise Dynasty restaurant interior is luxury and also elegant, but yet still in simple way. I love the Chinese modern atmosphere. It is a nice place for enjoy lunch or dinner with friends and family. In weekdays I mean, I can not imagine if it is in weekend, must be hectic and chaos. The restaurant service in my city is always terrible when it is crowded. Paradise Dynasty serves many kind of La Mian, dumplings, and also has other typical Chinese dish. Me and my friend ordered one portion of the signature xiao long bao and chilled salted duck slices for share. For the main course, each of us ordered one bowl of La Mian. The herbal jelly dessert also tempting, but I was already full so I did not order it.

The 8 Signature Paradise Dynasty Xiao Long Bao

Here it come, the Eight Signature Paradise Dynasty Xiao Long Bao. The colorful looks really cute, doesn’t it? Each color of the xiao long bao has different flavor. I will explain the flavor of the Signature Xiao Long Bao one by one. Start with the white one, which is original flavor, and the green one is ginseng flavor, the light brown one is Foie Gras, the black one is Black Truffle, the yellow one is Cheesy, the orange one is Crab Roe, and last pink one is Szechuan.

Eight Signature Xiao Long Bao

One basket contain eight signature Xiao Long Bao, so each of us get four xiao long bao. I got to try the Ginseng flavor, Szechuan, Black truffle, and Foie Gras. My friend had ever eat the Szechuan, Black Truffle, and Foie Gras before, so she gave it to me to try it. First I ate the Ginseng one which tastes a little bitter, but just that’s it. The Black Truffle and the Foie Gras did not impress me at all. The Szechuan flavor was taste spicy, and become my favorite among the rest. The Xiao Long Bao texture itself was good, and the stock inside it was quite great. But overall, the Signature Xiao Long Bao is not that special. Next time, I just want the Szechuan flavor only.

Chilled Salted Duck Slices

We also ordered one portion of Chilled Salted Duck Slices. We quite shocked when it come. The duck portion was quite small, just like appetizer portion for us. The Chilled Salted Duck Slices was served in slices and immersed in chill clear stock. I quite like the duck, it tastes salty, and also tender because they cooked it right. So I clearly can taste the real taste of the duck meat. Really recommended to try for the duck lover.

La Mian with Sliced Pork in Signature Pork Bone Soup

I don’t know what’s wrong with the quality food serving in Paradise Dynasty in my city, I found my sliced pork was too overcooked. Of course, the sliced pork become dry and it was not tender at all. I look at the other photos reviewer in Jakarta and Singapore, their sliced pork look great. The broth which made from pork bone stock was awesome, and really an addictive. The broth is really rich, and really tasty. I could not stop eating the broth until the end. The lava egg was awesome too. The egg yolk was still runny, while the egg white still taste soft. The noodles was great too.

La Mian with Braised Pork Belly

My friend ordered the La Mian with Braised Pork Belly. She gave me one of the pork belly for me to try it. Wow, the pork belly was juicy and tender, it was melting in my mouth. I regret that I did not ordered the La Mian with pork belly too. Sadly, the pork belly size was too small but overall the La Mian price is still reasonable and worth it. I definitely become regular costumer for their awesome La Mian broth.

The Owner and also the Cooks

Ujung Pandang Noodles has been become one of my favorite noodles since I was a child. Also called as Pangsit Mie UP (Ujung Pandang) in Indonesia. There are many Pangsit Mie UP depot around Indonesia. Here, I will share one of my favorite Pangsit Mie UP Depot in my city. The depot name is Aan Ping Lao, located in West Surabaya area. The Aan Ping Lao Depot is original branch depot from Makassar. I just discovered it a few days ago, and immediately become one of my hot spot noodles depot. The owner also one who cooks originally from Makassar (the capital city of South Sulawesi). No wonder why their dish have authentic taste.

Special Pangsit Mie Ujung Pandang

I ordered a bowl of Special Pangsit Mie Ujung Pandang in small size. We can choose the portion size as we like. There are small size, large size, and jumbo size. The Noodles was served with char siu, sliced chicken, tore pork, a deep fried wanton, and a bowl of broth with a wanton inside it. Tore pork is salted dry roast pork, which is make it special because I only find it in Aan Ping Lao depot.

Ujung Pandang Noodles from Other Angles

When the noodles arrived, the aroma was so appetizing. It’s so typical aroma of noodles which use pork oil and pork stock. That’s why I am so in love with Ujung Pandang Noodles. Aan Ping Lao Depot have successfully served authentic and tasty Ujung Pandang noodles. I love their big and rounded noodles, even tough the noodles texture is not al dente enough for me but overall it was quite nice, and also it’s unique taste which come from the pork stock and oil. It’s such an amazing taste in my taste buds. Not forget that they give generous portion of char siu and tore pork. The char siu tastes sweet, it was well caramelised and also well cut. The tore pork tastes salty, just likes salted dry roast pork should be.

Chicken Porridge with Extra Egg Yolk

Aan Ping Lao Depot also have another signature Ujung Pandang dish, that is porridge with raw egg. We can choose between chicken or pork porridge. The portion also come in three kind of size, and we can also have extra raw egg yolk for egg lover. My hubby ordered this Chicken Porridge with extra two egg yolks, which was served with chicken meat sliced, cahkue, and tongcai (salted cabbage). The egg yolk is raw, which make the porridge tastes superb tasty. The porridge texture is kind of thick. When the raw egg yolk blended well with the porridge, it created a nice soft yellow color which was so hearty looks and extremely delicious. Of course, I definitely will back again at their depot as soon as possible to eat their delicious noodles and porridge.