I went to Daegabang, a well-known hwagyo (ethnic Chinese) restaurant in Sinsa-dong. It was famous among bloggers at one point, and it’s still doing good business.

Front entrance

It’s near Garosu-gil. The location used to be a bit hard to pin down, but these days the whole area has been developed, so it’s become very easy to find.

Table

It’s a small place, but I liked the calm atmosphere. Perhaps because they get a lot of customers, meaning business is good, there was plenty of staff and they seemed well trained too.

Tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork)

It’s fried in a glutinous rice batter, similar to guo bao rou. The frying is well done, and while the price is a little on the high side, it’s fair considering the taste.

But the style is so different from regular tangsuyuk that I don’t think you could claim chewy tangsuyuk is tastier or that this is the original. It might actually be better to call it a variation on guo bao rou rather than tangsuyuk. The sauce was too sweet, and having it poured over the top was a bit of a letdown too.

Fried rice

You could taste the wok hei, which put it clearly above your average Chinese restaurant. There’s a reason it has been loved in Apgujeong for so long.

Uni-jjajang (jjajangmyeon with minced meat)

This one was a bit ordinary.

Some people used to rave about the tangsuyuk here. It isn’t quite worth that level of praise, but it’s pretty good for the price. The concept is basically a little pricier than a regular Chinese restaurant and a little tastier. In this neighborhood, that alone is something to be grateful for. It’s not a place worth a special trip from far away like Yonghwa Banjeom, but if you live in Gangnam and want a simple meal out on the weekend, it’s a very good option. Of course, when you work at a company you end up at Chinese restaurants often enough that you rarely feel like going to one on the weekend anyway.

한국어로 읽기日本語で読む