Tuesday marked the start of Spring officially and the 5th day of the lunar new year. If you had enough of all the traditional Chinese New Year dishes, you may want to head on down to Bibigo to check out their new seasonal menu.
Two of the highlights are the Janchi Guksu (feast noodles) and Haejangguk (hangover soup).
Janchi Guksu (잔치국수) is normally served during festive events like birthdays and weddings. Because this dish is normally served at weddings, the expression “When are you going to feed us guksu?” is basically asking “When are you going to get married?” (not unlike the question: “When are you going to give us the red envelope?”) The long strands of noodles symbolize longevity- a wish for guests at the wedding.
Made of wheat flour noodles and served in light anchovy broth. I find a delight as it is a departure from the usually heavily flavoured Korean dishes. The broth was tasty. Be sure to have this first before you embark on the rest of the meal as you may not be able to enjoy the taste as fully after all the kimchi and chilli.
Haejangguk (해장국) is not new on the Bibigo menu though this is the first time I’ve tried it. And I Love It!
Dubbed the ‘Hangover Soup’, Haejangguk was created to provide a quick and simple nutritious meal to replenish the energy and thus has a rejuvenating effect. Probably quite apt for this season now and is a good way to get over all the merry festive drinking. ^^
The raw egg is mixed into the steaming hot noodles together with powdered red chilli, which heats up your body immediately. Apparently there are different types of haejangguk, in different regions, with some using fish and others using congealed ox blood. The one in Bibigo has squids and bean sprouts. I love the contrast between the crunchiness of the beansprouts and the chewy squids. And with the seaweed and kimchi as side dishes, it makes one delightful, tasty dish. In fact, it goes very well with a bottle of maekgeolli!
Most people would be very familiar with ssamjang sauce, even if you don’t know what it’s called. It’s the sauce used for your BBQ meat, garlic and onion, wrapped in a piece of fresh lettuce. Here, Bibigo has marinated the pork in the yummy sauce. In place of lettuce, they’ve replaced it with asparagus. The pork was tender enough with just that little bit of fat. It was also slightly charred (someone in the group said it reminded them of char siew). 🙂
The other special dish was chicken marinated with gochujang sauce (red pepper sauce). Although the others felt that it was really spicy, I felt it was ok. Hmm… I think my taste buds have been ‘spiced up’ to a higher level. So if you like spicy food, you can order this, though personally, I preferred the grilled ssamjang pork.
Finished your meal with the rosi nero- Bibigo’s signature ice cream made from black rice. It’s light and refresing. A good way to cleanse off all the ‘heavy’ food.
Somehow, Korean meals aren’t complete without a bottle of soju, beer or makgeoli. I like makgeolli for it’s light sweetness and its fragant smell. Good for sharing amongst friends, as it’s not as intoxicating as soju and has a little more punch than beer.
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잘 먹겠 습니다!
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