Kung – Korean dinner in TECOM – Dubai

Yikes, what a busy week! Trine and AC are here now, and they’ve been out and about, dragging me along, ever since they came, but this afternoon I’ve sent them down to the beach, so I can get some blogging important stuff done.

Wednesday evening, just before AC arrived, Trine and I went for dinner with Pia and her friend Marie at the Korean restaurant Kung in TECOM. All of us are Korean adoptees, so we were greeted in Korean, when we entered the restaurant. managed to reel off some standard Korean phrases, so it took a while before they realized that we weren’t “real” Koreans.

For upscale Korean dining I prefer Sonamu, but for a casual dinner, Kung is great. The menu has pictures of all the dishes, there’s a call button at your table and the chopsticks are the typical flat metal ones, which are frustratingly difficult to use, but oh so Korean.

We decided to order a couple of dishes to share and this is what we had:

Naengmyeon: Chewy noodles served in a cold broth with ice cubes. You cut the noodles with a pair of scissors at the table to make them easier to eat and you season the broth with vinegar and mustard. This is a very popular dish in Korea during the summer, and it is also one of my favorite Korean dishes. The naengmyeon we had at Kung was excellent.

Galbi: Beef ribs marinated in a tasty, slightly sweet, sauce and served with ssamjang (fermented bean paste) and lettuce. This is one of those dishes that I usually recommend to people, who are skeptical about Korean food and I still haven’t met anyone who didn’t like galbi. At Kung the ribs were tender and so scrumptious that we ended up ordering a second serving.

Bibimbap: Rice topped with vegetables, a raw egg yolk and a dab of red pepper paste and served sizzling hot. You mix it all together, add some more pepper paste if you like, before digging in. Bibimbap is not one of those dishes that will blow your mind, but most people (including me) really like the dish, as it’s not too spicy (if you don’t add too much red pepper paste) and the mixing process is fun.

Not much effort has been made in making Kung look stylish (hello bamboo décor and paper napkins), and smoking is allowed at all tables. The staff is polite but not particularly friendly, and the banchan are only refilled, if you ask for it. However, this doesn’t change the fact that Kung is one of the most authentic Korean places in Dubai. This is where the Koreans eat and if you have a taste of their food, I’m sure you’ll understand why. Considering the no-frills service and surroundings, Kung is a bit pricey, but the servings are generous and the nearby location just a few metro stations away makes it one of my favorite kimchi-fix spots in Dubai.

Kung, Byblos Hotel, TECOM, Dubai