What a fool I am! In my Studieskolen days, I passed by this place many times but figured it was like most Japanese-Korean mix establishments: BAD! However I was pleasantly surprised and now I know where to get my Korean fix in Copenhagen when I'm feeling homesick.
Since it was a very cold day, I wanted something hot and comforting. The Samgyetang menu (310 dkk) appealed to me especially since it comes with small sides (banchan). Normally this soup is eaten in the summer, but I think it also goes over well on these winter evenings. Our server brought out a whole cornish hen sizzling in the stone pot on a wooden trivet with salt and pepper on the side. Spot-on presentation! However there was no ginger or glutinous rice inside the chicken, much less jujube or ginseng. Although chicken is the star of this dish, the rice and herbs play a huge role. This was very disappointing, even though the meat was cooked perfectly and falling off the bone.
Before we were served the main (Korean) dishes, we received a little Japanese appetizers. One was a spinach salad (ohitashi) and a shrimp salad with bean thread (ebi sunomono). These were very nice and refreshing but of course I would have preferred a Korean starter. Soon after came gyoza/mandu, which was good. Right before the mains came out we got the banchan, and so prettily arranged! There was seafood pancake (haemul pajeon), carrot kinpira, kimchi, potato pancake (gamjajeon), and seaweed salad. The kinpira was a bit out of place, I think beansprouts would have fit in better. Though they were a little oily, the pancakes were good. Now the kimchi was excellent! I can say this with confidence since I am Korean, I've been brought up eating kimchi, and I do make my own. You can even buy it by the kilo here. Good to know. At the end of the meal we got a scoop of sickly-sweet strawberry ice cream and a pretty but not very tasty strawberry for dessert. I would have preferred green tea ice cream or even some seasonal fruit, the latter being more common in Korean cuisine. Since it is winter I would have been ok with no dessert and just a cup of ginseng tea instead.
Although the missing ingredients in the samgyetang made me feel cheated, the banchan was mostly good and so was the service. I look forward to trying more authentic Korean dishes here. read more