Mini-review: Dae Jang Gum Korean restaurant

This is Tolsot Bibimbap from Dae Jang Gum at 1 Nguyen Van Chiem street right next door to the mighty Diamond Plaza building. Korean food at Korean run restos in Saigon is very authentic. I've eaten this same dish at six or seven different Korean joints in town and there's no real difference I can taste from one place to the other. Even the side dishes are almost identical. The waitresses are decked out in something of a semi-hanbok. Call it a working hanbok. A Saigon city casual hanbok if you will. There's none of the usual neon strip lighting scorching burn marks into your retinas. And the place is busy with mucho Korean banter. This lot cost me 75,000VD. More cameraphone snaps here. I'd go back, but I wouldn't make a point to go to this one above any of the others I've tried. They serve all the usual Korean standards, barbecue dishes and soups. Now... what I wouldn't give for a real San Chae Bibimbap, wild roots and all in Saigon. Yum. For added brainfood bonus points - impatience and photography. Explain.

Comments

[Mr. NoStarWhere]

When in the mood for Korean, this is our usual stop. I've tried one or two others around the Thi Sach area, but found this one the most impressive thus far.

New recommendation - California Pizza Works. Very tasty pizzas. Recommended. Only the Underground's Smoked Salmon Pizza tops those I've had at Cali (in Saigon). It's part of the Juice empire, comprising of Juice, Cali Burrito, and Cali Pizza Works, with a larger, full-fledged Mexican restaurant set to open in December... according to the owner who chatted me up before and after my pizza arrived during an early lunch.

[pieman]

This is my first visit here. I can't say I really *like* any of the ones I've tried. The important thing is I like the food, but the restaurants themselves are all much of a muchness, IMO.

Yes, noodlegirl got collared by the owner when she dropped in to CPW last week. She thought it was quite good, at least OK, I seem to remember. I will go soon. BTW - I haven't had the Underground pizza you mention - don't do seafood on pizzas - but I do think they're the best I've tried to date. In Saigon of course. be interesting to see how Cali Works does their pie.

While we're at it. Any burger tips? I'm slowly sampling my way around town.

[Mr. NoStarWhere]

I was never a huge fan of seafood on pizza either but honestly the smoked salmon pizza at Underground is delicious. I constantly am craving it. I had the seafood pizza there too... ugh, not good. But the smoked salmon, definitely tasty.

Burger tips. Hmm, not Lotteria! The streetside ones are interesting but not exactly the best around. Other places I've had burgers:

O'Briens - it tasted ok but was extremely messy, falling to pieces all over my plate

Sheridan's - seemed small. tasty but pricey.

Annie's - my housemates used to love but I have yet to try

Chi's - surprisingly quite decent, especially considering the price. And she puts garlic on it which adds an interesting flavor.

Honestly, I think Al Fresco's has the best I've had in Saigon and they serve Halida too. I don't go much because I'm not really into the atmosphere there but the burgers are good. Yet to try Cafe Latin, Underground (always stick to the salmon pizza), or any of the random cowboy joints around (Texas BBQ, etc).

In Hanoi, I always preferred the R&R's burgers.

[pieman]

OK - I'll take your word for it on the salmon. I've only had their merguez sausage pizza which is a winner.

Didn't think of O'Briens - might check that out, despite crumble factor. Actually, I didn't think of any of the others either :) I want to do a burger round up. However, and it's a big however - I dunno if I've got the stamina.

I've done three so far, Z's, Underground, and Ciao. All written, not blogged. Was aiming to hit Al Fresco's and Mogambo too.

Looks like I've got more to do now... Cripes. This might take a while...

[pieman]

Oh and I did Cafe Terrace. Manhattan Burger? is another on Hai Ba Trung Looks bad, but I am a completist.

[Mr. NoStarWhere]

Hmm, how was CIAO? I have a very strong aversion to that place. I've never had anything approaching decent. Where is Z's? As for Manhattan, nope, I walked in once and walked out. Couldn't stomach it... the place and the food was depressing.

[FatMan Seoul]

That Korean set looks as authentic as you'd get back where we came from, right down to the cutlery and tableware. Dae Han Min Gook!!

[pieman]

Ciao was wierd. Bacon, cheese, egg AND burger. Not great, but not totally awful, but then again not the best I've ever had.

Z's is on Bui Vien. Someone emailed me a tip. Plus I found it mentioned in a forum that showed up in my technorati, called MekongESL or soemthing. Yup - Manhattan looks distinctly dire. But innocent until proven guilty and all that.

Fats- yer right. All the Korean managed joints are like this. Spot on.

[stacey]

Yum, this reminds me of when I was in China this past summer finishing my Masters. There was a fabulous Korean restaurant on campus that I often went to. I don't speak Chinese and luckily they had a mounted picture menu where everyday I would point to a new delicious dish. Thanks for this one!

[Nick]

OMG, they're already using the Dae Jang Gum name for marketing purposes? I dont know if you've seen the very popular korean drama that swept across the world via koreans and chinese tv. it's about the female royal chef & doctor whose name is Dae Jang Gum.

[slurp!]

this looks very authentic much like the ones i had in seoul.

[anchoi]

Does anyone else find those slinky metal chopstick a bit hard to handle? I have to shamefully ask for a fork when I'm at a Korean place where there is no bamboo chopsticks. I'll settle for plastic, but those slinky metal sticks really confound me.

[John]

A Website about Korea and its exotic food. Free recipes and all. Feel free to check it out.

[John]

A Website about Korea and its exotic food. Free recipes and all. Feel free to check it out. http://www.trifood.com/food.html