![]() Many is the time I’ve eaten at a steakhouse and thought I’d rather be having this dish, and Min Ga’s rendition will probably be what I’ll be longing for the next time.įinally, we tried the soondae guk – Korean sausage soup, described on the menu as ‘ soondae soup with vegetable and pig heart and pig intestine’. The subtly sweet marinade accompanies well and never overwhelms. The meat is extremely juicy and has a big beef flavor, and the taste of the careful char is perfection. Kalbi, marinated and grilled beef short rib meat, is a another longtime favorite, and I’m now a big fan of Min Ga’s version. Tofu should feel lucky to have such a delicious saucy topping to carry it. Moderate levels of spicy heat mingled with earthy, tangy, porkiness to form a dish that was enjoyed not only at the table but also as a leftover the next day. If the dumplings hinted at it, this dish confirmed – pork and kimchi are meant to be together. Our first main was the tofu pork bokum – big blocks of steamed tofu and a generous serving of pork & kimchi topped with sesame seeds and green onions. With a bit of the included soy-chili sauce (a little of this salty concoction goes a long way), these pizza wedge cut slices of seafoody goodness are pure contentment. Bits of almost every sea creature imaginable (including scallop, mussels, squid, octopus…), are mixed into this moist, dense, bread-like savory pancake. I’ve long been a big fan of the Korean seafood pancake, and Min Ga’s version is as good as any I’ve had. Word to the wise, though – eat these in one bite, or you’ll be wearing the broth. The flavors melded seamlessly, with kimchi flavor being obvious but not overly dominant (and contributing little in the way of spicy heat). These kimchi dumplings were a thing of beauty – pork, kimchi, and a surprising quantity of soup broth all tidily wrapped up in a wonton-like pouch. Ultimately, though, his recounting of a change of management there was all we needed to give the place another shot. So, when we asked the owner of a Korean grocery store for restaurant recommendations and he suggested Min Ga, we were a bit surprised. A nice enough option to have out there, I suppose, but not exactly the sort of place you jump out of bed eager to write about. ![]() It’s been around forever, and on previous visits always struck us as the epitome of ‘not bad’ with a dash of ‘hmmm… that seemed a bit expensive’. Min Ga is a restaurant that, for us, has always seemed to quietly fade into the background. Hours – 11.30-10pm daily (open until 11pm on Fri., Sat.) They could be great, but I suspect I’ll never be able to speak to them from experience – when I’m there, I’m pretty sure I’ll be there for the wings. Having done so myself, I’ll be back for the soy-garlic.īeyond chicken, Bonchon offers a range of Korean and Japanese style apps and main dishes. If you’re on the fence with the sauces, order ‘half & half’ and you’ll get to try some of both. If you enjoy fried chicken, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Bonchon chicken is very different, and very good. ![]() In other words, it’s something truly new in fried chicken, a genre that so often leads with hype, and then follows up with a minutely distinguishable spin on more of the same. Aside from the alluring texture, the double fry technique intensifies the flavor of the skin, almost entirely banishes greasiness, and preserves the moistness of the flesh exceptionally well. Whichever chicken cut you choose, it’ll go through the vaunted Korean-style double fry process, which creates a skin so crispy that it doesn’t so much crumble upon taking a bite as shatter into shards of crunchy goodness.Ĭurious though it may sound, it has to be emphasized – this is not just a novelty. Korean fried chicken has received tons of hype on the coasts, and Bonchon’s rendition has garnered no small portion of it – the graphics in the vestibule boast of the publications they have been glowingly reviewed in, including the NY Times and Esquire.īonchon’s primary proposition is simple – you can get wings, drumsticks, or chicken strips (the only white meat option), lacquered with either a (not so terribly) spicy (but fairly) sweet sauce, or a more deeply savory soy-garlic sauce. Conventional wisdom has it that we’ll tell you what’ll make the cut, and in practice we often do.Īnd so, I suspect, it goes with Bonchon, a South Korea-based fried chicken franchise that has recently opened it’s first heartland location in the 161/Sawmill area. If you want a good sense of how your food offering will play across the US, you bring it to Columbus.
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