4.173

27 (Thu) June 2013

Jeontong Pyongyang Naeng Myeon

3.0

at Woo Lae Oak

-Jugyo, Jung, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Seoul Searching for Pyeongyang-Style Perfection (6 of 8) (see also SSPYSP)

On a mission to determine Seoul’s best representative of Pyeongyang-style (PYS) mul naeng myeon (MNM), among 8 restaurants named in a newspaper poll a couple years back.

In no particular order, Woo Lae Oak is the 6th restaurant to be reviewed.

I’ve been to the secondary branch in Daechi (see 3.048 Mul Naeng Myeon), though I really wasn’t paying attention.  This time, I tasted the dish de novo with a more critical/clinical mindset.

Old Korean Restaurants that Koreans Love (1 of 11) (see also OKRKL)

In this post, I’m also launching a new mission.  GMTD will seek to undertake a review of restaurants featured in the book Old Korean Restaurants that Koreans Love (한국인이 사랑하는 오래된 한식당).  The book covers 100 restaurants, 28 in Seoul, that are least 50 years old or has been owned by at least 3 generations.

Woo Lae Oak is the 1st restaurant to be reviewed for OKRKL.  I realize that this post is rather bloated and clumsy as a result of these two concurrent themes, but I don’t feel like going back to Woo Lae Oak to do a subsequent, separate assessment.

Woo Lae Oak (우래옥) is a Korean restaurant.  Landmark.  Famous for northern-style cuisine, including MNM.  According to OKRKL, Woo Lae Oak was founded in 1946,  the 11th oldest of the restaurants in Seoul.  The original owner was a northerner who had run a restaurant in the north and come south to expand his fortunes following the end of WWII.  The initial name of the establishment had been something else, but then the owner had to shut the business down and flee Seoul in 1950 during the Korean War, returning afterwards to reopen the place and rename it “Woo (우)(again) Lae (래)(come) Oak (옥)(home);” nowadays, supposedly, the name is interpreted to mean that customers keep going back (because it’s so good, presumably).

About branches, only 4 locations are mentioned on the restaurant’s business card, as well as OKRKL: 2 in Korea, 1 in Chicago, and 1 in Washington DC.  However, I’ve been to restaurants bearing the name “Woo Lae Oak” in both New York and Beverly Hills (the one in Beverly Hills, oddly enough, was staffed entirely by gorgeous Caucasian blonds/blondes, who spoke in English except for the food terminology; we were wondering, “Should we ask them for more ‘kongnamul’ or ‘bean sprouts’?”).  I’m left to assume that those places are knockoffs.

The tasting process: (i) two sips of broth; (ii) two bites of noodles; (iii) two bites of noodles with various toppings; (iv) another sip of broth; (v) another bite of noodles; and, if necessary, (vi) another sip of broth following an adjustments with vinegar and/or mustard, although the necessity of any such adjustment probably means that the game is already lost.

BROTH.  Ridiculously beefy, enhanced further by strong scent of soy sauce, which also made it slightly sweet.  Even the color was brown.  As I mentioned in regard to Pil-Dong Myeonok, beef flavor should be more subtle in PYS MNM broth. OKRKL explains that the broth has such a strong beef flavor because it’s made exclusively from beef stock, no dongchimi (white radish kimchi in broth).  Anyway, it was well-balanced and tasty per se.  Score: 2.0.

NOODLES.  Decent buckwheat flavor.  Firm but not as grainy as they should be.  Score: 2.75.

TOPPINGS.  Sliced beef, pickled radish, sliced pear, rinsed mugeunji (long-fermented kimchi), sprinkle of sliced scallions – no egg!  Although meat in MNM is usually dry and bland, the beef here was surprisingly tender and flavorful.  The mugeunji was kinda out of place here, too sour for me.  Score: 2.5.

CONCLUSION.  A good MNM generally but not a very authentic example of PYS, which may be why it’s such a perennial favorite among the masses.   In the newspaper surveys that inspired SSPYSP, the Woo Lae MNM ranked #1 overall and #4 for PYS.  I’m wondering though whether the restaurant’s cachet as a landmark or the food’s quality is what the customers are really coming for.   Weighted score: 2.39.

PRICE: 11,000 won + 6,000 won for a double or 4,000 won for a 1.5 order (gobbaegi) or extra noodles after the fact (sari); the main photo shows a 1.5.

(See also FOODS)

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