Ever heard of the term "phoning it in"? It's used to convey something being done without enthusiasm, without passion, without focus - in the days before Zoom, hybrid work and coworking spaces made it much more acceptable and routine, it indicates something done remotely without spiritually "showing up for their A-game". The odd thing is that "phonin' it in" is opposite to "dialing it in", since the former is someone putting up minimal effort for a task, while the latter refers to someone putting in extra effort on a task to make sure everything is done correctly, like a astronomer in front of a radio telescope tuning the controls precisely just that one bit to capture the radio waves from a faraway star.
So yeah, the lady behind the counter is definitely phoning this one in, but ironically dialing it in for one thing.
Exhibit A: it's not that busy on a late Friday afternoon (6:30p) but the tables outside look grimy. I mean, Main plaza is fairly grimy in general, but the streaks are off-putting. There is that smell in the mall, but that's probably overvalued antiques decaying, combined with signs of water damage up on the ceiling.
Exhibit B: It's a Chinese-Korean joint but most of their customers aren't there for Chinese Korean - it's here for malatang.
Exhibit C: my Chinese Korean food.
The good news - the boiled pork and chive dumplings (#7) are pretty good. Fresh ingredients inside the filling, the seasoning tastes clean, the inside is juicy, the skin has a chewy texture, held up during cooking and isn't too thick or gummy, and works well with the provided dipping sauce. Some care was spent making those dumplings.
The bad news: everything else me and the missus ordered, which is the Naengmyeon (cold noodles, or #2) and the kimbap (with spam inside).
Ever had a decent bowl of Naengmyeon at a Korean restaurant (usually South Korean style)? It's usually a cold beef or chicken broth, sometimes blended with dongchimi (radish onion ginger asian pear juice and brine), a slight bit vinegary and with thin slices of beef (or whatever protein you have), asian pear or pickled radishes - the intuition is that the South Korean prefer a more savory broth and as you head north, the soup gets sweeter. When you get to Yanbian region of northern China bordering North Korea, it became more of a sweet and sour thing with apple juice and a bit of soy sauce got added in, but the meaty broth is still the foundation.
So what the hell is this bowl of disappointment doing on my table? First, it tastes like pickle juice - nothing meaty about it. Second...raw cabbage? Since when do Koreans (or the folks from Yanbian) put raw shredded cabbage in their Naengmyeon? Third..cilantro and plenty of it? I've never seen examples of Korean cold noodles with that. What else is inside that bowl? Spam fresh from the fridge with their congealed fat and gelatin, and all this for the low low price of 12 bucks as of June 2024. So...overly tangy, weird and likely made with leftover ingredients from someone's malatang order?
Oh yeah, the lady manning the place also forgot my kimbap order - the missus actually had to ask. She was more than happy to take the money but didn't even bother to issue a receipt or write it down. How was the kimbap? Gummy watery rice, the same fresh-off-the-fridge spam, a little bit of the usual cucumbers and pickled carrots, but the entire thing is off-balance. Too much rice, a bit bland and slightly fishy...but from what? There's no surimi (fake crab stick) in there - the entire thing was infused with mediocrity. It also costs just as much as the local places that make kimbap, like Kimganae or Chung-Moo on Union - and nowhere as good. You often get some complementary items like pickled radishes and maybe a small cup of soup to go with those 2 joints, since they care about what was served.
If you like your tastebuds constantly punched by cheap spices, yeah, I guess malatang will work here - it's usually just a big pot of spicy whatever done cheaply and quickly - the term "Sichuan garbage bowl" comes to mind, but that was the intention anyways. If you want stuff that takes effort to get right? Unless you are here for the decent dumplings? Don't. Just don't. If you want a place where you can fully expect people to phone it in, that's IHOP on 156th and Northern..but if you want a grimy place in downtown Flushing infused with the stench of half-assery, this place should be on your radar. Otherwise, go somewhere else that tries to earn your business? Thanks. read more