Gung, Green Park, New Delhi

[Rating:5/5]

Deciding where to dine out on weekends is becoming increasingly complex these past few months. Our entire lot seem to be foodies and deciding on a single place to eat, drink and make merry seems to involve a fair bit of calculus.

Faced with a similar dilemma a few weekends back, we decided to grace this fairly (in)famous Russian joint with our benign (as they say on Wedding cards in the North) presence. No sooner did the weekend amble in, we learnt of their tendency to ply you with cheap vodka. Probably helps ignore the food I guess.  I certainly wanted to avoid that sort of thing, especially with the gruesome episode of the hoity-toity-bohemian south Indian joint still fresh in my mind. It’s one thing to suffer bad food and quite another to have fan-boys berate you on top of that.

A change of venue was definitely in order. Servane being Servane came up with Gung, a Korean eatery in the Green Park area. So there we all were – Indu, Chipo, Servane, Angad, Gina, Cherie and myself, stuffed into my car, hurtling towards Green Park looking for a suitable venue to end a glorious weekend. Finding Gung was a little difficult what with an incompetent driver (me!) and multiple navigators doing their thing, or not. We did manage to find it anyway. Don’t worry, I have the GPS coordinates for you right here. Don’t use GPS? Start. Now. [28.5567 N, 77.2053 E]

Gung was started by Jin Bum Kim a little over 2.5 years back. After eating Korean food in Delhi, he found the flavours sorely lacking in authenticity and so decided to start one of his own. Neat. I do wish more of us would do that sort of thing. Criticised and discouraged, he went ahead anyway and we’re so glad he did. The food was divine, to say the least. Going by other reviews, that opinion seems to be unanimous – Gung is one of the few good places for Korean food in Delhi.

Let’s get the minus points out of the way shall we? There’s a minor parking issue here and the toilet, which is designated as a ‘gents’ toilet is meant for the ladies too. Yup, that’s it. The big grumpy grumbler has just two things to say.

Hostesses in traditional Korean outfits welcome you to the restaurant and ensure you’re seated and comfortable ASAP. We chose to sit in a little private room for 7 on the ground floor. There are two private rooms on the ground floor and both are made using paper and wood. The decor is very oriental and there are little knick-knacks all over that make the ambience very homely. Gung has karaoke facilities as well for those who fancy it.

You have to remove your footwear before entering the room. I really should have changed my socks, though my companions were probably too polite to say anything. On entering, you see a really low table, which is a traditional Korean dining table. Both me and my paunch simultaneously thought it was going to be a short evening if we have to sit that way. As you prepare to sit however, you find the floor below the table is about 3 feet deeper than where you’re sitting – which means you can sit normally! Excellent!

Psst. Smokers… rejoice.

The staff at Gung are *very* friendly and were more than happy to help with our order. They explained each dish to us and were quite well informed on all aspects of the food. We ordered Grilled Beef Galbi (Rs 1200), Grilled Pork Galbi (Rs 1000), Grilled Pork Belly (Rs 700), Chicken Ribs (Rs 1600), Glass Noodles with Vegetables and Beef (Rs 800) and Deep Fried Chicken in Hot Pepper Sauce (Rs 800). We also had some beer and Jin was kind enough to offer us a pot of some excellent Korean wine on the house.

The food was excellent. Words cannot do justice to the presentation, textures and colours on the table – you’ll have to visit Gung for that. Yes, it is a bit expensive, but <shrug> you get what you pay for.

The grilled beef was melt-in-the-mouth tender, yet retained its texture. The final step of cooking was done at our table on a small, portable grill, using what looked like a transparent glass griddle. All the food was served with toasted garlic, cooked spinach, fried sea weed, cabbage Kimchi, radish Kimchi (real Kimchi, not the crap served by pesudo Chinese places all around the city – you have to taste it to know what I mean), lettuce leaves, raw garlic, sliced vegetables, raw onions, little omelettes and potato pancakes.

Did you know Kimchi can trace its roots to more than 2,500 years back? There are many different types of Kimchi including radish and cucumber, but the most common is that made with Chinese cabbage. It is essentially a mixture of spices with the main vegetable kept at a constant temperature and allowed to ferment. Kimchi used to be made by burying underground jars with the Kimchi mixture. However, today the use of the Kimchi refrigerator makes things easier. It is so much a part of Korean culture that space Kimchi was developed to accompany the first Korean astronaut, and there’s even a Kimchi museum in Seoul!

The grilled pork Galbi and pork belly were similar, though the grilled pork belly used raw, un-marinated pork, which had a bit more bite than the marinated stuff, which by the way is marinated for 2 days prior to serving. It still wasn’t chewy, just had a bit more bite to it. The chicken ribs, which were *very* hot, came in a huge dish that had these little rice cakes in them and was excellent – though the pieces weren’t chopstick friendly – perhaps they’re meant to be eaten with the hands. The glass noodles with vegetables and beef had a completely different flavour and as with the rest were excellent. The deep fried chicken was hot, sweet and succulent – right for a quick snack or appetizer.

Each dish had a unique, fresh and wholesome flavour, which I find to be a given with Korean food. Beef and Pork at Gung is imported from Korea and so are all the spices. What you eat here is as authentic as possible. Do visit Gung. If you feel it’s a trifle expensive, forgo a couple of visits elsewhere and come here – I promise you, it’ll be worth your while.

- Sid

Meal for Two: 3500 | Credit Cards: YES | Alcohol: YES | Takeaway: YES | Home Delivery: NO

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

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