Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant

Dear all, I am back from a long weekend trip to KL. And as promised, more food reviews! I had a packed yet refreshing getaway to discover many new food and at the same time met up with a lot of old friends (and meeting up an online blogger whom I never met in person before). Haha, thanks to Pui Yeng who fetched me to try out Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant, which is normally not accessible by public transport. ^^

The Dak Galbi chapter kicks start when a gigantic hot plate is heated using flame from LPG. The crew will shove everything into the hot plate and cooks it the teppanyaki way. I went for the Normal spiciness (RM19 per pax/portion) as my friend could not take spicy food and the pungent smell from the next table already sent us a signal not to try out the Hot Spicy (RM22 per pax/portion) level. There is a minimum order of 2 person when it comes to Dak Galbi. Since I had a heavy late lunch and my dining partner does not have a bottomless pit, looks like we could not go further to try other stuffs in the menu.

 Next, stir frying in progress. Cabbage and chicken chunks are the main ingredients but there are substantial portion of Korean rice cakes and sweet potato too. There are side addition which can be made (RM6-10/portion) which ranges from Udong, Ramen, rice, enoki mushroom, cheese (!!!) and extra rice cakes/sweet potato. Addition like noodles and rice can be added halfway through your dining session. In other words, you divide the first half of the Dak Galbi to be wrapped with lettuce leaf and the remaining half or 1/3 portion to be stir fried with white rice and seaweed or udon/ramen to make sure you are filled to the brim.

Once done, you can use your chopsticks and pick up the bits you want and eat them on their own. But I bet you will be grabbing those leafie greens in no time and wrap them up and eat them like how Korean eat their grilled meat! There are accompaniments of whole garlic and pickled onions in vinegar to go along with your Dak Galbi. After all this dish is a bit oily, so make sure you eat your garlic and onions for their health functions.

 Do spend some time to read through the history of DakGalbi (loosely translated into Spiced Chicken Chunks). It is said to have high nutritional value from the ingredients used: sweet potato contains high beta carotene and potassium which is said to lower blood pressure and cholesterol level and wards off risks of cancer too. Cabbage is said to contain a lot of essential amino acid and promotes "longevity", that's why Kimchi is an integral item in Korean cuisine. Last but not least - chicken is used because white meat is more tender and healthier compared to red meats

 Simple collage backdrop of Korean movie stars and K-pop idols (added recently only I guessed). Bae Yong Jun and scenes from Winter can give you a rough estimation how long this place is in business. I'm not too sure whether this young Korean man is Jang Junior but apparently, the video embedded at the bottom of this post later will show that there is another Korean couple handling the other branch of Uncle Jang.

 The menu is simple. Its just a one page menu. Other than their signature Dak-Galbi, there are a few items in the menu - mainly individual portion meal. Among them are Pork Bulgogi, Pork Cutlet Rice, Kimchi Noodle Soup and the famous San Gye Tang (Ginseng Chicken Soup). They have limited options of drinks both alcoholic (Soju, beer) and non alcoholic alike (soft drinks) but plain water is FOC (I would hope they give us tea on the house instead of plain water, just like how Daorae did).

Apparently Uncle Jang have several outlets (refer to their Facebook page). The decor in this branch in Bandar Puteri Puchong is a bit too simple. Wall and ceiling in plain white. The ventilation needs to be improved as the air conditioning capacity is not enough. I googled other blog reviews on their Ampang outlet and found it to have a better ambiance. I will end this post with a Youtube video review on Uncle Jang for some "live action".