One of the more dark and greasy alleys (#6, bottom level) has two Korean restaurants opposite each other. I visited one called Hancheng Xuan, or Seoul Pavilion. The interior really takes you away from the street - the place has one of those platforms where you remove your footwear first and then sit on the floor. They also have normal tables. I came in during the afternoon, and there were a couple of other tables occupied with ladies lunching.
Plastic bowls, metal chopsticks, and pan chan, counter clockwise from bottom centre: radish kimchi, cabbage kimchi, sauteed hot green peppers with dried anchovies, sesame bean sprouts, and sweet and spicy pickled cucumbers. The one on the bottom right I could not identify - white, chewy strips in red pepper. The server later cleared things up - pig skin. The pan chan were all house made, and tasted fine, but lacked real crunch and brightness.
My default initial order in a new Korean place is dol sot bibimbap. This version was pretty good: rice with a good crust on it from the pot, spinach, radish, carrot, sprouts, chopped beef, lots of kochujang (Korean sweet red pepper paste), the egg on top.
I did find the menu confusing since I can't read Korean and had to translate what I wanted mentally into Chinese. The server wasn't much help and, typically, couldn't understand any Korean names of dishes. I ordered what I thought were some grilled vegetables, and she came back and said that order didn't make sense and suggested another type of grilled vegetable. I agreed, and this came: lettuce, rice cake, lotus root, potato, red pepper, all doused in a sauce with a heavy shot of kochujang. I believe it was cooked on top of an iron plate. Not pretty, but absolutely delicious and worth coming back for.
When the bill came I was charged only Y15 for the bibimbap; the side of vegetables was free. With pan chan and barley tea included, this place is tops in the value for money column. (Other menu items are in the Y20+ range) Because of the ok-but-lackluster pan chan I figure it would not be a barbecue destination, but would definitely drop in for a bowl of noodles or tofu stew if I was in the area again.
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