Cycle 4 – Item 260

22 (Sun) September 2013

Shanghai-Style Jjajang Myeon

2.5

at Crystal Jade Shanghai Delights

(Hyundai Department Store)

-Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, In-Laws

For the flight that I’ll be taking to Manila on Tuesday, and perhaps for all flights in the near future, I’m ending my long-standing tradition of eating jjajang myeon on the evening prior.  I’ve recently come to realize that jjajang myeon is no longer my favorite dish.  I’ll continue the practice, but with my new favorite dish.  Tune in tomorrow to see what it is, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who’s been reading the blog these days.  As a final show of respect to jjajang myeon, however, which has held the post for decades – I can’t recall what the dish was before, maybe fish tacos? – I had it tonight on the penultimate evening.

So long as I was breaking with tradition, I didn’t feel the need to order jjajang myeon in its classic Koreanized incarnation.  Instead, something new: a spicier version, referred to on the menu as “Shanghai-style,” probably just because the restaurant’s signature xialongbao happens to be Shanghainese, not because Shanghai actually claims its own style of noodles in bean sauce.

It was okay, though totally unlike the other.  Based on the reddish color of the sauce and the spicier/nuttier/saltier taste, not as sweet, I suspect that the primary flavoring component was douban jiang (chili bean paste), rather than chun jang (black bean paste).

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)