Decided at the very last moment to grab an early dinner with Mom yesterday. I let her decide this time as I selected the spot in our last makan-makan jaunt.
She chose Haroo Story, the Korean Culture Cafe in Langkawi Fair, as she had a hankering for some spicy food.
Upon arrival we were welcomed by the smiling and lanky waiter who led us to our table. This halal-sourced meats restaurant (a thing in Langkawi, whereby most meats are Halal slaughtered and prepared) features sparse and open style of decorating, which I found to be agreeable. A quick peek at the menu later and we had our minds made.
Barely 5 minutes after our drinks arrived, the dishes arrived in quick succession (food preparation here is usually quick) heralded first with complimentary thin triangles of Kimchi Pancake and a bowl of cabbage Kimchi.
First up was our Spicy Topokki, a rich and satisfyingly face melting stew-like dish of rice dough and tofu skin accompanied with a small cup of squid and tofu skin broth.
This dish is an excellent introductory dish to Korean food if you havent had any before, because I feel that it suprises the heck out of you if you think only Malaysians can handle chilli-spicy foods. This rich deep stew is counter balanced with sweet sliced onions and spring onions, dampening the heat of the chilli sauce it is cooked in. The rice dough is amazingly tender, with a gummy texture that encourages you to chew and hence let that amazing hot sauce do its magic in your mouth!
I am not someone who can take spicy foods all that much, but this dish is so good you would want to slowly savour it, but its spicy kick encourages you to cram your maw as fast as you can.
That broth supplied on the side is an incredible salve against the relentless spice. This genious soup, flavoured so mildly with squid and tofu works well to tone down the heat a few notches (and thus more time to finish the dish).
Mid Topokki, our Kimbap arrived. This is a Korean dish that is most reminiscent of Japanese rolled sushi.
The flavour styling is also quite similar (except for the addition of the mayonnaise dots on the plate). Our Korean host and restaurant-proprietor was quick to suggest that we use the slices of Kimbap to mop up the Topokki sauce. This certainly elevated what could have been a mildly flavoured dish.
Then Mom's order of Dolsot Bibimbap arrived. It is a rice dish of cooked chicken slices, raw colourful slices of vegetables and topped with a raw egg in a hot stone(ware) bowl. You enjoy it by stirring everything in the bowl to let it 'cook' and add in squirts of Gojuchang hot-sauce (this is one of the hearts of Korean cuisine). The resultant rice mix takes on a moist 'nasi goreng' like texture, dependant on how fastidiously stirred and turned it is. Word of caution though, this is a sizeable portion and very filling so plan on sharing it with someone.
My main dish of Spicy Beef & Vegetable Soup (Yukgaejang) arrived right after we started stirring our Bimbimbap.
This dish had a deep beefy flavour yet still strangely light and fresh tasting. The beef slices are brought to a rolling boil and all the other ingredients added- raw veges, strings of mung bean noodle, and cabbage kimchi, before being poured into a stone(ware) bowl. Arriving at our table bubbling and spitting, it comes with a bowl of rice but it can be had on its own. I had to fight off my Mom who was scooping up more of my soup than her own Bibimbap!
Lastly, despite our already stuffed bellies, I ordered a dessert of Yuja (Citrus) Bingsu.
Resembling most to Malaysia's ubiquituous ABC, this dessert however ended being our star dish alongside the Topokki. This bowl layered scoops of vanilla ice cream and globs of orange and lemon slice jam (closest description I can manage) with incredibly smooth shaved milky ice. The result is altogether AMAZING! Cooling, creamy, sweet and sour, mildest hint of bitter from the citrus peels, and thirst quenching. It superbly calmed our palates after the unwavering assault of spicy-delish dishes.
The dishes all totalled to a bit over RM120, with drinks (Calpis Yoghurt Soda and a Mineral Water) but it is money well spent.
Coupled with the fact that our waiter went the extra mile in bringing us the food picture-board and explained the dishes to us and the lovely Korean Host/Proprietor who also always came by to check on us and shared how best to enjoy her offerings, I think we have found another favourite place to eat in Langkawi.
