Entree Kibbles: Hwaro Hyang Restaurant @ Black Pork (Heuk-Dwaeji) Street [Jeju Island]

Friday, November 07, 2014

Hwaro Hyang Restaurant @ Black Pork (Heuk-Dwaeji) Street [Jeju Island]

Search for delicacies in Jeju Island and you would likely get a hit on black pork which came from a special breed of pig (said to be small, and.. black) found exclusively in South Korea's largest island.

Put it this way, the pork was famous enough to even have a street named after it! Known simply as black pork street, it took us a while to find our bearing as i parked the car much further than i expected!

With over eight dining establishments in close proximity serving black pork, it might be hard to decide the one to patronise. My research (much of it was weighed heavily on a friend's recommendation) brought me to Hwaro Hyang as above.

Thankfully, the menu came with English and even Chinese translation and this made ordering so much easier. Furthermore, a limited offering would mean a shorter time for use to decide what we want to have for our first meal at Jeju!

Compared to the rest of the restaurants along the same street, Hwaro Hyang appeared to be more popular. It may not seem much at this point but there was literally no available seating thirty minutes later.

Our side dishes! Although i didn't attempt a lot of barbecue in Korea, it was kind of a surprise that the ones i tried so far didn't really serve as many side dishes as Ju Shin Jung in Singapore.

Having said that, the vegetables in the side dishes (save for kimchi which required preservation) were so fresh; i believe they could have been plucked right from the plantation that very morning!

First time having the pretty mint leaves as a base for my grilled gogi! I have seen the cast of Running Man / Family Outing marvelling about its taste and was extremely curious about it.

I guess the same goes for the both of them, especially when it would also be the first Korean barbecue for all three of us! p.s. we filled ourselves so much with BBQ meat; we didn't have any craving for the rest of our trip.

To be honest, we didn't order a lot - two servings of 200 grams grilled black pork belly and an additional 200 grams of grilled black pork neck meat.

In case you are wondering on the portion, half of the neck meat was left on the plate given the limited space on the grille.

Marination was practically non-existent for the meat and this, to me, was a major setback. Contrary to popular belief, I have always believed i am not blessed with sensitive taste buds able to discern subtle differences (unless the meat is rotting).

Hence, i didn't find the grilled black pork belly to be that fascinating! Although they were good (fattening, juicy etc), they not very much different from what i have in Singapore. Oh, there was indeed a marked difference with the thickness!

Interestingly, the black pork neck was thought to be better tasting; maybe it was due to the lack of fats which, i guess, affects the concentration of natural essence within the meat.

Mint leaf, as a wrap, tasted kind of weird and this didn't come from just me. Both sisters felt the same way and even though it was said to be pricier, we left quite a number of mint leaves untouched.

I bet the lady boss must be thinking we were crazy as we asked for another basket of vegetables, specifically the fresh and crunchy lettuce!

Really! The barbecued meat gelled much better with the lettuce rather than the mint leaves!

While we were halfway through the meat, we were served with two stone bowls; one of which was hot crab stew! I kid you not; it was terribly delicious with an intensive flavour guaranteed to warm your heart in the cool, windy Jeju weather.

The three of us were equally pleased with the steaming steamed egg; simple yet satisfying! Before i end this post, i read on wikipedia (you may take it with a pinch of salt), that Jeju black pigs used to be kept to clear human waste but modern farming since 1960s was blamed for an "adverse change in taste".

=====

Location