New Developments in Chinese Food Delivery
Maybe this has been around for awhile, but today was the first time I’ve seen it. You know how, when you order food from a Chinese restaurant, you’re basically limited to one dish unless you’re either eating with someone else or you want to gorge yourself on copious portions? This is no longer a problem. A restaurant in my neighborhood called “일번가” now offers combined dishes. I ordered the fried rice/tahng-su-yuk (탕수육…sweet and sour pork) combo for 6000 won.
The portions were still just a bit too much, but much more manageable than in the past; and the food was fabulous. Score one for progress.
March 11th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
We’ve had this in Seoul since at least 2004, which is when I first saw it. It might’ve been around even longer than that. I usually order either “t’ang-bokk-bap” or “t’ang-jja-myeon.”
It’s a pain, sometimes, trying to help the ajoshi distinguish between “t’ang-jja-myeon” and “t’ang-jjam-myeon” (t’angsuyuk + jjambbong, not jjajang-myeon), given how similar the pronunciations are.
Kevin
March 12th, 2007 at 5:53 am
I suspected someone was going to tell me this. I was in Seoul in 2004. I guess I didn’t order Chinese food as often as I thought. That, or the restaurant I ordered from was behind the times.
I can see where the pronunciation of the two dishes might provide some confusion. Probably the best way to overcome it is to pause slightly between “jja” (or “jjam”) and “myeon”.
March 12th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Yeah, that’s about what I do to avoid confusion, though confusion is rarely a problem in my neighborhood, where the t’ang-jja is much more popular than the t’ang-jjam. Nowadays the ajoshi or ajumma will say the order back to you using the long form (”That’s t’angsuyuk and jjajangmyeon, right?”), just to be sure.
I really have no idea how widespread the split-bowl concept was in 2004. I was teaching at English Channel in Kangnam at the time; it could be that the trend started in forward-thinking places like Kangnam, and wasn’t truly popular until recently.
Kevin
[This comment may have been doubled-posted. I discovered some mistakes right as I hit “submit comment.” D’oh.]
March 25th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Yeah, I’ve been ordering this for a couple of years now. It’s freakin’ fantastic.
March 29th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Dude…so sad….