Kyung Bok Gong is the only Korean restaurant in Chennai run by an expert Korean Chef. Tae Hyup Kim (pronounced 'tie up Kim') was a fairly well-known, if not celebrated, chef in Seoul for ten years, before he came to India as a tourist. In Chennai, he developed a fascination for the place and its people and, finding that opportunities existed for a man in his line of work, decided to settle down for a while. Looking for a place to start a restaurant or small hotel, he found an ideal piece of property in the quiet locality of Kasturi Estate. The large, comfortable mansion was soon made over into a hotel that could accommodate forty guests and a thirty-six seat restaurant. The spacious grounds also gave Kim room to set up a golf practice range, to indulge his and his fellow-countrymen's passion for this sport.

Korean food is lightly spiced and uses the red, medium-hot Korean chilly. The most popular foods are pork, beef, seafood and Korean cabbage, usually accompanied by rice. Koreans like noodles too, and make theirs from sweet potato. These noodles, which are extremely fine and black in colour, are served only on special occasions. Kim gets his Korean cabbage from Ooty ("cabbage is used in almost all dishes, so it is important to use the right type"). Two pastes form the basis of the sauces used in most dishes; Kochujand and Doenjand. The former takes a year to prepare: it is made from beans that are boiled, dried and then powdered with chilly, mixed with herbs and stored. The menu at Kyung Bok Gong lists only eleven dishes, each of which makes a complete meal in itself.

Jokbal is a delicacy: leg of Pork, boiled and served with sauce (Rs.300). There are two other pork dishes, Tangsuyuk, with maida, egg and sauce (Rs.200) and Dongas, pork slices with sauce (Rs.150). The sauces are faintly sweet, and complement the meat well. Bulgoki, beef fried and served with vegetables (Rs.150), is extremely tender and slightly spicier than the pork dishes. The two fried chicken preparations, Yangnyum, served with sauce (Rs.120) and simple Fried Chicken (Rs.100), also display this fine balance between natural and enhanced taste. The sea food dishes are Heamul Kamjajum, with squid, crab, shell-fish, prawns and fish (Rs.100) and Ojingo Dubab, squid with rice (Rs.100). The non-meat dishes are Bibim Bab, vegetables with rice (Rs.100).Doenjang Jiage, a preparation using a lot of masala (Rs.90) and Kimchi Jiage, a solely Korean cabbage preparation (Rs.90). Like most vegetable dishes, they do not carry the rich, full-bodied taste that one finds in meat dishes and should not be considered representative of the true taste of the cuisine.

There are only about three hundred Koreans in Chennai, according to Kim, so running a restaurant to serve only their food does not make sense financially. Therefore, Kim also serves some very good Indian, Tandoori and Chinese food, for which he has hired two very capable cooks. "Koreans" says Kim "like to relax", and his hotel has a laid-back, easy-living atmosphere. This factor, along with the good food and the opportunity to perfect one's swing, is sure to win the hotel a fair degree of popularity among even the non-Korean residents of Chennai.

Kyung Bok Gong is at 18 Kasturi Estate, 1st Street, Alwarpet, Chennai 600 018. Phone:467-1949, 467-1954.

Arun Masilamoni

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