Ong Gie, where did it go wrong?
I love Korean food, and as one of two places that I know of in Edinburgh and the surrounding area, I have to love you. But it is a tainted love I have now. I had driven past you on so many occasions, but never stopped, until last night.
As a cash only establishment, you kindly directed me to the nearest cashpoint (sadly hidden by a number of fire engines, but no matter) and as I leave, apologise for not being able to take cards. So sweet!
After I order way way too much food, you give me a cup of brown rice green tea - a favourite of mine and delicious on a cold night and a free bottle of coke.
I race home. It's a good 20-30min drive and I want my food to be at least warm on arrival. Ong Gie do do a delivery service but not I suspect, to the far reaches of East Lothian. Time is indeed, of the essence.
Good news! I get home, and the kimchi jeaon is still hot! (pancake with kimchi, a pickled cabbage). It's an odd colour, due to the red dying the pancake, and an odd texture, but not bad.
I also ordered haggis and kimchi spring rolls for the boy, I couldn't resist.
For the main, I ordered bibimbab for me (a rice dish with vegetables and a fried egg) and asked for some kimchi to be added. I love me some kimchi. For the boy, I went with the recomendation of deep fried prawns with chilli sauce. I also grabbed a side of beansprouts in a spicy sauce.
Beansprouts were delicious, a little salty and in a giant tray, so the portion itself while fine looked tiny in such a big tray.
The bibimbab, marked as vegetarian in the menu, turned out to have beef, and no kimchi. No bibimbab for me, then. Luckily as the boy had fish, we were able to swap. Bibimbab was too spicy for him, and I didn't like the prawns - the batter was soggy. This would not have been my first choice.
So I shake my finger at you for getting the bibimbab so wrong. It was never supposed to have meat in it, and how does that get confused with kimchi, especially when I couldn't see anything else that resembled the dish on the menu? Being that I was 25mins away, there was no point calling up to complain or go back. I want to like you Ong Gie, but it will be a while before I face up to trying you out again, even though you were so very nice to me. As a wise yelper once said, you never feed meat to a vegetarian (or pescatarian). read more