Midtown Lunch

Recently I had a hankering for some jjajangmyeon- noodles with a brown sauce made from fermented soybean paste. The Chinese version uses ground pork and is less saucey than the Korean counterpart, but both versions are quite excellent. Hyo Dong Gak a Chinese/Korean restaurant (on35th btw. 5+6th) has been the ML jjajangmyeon go to for awhile now, but while looking at the lunch specials (just to see if there was anything tasty looking) I spotted double cooked pork!

Ever since my mediocre experience at Joe’s Shanghai I’ve been on a mission to try all the double cooked pork dishes I can find in Midtown (going to save Szechuan Gourmet for last since it’s probably the best). Will this version come with pickled daikon? Maybe the spiciness is from kimchi? (It is a Korean/Chinese restaurant after all.) But mostly… will this be any good?

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I was really really into Lunch’er Jamie’s profile last Tuesday… but probably for different reasons than some of you. My interest was particularly piqued by the mention of her choice for “best Midtown Lunch” around: the special noodles with brown sauce at Hyo Dong Gak on 35th btw. 5+6th.

I’m a big fan of the craziness known as Korean/Chinese food, mostly for the jjajangmyeon (or “noodles with brown sauce” as it is called in English.) While usually a restaurant that serves multiple kinds of Asian foods under one roof is a big red flag, Korean Chinese food is a different animal.  It’s a hybrid cuisine with certain dishes you can only find at Korean Chinese food restaurants (like jjajangmyeon.) Most people consider Shanghai Mong (on 32nd btw. 5th+B’way) the go-to Korean Chinese food place in Koreatown. But with this kind of endorsement from Jamie, I knew I had to check out Hyo Dong Gak.

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