Watch any K-drama and you will find at least one scene where the characters relish delicious Korean barbeque, enjoy different kinds of stews, or chow down on fried chicken. It's easy to be enticed by Korean dishes like tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) or jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles). The JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu will bring these dishes and much more at their in-house Asian restaurant Dashanzi for a nine-day Korean food pop-up that starts this Friday.
The menu is curated by chef Lim Jongjin who works at the hotels Le Meridien and Moxy in the Myeongdong area of Seoul. Lim, who hails from Jeonju city in South Korea, has tried to master the cuisines of the eight different provinces from his home country. In an email interview, he talks about how dishes change from region to region of the country. For example, provinces like Gyeongsang that are near the sea have raw sliced seafood delicacies and hearty stews, while regions like Hamyong use more millets and have grain-based dishes.
For the pop-up, Lim has tried to showcase traditional Korean dishes alongside the chefs at the JW Marriott, Juhu. He gives an example of the dish gujeolpan that is on the menu of the pop-up. Gujeolpan, which refers to a platter of food, was originally presented in the Korean royal court during the 14th century. The dish consists of an octagonal platter with nine different ingredients on it such as mushrooms, carrots, pine nuts, pork, shrimp, and radish alongside crepes known as miljeonbyeong which can be used to wrap the ingredients and eat them.
There's the savoury pancakes called jeon, made by coating fish, meat, or vegetables with a flour and egg batter; japchae, which consists of stir-fried glass noodles; and gimbap, made by wrapping rice and fillings like shrimp or pork belly in seaweed. For the main course, Lim especially recommends that diners try the bibimbap, which is mixed rice with spinach, mushroom, and a gochujang sauce, made from Korean red chilli pepper paste. Other dishes like kimchi fried rice, made with fermented cabbage; dakbal, which are spicy chicken marinated with gochujang, gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) and oyster sauce, and two different kinds of dumplings with pork mince or tofu are also available.
For dessert, diners can enjoy two traditional Korean sweets –maejap-gwa, made from deep-fried wheat flour flavoured with ginger juice and coated with honey; and gangjeong, that has puffed rice coated with honey and nuts like almonds and cashews.
Where: JW Marriott, Juhu, Mumbai
When: 14-23 July
Price: ₹950 onwards for one
