1.032

6 (Sat) February 2010

2.5

at Western China

-Hannam, Yongsan, Seoul, Korea-

with the Family

Dimsum in Korea has a long way to go.  The first problem is that it’s still a relatively marginalized aspect of the Chinese food scene here, found only in a few restaurants scattered throughout the city, and even then just a handful of varieties offered as appetizers.  Second, it’s expensive, somewhere around 8,000 won per plate, typically for 3 dumplings or spring rolls.  And third, the main gripe is that it simply isn’t very good -bland, devoid of the basic aromatics necessary for proper Cantonese cuisine, amounting to little more than Korean mandu served in bamboo steamers.  I suspect that they know how to do it right, but they dumb it down for fear that Korean customers won’t like the authentic version.  It’s the same mentality that keeps cilantro out of salsa.