Shanghai Mong
If you’re ever in Koreatown, you should probably not go to a Chinese restaurant, right? Audrey and I made that mistake a while back and ended up at Shanghai Mong, probably the only Chinese restaurant on 32nd between 5th and Broadway. Okay, so it’s supposed to be “fusion,” but you don’t go to Koreatown to get that kind of food, you know?
We both ordered the noodles with black bean sauce:
Sweet, gloppy, and the noodles all stuck together (what Asian doesn’t add sesame oil to their noodles?!) – definitely SKIP this place and head to one of the MANY awesome Korean restaurants along 32nd.
Reader Comments
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MAMAMIYA
I see you didn’t like jajangmyun noodles. Interestingly enough, this is arguably Korean’s favorite Chinese food and even unofficially celebrate April 14 by eating this very dish.
I had no idea! Now I’m going to set my calendar for April 14th so I can have a party and eat it 🙂
Grace, I feel I owe it to you to share this link with you explaining this practice in greater detail: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSEO18852320080414
What I meant to say in my previous post is that this is Koreans take on Chinese food. No better or worse than your typical MSG-laden American take out or even the Japanese idea of Chinese food which happens to consist of Mapo Tofu and Peking Duck, haha.
You had jjajjangmyun! It’s a Koreanized Chinese dish usually ordered in. I love it! Even when the noodles do stick together (which is always the case when delivered), but they’re absolutely amazing with handmade noodles. They soft and springy with a little bit of chew. Yuumm.
Mann…I don’t think we use “celebrate” April 14 to eat JajangMyun.
From Wiki:
“In South Korea, there is a recently established tradition that singles eat jajangmyeon on Black Day, which is April 14. The food is a comfort food for those who have no significant others.”
Try this dish out in other restaurants. It really is a good dish when it’s done right.
LOL… To a Korean this is like a Big Mac. YUM