Thursday, November 21, 2013

Muk Eun Ji Korean Restaurant in NYC, New York

With days being colder, there are some dishes I really enjoy to eat such as butternut squash soup, ramen or bibimbap. Although, similar to ramen, there are cold versions of bibimbap, I cannot imagine eating a very hot rice bowl on a summer day.

So, on a Saturday night, as the temperature lowered, we ended up at For bibimbap. We found this place walking through Korea Town, checking menus and ratings.

It is a big place, with nothing particular in the decor, besides the huge ads promoting their dishes in Koran language as well as English. What I realized is that if is pretty big, with a second dining room on the first floor and a third upstairs.

To start our meal, they brought us some banchan, these little side dishes that are always exciting to see! And eat...

Of course, they included kimchi (fermented vegetable, here cabbage, usually spicy), my favorite of all!

It was spicy and some bits had a bite of crunch.

Soy:

Spicy radish (quite spicy):

Dried squid (deliciously crunchy, but a bit fishy):

Potatoes and carrots, apparently boiled:

Cucumber that added some freshness and had a cooling effect:

Pasta salad (what?):

It was very good to counteract the spiciness of some of the dishes!

They also brought us what I guess is their version of an egg drop soup:

Then came our bibimbap. As their selection of vegetarian bibimbap was very limited (only kimchi, so spicy), Jodi ended up with a ground beef bibimbap.

It was made, besides of ground beef, of vegetables, seaweed, rice and a fried egg. It was just ok, missing a bit of flavor and the ground beef being very dry. Some soy sauce did the magic, but still not a knock off.

On my side, I ordered the short ribs bibimbap:

The components were the the same as Jodi's, except for the meat. When it came in this pipping hot bowl, still sizzling, the fantastic smell of the meat emanated from the dish. Not only it smelled good, but it tasted delicious! And, contrary to the ground meat, I found that all the elements of the dish were working well together. The beef was probably marinated and the juice that came from it added a nice flavor.

Another best part was the rice crust that formed after letting the rice cook against the hot sides if the bowl. It was very crunchy.

Towards the end of the meal, they brought us an egg dish, that seem to be made of a battered egg cooked in a broth.

I really liked it, especially at the beginning when the egg was creamier and smoother.

Then, surprisingly, they brought us a small bottle of Maeil Biofeel, a drink made with lacto bacillus supposed to improve digestion, boost the immune system and enhance the overall health...