Hidden away up in the penthouse floor of the Eclipse Boutique Suites is an understated Korean restaurant that has made our week. The setting is slightly threadbare, but Taste of Korea doesn’t require an all singing, all dancing decor. Instead they’ve got a rather quaint set-up consisting of two smallish rooms with barely more than 10 tables. A wall-length mirror in our room was used in an attempt to give the appearance of a larger space.
It doesn’t really work, but that’s fine because the result feels exclusive, personal and definitely novel.
Setting aside, Taste of Korea is excellent value for money and has a returning string of mostly Korean clientele, which is always a good sign. Supper starts with your table being covered by a platoon of little plates boasting various kinds of kimchi and other spicy pickings. We had our favourites which disappeared in no time but were diligently replaced with more, courtesy of the wonderful staff. These guys are cheerful, proud of their grub, informative and happy to suggest dishes if you’re new to the game.
We only wish we’d taken the advice of our waitress when ordering one of our meals, because there was a reason why she gasped doubtfully when we asked about the crab. ‘It’s raw,’ she warned. ‘That’s fine,’ we said, stupidly. She hesitated but then decided she wouldn’t argue. What arrived was a whole raw crab, hacked to pieces but still in its shell, swimming in a sweet and spicy, red sauce. The sauce was delicious.
The crab tasted fresh. But the process of extracting it, which required getting very messy and poking about with chopsticks in an ordeal that was more like performing open heart-surgery than eating, put us off our meal. Obviously we weren’t cut out for this.
The highlight was the gogigui – or the traditional Korean style BBQ – which involved our waitress broiling strips of marinated beef short ribs along with some mushrooms and onions at our table. This was not only fun to watch, but the meat was sublime. Tender, tasty and hot off the grill. When ready, we were instructed to wrap the meat pieces inside lettuce (topped with fresh onions in some kind of vinegar) and season with a salt-pepper mix and some spicy sauce. The combination was instantly addictive. If we had no shame, we would have fought our fellow diner for the rest. Instead, when it was all gone, we sought succour in a hot stone bowl of bibimbap. This is a steaming dish of everything. And by everything we mean rice, steamed veg, mincemeat and a cracked egg – sunny side up (of course the ingredients subtly vary according to the kind of bibimbap you’re having, but you get the drift). The object is to mix it all together with a chilli sauce until you have a right big mess and then eat it. It’s real hearty, wholesome fare that hits the spot when you’re starving or still wanting some BBQ beef. When ordering, ask for the hot-bowl version because the rice will have a crispy under-layer (due to overcooking) that’s very satisfying.
The bill (for two)
Crab in soy sauce Dhs50
Bibimbap Dhs50
Gogigui (BBQ beef) Dhs100
Total (excluding service) Dhs200
