I was first introduced to an authentic and good Korean food restaurant at Section 14, Petaling Jaya, called Dae Jang Gum Restaurant. I was made to understand that this restaurant is owned by Koreans so it is not surprising that many of the patrons are also Koreans. I believe it is also because the food there is really authentic. I love Korean food and have been there several times. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to go for Korean food.
We ordered a meal for two, consisting only of 2 main dishes and rice. If you are familiar with the Korean dining style, then you would expect to see a suite of side dishes served alongside your order, which are called banchan. I love how patrons are served different types of varieties and you get to taste everything in small portions. You can ask for the dishes to be replenished and they are free!
Here are some mouth watering Korean dishes that we had at Dae Jang Gum Restaurant. I didn’t take pictures of all the banchans served, mainly because I had to juggle between a baby-foodie, the camera and my appetite to dig in!
This is one of the main dish we ordered, a pork dish served on a hot plate, cooked in special Korean sauce and topped with onions, sesame seeds and spring onions. Absolutely appetizing! The portion was rather big for two persons, but we cleaned out the hot plate anyway. You can order the same dish in other meat variations like beef or chicken.
This is the second main dish for the meal. This is a tofu soup which is soy base and served generously with vegetables, tofu, mushrooms and seafood. It is a little bit spicy, but you can request for the soup to be cooked without the cut chilli padi if you prefer it to be non-spicy. We ordered the non-spicy version for the benefit of my 1-year old and it tasted just as good. We all loved it! The soup is served in a hot bowl and it does a good job of keeping the soup warm throughout the meal.
This was my favourite banchan – lotus roots served with some chopped peppers. Very simple and light in taste. Lotus root lovers like myself will definitely enjoy this! It must be a top favourite amongst other patrons too, because I saw a guy asking for second helping of this dish and he even walked right into the kitchen to make sure he got the right banchan replenished!
This banchan was a first for me – cockles! This is served as a cold dish. The cockels are steamed and topped with the special Korean sauce. So-so, if you ask me, because I’m not a cockle fan. But at least it’s something different from the usual banchans served.
This long bean with crabsticks is also a rather refreshing banchan. Only thing I don’t like is the texture of long beans, which is usually squeaky when you bite into it. I have a weird thing about not liking long beans because of this squeaky quality.
Here’s the famous Korean kimchi. No Korean meal is considered a Korean meal if you are not served the preserved cabbage kimchi! Kimchi is usually spicy and I don’t quite fancy it very much. If you are a first time Korean food patron, make sure you go for this. It’s an absolute must!
After the satisfying, not to mention huge meal, we were served complimentary desserts of watermelon slices and this chilled sweet rice drink. It was too sweet for my tastebud. I think if it were less sweet, I would enjoy it. It’s actually rather refreshing after a heavy meal.
This is it! What a fantastic meal it was! If you would like to give Dae Jang Gum Restaurant a try, head over to Section 14 of PJ. It is located along the same row as the Digital Mall. You need to travel down about 2 blocks of shop lots after the Digital Mall. Look out for a mamak at the end of the shop lot corner, and you will see a sign board for this Korean restaurant, which is located on the first floor.
