December 18, 2008
I decided to visit this Korean restaurant called "Jun's" again (my second visit) to try other things in the menu. In our previous visit my friends and I found that the place served pretty cheap Korean fare. Years ago in one of our food trips we stumbled upon another Korean restaurant and... well, I still feel like I was robbed. Don't get me wrong, the food was great, just that the place was so expensive! And no, I didn't wander into a random fancy restaurant in a drunken stupor.
I ordered a plate of fried rice while my friends had spicy seafood soup and spicy squid. One of my friends also ordered spicy tuna sushi, which arrived shortly. There were 8 pieces in total. The set came with the customary green clump of wasabi on one side and the pale ginger on another. Looks good, right? *drool... They had a pretty good selection of sushi, anything from the basic rolls of rice and fish to the fancier ones which might be deep fried and/or carrying more ingredients.
After several minutes, our food came
along with a couple of side dishes (from the right): cubes of tofu in soy sauce, mung bean sprouts in some liquid, kimchi, sliced zucchini with pepper flakes, and sweetened bananas or yams or something. sweetness made for good balance against the spicy dishes.
I had seafood fried rice which had mussels (sans shells), small shrimp, and squid tentacles. At least... those were the bits of seafood I could discern. It also came with the usual fried rice ingredients, yes, including the rice. While it didn't taste bad, I would definitely try something else with my next visit. It was still a pretty positive experience that I tried this dish, just that I'd rather have something else next time. It might have been better if I tried it with another dish vs. eating the fried rice by itself.
The spicy squid dish of my friend was quite delicious. It had squid tentacles, red and green bell peppers, zucchini slices, chili, carrots, and onions. The sauce was probably made with some spicy sesame oil or something, among various other spices.
My other friend's bowl of sizzling hot (and spicy) seafood soup came next. It was served in a clay or metallic pot and came with a bowl of rice. I believe it had shrimp, tofu, ... okay, I don't remember anymore. I have not tried any of their soups yet (my first visit entailed me trying their spicy pork bowl... which was good) and might just try it next time.
All the food we ordered were spicy. Hey, we were itchin' for a hot time seeing as how it was quite cold and yeah, there was still snow outside (this was the day after a freak snowfall happened in Las Vegas). Mine wasn't spicy at all though I did ask the lady if she could sneak in some hot sauce or something while they were cooking it, haha. My friends had several pauses while they were eating and by the end both were a tad bit teary-eyed. That stuff hit the spot though, oh yeah.
If ever you guys pass by Vegas and are looking for cheap but excellent food... this is your place. I still have yet to try their other dishes (galbi, soup, fried rice, bowls, sushi, etc.). I know I'll be passing by again soon.
- W
Us lot can't exactly be fussed to get all fancy, so this was actually a pretty nice place for a casual dinner (even though it's NYE, who cares). Tucked in a corner of Toa Payoh, under those 4-storey HDBs (I later realised that they have been featured on HDB Taitais) the restaurant looks like your regular coffeeshop. Small, a little cramped, and oh so casual i bet that you can saunter in wearing your pjs and no one will bat an eyelid.
Anyways, its the food that matters. We had to wait about 10 mins for a table of 5+1, which was alright. We shared a Calamari and got a kid's meal (fish and chips) for the kiddo, came with a scoop of ice cream and oj.
I couldn't resist the lobster with pan seared dory, father of the kid got the Rack of Lamb, mother of the kid knew that the kid wouldn't finish her food so refrained from ordering, friend#1 took the NYE's special - mushroom soup, 2 scallops in their shells (appetizers), lobster with pan grilled seabass (main), bread & butter pudding and coffee or tea, and friend #2 got the grilled salmon with cajun sauce.
