I grabbed some take-out from Sook and Sungs Korean Cafe (1618 N. College Avenue, 479.445.6119) yesterday. They are located in the old Acropolis building.
It was pretty tasty. I had the first item in the “box lunch” menu.
Grilled beef with rice, salad, soup, white kimchi, and an egg/nori “omelet” for $9.
I also grabbed a side of Raddish Kimchi (they were out of the Red Kimchi):
I had the Chicken Bul Go Gi there today. Though the steamed dumplings we had as an appetizer (even though I ordered the pan-fried dumplings) were tasty, The main dish was merely okay (the chicken was dry).
The rest of the lunch special was pretty lackluster, too. The salad was iceberg lettuce from a bag that was about to turn and drizzled with too little of a vaguely soy/ginger dressing. The “dessert” part of the dinner (and to which was devoted one equal fourth of the plate)was a single strawberry.
The iced green tea was of the “plus roasted barley flavor” variety, which my dining companion said was a popular hot Korean tea, but was a little shifty cold (esp. without warning).
Perhaps some of it could be attributed to my unfamiliarity with Korean food (though I’m a big fan of most Asian cuisine), but I was disappointed at nearly every turn. I don’t think I’ll be going back.
I have high hopes for the new Chinese/Vietnamese place (Red Palace) that’s going in the old Hunan Manor building on College. Our current Chinese options in Fayetteville are pretty mediocre. I miss Lin’s, and I love Vietnamese food, especially Pho.
Steve, the typical bulgogi dinner is with beef. I would never recommend the chicken since it has nearly no flavor. Korean is definately different and probably one of the furthest from traditional american palattes(sp). That’s why most Korean restraunts struggle except in the largest of cities. I personally don’t like vietnamese, but then I grew up with Korean food faire. Although I still don’t care for the fact that just about everything is pickled, especially those little fish.
After spending 2 1/2 years stationed in Korea with the Army, I developed a craving for Korean food. I was excited to find there is a Korean place here in Northwest Arkansas. (after doing a search on google, I found it is the ONLY Korean place in Arkansas!). I have yet to make it there, but now that I know there is a Korean eatery close by, I will definately be checking it out to see how close they come to one of my favorite foods of all time. I will report back after I have sampled as much as I can possibly eat in one sitting!