An Yang ha se yo, gahm sah hahm ni da!

Mark Bittman, the New York Times food writer, describes Korean food in his blog in four words with: "Japanese cuisine with guts". Korean food, while sharing many characteristics with Chinese and Japanese cooking, has incredible boldness. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Last night, we the “not so faint-hearted” had a mini twitterati gathering instigated by @oohcarrera which involved a full on korean dinner. Personally, I really enjoyed the meal and yes, some of the dishes were definitely BOLD in terms of flavour and spiciness! The kimchi soup was dabomb and so were the beef and noodles!

Korean cuisine is very plate intensive as can be seen here

Korean food stands out from other cuisines with the many side dishes (banchan) that are served during meals. The number of side dishes can range anywhere from 2 to 12, but everyday meals feature at least a few. So when you eat at a Korean restaurant, your various side dishes will come to you before your meal in small bowls, and can be anything from vegetables to meat to seafood prepared in any number of ways. Korean dishes are all served at the same time, so there are no separate courses like in Western cuisines.

Rice is the backbone of almost every Korean meal. On rare occasions, noodles will replace the rice, but the vast majority of the time, every person eats a bowl of rice with their meal. Typically, each person will also have their own bowl of soup or stew. The side dishes and main dish or dishes, which can be meat, seafood, or tofu are all be served family-style in the middle of the table. Sometimes a large stew will replace the main dish and will be served family-style at the table.

A happy gangsta!

Thanks to NizamRahman for taking this pic

Legend has it that this chocolate lava cake was the result of a major culinary disaster. The dessert was meant to be individual chocolate cakes, but a cook took them out of the ovens to soon, and the centers where still liquefied. Since there was no time to cook them further, the Chef simply introduced the dessert as chocolate “lava” cake!