"You are traveling to '70s Korea in a time machine," said my Korean friend as we ate at Zzamong on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles.
A Korean-style Chinese restaurant, Zzamong is like the old fashioned neighborhood family restaurants she remembers from home. Its ambitious menu of 70 dishes has been whittled down to half that size, retaining only what customers really like.
At the top of their favorites is the noodle dish jjajang-myeon.
Kids love it because the dark sauce looks like chocolate and because they can laugh at each other when the sauce dribbles onto their faces. The dark color comes from caramel and black bean sauce, not chocolate.
At Zzamong, the English name is Peking noodle, and there are three versions. The most elaborate contains seafood (above), but pork is more traditional, my friend said. The typical garnish is sliced cucumber.
Often this would be the only dish a Korean would order.
If the occasion called for something more, the typical choice would be sweet and sour pork (right).
Zzamong's version is nothing like the usual Chinese-American rendition of this dish. The only additions are onion and cucumber, no pineapple, bell peppers and catsup. The meat is thickly battered and very crisp. The sauce is clear, thick and sweet.
Because the food is Chinese, banchan do not accompany meals. You do, however, get three small side dishes--cubed radish kimchi, onion and yellow pickled radish. The Korean way is to sprinkle vinegar over the radish and onion and dip the onion slices in a small dish of thick black sauce.
Although tea in some form usually comes with Chinese and Korean meals, the only drink provided at Zzamong is water.
Zzamong Chinese Restaurant, 4255 w. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90020. Tel: (213) 739-2747.
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