Samchon Bunsik, the most recent addition to Chennai’s ever-growing Korean meals scene, is surprisingly packed on a midweek afternoon. Whereas one desk is occupied by three Korean girls having a leisurely lunch, three tables have been joined collectively for a big group of Indians and Koreans. It is a promising signal, if something.
Kim Myung-soo and Kim Hyo-jin, a pair from South Korea, moved to India with the hope of establishing arrange a restaurant practically a 12 months in the past, and it was not lengthy earlier than they fell in love with Chennai. Having run a corndog place again house , they got here with expertise as nicely.
“In Korea, it’s tough for older folks to begin and set up a enterprise given the variety of younger individuals who have thriving institutions. I didn’t wish to sit at house for the subsequent 20 or 30 years and was eager on travelling to India to arrange a enterprise, and in addition assist the underprivileged,” says Myung-soo. He’s the Samchon, or uncle of Samchon Bunsik. Bunsik is a generic time period used to check with cheap dishes that make up avenue meals. “I’m excited to point out folks completely different sorts of Korean avenue meals, or bunsik,” Hyo-jin says.
Fried hen at Samchon Bunsik
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Chennai’s well-known Korean eating places have a gourmand unfold, with grilled meats and an in depth choice of dishes. At Samchon Bunsik nevertheless, issues are much more easy and are available at a worth level that could be a lot simpler on the pockets as nicely.
The Ok-Drama staple fried hen is our first order of enterprise, and we attempt three variants – the Samchon particular hen, yang-nyeom or a spicy and candy hen, and the honey hen, which is a candy and crispy hen that comes with a particular sauce. Whereas there’s an choice to order a dipping sauce, the fried hen, particularly the Samchon particular variant, comes so nicely seasoned that it really works greatest by itself. The crunch is on level, and the hen is succulent and well-cooked.
When you might make this part of your most important course with the fried hen rice bowls, we transfer onto the dal-galbi deopbap, a rice bowl with spicy chilli paste hen. Cooked with slivers of carrot and spring onion, the hen on sizzling rice right here makes for the right consolation meal. For a spice fiend like me, the spice ranges should not too intimidating, and really leans extra into hot-and-sweet territory.
The fuss-free, traditional suspects all discover a place on the menu – corndogs, kimbap, kimchi fried rice, japchae or glass noodles, and kimchi jeon or kimchi pancakes. Most dishes include vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices, and the restaurant even has fried cauliflower seasoned with the flavour choices accessible for his or her fried hen. Myung-soo says that also they are planning on introducing a paneer variant, one thing their trial diners appeared to like.
Tteokbokki
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No deep dive into Korean avenue meals feels full with out a style of tteokbokki. We pattern the unique, spicy sauce one, which arrives steaming with a sliced boiled egg on high. With Chennai’s monsoons not too far-off, the tteokbokki and even the moment ramyun bowls on their menu are positive to be worthy climate companions.
Myung-soo and Hyo-jin are keen that we finish our meal with the dalgona latte, a candy latte topped with items of dalgona or a crunchy melted sugar avenue sweet you most likely know of due to Squid Sport. For the sturdy and candy espresso, the dalgona feels a lot too candy, and might be greatest had as a separate deal with.
Dalgona Espresso
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Having solely been open a few days, the Korean couple appear buoyed by town’s response. “I actually like Chennai. It matches my persona,” Hyo-jin says, smiling. In a nook of the restaurant, Tuho, a enjoyable recreation is positioned the place diners can attempt throwing in sticks into baskets of various sizes. There may also quickly be hanboks that diners can put on and take pictures of. Hyo-jin provides, “Extra than simply being in regards to the meals, we would like folks to expertise and find out about Korean tradition.”
Samchon Bunsik is at fourth most important highway, Kamaraj Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. A meal for 2 prices ₹1,000.
Printed – September 27, 2024 01:15 pm IST
