Restaurants: Kyung-ju House 慶州館

Thanks to the popularity of South Korean TV dramas and pop stars, more South Korean restaurants are emerging on Taipei's gourmet map. But among all those trendy barbecue places it is not easy to find an authentic Korean restaurant. Kyung-ju House is among the few.

It is the place to enjoy the authentic Bi-bim Pap, or stone bowl mix rice, and the famous Korean-style cold noodles. According to owner Yin Tsai-lien (殷彩蓮), Bi-bim Pap was originally called "rice of the wife."

Traditionally in Korean families the wife used to eat the left-over food after everyone else had finished their dinners. She got to mix the vegetables and a little meat in a rice bowl made of stone and heat it it by the fire. Bi-bim Pap nowadays is more sophisticated.

Yin first spreads sesame oil at the bottom of the stone bowl, then adds cooked rice, followed by bean sprouts, seaweed, carrot and beef on top. When the stone bowl is grilled and the rice at the bottom gets a bit crispy, she then puts an egg yolk on top, and finishes the dish.

As for cold noodles, there are two choices. The dry, cold noodles are a good choice for those seeking hot and strong tastes. The dish is red because the sauce is extracted from Korean chili powders, mixed with shredded vegetables, including onions, carrots and cucumbers. The Korean buckwheat noodles are thin, but chewy enough to test your teeth. When being served, the waiter comes and cuts the noodles in three parts with scissors so that you can eat.

The cold soup noodle dish really is cold. The stock is stewed with beef bones, onions, carrots and radishes for a whole day, and then refrigerated.

Yin Tsai-lien and her husband Chang Li-kuo (張立國) have run their restaurant for 25 years, drawing in many South Korean tourists and businessmen who cannot go without kimchi for one day.

"From kitchen utensils to food ingredients, we import largely from Korea," said manager Chang Ching-li (張靜麗). Proof is the large metal bowls used for noodles and different shaped spoons. Kyung-ju House also serves other dishes than Korean dishes that are popular among Taiwanese, such as beef or lamb barbecues, spicy pancakes (choices of seafood and kimchi) and ginseng chicken. To accompany these winter dishes the best thing is so-ju, Korean rice wine, which is less sweet than Japanese Sake.